History Main / AttractivenessIsolation

* This serves as the premise of the film ''She's Out Of My League''

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!!Examples:

* Played straight in {{Discworld}} (where it's known as "jerk syndrome"), with both Juliet in ''Discworld/UnseenAcademicals'' and Tawneee in ''Discworld/{{Thud}}''. Juliet eventually [[spoiler: pairs up with Trevor and becomes a model]]. Angua and Sally also delicately introduce Tawneee to the idea that she's "settling" for Nobby (a chronic [[CorruptCop petty thief and watchman]] who smokes constantly, [[ThePigPen doesn't bathe]], is occasionally mistaken for a monkey, and carries papers from the ruler of the city stating that, after consulting with the midwife, he's concluded that the balance of probability is that he's a human being.)
* This serves as the premise of the film ''She's Out Of My League''
* Discussed in ''{{Scrubs}}'', when J.D. asked the gift shop person if this applied to her, and then she said no.
* Happens in ''TheLongestJourney'' when one Alatien woman is apparently very attractive among her kind, and despite her crush on an Alatien warrior, she is too shy to court him. Turns out that he's thought her out of his league all along, and hasn't even bothered asking her.
* Ayla and Jondalar do this to each other during ''TheValleyOfHorses''.
* [[http://www.viruscomix.com/page465.html This]] ''Subnormality'' strip, especially in the first panel.
* Done to each other in [[http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=9 this]] ''QuestionableContent'' strip.
* In one episode of ''WelcomeBackKotter'', all of the Sweathogs except Vinnie Barbarino, the ladies' man, are asked out to the dance.
* Embodied by a nameless blonde in a bar in ''ABeautifulMind'', where John Nash arrives at a mathematical reason for it happening. You can hear his theory [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0ywiYboCLk here]].
** The main thing being illustrated by Nash in the scene is a common Game Theory model known as Prisoner's Dilemma, which essentially states that two competitors' greed - and incentive to not lose - dooms them to fail in their pursuit. It's not about the blonde being ignored so much as it is about the group of men working together to not step on one-another's toes.
* In ''AzumangaDaioh'', Sakaki is [[HugeSchoolgirl an extraordinarily tall and athletic girl]] with several [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome Crowning Moments of Awesome]] under her belt. But she's also very shy and affectionate. Other students are scared to talk to her either because they think she's too awesome or because she's intimidating. She wind ups often wishing she'd get invited into club activities, since she's too timid to reach out for them herself.
* One Archie Comic involved Reggie lying about knowing a supermodel to screw Archie out of a date with Veronica for himself. He offered to set Archie up, but the model reveals she didn't know any Reggie. Archie soon finds out that she is dateless at the moment, and when asked, she reveals everyone always assumes she's already hooked up.
* Real Life example- He's hardly ugly himself, but Andy Lee of Hamish and Andy managed to snare a date (and later the heart) of Megan Gale, a real life Wonder Woman clone renowned for being one of the most beautiful women in the world (and dating Italian male models) by, in her own words, "being the only boy brave enough to ask me out." Aaaaaaaawwwwww. Curse you, Andy Lee.

* [[{{DefrostingIceQueen}} Lena]] from TheSisterhoodOfTheTravelingPants is said by many different characters to be strikingly pretty, but to the point people are intimidated by her. [[{{TallDarkAndBishoujo}} Her personality]] [[{{TheQuietOne}} makes this difficult as well.]]
* Psyche from [[{{ClassicalMythology}} Classical Mythology]] thought she was an example of this trope, but the real reason for her loneliness was because she was [[{{SoBeautifulItsACurse}} so beautiful]] that the goddess of love and beauty herself kept her from finding a respectable husband out of spite.
* [[http://shine.yahoo.com/channel/sex/the-curse-of-being-cute-2439324/;_ylt=Am2elCgD68EzF1NBbYrjajSDbqU5 The Curse of Being Cute]]

* The [[HighSchoolDance prom episode]] of ''GeneratorRex'' makes a mention or two of how "hot girls don't get asked out". Rex is skeptical until [[HotScientist Dr. Holiday]] confesses no one ever asked her to prom.
* Arguably, Mulder and Scully in [[TheXFiles The X Files]]. It's obvious quite early on that they have feelings for each other - while Scully is just [[SelectiveObliviousness in denial]], Mulder assumes she's out of his league anyway, since he's an obsessive, loner [[ConspiracyTheorist conspiracy nut]] in [[MarriedToTheJob a career black hole]] and she's, well, [[HotScientist Scully]]. Despite the fact that she hasn't been on a successful date in all the years they've been working together.
* In ''PlanescapeTorment'' you can meet a Harmonium guard in the forum who has a nascent crush on one of the regulars, but has never dared approach her because he always sees her chatting and being social with other people and thinks this trope is in effect. She, on the other hand, is actually terribly lonely because she has a problem with being a MotorMouth, which means that none of the people she talks to ever comes back to talk with her more. The Nameless One can, depending on inclination, either tell the guard this particular piece of info (which gives him the resolve to confess) or tell him that she's actually incredibly popular with men (which breaks his heart). As with many of the game's side quests, Fell makes a unique tattoo out of either resolution.
* Mentioned in ''AssassinsCreedBrotherhood'', during one of the repressed memories. Ezio's older brother tells him men are afraid of attractive women, and thus the first person to actually talk to them has the advantage.

