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Parental Sexuality Squick

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Peter Quill: I don't need to hear how my parents...
Drax: Why? My father would tell the story of impregnating my mother every winter solstice.
Peter: That's disgusting.
Drax: [offended] It was beautiful! You Earthers have hang-ups!

Do you have parents? Are your parents human? Do you have any siblings, particularly any who are not your twin/triplet/etc?

If you have answered "yes" to any of these questions, then... it logically follows that your parents have had sex, at least once in their lives, and quite possibly more than once.

Of course...

  • You could be the product of In-Vitro Fertilization (IVF), informally called a "test-tube baby." But IVF is expensive even with insurance, and is generally only done after couples have been trying to conceive the old-fashioned way for a long period of time. Unless they're the same sex, in which case they're probably still making sweet love one way or another.
  • You could be some kind of deity or demi-deity, arising out of a virgin birth — but statistically, that's so unlikely as to be impossible. And, as Dogma pointed out, being the product of a virgin birth doesn't necessarily mean your parents didn't get it on afterwards.

But I Digress. Now, listen closely: Barring the above exceptions, your parents put Tab A into Slot B to bring you into the world.

Disgusting, isn't it?

In fiction, it's common enough to see a child react with curiosity to their parents in a Primal Scene. But once they reach puberty, the very thought that their parents might be doing the nasty (or even just kissing in front of them, for the G-rated version) is enough to send them searching for the Brain Bleach. Usually by the time a child reaches their twenties, and is able to fully comprehend and empathize with sexual attraction and activity, this reaction lessens — generally from "Eww, gross!" to "I really didn't need to know that, Dad." — although for comedic effect, it might not fully go away, as Peter Quill in the page quote above can attest to.

The inversion, a parent grossed out by their adult child's sexual antics, is not uncommon. Compare I Banged Your Mom, Affection-Hating Kid (though most affection that kids gag at in media is SFW), Old People are Nonsexual (the belief that aging should kill sexuality). Contrast The Talk, which can be used to prevent this.


Examples:

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    Advertising 
  • A DirectTV ad plays on this, with the son going home to be comforted by his parents after getting a high cable bill, only to see them in the middle of a group of elderly couples engaging in slow massages. Which results in the son driving away with tears in his eyes, which in turn has him driving into "a pizzeria that makes really good baked ziti."
  • One Clorox Bleach commercial has a woman fixing breakfast as her senior citizen parents have come for an overnight visit. The dad then says, "Better hurry up with those eggs. Your mother and I worked up quite the appetite last night," as the two exchange very telling looks. Cut to the daughter now washing her bedsheets. For life's "bleachable" moments, indeed.
  • One Downy ad involves a teen being squicked out when his grandparents come out of a closet with wrinkled clothes.
  • An IKEA commercial features a middle-aged couple gleefully chasing each other around the house to the sound of country music, she wearing lingerie and rubber boots and wielding a pitchfork, and he in his underwear and wearing a pig mask. They're abruptly interrupted by their adult daughter arriving home, accompanied by her boyfriend, and they all stare mortified at each other—until the parents and boyfriend crack up. The tag line inquires whether it may be time to move out. (The parents bursting out laughing makes it a nice example of normalizing the older people's sexuality in spite of the embarrassment.)
  • One ad for a reverse mortgage features an adult woman visiting her parents and hearing her father complaining about his bad back. The daughter believes that his bad back is due to the stairs in the house and suggests that her parents downsize. Her mother responds: "It wasn't the stairs. Actually, we love the stairs." and maintains significant eye contact as her daughter shudders at the implications.

    Anime & Manga 
  • Boruto: After going back in time, Boruto meets the Genin version of his parents, Naruto and Hinata. He feels embarrassed from seeing their innocent interactions.
  • Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out!: Kiri and Yanagi catch the sight of their parents, Fujio and Tsuki, about to get it on. It traumatizes Kiri to the point that he's afraid to go home, and Yanagi warns their older sister Hana to stay away for a while.

    Comedy 
  • Jeff Foxworthy had a few short bits on the subjects. In one routine, Jeff recalls that when he first found out what the physical act of sex entailed, he couldn't imagine his parents doing that to each other.
    Jeff Foxworthy: I could never picture my mother screaming "give it up, you pot-bellied stallion!"
  • Comedian Christian Finnegan ends a bit on sex with the knowledge that your parents had sex. On a live recording, he goes into very explicit detail about making love with "your parents" as the subject. By the end, some audience members can be audibly heard begging him to stop.

    Comic Books 
  • Deadpool: Deadpool runs into this with his and Shiklah's daughter, Warda in the 2099 story. Warda hates her father but thinks highly of her mother.
    Warda: What did Shiklah ever see in you anyway?
    Deadpool: Well my nickname used to be The Merc with a Mouth, and let's just say I knew how to use it.
    Warda: You're a gross old man!!
  • Ms. Marvel: This is downplayed in Ms. Marvel: Beyond the Limit, as more Parental Affection Squick — in the first issue, Kamala finds her parents being mushy and affectionate to be very off-putting.
    Parental affection... it's almost enough to make me lose my appetite...
  • Spider-Girl: This is Mayday's reaction to hearing her mom's going to have another baby. Her thought process goes directly from "How could this happen?" to "EWWW!"
  • Spider-Man: In Superior Spider-Man, when Peter discovers he is able to rifle through Octavius's memories, he finds one of the night before Doc Ock's planned marriage to Aunt May (the plot of a real comic from 1973), and quickly tries to convince himself he hadn't.
  • Supergirl:
    • Supergirl (Rebirth): Downplayed. Supergirl really doesn't like hearing her foster parents flirt when she's around (or when she is not around — she can hear them from anywhere, literally). They are not concerned about her squicked reaction, though.
      Jeremiah: What I did miss?
      Edna: Just the launch, Jeremiah. But the new uniform sure fits.
      Supergirl: Comms are live. I can hear you two.
      Edna: We're your parents, Kara. We're not dead.
    • Many Happy Returns: Linda learns that her mother got pregnant. When their parents explain the hows and whys, she decides she did NOT need to know that.
      Linda: How did this happen?!
      Fred: What—
      Linda: Are you responsible for this?
      Fred: What the hell kind of question's that?
      Linda: Haven't you ever heard of protection?
      Fred: I had a gun nearby. Didn't help.
      Sylvia: Remember that afternoon you kind of surprised us, when your dad and I reconciled? Well, I think that's when...
      Linda: Oh, I SO don't need to hear that! Jeez, Ma, you're too old old to be having—
      Sylvia: Sex?
      Linda: I was gonna say "a baby", but yeah, the other thing, too.
  • Superman: Jon accidentally discovers that, apparently, Lois has kept Clark's very-revealing gladiator costume from Warworld (which looks suspiciously like a piece of Superman-inspired leather S&M gear) in her and Clark's bedroom closet, and is utterly mortified by the implications.
  • Tom Strong: The 26th issue has Tom's daughter Tesla Strong express disgust at the realization that her parents are having sex as they are returning to Earth.

