Line #16 Main/KarmicSTD


1	Sexually transmitted infections and diseases are a serious thing and there are many ways to get them in real life. In fiction, however, [[STDImmunity they rarely (if ever) come up]]. But when they ''do'', it's rarely the "good guys" who get them.
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3	Characters often contract [=STDs=] (usually the more dangerous types) as "punishment" if they're villainous. For example, a rapist or murderer who ends up with HIV.
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5	In older works, this is often used as a form of SlutShaming. Promiscuous and oftentimes gay characters were "[[DefiledForever bad]]", so to punish them, they ended up with syphilis, AIDS, or some other sexually transmitted illness. This variation is rarely used anymore, but it can still occasionally pop up.
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7	Contrast with a TragicAIDSStory, which is a sympathetic portrayal of a character dying of AIDS. Sub-trope to SexualKarma. See also GoodVictimsBadVictims, ButWeUsedACondom, and CantGetAwayWithNuthin. If the STD was caught due to carelessness, it's also a case of LustMakesYouDumb.
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9	Finally, like most sex tropes, [[Administrivia/NoRealLifeExamplesPlease real-life examples are not welcome here]] as per the Administrivia/ContentPolicy.
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11	[[noreallife]]
12	-----
13	!!Examples:
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15	[[foldercontrol]]
16	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
17	* In ''Manga/DeepLove'', Ayu dies, and her friends discover that she died after she contracted AIDS from one of her clients.
18	* ''Literature/ImTheEvilLordOfAnIntergalacticEmpire'': Peter Petack, as karma for being an UpperClassTwit playing around at casinos while everyone else is working and studying, ends up catching an undetectable STD while being bribed for information about Liam. He first reports to his fiancée that he's [[GagPenis getting bigger down there]], before months later his [[MadeOfExplodium penis explodes]].
19	[[/folder]]
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21	[[folder:Arts]]
22	* ''Art/VenusCupidFollyAndTime'': The elderly hag on the left side of the painting is commonly viewed as having all of the symptoms of syphilis, implying it to be a consequence of Venus and Cupid's sexual proclivities.
23	[[/folder]]
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25	[[folder:Comic Books]]
26	* ''ComicBook/TheChroniclesOfWormwood'': Jacko (the world's first Australian Pope) is a devout hedonist, regularly seen having sex with nuns. At the end of the first miniseries, his scream of "Full-blown AIDS?''' FUCK!'''" can be heard outside the Vatican. This leads directly to the plots of the ''Last Enemy'' one-shot and the concluding ''Last Battle'' miniseries, where he wants Jesus to cure him before he dies and goes to Hell and revenge on Wormwood for preventing that, respectively.
27	* In ''ComicBook/TopTen'', Andy "Airbag" Soames's years of infidelity come back to bite him in the ass when he contracts S.T.O.R.M.S., which is essentially AIDS for superheroes.
28	* ''ComicBook/TheUnfunnies'' features a sub-plot where Pussywhisker's wife Polly manipulates her husband into letting her cheat on him with other men by having Dr. Despicable amputate his testicles after convincing him he has testicular cancer and making him guilty of being unable to give her a child. Polly ultimately gets punished for her infidelity when she and all the men she slept with die of AIDS.
29	* Before being retconned to remove all connections from ComicBook/{{Spawn}}, Chapel of ''ComicBook/YoungbloodImageComics'' learned that he had been [[ArtisticLicenseBiology infected with an "inert" version of HIV by Jason Wynn to keep him in line with the threat of somehow turning it on]].
30	* It's not treated as a major thing, but Jayne, the TokenEvilTeammate of ''{{Series/Firefly}}'' who often spends his free time hitting up the local brothels when the ship is docked, does end up going to TheMedic, Simon, with an uncomfortable burning in his private area in one of the comics.
31	[[/folder]]
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33	[[folder:Fan Works]]
34	* In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12355498/9/Death-of-the-Wrong-Boy Death of the Wrong Boy]]'', after spending most of [[Literature/HarryPotter Harry's]] life [[ParentalNeglect neglecting]] him, [[ParentalFavoritism favoring]] his twin brother, and eventually [[IHaveNoSon disowning him]], it's revealed that [[RonTheDeathEater James Potter and Sirius Black]] have contacted many, ''many'' [=STDs=] due to years of [[ReallyGetsAround sexual promiscuity]].
35	* In ''Fanfic/EchoesOfEternity'', a scientist who had been sexually abusing Maria since age five contracted terminal NIDS from her. This isn't revealed until [[spoiler: ''after'' he had already died, from being shot by Maria's adult friend for trying to [[AttemptedRape rape her]] rather than because of the illness itself]].
36	* ''Fanfic/SynepeiesACollectionOfNTRConsequences'': Implied in ''Withered Hydrangea'', when Natsuha's call to Masaru is picked up by another delinquent of a group that had a bone to pick with him, he eventually tells her [[spoiler: to get herself checked, as Masaru had trysts with other girls in the past and "wasn't being careful".]]
37	[[/folder]]
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39	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
40	* In ''Temptation: Confessions of a Marriage Counselor'', Judith has an affair. After leaving her husband, she turns to drugs and alcohol. Judith ends up [[spoiler: contracting HIV]] near the end of the film.