* Hinagiku of {{Hayate no Gotoku}} knows that she gets this, though one character has asked her out and got rejected, and likely Miki won't ask because she knows that Hina isn't lesbian on top of this trope, she settles for being one of her closest friends instead.

* This serves as the premise of the film ''She'sOutOfMyLeague''

** Hinagiku's sister, Yukiji also seems to have gotten this when she was younger, though only Kaoru seems to still be hanging on to it.

* In ''AzumangaDaioh'', Sakaki is an extraordinarily tall and athletic girl with several [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome Crowning Moments of Awesome]] under her belt. But she's also very shy and affectionate. Other students are scared to talk to her either because they think she's too awesome or because she's intimidating. She wind ups often wishing she'd get invited into club activities, since she's too timid to reach out for them herself.

* Played straight in {{Discworld}} (where it's known as "jerk syndrome"), with both Juliet in ''Discworld/UnseenAcademicals'' and Tawneee in ''Discworld/{{Thud}}''. Juliet eventually [[spoiler: pairs up with Trevor and become a model]]. Angua and Sally also delicately introduce Tawneee to the idea that she's "settling" for Nobby (a chronic [[CorruptCop petty thief and watchman]] who smokes constantly, [[ThePigPen doesn't bathe]], is occasionally mistaken for a monkey, and carries papers from the ruler of the city stating that, after consulting with the midwife, he's concluded that the balance of probability is that he's a human being.)

* Sawachika Eri from ''School Rumble''.

Related to ICantBelieveAGuyLikeYouWouldNoticeMe, but that trope is when a girl feels very ordinary next to a hero, yet he wants her anyway. This is when a guy feels too inadequate or ordinary to have a chance with the girl, and how she feels as a result of so many guys feeling this way.

This trope is not AlwaysFemale, but because an important part of the situation is that she cannot simply ask ''him'', it tends to be a female trope. Leads to ICantBelieveAGuyLikeYouWouldNoticeMe if she ''does'' simply ask him. Related to SoBeautifulItsACurse, and also to BeautyIsBad and GreenEyedMonster when other females act bitchy to the girl just because they think she's pretty and therefore a bitch.

** Also, Hayate seems to be playing this card when he tries to convince others that Hinagiku couldn't like him, while she thinks {{I Can't Believe A Guy Like You Would Notice Me!}} about him.

This trope is not AlwaysFemale, but because an important part of the situation is that she cannot simply ask ''him'', it tends to be a female trope. Leads to ICantBelieveAGuyLikeYouWouldNoticeMe if she ''does'' simply ask him. Related to SoBeautifulItsACurse.

Additionally, [[YourMileageMayVary YMMV]] (quite a bit) on whether or not this is TruthInTelevision. One view states that this happens in real life because of unconscious social cues sent out all the time, causing others to modify their behavior accordingly. The other view, however, states that because MostWritersAreMale, and therefore unable to fully empathize with the female mind, that the girl's loneliness and desperation for male company may be used wrongly, instead of introducing real-life complexities.

* Happens to Iori Yoshizuki from ''I's'', who's so pretty and popular that pretty much nobody approaches her at school.
* One of the reasons why Kotonoha Katsura from SchoolDays is bullied or ignored by other girls is her TallDarkAndBishoujo appearance.

** Hinagiku's sister, Yukiji also seems to have gotten this when she was younger, though only Kaoru seems to still be hanging on to it.

* To a milder extent, [[ Kotobuki Tsumugi]] from [[{{Keion}} K-On!]] suffers this trope. There is an episode about her trying to make her bandmates closer to her. She ends up making Mio cry.

* Played straight in {{Discworld}} (where it's known as "jerk syndrome"), with both Juliet in ''Discworld/UnseenAcademicals'' and Tawneee in ''Discworld/{{Thud}}''. Juliet, however, does eventually [[spoiler:both pair up with Trevor and become a model]].

* Played straight in {{Discworld}}, with both Juliet in ''Discworld/UnseenAcademicals'' and Tawneee in ''Discworld/{{Thud}}''. Juliet, however, does eventually [[spoiler:both pair up with Trevor and become a model]].

-->''"He's nice," said Tawneee. "And he's very dependable," said Tawneee. And, as if dimly aware that this was still not sufficient, she added sadly, "If you must know, he's the first boy who's ever asked me out." ... There were goddesses who'd kill to look like Tawneee. Angua and Sally exchanged a glance. Light dawned. Ah, that was the problem. And this one's a baaaad case."''