    Comic Strips 
  • Inverted in 9 Chickweed Lane. Parents Amos and Edda discuss what their newborn children will think when they envision their parents having sex. "Can you for a moment imagine being our kids, thinking of us locked in an act of most private intimacy?" Apparently, imagining that turns them on.
  • FoxTrot had a story arc where Andy decided to discuss "the birds and the bees" with her teenage daughter Paige. Paige is shown to be incredibly uncomfortable, but one comic implies that it's because Andy keeps referencing her own relationship with husband Roger. ("So the boy might say 'C'mon, just one hickey'. That's what your father said...")
  • In Baby Blues, Zoe and Hammie have been known to act grossed out whenever they see Darryl and Wanda kiss, if only as a form of "entertainment." In one strip, when Darryl and Wanda catch Zoe and Hammie snickering as they kiss, Wanda asks them if they think it's funny when they kiss. Zoe replies no...just when they kiss each other.

    Fan Works 
  • Alysanne, Lady of Winterfell: Alarra is perfectly okay with her father and Alysanne getting married, but she freaks out when Alysanne announces her pregnancy because it's clear evidence they are sleeping together.
  • Amazing Fantasy: Downplayed. After an Imagine Spot gives Izuku a Raging Stiffie, he desperately tries to get it to go away by trying to Think Unsexy Thoughts. One of the images he brings up is his Amazingly Embarrassing Parents kissing.
  • Back to Zero: Inverted when Cassidy casually talks about Jessie's sex life with their boss Giovanni. Unbeknownst to either Cassidy or Jessie, Giovanni is Jessie's father. Giovanni isn't exactly interested in hearing about his child's intimate life.
  • Blanket: After Taylor heals the long-term effects of her dad's stroke, leaving her exhausted, she wakes up to find that neither of her parents is in the room — but she can hear both their voices from the direction of the shower, and promptly leaves the house in search of anything else to occupy her attention.
    "Ew, ew, ew, ew, ewwww."
  • The Bolt Chronicles: Happens a few times in these stories, in all cases expressed using the phrase "TMI."
    • In "The Autobiography", Penny is disgusted by the possibility that her mother may be looking at porn on her laptop.
    • In "The Cameo", Bolt is embarrassed by his father's dissolute sex life.
  • The Booty Call: To remain blissfully ignorant, Ivy very much insists that no one in her family, including her parents, has ever had sex.
  • A Boy, a Girl and a Dog: The Leithian Script: Elves don't find discussions concerning sex inappropriate or squicky, not even when it's about family members' sex lives, and they find funny how humans make a big deal of it or how they react with shock about the fact that Elves celebrate conception days instead of birthdays.
  • In Daria fic Camera Obscure, by A.A. Pessimal, Quinn Morgendorffer is completely squicked out over her parents reviving a moribund sex life, and begs to spend the night sleeping in her sister's room. Daria pretends not to understand and makes her suffer before relenting.
    Daria: They're married. They got a licence to practice. Get over it.
  • Child of the Storm has Harry develop a subdued variant on this in regards to his father, Thor (formerly incarnated as James Potter) and Jane. He's happy that they're happy, once he gets used to Jane, but he doesn't want to know the details — though he does sometimes act oblivious to force his father to try and explain things, thus embarrassing himself.
  • The Dark Lords of Nerima: In the last chapter of the sequel, Sailor Pluto mentions that the new timeline they've created will result in Chibi-Usa being conceived sooner. She glances over at Mamoru and Usagi and winces at the thought.
  • Dating Advice, a Meet the Robinsons fanfic: Lewis ends up swapping dating stories with his Kid from the Future Wilbur and mentions that one of the girls he dated prior to Franny (Wilbur's mother) helped him realize how much he liked kids; Wilbur comments on how disturbing he finds that. Lewis points out that he needs to like kids for Wilbur to exist; Wilbur counters "There are many things necessary for my existence that I don't like to think about." Lewis can't respond because he's laughing so hard.
  • Describing The Series Via References features the main cast of RWBY reading their series' memes. Several of those memes relate to either how sexy their parents are, or the sexual escapades of Ruby and Yang's father. The characters are suitably mortified.
  • Dragon Ball Z Abridged: The Season 3 Epilogue has deleted scenes where Trunks talks to Bulma about how little she prepared him for Vegeta. She proceeds to, in this deleted scene, talk about how she and Vegeta had sex and Bulma went along with it.
    Bulma: At that point, I figured "in for a penny, in for a pounding", and I really was.
    Trunks: [External] [Screaming]
  • A Few Needed Adjustments: Keisuke is uncomfortable hearing Kyubi describing his past affair with Fumi. By contrast, Natsume (who just learned Kyubi is her biological dad) is just bored:
    Kyubi: She was so much more polite, kind, and beautiful than any other lady.
    Keisuke: OK, I'm not listening to you gross people anymore.
    Kyubi: I didn't know she was married at first. I just saw, conquered, and came.
    Keisuke: OK, Natsume, I'm just going to bed, my fingers are not working.
  • Fifth Year Rebooted:
    Harry: Erm, one of the enchantments that aren't active anymore was… like… a contraceptive?
    Dudley: I don't want to think about my parents doing that!
    Harry: Me neither!
  • Inverted in Gabriel gets used to... (Adrien having a Girlfriend). There, it's Gabriel who is forced to order extra soap to wash out his eyes whenever he encounters evidence that his son's relationship with Marinette progresses as expected for their age rather than seven to ten years younger.
  • Hero Chat: The heroes discuss Hawkmoth having a bird kink after he Akumatizes Jagged Stone into the bird-themed "Canary", complete with Glam Rock makeup and fishnet stockings. Luka asks if they can kinkshame Hawkmoth another time since said Akuma was his dad, but to no avail.
  • How the Light Gets In:
    • Thea is horrified when she walks in on Dean about to go down on Laurel. They're both a Parental Substitute to her, so it counts as this. A thoroughly amused Sara then makes the situation even worse for Thea.
      Sara: It's been like half a year, dude. Of course they're gonna fuck tonight. Probably more than once. In different positions and everything.
      Thea: Oh, god. Please don't talk about them fucking in different positions.
      Sara: Okay, they'll just stay in the one position.
      Dean: Did you think we were sexless beings?
      Thea: Yes!
      Dean: Oh. Right. Well, okay then. You're right. We don't have sex. In fact, we're virgins. Mary was an immaculate conception. Better?
    • Sara then starts to talk about the time she walked in on her parents having sex, only to be cut off by Laurel
      Laurel: Oh, please don't tell the hide and seek story again. I want to have sex tonight. I don't want to think about my parents.
      Sara: Eh, point taken.
  • Just The Three Of Us, an Amphibia fic, has Anne dealing with this in her twenties when she and her girlfriends Sasha and Marcy accidentally get some of her parents 'private photos' mixed in with some Halloween stuff. This trope is not helped out by the fact that Sasha and Marcy think Anne's mom's still pretty hot, so Anne's both mortified by seeing her mom in sexy poses for her father and by Sasha calling her mom a 'caramel milf-shake'.
  • Kris Performs Surgery: In episode 101, Carci mentions that Optica (the Anthropomorphic Personification of Rudy's frontal lobe) is forced to watch all of Rudy's repressed memories. When Rudy questions this, Carci gives "the time you walked in on your parents making you a baby bro when you were four" as an example, horrifying Rudy.
    Rudy: ...I did not need to be reminded of that.
  • The Legend of Link: Lucky Number 13:
    • Link — using his godly insight — accidentally witnesses his parents having sex in a bathroom.
      Link: Today's life lesson: seeing your parents have sex is gross, even if you're a god.
    • Later lampshaded by Fate:
      Fate: ... and children, lest you want to see your mothers naked, I'd turn away.
  • Lord Potter's Own Will:
    Harry: My Dad is such a perv. Can't portrait people shag other portraits?
    Sirius: I've no idea, why don't you ask your Mum or Dad when we get home?
    Harry: Oh, hell no. Look, in my mind they only did it once, and that was to have me. No one should ever think about their parents shagging!
  • Love Isn't What You Always Think It Is:
    Snape: True. We have had some epic fights. I think the longest we went without speaking to each other was a week and it only lasted that long because someone was hurt and unconscious. I did thank you properly for quitting after that?
    Harry: Yes, you did. Once I recovered, I believe you prescribed three more days of bed rest and we didn't do much resting.
    Septimus: Ohhhh yuck, so didn't need to hear that. It's bad enough watching the two of you kissing but to hear you discussing that. Sorry, my parents are virgins.
  • In Mass Effect: End of Days, a human boy born to an Alliance AI and a human (It Makes Sense in Context) hears his mother discussing sexuality with Legion. Reaction... predictable.
  • In a Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers fanfic, set in the future, the original Rangers are now middle-aged, and their children are serving as Rangers. Kimberly is married to Rocky. They have seven children, including a set of twins. The oldest, 18-year-old Billy, finds out that the original Billy (now deceased) is his actual father, and Rocky isn't. In the end, that makes him feel relieved. Why? Because now he can imagine that Kimberly and Rocky have had sex only five times, instead of six.
  • Multiversal Constants being an Alternate Dimension fanfic, it gives Jon and Damian the opportunity to react like this.
    • Jon actually was a huge Shipper on Deck for his (alternate-future) parents, but when they finally get together and Conner jokes about Jon's counterpart being born nine months later, his reaction is a big pile of NOPE.
