Necktie Leash

"I feel like I'm being bullied out of my lunch money."

A situation where a man (and it almost always is a man) is dragged off or restrained by his necktie, which serves as a sort of "leash" for whoever's holding it. The one holding it is almost always a woman, and this trope can be seen as the visual equivalent of "pussy whipped", possibly serving as a visual cue for a Henpecked Husband or Mistress and Servant Boy. It's also a way of suggesting that some major league smooching (or beyond) is going to occur later off-screen.

Obviously, a tie serves as a handy holding strap for anyone to grab—but of course, Freudian psychologists are prompt to note that a full cravat is a phallic symbol — hence women using them to lead their men around.

This trope is usually used to indicate who has the control in a relationship and is almost always Played for Laughs, though very rarely you'll ever see it happen with a man holding a woman like this and have it be seen as funny. Also, women don't wear neckties as much. Instead he'll lead her off using the Standard Female Grab Area. See also Angry Collar Grab.

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Examples:

Anime & Manga

• Done accidentally by Maya to Phoenix at the end of Season 1 of Ace Attorney (2016), after Pearl shoves her onto the train when Phoenix is leaving, Maya grabbing his tie and accidentally choking him to steady herself.
• Rare girl-on-girl example in the Azur Lane anime: when she realizes one symptom of Enterpise's PTSD is that she Forgets to Eat, Belfast grabs her by the tie and marches her down to the mess hall for a standoff. Enterprise is... less than pleased. Other bystanders interpret the passing women differently:
  HMS Javelin: A lovers' quarrel?
• In Bakuman。, after Takagi says that he's confident Yakusa North High will be begging for him to attend in spite of his being suspended for punching Ishizawa, his girlfriend Miyoshi does this to Mashiro, who's walking alongside her, and tells him that she likes him because he says things like that.
• A male-male version happens in both the manga◊ and anime of Beastars. Louis grabs Legoshi's tie when the latter tries to walk out of the room while the former is requesting a favor from him.
• In Chapter 233 of Case Closed, Sato does this to Takagi as she demands him to tell her where the nearest restroom is.
• Ryoko torments her subordinate this way in The Case Files of Yakushiji Ryoko, showing that he is basically her slave-boy. Monami, Ryoko's clone loves doing this to him as well, to the point that he once had to sleep in her bed because she fell asleep still holding it.
• A male-on-male example occurs in Genshiken, when Ogiue draws a hardcore Yaoi doujinshi inspired by an incident with Madarame, who had been out searching for jobs, in preparation for his upcoming graduation, and was wearing a full suit and tie. Sasahara comes by the club room while Madarame is taking a break, and it's just the two of them. They have a conversation about job-hunting, and Madarame mentions that he bought the tie off the bargain rack. Sasahara takes the end of the tie and bends in for a closer look—and at that exact moment, Ogiue walks in. It's a completely innocent situation, but just for a moment, it looks like something out of a yaoi manga, and Ogiue's imagination immediately begins running wild.
• In the first episode of Gunslinger Girl, a thug gets the bright idea to grab Giuseppe by the tie and threaten him. Henrietta is standing right there and is not happy with this arrangement. Long story short, all the thugs end up dead.
• The titular Haruhi Suzumiya tends to do this to Kyon in the anime adaptation, though in the original light novels she usually pulls him along arm in arm instead:
  • In the first chronological episode of the anime, Kyon is dragged off in this fashion by Haruhi when she decides to form her own club, quickly establishing who's in charge of their strange friendship.
  • Again, midway through the second OP, with a bold tug.
• A male-on-male version: in an Hetalia: Axis Powers strip, Norway strangles Denmark with his own tie.
• Hyakunichikan!!:
  • Chiho and her friends pull Shuuto around by his school uniform's tie when Playing House, where he's the "dog".
  • Kanami grabs her servant Tanaka by his tie when she's trying to make Shuuto jealous.
• Tsuboi-sensei of Imouto wa Shishunki gets help tying his tie from the wrong teacher and winds up with an actual leash.
• In Love Live! Sunshine!!, Student Council President Dia pulls Mari, the school director (who is also a student), toward her by her neckerchief when Mari entertains a distraction. It's an unconventional example where neither party is a guy, and while Dia's personality is more forceful than Mari's, the puller doesn't actually have any power over the pull-ee.
• Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha StrikerS: In the manga, Subaru, in response to people still judging her and Teana as the "airheaded pair," says that if they continue to do well, people will change their minds. Teana, irritated, grabs Subaru's necktie, pulls her in and reminds her that it's her fault they got that reputation.
• Maid-Sama!:
  • In chapter 37, Usui proposes a round of the Pocky Game when Misaki asks him for something. Eventually, she complies and ends up pulling him in for a kiss by his tie.
  • Another example from the same series was when Misaki grabbed Kuuga to threaten him into stopping flirting with her and leading Sakura on.
• In Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun, the usual roles are gender-flipped with Hori frequently depicted as dragging around Kashima by her necktie. The fourth volume cover also features a more traditional version, with Seo doing so with Waka.
• A non-romantic and non-funny example occurs in Noir when Kirika breaks a man's neck by flipping him over a beam while holding his tie. It's not pretty. But it's unbelievably AWESOME.
• No Matter How I Look at It, It's You Guys' Fault I'm Not Popular! has a rare female example used to unexpectedly heartwarming effect. Tomoko wants to say goodbye to the graduating Megumi Imae, who showed her kindness multiple times in the past but gets cold feet when she sees the older girl surrounded by others who also want to see her off. Cue Yoshida, the resident Japanese Delinquent with a Hidden Heart of Gold, forcefully dragging Tomoko by the necktie in her uniform over to Megumi so they can give each other a proper farewell.
• Done to Sanji of One Piece in a pre-violent way. After admitting that he can't beat Kalifa because he Wouldn't Hit a Girl, the CP 9 agent does this before kicking him off the balcony of her room. The entire time she's mocking him for being too weak for overcoming his moral issues. There was a lot of Freudian undertones there.
• In episode 7 of Say "I Love You", Mei uses this to kiss Yamato.
• In the third volume of the yaoi manga Under Grand Hotel Swordfish does this to Sen.
• In Yuri!!! on Ice, there's a male-on-male example when Yuri grabs the tie of his coach Victor in episode 8. Considering the two officially had a Relationship Upgrade the previous episode, the symbolism is obvious and is quite surprising coming from Yuri.
• In Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku, Hanako grabs Tarou's tie to forcefully correct Naoya's misconception that Narumi is going out with him. Meanwhile, Narumi is taking notes and thinking she can use the image for her BL work.

