History Main / CannotTalkToWomen

* [[NationsAsPeople Germany]] from ''Webcomic/AxisPowersHetalia'' is said to be this, but he talks to young girls and Hungary just fine.

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* [[ClarkKenting Clark Kent]] is this all day. Not {{Superman}}, though. [[DependingOnTheWriter Usually.]]
* [[Franchise/{{Spider-man}} Peter Parker]] has been [[{{Flanderization}} flanderized]] into this over the years; in the early days, his romantic problems stemmed from the social hazards of [[SecretIdentity keeping a secret identity]], with a generous helping of {{Tsundere}} behavior from his love interests thrown into the mix during [[UsefulNotes/TheSilverAgeofComicBooks the Silver Age]].

* Shang from ''Disney/{{Mulan}}'' can talk to Mulan, even about emotional things--''[[SweetPollyOliver when she's disguised as a man]]''. When she's unmasked, however, he quickly develops a crush on her ([[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation although quite a lot of fans think]] [[SweetOnPollyOliver he already had a subconscious crush on her from the beginning]]) and turns into a giant {{Adorkable}} stuttering mess when she's around.

* Cody Banks, in the ''Film/AgentCodyBanks'' movies, is like this.

* [[Literature/{{Discworld}} Rincewind]] is mentioned to be a rarity among wizards, in that he can talk to a woman without needing a cold shower and a lie-down after. However, if the subject turns to sex, he's completely out of his depth (wizards as a whole aren't supposed to marry or rather have sex, as this increases the chances of a [[PhysicalGod sourcerer]] being born).

* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': Kendra the Vampire Slayer had a hard time talking to men who weren't her Watcher or a vampire, due in part to being brought up by her Watcher to focus single-mindedly on slaying.
** Oh, she wasn't just bad at talking to men. She was ''forbidden from speaking with them'' by her Watcher.

* ''Series/RedDwarf'': The ''TongueTied'' song as performed by the Cat and cast. (Originally used in the radio show ''SonOfCliche'')

* After awkwardly asking Princess Mithian out on a date in ''Series/{{Merlin}}'', Arthur mutters to himself "I've never been much good at this." Something of an InformedAttribute (or ''mis''attribute) considering he's always seemed at ease around Guinevere -- the assumption is that she was the exception to the largely off-screen rule.

* Charlie Brown from ''{{Peanuts}}'' may be one of the biggest examples, at least when it comes to girls he actually likes (as opposed to ones like Lucy and Sally, who are mean to him). For four whole decades, he tried to bring himself to introduce himself to the Little Red Haired Girl, but always chickened out. He was a little braver late in the strip's run when he met Peggy Jean, but he still was shy and nervous around her, and nothing serious ever developed. (Even if Charles Shultz had not passed away, he said he never planned to change the strip so dramatically as to actually change Charlie Brown's character, preferring to keep him [[{{Everyman}} the way he was.)]]

Related to, and not to be confused with, LoveMakesYouDumb. Also related to SociallyAwkwardHero and the ChasteHero, who can ''talk'' to them, but just doesn't understand affection. In extreme cases may become AllergicToLove.

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* DaveBarry recalls a high-school friend of his blessed with the ability to talk to girls, which allowed him to ask out a girl on his date (via his friend, who asked a friend of the girl, who asked the girl).

* Yata Misaki from ''Anime/{{K}}'' starts blushing and stuttering when he only ''looks'' at a girl he ''might potentially'' talk to. [[WeUsedToBeFriends Fushimi]] [[StalkerWithACrush Saruhiko]] knows this of course and [[TheGadfly misses no opportunity]] to [[BerserkButton push that button]].

* Charlie Brown from ''{{Peanuts}}'' may be one of the biggest examples, at least when it comes to girls he actually likes (as opposed to ones like Lucy, who are mean to him). For four whole decades, he tried to bring himself to introduce himself to the Little Red Haired Girl, but always chickened out. He was a little braver late in the strip's run when he met Peggy Jean, but he still was shy and nervous around her, and nothing serious ever developed. (Even if Charles Shultz had not passed away, he said he never planned to change the strip so dramatically as to actually change Charlie Brown's character, preferring to keep him [[{{Everyman}} the way he was.)]]

* In an episode of ''That70sShow'', Eric can only say "Uh...... bluh." in the presence of a girl he finds really attractive. This same girl refers to him as uh bluh throughout the episode.

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* Cody Banks, in the ''Film/AgentCodyBanks'' movies, is like this.
* ''Film/HaroldAndKumarGoToWhiteCastle'': Harold has a crush on one of his neighbors, but he can never get up the nerve to talk to her until the end of the film.
* ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger'': Captain America. It's even a plot point, and Peggy Carter even calls him out on this at one point.
* ''Film/SpiderMan1'': Peter Parker again. He never works up the nerve to tell Mary Jane how he feels until ''she'' comes to ''him''.
* Applies to Andrew Steyn (Marius Weyers) in ''Film/TheGodsMustBeCrazy''.
* In ''Film/TheFisherKing'' Parry (Robin Williams) stalks Lydia (Amanda Plummer) and only finally speaks to her when constrained to do so by Jack (Jeff Bridges) and his girlfriend Anne (Mercedes Ruehl).

* ''Film/{{Kopps}}'': Jacob has this attitude most of the time towards Jessica.