    • To explain how wrong he finds alternate Dick crushing on Zatanna — who's MUCH older in his home dimension — Damian says it would be like his eldest brother was dating his mother.
  • In My Old Kentucky Home Pandora Lovegood has an encounter with Narcissa Malfoy after feeding her marijuana brownies.
    Lily: Well as long as you didn't catch anything.
    Pandora: She is very careful and I made certain I was as well.
    Harry: Can we not talk about that. Parent sex is not cool.
  • Naru-Hina Chronicles: In Chapter 96, Naruto stumbles upon one of his dad's equipment satchels, which contains pictures of Minato and Kushina together... along with a picture of his mother naked. He's understandably mortified at the last one.
  • In The Official Fanfiction University Of Middle-earth, Legolas doesn't want to hear about his parents' romantic escapades.
    "Is it any wonder we get written as bunnies, doing everyone at every opportunity?" Legolas said darkly. To his amazement, his father only smiled.
    "Alas, they do not realise that since we do not arrange marriages among Elves and marry only when we are most certain it is love, we like to enjoy the rewards of such a strong love. Your mother and I have enjoyed..."
    This time, Legolas put his own hands over his ears and blocked the rest of the sentence out. Some things were the same, be you Elf, Human or Balrog. There were mental images concerning your parents that just weren't right.
  • In The Official Fanfiction University of Redwall, when the infamous "Of Warlords and Pleasures" fics come to the staff's attention, Veil Sixclaw is subject to this despite the Swartt Sixclaw fic being the least bad of the bunch.
  • This parody of The Owl House has Amity discovering a hickey on her mother's neck, to which the twins quickly put two and two together; Amity is mortified, Edric is disgusted, but Emira is hopeful that they might get another sibling.
  • Path Of Needles: Sarada is grossed out when her parents reveal that they're having another baby. She thought they were "too old" to still be having sex, despite that Sasuke and Sakura are only thirty-three.
  • In Pokémon fanfics that feature IronShipping (Byron/Riley), it is common for Roark, Byron's son, to express horror, shock, or disgust at the thought of his father and Riley (who is usually depicted as his childhood friend) sleeping together.
    • In One Stressful Week in Sunyshore, after learning about Riley's crush on Byron, Roark goes home and promptly has a nightmare where he walks in on the two of them having sex and completely loses it.
      Roark: YOU'RE... LIKE... TWENTY YEARS OLDER THAN HIM, DAD!
      Riley: Only seventeen years!
    • In That's Why I Love You, Byron prepares a Valentine's Day gift for Roark and another for Riley, but gets the packages mixed up, resulting in Riley receiving a bag of candy and a stuffed Cranidos, while Roark gets a box containing imported dark chocolate and a man thong. He is not happy when he finds out who it's for.
      Byron: (over the phone, as Roark is screaming in horror) Would you calm down already? Look, I'll come get 'em myself Monday and bring your gift with me.
      Roark: I want twice as much candy for the psychological damage.
      Byron: I'll give you psychological damage!
  • Raz seems to find Milla and Sasha being affectionate with one another rather exasperating in Razputin Vodello AU.
  • Played with in Recovery None as Church and Tex aren't Carolina's parents but are AI based off them. While fusing back together, they sound like they're having sex. Because Church was still connected to the comms system, that meant poor Carolina heard every detail. When Tex confirms that she and Church had sex (or the closest thing to it for an AI), Carolina is visibly queasy and nearly throws up.
  • In Rising Heat by Solcane (NSFW), Adrien, when speaking to his father, keeps remembering how him and Marinette had Their First Time during a class tour. It's a rather embarrassing case of arousal he struggles to keep hidden... until Gabriel drops a few words implying Adrien was conceived during a similar trip, and possibly even at the same place.
  • In one episode of Sailor Moon Abridged, Serena, after being drained and trapped by a monster, awakes (naked for some reason) in a mental world with Luna. Believing she's dead (and therefore free from being Sailor Moon), she hugs Luna in joy, just as Queen Serenity shows up, leading to this conversation:
    Queen Serenity: Hello, my daughter!
    Serena: Mom, it's not what you think!
    Queen Serenity: No, trust me, I get it; we each have our own kinks. I remember when your father....
    Serena: Mom, I've had enough emotional scarring for one day!
  • Sakamoto vs. Takamaki has Jean Takamaki (Ann and Shiho's son born from insemination) invoke this on Natsumi Sakamoto (Ryuji and Hifumi's daughter) to get her to stop attacking him, by pointing out that since Natsumi's birthday is exactly nine months after Ryuji's birthday, she was essentially conceived as her father's birthday present, much to her horror. Unfortunately for him, it only lasts a few times before he jokes that she wore ribbons in her hair as a kid because she was her dad's birthday present, leading her to punch him in the face and runs off. He admits to a confused Yoshio Sakamoto that he had that coming.
  • In Scorpius Malfoy and the Unwanted Attraction Scorpius is firmly convinced that his parents had sex only once, to consummate the marriage, and then conceived him via some vague magical process involving separate rooms.
  • The Secret Return of Alex Mack: Alex is incredibly grossed out when her mother mentions using a diaphragm. Given Alex's novel biochemistry, though, it's important to consider her contraceptive options...
  • In The Shoebox Project, the Marauders get The Talk. James gets it from his mom while his dad gives it to Sirius, and they argue over who had the worse experience.
    "She spoke about her and my dad and — you know."
    "Oh God." Sirius peeks out from behind the curtain. "You win."
  • Soda at 70 Proof; Rachel gets grossed out when her parents tell her about how her mother Experimented in College:
    Dad: Cut your mother some slack. She means well. There was that whole phase she went through in college…
    Rachel: Uh, la la la la la.
    Dad: Heh, sorry. It's just that seeing her all over that other girl made me realize how jealous I was and how much I loved her.
    Rachel: Ew! Can you censor yourself? Censor yourself in front of your daughter? Please?
  • Son of the Sannin: When Kurama is explaining to Naruto why he fears being sealed in the Gedo Mazo statue so much, he tells Naruto to imagine if someone tried to shove him back in his mother's womb, a comparison that makes Naruto scream in disgust.
  • Inverted and Played for Drama in Strategy Sets the Scene for the Tale with Alicent Hightower, in order to show how deeply repressed and smothering she is. Being horrified by your son cheating on his fiancée with prostitutes might be justified, but feeling disgusted because your son has consensual, loving sex with his bride on their wedding night certainly isn't.
  • Til Death Do Us Part:
    • Ash faints when he realizes what really occurred prior to a video-phone call he once gave. He remembers thinking it was weird that Professor Oak was wearing a bathrobe in the middle of the day and he swears he heard his mother's voice in the background. After the two reveal that they're a couple, Ash recognizes that he caught the two after having sex. He then faints again when Delia shows off her wedding ring.
    • Ash has a mixed reaction to the news his mom and step-dad are having a baby. It's largely due to this but also partially due to jealousy.
    • While not outright disgusted, Ash's younger half-sister Laurel gets embarrassed when she comes across her elderly parents getting ready to have sex. She promptly exits the house with her boyfriend.
  • Unchained zigzags with the trope. Uchiha Tajima is pretty chill when his daughter decides to steal a man for herself and Senju Toka mercilessly teases her younger cousin over his sex life, but Izuna's brothers are horrendously awkward and embarrassed by every reminder of their sister's marriage.
  • In Unexpected Surprise:
    • When Adrien tells Nino and Alya about him and Marinette using condoms which were already inside the room, Nino points out that, since the apartment used to be his mother's, they must have been intended for... at which point Adrien asks him not to go there.
    • Emma, when she sees Adrien kissing her mommy's neck, acts disgusted... and points out that when a guy wants a girl to like him, he's supposed to kiss her lips.
  • Us and Them: Aeris does not want to think about her parents doing the deed, at all.
    • Her response after getting the haul of sexy items that were foisted on her by a bridal goods shop ready to take back and realizing Ifalna kept one pair of black panties: "Eww."
    • After she laments how hard it must have been for her parents after she and Seph got married, he points out to Aeris (who has just given birth), that since her mother is as far along as she is, they probably had other things on their minds. Aeris promptly buries her head under the covers and starts singing until he stops.
  • White Sheep (RWBY):
    • Salem, immortal Queen of the Grimm, is absolutely shameless about her active love life, to the horror of all her children. Poor Cinder probably has it the worst. Since she's an adopted daughter, Salem keeps trying to set her up with her son Jaune, and giving very specific instructions on how she should seduce him.
    • Taiyang, Ruby's father, happily relates a story about how his teammates Raven and Summer made out on a dare. The problem is that Raven was Tai's first wife and Yang's mother, while Summer was Tai's second wife and Ruby's mother.
    • Kali and Ghira, Blake's parents, apparently have an active sex life they make no effort to hide. Blake is especially embarrassed when her mother assumes that the bell collar Blake is wearing is a sex thing.
  • Messages for Dad: Inverted; all the Primarchs, and the Emperor, are increasingly disturbed and grossed out whenever the Tapes (which show recordings a future timeline including the Primarch's children) show Rosalina, the Slaaneshi daemonhost. Rosalina being the future version of Rosie, Fulgrim's three-year-old daughter is major reason why.