Comedy

• This Victor Borge comedy routine, involving a rather...interesting signal to turn the page of Borge's sheet music.

Comic Books

• Superboy (1994): After Roxy ties Superboy's necktie for him so he can look presentable for a date with Tana she yanks him towards the door with it telling him not to be late.
• In Supergirl story arc Death & the Family, after knocking Inspector Henderson off his feet, Silver Banshee grabs his necktie and yanks upwards to force her to look into her eyes while she interrogates him.

Fan Works

• A very serious example in Hetalia: Axis Powers fanfic Gankona, Unnachgiebig, Unità. The homophobe used Italy's tie to restrain and choke him.
  The two nations rushed towards the assaulter in the quickest of flashes, ready to beat the ever-loving life out of him—"Stop right there or else he gets it!"—only for the attacker to take the victim's tie and turn it into a noose as the assailant wrapped it around his neck, gagging noises filling the tense atmosphere as the fabric constricted him even further.
• In Kyon: Big Damn Hero, Haruhi does this regularly, so much so that Kyon once counters by pulling her out of class by her neckerchief.
• In The Rebel and the Chosen, Tonks uses this technique to pull Harry into a kiss.
• Although it never occurs in the movie itself, there is a poster for Zootopia showing Judy pulling Nick by his tie, and a number of shipfic writers have picked up and run with it.
• Gender inverted in i won't let you where Kokichi often drags Kaede around by her tie, normally to stop her doing stupid.

Films — Animation

• During the song "Topsy Turvy" from The Hunchback of Notre Dame, during her dance Esmeralda runs up to Frollo, pulls him toward her face with her scarf, and kisses him.
• Shows up briefly in The Incredibles. During the Good-Times Montage, there is a shot of Helen Parr dragging Bob back into the house by his tie. And since he has Super-Strength and appears to outweigh her by about 200 pounds, this would be the aforementioned fetish appeal usage.
• Averted in Toy Story and Toy Story 2. While Woody does have a neckerchief on, Bo Peep uses her shepherd's crook to drag Woody along.
• A Zootopia movie poster and the scene that plays during the menu on the Blu-ray show Judy doing this to Nick, although the only one to do this to him in the movie proper is Finnick, and only very briefly.