41	[[/folder]]
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43	[[folder:Folklore]]
44	* The urban legend of "AIDS Mary", a woman who was raped and infected with AIDS and went around sleeping with men and infecting them as revenge.
45	[[/folder]]
46
47	[[folder:Literature]]
48	* During ''[[Literature/TheShipWho The City Who Fought]]'', the inhabitants of a SpaceStation can't openly defy the army of murderous rapist looters who invade them, lest they all be killed. But they do create a SyntheticPlague that only spreads through close contact. It's not ''explicitly'' an STD, but volunteers do pass it to the invaders by welcoming them after tucking viral capsules into their mouths and are told to initiate or accept kisses and oral sex.
49	* In ''Literature/{{Dune}}: [[Literature/PreludeToDune House Atreides]]'', Reverend Mother Mohiam was sent to [[StalkerWithATestTube conceive a daughter with Baron Harkonnen]] and he drugs and violently rapes her, as revenge she infects him with an STD that ruins his metabolism and reduces him to the hovering blob seen in the original book.
50	* In the ''Series/MrRobot'' tie-in novel, Red Wheelbarrow, Elliot tricks Santos into thinking he contracted HIV from raping Carla, a transgender prisoner. It isn't true, but as Santos is a hypochondriac, he spends a good while suffering from the fear of it anyway.
51	[[/folder]]
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53	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
54	* Discussed in an episode of ''Series/TheGoldenGirls'' in which Rose is being tested for AIDS because of a possibly contaminated blood transfusion. She rants at Blanche that she doesn't know why this is happening to her when she's a good person and that it seems like something that should happen to the more promiscuous Blanche. Blanche, understandably offended, fires back that "AIDS is not a 'bad person' disease, Rose! It is not God punishing people for their sins!"
55	* Invoked on ''Series/{{Lucifer}}'' when a woman tries to get revenge on a guy who used her and dumped her by tricking him into falling in love with her (she meant so little to him that he [[ButForMeItWasTuesday didn't recognize her]]), faking her own kidnapping so he would pay the ransom, then killing him and running away with the money. Lucifer was appalled by the DisproportionateRetribution and said that a simple STD would have been a much more fitting punishment.
56	* ''Series/{{Misfits}}'' had an episode with a woman who had the ability to give people superpowered [=STIs=]. HilarityEnsues when promiscuous and (seemingly) uncaring Rudy falls victim to it and has to go on a search to find said woman and make it up to her before his member falls off.
57	* Played absolutely straight on ''Series/MyNameIsEarl'': Earl wishes to make amends with his ex-girlfriend Natalie, with whom he had broken up by faking his death (in order to avoid hurting her feelings.) Her ''new'' boyfriend, Dirk, decides to emulate Earl and fake ''his'' own death and hang out at the motel with a prostitute. Due to the lack of condom machines, he uses motel-issue shower caps instead. Eventually, Natalie discovers his deception and presents him with his Karmic Comeuppance, although Probability was almost certain to bring this one about, so Karma could've taken the day off.
58	-->'''Natalie:''' Hey Dirk. Still getting your mail. It's from the clinic: Somebody got themselves an STD.
59	-->'''Dirk:''' I can deal with that.
60	-->'''Natalie:''' Turn the page.
61	-->'''Dirk:''' Aww crap... Damn shower caps.
62	* Played with very unpleasantly in ''Series/VeronicaMars''. [[spoiler: Woody Goodman has chlamydia, which is an indicator of what an awful DirtyOldMan is (and he was literally preying on children). He gave the STD to mass murderer Cassidy Casablancas, which is how Veronica figures out that Cassidy is both her rapist and the bus bomber. The only exception is Veronica herself, who is the heroine and also got it by being raped while unconscious.]]
63	[[/folder]]
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65	[[folder:Theatre]]
66	* In the song "Schadenfreude" in ''Theatre/AvenueQ'' lists "Exes getting [=STDs=]" as one of the many things you're happy to see happen to someone other than you.
67	[[/folder]]
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69	[[folder:Visual Novels]]
70	* Discussed in ''VisualNovel/{{Melody}}''. When the title character messes with Steve’s social media accounts, one of her (false) posts involves Steve claiming that he got chlamydia from his best friend’s girlfriend.
71	[[/folder]]
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73	[[folder:Webcomics]]
74	* In ''Webcomic/DMOfTheRings'', Aragorn has the habit of hitting on attractive {{NPC}}s (and the attractive PC Legolas) in a creepy way. The DM punishes him for it by ''[[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor letting him have his way]]'' with Éowyn, and then making him roll a Fortitude saving throw versus Disease, implying he got an STD from her.
75	[[/folder]]
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77	[[folder:Western Animation]]
78	* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'': In the episode "Tonsil Trouble", the TokenEvilTeammate Cartman discovers he has HIV. Kyle thinks it's karma. Cartman believes that no one deserves AIDS, [[ShareTheSickness but he still]] [[DisproportionateRetribution infects Kyle anyway]] just to teach him that.
79	[[/folder]]

Context Main / KarmicSTD