    Films — Animated 
  • A kid-friendly version in The Emperor's New Groove is used by Pacha and Chicha to get their kids to go to bed:
    Pacha: Oh, you two can stay up. We're just gonna be sitting here talking about how much we love each other. (snuggles Chicha) Right, honey?
    Chicha: [grins and flutters her eyelashes at him.]
    Chaca: Ew!
    Tipo: Bleah!
    Both: Good night! [run off to bed]
  • Hotel Transylvania 3: Summer Vacation: When Mavis is startled by the thought of her father dating again, Johnny admits that he still closes his eyes anytime his parents kiss.

    Films — Live-Action 
  • Attenberg. Marina has a conversation with her father where she muses that she'd prefer to think of him without a penis. However her father is terminally ill, so she arranges for her Really Gets Around friend to provide Sex for Solace, but makes it clear this is one sexual conquest she doesn't want to hear about afterwards.
  • Baby Boy: In one of the funniest scenes in the movie, Jody is grossed out and can't sleep because his mom and her boyfriend are having sex—very loudly—in the other room. And they're not just moaning but describing everything they're doing, giving Jody plenty of visuals he could have done without.
  • Better Than Chocolate: Maggie and Paul both look embarrassed when their mom Lila mentions her sex life (or the lack thereof).
  • Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure uses the "give him money to go get himself ice cream while we do it" variant. Also gives Ted a way to annoy Bill over the Age-Gap Romance between Bill's dad and a girl just three years older than Bill himself. Of course, Bill is presumably also put out because his parents are kicking him out of his own bedroom to do it, which is perfectly understandable.
  • In Boar, Ella is visibly grossed out and demands the topic be changed when her mother Debbie starts talking about how she and Bruce (Ella's stepfather) still like to have 'fun'.
  • In Bridget Jones' Diary, as soon as she arrives at proposed (previously) Tarts and Vicars Party, Bridget narrates that she needs to stomach the idea of her 60-something mother and "Auntie Una" in fishnet tights and finds it a bit wrong that senior citizens would dress this sexy.
  • Click:
    • Michael Newman, after first discovering how his universal remote controller literally allows him to control his universe, is playing around with the functions and discovers a Making Of feature. Three guesses what it ends up taking him to.
      Michael: Change the channel!
    • A downplayed version also appears not long after the above scene. Whilst viewing his childhood memories, his parents start making out during a camping trip, prompting both the child Michael in the memory and the adult who's observing to pull identical expressions of disgust.
  • Easy A: Olive begs her mom to stop after the latter starts talking about her youth as a wild girl who slept with both boys and girls, mentioning how "limber" she was.
  • Father Figures is about two brothers finding out the man they thought was their father isn't, and that their mother isn't sure who he is given she was very promiscuous in her youth. As they go Gene Hunting and meet their father candidates, there's a Running Gag where they get disturbed when all the men describe the mother as being both incredibly attractive and incredibly good in the sack and them getting very weirded out by it.
  • Mr. Woodcock: The protagonist sneaks into his mother's house and, when he realizes she's come home, quickly hides under the bed. Guess what she and her boyfriend promptly start doing?
  • Crops up a few times in Kevin & Perry Go Large; in one scene, Kevin walks in on his parents, and later he alleges that they've only done it once, in order to conceive to him.
  • Happens in Next Friday when Craig's dad Willie is taking him to his uncle Elroy's until Deebo is found. During the drive, Willie says it'll be nice to have the house empty so that he and Craig's mom can "walk around butt-naked again," then he excitedly describes the naked fun they'll be having, which Craig does not want to hear about.
  • Marvel Cinematic Universe:
    • Played straight and inverted in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2: Drax broaches the subject when the group meets Peter's father, Ego the Living Planet ("How could he make a baby with your mother? He would smoosh her!") Peter is understandably squicked, but Drax isn't fazed, explaining proudly that his own father would tell the story of his conception every Winter Solstice, and tells Peter that humans have strange hang-ups.
    • Black Widow: Despite the fact that they were only their fake parents for 3 years as a sleeper cell, Natasha and Yelena are both grossed out when their surrogate father Alexei talks about what he wants to do with their surrogate mother Melina. They also get put off when Melina gives a wolf-whistle to Alexei donning his Red Guardian costume again.
      Natasha: Please don't do that.
  • Nowhere Boy: John has an uncomfortable moment at his mother's house, listening (or rather unable to not hear) as she loudly has sex with her common-law husband/live-in boyfriend.
  • In The SM Judge, the protagonists are a judge and his wife. One of his enemies tries to destroy his career by publicly using their sex life against him. One tactic used by this enemy is to force their daughter to watch a video of them having BDSM sex. This makes her break off all contact with them. Not because of the scandal or the BDSM, but simply because they had a sex-life, period. "You are my parents, and parents don't have sex!"
  • Somebody I Used to Know: Ally, on coming home, finds her mom Libby is having sex with her boyfriend in her room (who'd been one of Ally's teachers), which makes her retreat in dismay quickly. Later she walks in on them again, this time while on the couch.
  • In Sybil, the title character is described as having spent her nights until she was about ten in a crib beside her parents' bed, never being given an opportunity to leave the room while they had sex. It's considered among the many, many cases of abuse she endures that causes her disassociation.
  • In You Don't Mess with the Zohan, Zohan starts sleeping with his host, which horrifies her Manchild son Michael. He only makes it worse by revealing Too Much Information to Michael numerous times.

    Jokes 
  • "Have you ever wondered if your Mom kissed you goodnight after giving your Dad a blowjob? You are now."
  • "The one thing you do not want to think about while eating: that at some point, your grandparents had to have sex."
  • "If you have a biological younger sibling whose birthday is approximately 9 months after your own birthday, then it's entirely likely that your parents had sex and conceived your younger sibling during one of your birthdays."
  • After peeking through the key hole into his parents' bedroom, the kid sighs and says: "And these people give me crap for picking my nose!"

    Literature 
  • Keeper of the Lost Cities: In Neverseen, Della mentions that she initially rejected Alden's advances because of the pressures that come with nobility. Fitz and Biana are put off by the talk of "advances" between their parents.
  • Happens in Memory by Lois McMaster Bujold. Ivan freaks out when he learns that his mother has gained a boyfriend in Simon Illyan.
    Ivan: They're old, Miles! It's, it's, it's... undignified. Or something. Scandalous. She's high Vor, and he's, he's... Illyan.
  • In The Princess Diaries, Mia walks in on her mother and her math teacher having breakfast together in bedwear. Her mother claims that nothing happened, he was sleeping on the couch, but Mia knows the truth. She even points out that Lily would psycho-analyze it to be a lie said to assuage Mia's horror realization that her mother was not a maternal, and there non-sexual, being.
  • In Sein Language, Jerry Seinfeld says that nobody wants to visualize their parents having sex and that if he found out he was adopted, this would be great news because that would mean it was possible that his parents were just really good friends.
    I mean, sex is a great thing and all but you don't want to think that your whole life began because somebody maybe had a little too much wine with dinner.
  • The Mermaid's Mirror: When Lena is searching her parents' room for the lock opened by the key the mermaid gave to her, she opens her mom's bedside drawer and is disgusted to find sexy underwear. She's afraid to open her dad's drawer because it might contain "marital things." She opens and closes it as quickly as possible, and doesn't describe whatever she sees.
  • Love Over Gold: When Diane comes out to her mum as lesbian, her mum tells her that she once experimented with her friend Elaine. Diane is horrified by the thought of her being sexually active.
    Mum: Oh, so I'm supposed to be all accepting of your sexuality, but the moment you hear about a snippet of my sex life, you act like it's all horrendous and terrible?
    Diane: That's different. You're my mum, you're not supposed to have a sex life.
  • Books of the Raksura: Stone is his colony's line-grandfather and is centuries old, so when he unexpectedly takes an interest in someone — an outsider of a different species, no less — his younger relatives are as confused as they are appalled. When Moon points out that Stone probably already has experience navigating Exotic Equipment, Jade cuts off the conversation.
  • Diary Of A Worm: One of the photos in Worm's collection shows his parents kissing with the caption "Mom and Dad's anniversary — gross!"
  • Averted in To Shape a Dragon's Breath by Anequs and the other children of Masquapaug Island. When the men return home from months away at whaling, it's expected that their children will go spend the day after the return celebration out of the house until sunset, leaving the wives to welcome their husbands home "in their own way." None of the children think anything is squicky about it.