Films — Live-Action

• Beyond the Valley of the Dolls: The sexually dominant Ashley drags a random guy around by his necktie while trying to catch Harris' eye at the same time. She later does a variant of this to Harris himself (grabbing his belt instead) as she takes him away for some fun.
• Michelle performing this on Jesse at the end of Bound (2015) is meant to represent the shift of power between them.
• In Captain America: The First Avenger, a military secretary does this to Steve when she attempts to seduce him. It kind of works too, at least up until his Love Interest walks in on the two.
• A man is dragged off by a dancer in this fashion in Charlie Wilson's War, with the heavy implication that they have sex later.
• In The Dark Knight Rises, Bane uses a man's necktie to whip him around the stock market floor before he knocks him unconscious. As with many things in The Dark Knight Trilogy, this is not played for laughs.
• In Liar Liar, Miranda seduces Fletcher into having sex with her by grabbing hold of his necktie to pull him in for a deep kiss.
• Tina Carlyle compliments Stanley Ipkiss's tie when they first meet in The Mask, pulling and stroking it suggestively. He responds that "it's a power tie. It's supposed to make me feel... powerful," while his body language reveals that at the moment, intimidated by her sexuality, he's feeling anything but.
• The poster of the movie Pretty Woman feature Julia Roberts's character doing this to Richard Gere's.
• In Thank You for Smoking, Nick arrives in front of Heather's door and knocks. She opens up and pulls him in by the necktie. A Wall Bang Her scene ensues.
• Venom (2018): After Eddie and Anne come home from a happy date night, Eddie Gender Inverts this by pulling on her tie, but Anne plays it straight when she takes it off and loops it around his neck, and leads him to the bedroom by it. Unfortunately, it's their last night as a couple.
• Jessica Rabbit does this to Eddie Valiant during her introduction number in the Ink and Paint club in Who Framed Roger Rabbit.
• In Zig Zag (2002), a prostitute does this while trying to seduce Mr. Walters because she desperately needs $100.

Literature

• In The Long Dark Teatime Of The Soul, Kate uses this trope on Dirk when she's chewing him out for following her and running into her car. He eventually gets tired of this and defies it by taking off his tie and handing it to her.
• In Silicon Wolfpack, Mark and Epsilon each try this during the course of their fight. They are both wearing clip-ons.

Live-Action TV

• Battlestar Galactica (2003): Head Six does this to Gaius when he calls her "insane" during an argument. Since Six isn't really there it looks to the guards standing nearby like Gaius randomly grabbed his own tie while shouting at himself.
• In a skit from The Benny Hill Show, a drunk Benny is at a party chatting up a beautiful woman.
  Woman: You look just like my third husband.
  Benny: How many husbands have you had?
  Woman: Two!
  (and the woman drags Benny off by his necktie)
• In a rare male-male example, the Bones episode "The Man in the Cell" has a very annoyed Booth grab Zach Addy's tie and lead him out of an examination room.
• In an episode of Cheers, people keep trying to grab Coach by his tie when he tells them he invited Diane back to Cheers - but he's wearing a clip-on, so it just comes right off! Eventually, Coach grabs his own tie and throws it to the floor.
• The Season 8 opening credits sequence of The Cosby Show has Sabrina Le Beauf (Sondra) doing this to Geoffrey Owens (Elvin) to symbolize their characters' relationship. It's more lighthearted than most examples, especially because Owens is smiling as Le Beauf leads him along.
• Doctor Who: In "The Eleventh Hour", Amy Pond does this repeatedly to the Eleventh Doctor while he's still wearing Ten's outfit, including locking it in a car door to get information out of him. This is one of the many reasons the Doctor switches to a bowtie.
• Fawlty Towers: Downplayed in "Waldorf Salad". After the customers have made it clear they are not satisfied, Mr Hamilton yanks Basil's tie, and leaves it sticking up scruffily; this is swiftly followed by Basil's rant at his "demanding" guests.
• Glee: Another man-on-man example. Blaine tugs Kurt up onto the stage by his tie during "Love Shack".
  • And then Kurt does it to Blaine a year later to drag him into a hotel room where they had sex despite technically having broken up.
• On Married... with Children, Marcy did this to Jefferson when they were role-playing as Al and Peggy.
• In an episode of Open All Hours, David Jason's character gets suddenly pulled into a house by a woman.
• In Pushing Daisies Ned resurrects Chuck who has been placed in her coffin and Chuck (whose previous memory was of being strangled with a plastic sack) reacts by grabbing his tie and pulling him forward, causing him to hit his head on the coffin lid.
• In Stargate SG-1 Vala does this Cam's old friend Darrell when he asks her if she wants refreshment. "It's flammable!"
• CJ often kisses Danny using this in The West Wing.