* Shang from ''Disney/{{Mulan}}'' can talk to Mulan, even about emotional things--''[[SweetPollyOliver when she's disguised as a man]]''. When she's unmasked, however, he quickly develops a crush on her ([[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation although quite a lot of fans think]] [[SweetOnPollyOliver he already had a subconscious crush on her from the beginning]]) and turns into a giant {{Adorkable}} stuttering mess when she's around.
-->'''Shang''': You...you fight good.

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'''Martin''': Yes, I do. I like it. Like you. I mean, I like it, like you do. Not I like it like I like you. I don’t like you. I mean - I, I don't not like you, I just I don't like you as much as I like being a pilot. [...] Well, not yet. I, I mean, I'm sure if I got to know you I'd like you more than being - well, probably not more than because I love being a pilot and I don't suppose I'd love you - well, I suppose I might. No, I mean, I'm just going to go and have a wander down the cabin now."

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-->'''Wizard''': Right! …Wait, no— back to spells!

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* Near the end of ''WesternAnimation/InsideOut,'' Riley bumps into a boy at the hockey rink, apologizes, and hands him back his water bottle. He stares at her slack-jawed and buggy-eyed, cut to the inside of his head where his emotions are running and screaming in a blind panic while a siren blares, "GIRL! GIRL! GIRL!"

* [[Franchise/{{Spider-man}} Peter Parker]] has been [[{{Flanderization}} flanderized]] into this over the years; in the early days, his romantic problems stemmed from the social hazards of [[SecretIdentity keeping a secret identity]], with a generous helping of {{Tsundere}} behavior from his love interests thrown into the mix during [[TheSilverAgeofComicBooks the Silver Age]].

The female, for her part, may become irritated and impatient with this behaviour, may be understanding and accommodating (or even condescending), or may even respond in kind, in which case getting any kind of conversation going will take something akin to a miracle.

Despite the title, female characters who cannot talk to men are not uncommon. In this case it's usually triggered only by male characters they find attractive or have a crush on; if a female character literally has difficulty talking to any male at all, it's usually a sign that she had [[AbusiveParents an abusive or domineering father]], grew up in [[NoWomansLand a misogynistic culture]], or had [[SingleIssuePsychology some other bad experience that explains the issue]]. When a male character cannot talk to women, in contrast, it's almost always an issue of a general lack of confidence and/or experience and is rarely portrayed as a result of trauma.

** Oh, she wasn't just bad at talking to men. She was forbidden from speaking with them by her Watcher.

A type of CannotSpitItOut, this is a condition befalling certain male characters (usually), especially those on the younger side, or who otherwise are lacking in social graces. When he encounters a female, he loses all capacity [[TheSpeechless to speak]], or at least [[TheUnintelligible make meaningful sentences]]. He may stammer, blurt out embarrassing nonsequiturs, or become entirely mute. The trigger may be restricted to attractive females, or just [[OneTrueLove the one]], in which case it's likely to be GibberishOfLove.

* Mikoshiba of ''Manga/GekkanShoujoNozakiKun'' is very awkward around girls, so the only way he can talk to them is by quoting cheesy lines from {{Dating Sim}}s...which just makes him even more awkward and embarrassed. Strangely enough, they just eat it up, making him extremely popular.

** Lon'qu is the most notable example. It's initially PlayedForLaughs, but several of his supports open up his DarkAndTroubledPast, making it a lot less funny: it's a rare case of ''trauma'' actually factoring into his fear. [[spoiler:His childhood sweetheart ''and'' OnlyFriend, Ke'ri, was murdered in front of him [[HeroicSacrifice in an attempt to protect him]], and his failure to protect her stemmed the fear that any woman he'd get close to would eventually be killed.]] The result of this is him acting cold towards just about everyone, and every time he interacts with a female character, he [[SuddenlyShouting tends to shout at random.]] His prospective love interests have to work ''very'' had to get to speak to him in normal terms, and if playing as a female [[PlayerCharacter Avatar]], he has [[TheDevTeamThinksOfEverything an extremely low chance of greeting you in the Barracks unless you marry him]].

* Gaius from ''VideoGame/RuneFactory3'' suffers from this when it comes to Evelyn. He blushes madly and stammers whenever talking to her, failing to get out whatever he means to say and in bad cases agreeing to her offers to [[ImpossiblyTackyClothes make him new clothes.]] Some of his random dialogues will also involve asking the main character how to go about getting the attention of someone you like. He's still surprised when the main character ''knowns'' about his crush.

* Near the end of ''WesternAnimation/InsideOut,'' Riley bumps into a boy at the hockey rink, apologizes, and hands him back his water bottle. Cut to the inside of his head where his emotions are running and screaming in a blind panic while a siren blares, "GIRL! GIRL! GIRL!"

* [[Film/CaptainAmericaTheFirstAvenger Captain America]]. It's even a plot point, and Peggy Carter even calls him out on this at one point.
* [[Film/SpiderMan Peter Parker]] again. He never works up the nerve to tell Mary Jane how he feels until ''she'' comes to ''him''.

* One of Jeff's main traits in ''{{Coupling}}''. At various times, he's accidentally claimed to have a wooden leg, a dead girlfriend and a collection of women's ears in a bucket.
* [[TheMedic Simon Tam]] of ''{{Firefly}}'' uses almost these exact words after accidentally insulting [[WrenchWench Kaylee]] in "The Message".