    Live-Action TV 
  • Awkwardly subverted once on America's Funniest Home Videos when a couple announced to their 3 children that they were going to soon have a new sibling, one of the boys (who looks to be about 6 or 7 years old) exclaims, "Way to go, dad!" and gives his dad a high-five.
  • One episode of Arrested Development has Michael convincing his mother to visit his father in a conjugal trailer. While Michael is mildly discomforted by the discussion, his brother GOB reacts with outright disgust when Michael talks to him about it. GOB is later detained against the window of said trailer during their visit.
  • Arrow. When Quentin Lance is revealed to be involved with Donna Smoak their respective daughters have Brain Bleach reaction (though that may be related to them regarding it as an In-Universe Crack Pairing).
  • Avocado Toast:
    • Heidi is horrified to hear her parents have an open marriage, having run away when her mom said this, After coming back to find them dancing with Patricia and Hunter (she thinks as a prelude to sex) she freaks out again.
    • Elle is equally dismayed learning her mom is dating a younger man (while partly due to it being cheating, since she's married, Elle dislikes it on general principles).
  • The Big Bang Theory:
    • The gang has gotten a hold of one of the prop rings from The Lord of the Rings movies and are holding it together, with the last one standing getting the ring. Howard and Rajesh try to psych Sheldon out by invoking this about his beloved grandmother.
      Howard: Think about it. The only reason you exist is because your grandmother had sex.
      Raj: Yeah, Meemaw did the nasty!
    • Howard is on the receiving end of this too. He sees Stuart, as male nurse and home-help, getting too friendly for comfort with his mother. When Raj tries to raise the possibility that his mother and Stuart might have crossed the line and become... errrr...., Howard is mortally squicked out and refuses to entertain the possibility.
    • A double dose of this occurs when Sheldon’s mother (who’s widowed) and Leonard’s father (who’s divorced) meet and quickly hit it off. During dinner they both decide to leave early at the same time, where it not only turns out they’re both staying at the same hotel, they go so far as to turn their cell phones off for the remainder of the night. It ultimately turns out that nothing happened, but the thought alone was enough to thoroughly discomfort both Sheldon and Leonard.
      Sheldon: …I don’t like this at all.
      Leonard: …I don’t like it either
      Penny: Really? (Bursts out laughing) Cause I love it!
  • In Blossom, her parents nearly sleep together after being divorced for years. Blossom and Tony discuss it afterwards. Tony admits they just like to think their parents had sex only three times (one for each child). Blossom says she likes to think they just did it twice, and Joey was sent to Earth by aliens.
  • Subverted in one episode of Boy Meets World. Shawn is trying to leave the house quickly and when he walks toward the window he panics because Cory's parents are having fun in the backseat of the car. Instead of being squicked, Cory thinks his parents are really badass.
  • Breaking Bad: In "Shotgun", during a fit of spontaneous sex, Walt and Skyler hear Jr. walking into the house. They try to sheepishly play it off as he approaches their room, but halfway there, he realizes what is going on, gets disgusted, and leaves.
  • Played With in an episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine. Amy and Rosa are discussing Captain Holt's recent tension at work, and Rosa says she's pretty sure it's because he's been away from home due to the night shift and he and his husband haven't had sex in a while. Amy's response is, "Gross! Rosa, those are our dads!" She thinks of Holt as a father figure too much to be comfortable with the idea of him having sex.
  • Buffy the Vampire Slayer:
    • In "Earshot", Buffy is infected with demon blood that allows her to read other people's mind. She then accidentally reads her mother's mind and... well:
      Buffy: (extremely outraged) You had sex with Giles?! You had sex with Giles!?! On the hood of a police car?! TWICE?!!
    • Averted in "The Witch", where Joyce shows Buffy her high school yearbook.
      Buffy: Mom, I've accepted that you've had sex. I'm not ready to know that you had Farrah hair.
    • And in "I Was Made to Love You", when Joyce comes home from a date, Buffy notes that her date didn't kiss her good night. Joyce decides to have some fun.
      Joyce: Oh, no.
      Buffy: What?
      Joyce: I left my bra in his car.
      Buffy: MOTHER!
      Joyce: Just kidding!
      Buffy: Good god, that's horrible. Don't do that.
      Joyce: I left it in the restaurant.
      Buffy: No more! No more! No more! [runs upstairs, hands over her ears]
      Joyce: [calling upstairs] On the dessert cart!
  • Mild example in Call the Midwife: Timothy Turner loves his stepmother dearly, but still gets grossed out by his parents kissing.
    Tim: Ugh, do you have to?
    Shelagh: [highly amused] Not strictly, but it embarrasses you and that keeps us entertained.
  • Corner Gas:
    • In an episode, Brent accidentally records his parents begin to act out a sex fantasy on the gas station's security camera. Afterwards, he rips the camera out of the wall and denies that it was ever there.
    • Also, this conversation, when Oscar doesn't want to go to the doctor.
      Oscar: A guy my age goes to the doctor and everyone's gonna assume he's gonna get one of those little blue pills. Everyone in town is gonna be saying how I can't get it-
      Brent: [grossed out] Dad!
      Emma: What's he talking about?
      Brent: Viagra.
      Emma: Oh, for Pete's sake! [Beat] Well, if you're going there anyway, you might as well ask...
      Brent: [even more grossed out] Ohhh, Mom! [leaves]
  • This makes up roughly 15% of the humor in Cougar Town. In the first episode, Travis walks in on his mother performing oral sex on a man his own age, and so the standard is set.
  • CSI: NY: Young teenager Ellie and a (boy) friend of hers pop in to her apartment to pick up some sodas because the party they're attending is running low. Jo and her boyfriend happen to be about to have sex at the time. She hears noises in the kitchen, thinks it's a burglar and grabs her gun to confront the intruder. Ellie is clearly uncomfortable seeing her mother in an open blouse with her shirtless boyfriend (whom Ellie's never met before) behind her.
  • Cursed (2020): Nimue looks away hurriedly and begs Merlin to move the vision along in time when it shows her parents embracing passionately, clearly about to have sex (quite possibly when she'd been conceived), narrowly avoiding an unwanted primal scene.
  • Different Strokes. Arnold encounters his father's current girlfriend in the hallway, but he's surprised rather than grossed out—"I know what goes on between men and women, I just never thought of you like that."
  • Deliberately invoked by Frank in an episode of Everybody Loves Raymond. Ray and Robert hide in their parents' closet trying to scare Frank, but Frank finds them and scares them instead by pretending to have sex with Marie. Averted in another episode, when Ray and Robert speak with Frank about what they think is their parents' nonexistent sex life. Frank, though, points out that they have sex every night, shocking both of his sons, whose sex lives are nowhere near as vibrant.