Music

• Britney Spears does this to a middle-aged man in her 'Toxic' video.
• Vocaloid: "Trickery⇔Casino / Cheating⇔Casino" has Len being pulled close to Rin by his scarf.
• The main male character in ZZ Top's 'Sharp Dressed Man' video gets this.
• A Russian music and dance video depicts how a Cossack girl makes her interest in a man very plain. She sashays over to her reluctant love interest who shies away from her. After some posing to make her interest clear, she tires of this, takes off her shawl and lassoos him with it, pulling him to her. She then clasps her hand to his shoulder, in the manner of a policewoman concluding an arrest, and finally steals the sword from his scabbard. The young man is complately outclassed.

Pro Wrestling

• Has happened more than once to I.R.S.
• Became very popular in USA promotions after Bryan Danielson was fired by WWE for choking Justin Roberts with at tie.

Theatre

• In the highly Narmtastic Superman musical It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's Superman, Sassy Secretary Sydney does this to Clark Kent in the song "You've Got Possibilities".

Video Games

• In Doom Eternal, the Doom Slayer marches through the Phobos space station and comes across a locked gate and the key card that opens it, which is hanging from the neck of a hapless desk-jockey. In his typical goal-obsessed take-no-shit manner, the Slayer grabs the key card to swipe it over the reader, while dragging the man along by the neck. At least he does it gently.
• Invoked in Super Smash Bros. where some characters look like they are doing this to Donkey Kong when they grab him, through careful placing of their models.
• In Trauma Team, this seems to be Naomi's favorite way of getting Little Guy's attention.

Web Comics

• This piece of Culture Shock fanart.

Web Videos

• Channel Awesome:
  • Part of The Angry Video Game Nerd vs. The Nostalgia Critic Final Battle involved the Nerd grabbing the Critic's tie in order to beat him up (about 15 seconds in here).
  • And according to Spoony, it's always good to have something to hold onto when you ride the pony.
  • And in fic, the amount of times that tie has been grabbed, pulled or been used as some kind of bondage has got to be far in the double-digits by now.
  • Once again involving Spoony, during Kickassia episode 3 he briefly grabs Chris Larios' tie, but doesn't hold on for long or really pull.
  • Obscurus Lupa joins in on the fun in Suburban Knights. She's done it twice so far.
  • It also got pulled quite a bit when he was a tied to a chair hostage in a Game Heroes kidnapping promo. Considering they had a gun at his head and he was already scared out of his mind, it's safe to say they were just doing it for the dominance factor.

Western Animation

• DuckTales: A non-romantic example appears in "Time is Money"; Scrooge grabs Launchpad's scarf and uses it to drag him into the house when he's trying to talk him into watching Bubba. While it doesn't have the usual romantic overtones, it still plays into the power dynamic aspect of the trope, given that Launchpad works for Scrooge and has an accommodating enough personality that the older duck can usually talk him into following his plans pretty easily.
• Huntress does this to The Question in the Justice League Unlimited episode "Double Date" when it's heavily implied that they have sex offscreen.

Real Life

• Police uniforms never include "real" ties (clip-on, if any) in order to prevent this or worse. (The same goes for many jobs that involve a risk of dealing with "difficult" people, i.e. angry drunks)
  • This is also true for ties and id-cards worn by people in security firms.
    • Que the often heard: "Stop removing my tie!" From the Beefeaters in front of the Royal Palace.
  • Same goes for people in places where they operate heavy machinery (admittedly, these guys don't usually wear ties, but there is always some manager that decides to visit wearing a three-piece suit.)
• This trope is basically why Badass in a Nice Suit without a clip-on is a bad idea. We'll let Jackie Chan here demonstrate, courtesy of Cracked.

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