  • Fargo. When Gina Hess realises Lester Nygaard fooled her into giving Sex for Services, she barges into his office with her two sons to confront him. The sons are eager to beat up Lester on her behalf, but get uncomfortable whenever she starts ranting in intimate detail about the services she provided for him.
  • Frasier:
    • In one episode Martin starts telling his sons about how he used to get through stakeouts by picturing their mother waiting for him back home. Frasier and Niles loudly interrupt him every time he tries to continue the story.
      Martin: Oh, I'm sorry. One day your mother and I went on a church picnic and the two of you came floating down the river in little wicker baskets!
      Niles: Was that so hard?
    • In a later episode, Frasier and Daphne discuss Martin and Sherry, who are in the midst of an argument:
      Daphne: Well, at least they'll be in a good mood when they come out. There's nothing like make-up sex.
      Frasier: Daphne! Please. Sherry and my dad do not have sex.
      Daphne: Well, of course they do. They're probably—
      Frasier: Daphne! I have to sleep at night. My dad and Sherry do not have sex!
    • Inverted when Niles is explaining to Frasier how tempted he is to sleep with Maris during their separation. Martin, who's in the room with them, has to ask his sons to knock it off.
      Martin: You know, Niles, remember when you were a kid and your mother and I wouldn't discuss the Cuban Missile Crisis in front of you because we knew it'd give you bad dreams?
      Niles: Yes.
      Martin: It's a two-way street.
  • In Freaks and Geeks, Sam and Lindsay are horrified when their parents get frisky mid-day... while all their friends are over.
  • The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air: Will walks in on his mother in bed with his girlfriend Lisa’s father, and immediately goes into a screaming fit of hysterics.
    Will: MAMA NOOOOOOOO!!!
  • A recurring theme in Friends with Judy and Jack Gellar: Ross and Monica accidentally seeing their sex tape; Monica later seeing the "live show" version; Jack cheerfully telling Ross about the list of celebrities he's allowed to sleep with, oblivious to his son's discomfort. At Ross and Emily's wedding rehearsal, Jack and Judy start making out next to Monica who responds by deciding to get drunk.
  • Inverted in Game of Thrones, after Margery Tyrell marries King Tommen Baratheon, she starts spreading stories of his impressive sexual prowess around town, much to Cersei's disgust.
  • Ginny and Georgia: Ginny is unhappy when Georgia talks about her past or current sex life, mimicking vomiting once after this.
  • Gotham Knights (2023): Duela repeatedly comments "Ew" when her mom mentions her sex life.
  • How I Met Your Mother:
    • Ted's mother and her second husband don't seem to have a problem talking about this around him, eventually leading him to lose it at their wedding.
    • In a later episode, Marshall has a freakout when he sees his mother having sex. Lily tells him to calm down and that his mother is only a woman with needs, at which point he tells her that she'd been screwing Lily's father. Lily immediately throws up. Eventually, they come clean and tell their parents they're okay with them dating...only for them to clarify that they aren't dating, just having sex, proclaiming themselves as "family with benefits". Cut to Lily and Marshall puking a closet.
  • On an episode of Joan of Arcadia, Joan (along with her brothers Kevin and Luke) gives her parents (Helen and Will) a pass for a weekend at a spa so they can have their "married couple" weekend — which she doesn't want to know the definition, or the details, of (she's freaked out enough when Helen reminds Will about playing "strip Scrabble").
  • Just Shoot Me!: Red, Dennis' father, briefly gets involved with Nina. When he asks Dennis something related to their sex life, Dennis faints.
  • In Life in Pieces, Tyler is horrified when Tim starts describing to his son how he thought he'd lost his virginity in high school but had the experience "disqualified".
    Tim: We were on this couch at Uncle Dave's beach house.
    Tyler: I don't think I want to hear this story.
    Tim: It's time I told someone and I want that someone to be you.
    Tyler: No! It doesn't have to be!
  • Lucifer (2016):
    • Played straight with Amenadiel (an angel) when he sees his mother making out with a guy. He later squicks out whenever Mother brings up sex. Notably, Amenadiel has only had sex for the first time in millennia a few weeks prior, and with a demon no less, so his attitude towards sex is... controversial.
    • In season five Dan finally learns that when he first started dating Charlotte Richards she was possessed by Amenadiel and Lucifer's mother. When Dan tries to ask Amenadiel about the exact timeline of what happened and when it quickly gets uncomfortable for the angel.
      Dan: Was the Goddess ever inhabiting Charlotte's body when I was...inhabiting Charlotte's body?
      Amenadiel: See, I prefer not to talk about this, Dan, but I do believe there was some...overlap.
    • Played With in regards to Lucifer, who treats Mother's sex life with casual dismissal (he even explains that the phrase "Big Bang" isn't just a metaphor, that really was how the universe came to be) and he also has no problem talking to her about his own sex life and doesn't deny that he probably inherited his sexual appetite from her. But he's not comfortable when she acts sexual in his presence, such as in "Liar, Liar, Slutty Dress on Fire", he is scandalized when she is Mistaken for Prostitute due to her Stripperiffic clothes and says they're going to need to get her out of those clothes, which she interprets literally and strips naked in public. He is comically horrified and immediately takes off his jacket to get her to wear something.
      Lucifer: Traumatized for eternity now, so thank you very much for that.
    • In season 6, Rory is squicked out when Lucifer and Chloe discuss whether he knocked her up from last night's sex. Like Father, Like Daughter.
  • The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power: Theo is disgusted by the sight of his mother and Arondir being close and flies into a rage when one of the other villagers suggests they're in a relationship, though this has as much to do with Theo being prejudiced against elves as it does one of the accused being his mother. He eventually grows out of this and in "The Eye" he greets Arondir with a hug when they're reunited.
  • The L Word: Generation Q: Angelica walks in on her moms (who divorced years earlier) making out, which appals her as she doesn't like to think of them being sexual.
  • Mad About You has Paul's parents revealing their libido was rekindled with a hormonal treatment, making him and his wife very uncomfortable as details are given. Gets even worse when their attempt at having sex following a trip is stopped by Paul's parents being in the bed when they arrive.
  • In Modern Family, The Dunphy children walk in on their parents having sex, they eventually realize that it's a good thing that they love each other so much and get them a lock for their door, which unfortunately has a very audible click.
  • Mohawk Girls: Caitlin is not at all happy to hear about her dad's sex life with his girlfriend, Vicky, especially not how much he pleases her as a lover.
  • On NCIS, Tony DiNozzo gets this when he walks in on his father doing it... in Tony's bed.
  • One Day at a Time (2017)
    • Lydia and Berto were a pair of Happily Married Latin Lovers. Berto is a Posthumous Character, serving as The Lost Lenore to the widowed Lydia. She often tells wistful tales their romantic passion and tends to give way Too Much Information. Their daughter and grandchildren are uncomfortable hearing this.
    • Inverted Trope when Penelope believes that her 17-year-old daughter Elena has had sex for the first time. Elena's a lesbian, so Penelope can't use the risk of pregnancy as a concrete reason to object, leaving her with the more intangible discomfort of the whole thing.
      Penelope: So what? I'm supposed to be okay that she's having sex? I'm a mom. She's my kid. I can't condone this. [...]
      Ramona: And what did your mom say [when you first had sex]?
      Penelope: [scoffs] Are you kidding me? She doesn't know! I was sneaky. I didn't put her through the torture of thinking about this. [...] If you're gonna be a sexually active teenager, you need to do it responsibly and make sure your parents never find out. But now I know, and I have to have an opinion. And I don't want to be the mom that's all, "Sex is dirty. You're gonna go to hell." But I also don't want to be the mom that's like, "Use my bed. I'll get you water so you stay hydrated." [beat] Now I have to talk to her. [mock cries] I don't want to.
  • Once Upon a Time: Despite having Supernaturally Young Parents and not being raised by them, Emma is still perturbed by walking in on Snow and Charming post-coital early in the series. She awkwardly exits, much to her parents' amusement. Charming remarks that it's "impressive" that they can "still give her traumatic childhood memories at this stage in the game."
  • In Psych, Shawn accidentally walks in on his (divorced) parents while they are having sex. After Shawn rants about the incident, Gus insists that his parents never had sex, his rationale being that he was "a perfect little miracle" and that his sister was adopted. Later in the episode, in a spirit of mockery, Shawn introduces Gus as "Immaculate Conception" as a part of his Running Gag of always introducing Gus using bizarre names.
  • Resident Alien: Max is grossed out by his parents' inability to keep their hands off each other in the aftermath of beating up home intruders together. They're so frequently and shamelessly Overcome with Desire that it disturbs their friends, too.
  • Schitt's Creek goes to this well more than once, which is natural given it's a show about adult children forced to share a small living space with their parents. In Season 1, David gets a Primal Scene. In Season 5, Moira confides to Alexis that her father had a history with "boom-boom girls" prior to meeting Moira, and Alexis responds by reminding her mother she no longer has a therapist. Later, Johnny tells the kids that their mother was the author of some racy love letters he kept, and they are squicked.
  • Scoundrels (2010): Logan gets traumatized when he walks in on his parents having a quickie in the bathroom.
  • Seinfeld: In "The Junk Mail", George is mortified when he, his cousin, Jerry, and Frankie the mailman, walk in on his parents having sex in Jerry's van. The Stinger shows George's father giving him The Talk while announcing that they will do it again, while George is banging his head on the table trying to suppress the memory.
  • Special Ops: Lioness: Kate expresses disgust when her mother Joe refers to the place where she was conceived fondly.
  • The Spencer Sisters: Darby is comically dismayed when her mom Victoria teasingly indicates that Billy, her new boyfriend, is very well hung, or seeing him in Victoria's robe after they have slept together. Victoria's a bit mischievous with her, and it's implied that she says this simply to annoy Darby.
  • The Summer I Turned Pretty: Belly reacts to Conrad's joking mention of her parents having sex by saying it's foul and expressing half-joking disgust. She's amused on realizing that her mom had sex in the next episode though. When told of exactly what happened later by her mom however she covers her ears and says she's not listening.
  • Supernatural: In the episode "Jump the Shark" Sam and Dean discuss whether or not the young man claiming to be their half-brother is the real deal. Sam speculates that one could have "slipped past the goalie" and Dean cringes because "Now, I'm thinking about dad sex."
  • That '70s Show had an episode in which Eric walks in on his parents during sex (unbeknownst to them) and spends the rest of the episode entirely unhinged. It's the only time he ever receives sympathy from his sister. At the end of the episode, Donna tells him of a time when the same thing happened to her — except they were doing it in the hammock.
  • Referenced in Time Gentlemen Please, in regards to Christianity and the virgin birth:
    Guv: No man likes the thought of his parents having sex, but to base an entire religion around the idea that they never did is taking it a bit too far!
  • Titans (2018). Dick and Kory being a Parental Substitute for the younger members of the Titans is lampshaded by them having this reaction to the two pairing up.
  • Wednesday: Gomez and Morticia Addams' passionate affection for each other has been the couple's most endearing trait for decades, but on Wednesday, it's a running joke that their teenage daughter finds their endless making out to be gross and embarrassing.
    Wednesday: Wild jackals can control themselves better than the two of you!
  • The White Lotus: Olivia is mortified to hear her parents having sex in the next room.
  • Wings: Helen realizes mid-conversation that when she was a child, her parents used yodeling as a way to disguise their boisterous lovemaking. Roy finds the discussion of parental sex distasteful, inadvertently explaining why in the process:
    Roy: Look, my mother was a saint. My father was a pillar of the community. The last thing I want to do is imagine Mom wrapped in cellophane, Dad wearing tights and a miner's helmet. [Beat] I didn't wake up and ask for a drink of water again for 25 years!
  • Wizards of Waverly Place, played straight fairly often, but a notable example is when Alex is told by her mother that her father is her 'big cuddly bug' and finds it grosser than the idea of going out with her older brother. It Makes Sense In Context, kind of...
  • You Me Her:
    • Emma's mom tells her that her dad's "insatiable", making Emma cover her ears comically with both hands.
    • Izzy is way less than pleased when she realizes her dad is having sex with Lala, but he reasonably protests that he's an adult.
  • Young Sheldon:
    • In "A Brisket, Voodoo and a Cannonball Run", Sheldon is unpleasantly reminded of when he witnessed Mary and George having intercourse in bed as an infant by hearing his dad remark, "Hot damn!" while eating the brisket made from the recipe Sheldon remembered as a baby.
    • In "A Resident Advisor and the Word 'Sketchy'", it doesn't take Missy long to figure out that her parents are having sex or about to have sex. She's grossed out and once she's confirmed her suspicion wants them to stop talking.
    • In "Half a Wiener Schnitzel and Underwear in a Tree", Georgie suggests having him & Mandy sleep in Mary & George's room (as opposed to Sheldon's room), as the bed is bigger. George Sr. then points out that Georgie was conceived in that bed.

    Music 
  • Notably averted in The Lonely Island song "Mother Lover", where a pair of friends played by Andy Samberg and Justin Timberlake go into detail about their plans to seduce the other's single mother as a Mother's Day gift.
    We both love our moms, women with grown women needs
    I say we break em off, show 'em how much they really mean

    Radio 
  • Lucie Miller in the Big Finish Doctor Who audio Death in Blackpool has similar feelings about her Parental Substitutes, the Doctor and Auntie Pat (who aren't):
    Lucie: What would they be doing in a cupboard?
    Billy: You'll never guess...
    Lucie: Oh God, no.
    Billy: Worse than that.
    Lucie: What could be worse than that?

    Video Games 
  • Assassin's Creed II has a more diluted example, but Desmond still feels disgusted when he sees his ancestor Altair getting frisky with his wife and realizes he just witnessed his own great-great-... note  -great-great-grandpa's conception.
  • In Mass Effect 3, Liara's reaction to her fathernote  (Matriarch Aethyta) telling her that her mother had a "hell of a rack" is a grossed-out "You don't need to tell me everything."
  • Psychonauts:
    • The first game reveals that when Sasha Nein was a kid, he asked his father about his dead mother, who had passed away when he was a baby. After his father refused to tell him anything, Sasha decided to read his mind for the answers, and while the first memories he found were rather tame, Sasha ended up stumbling across a memory of his mother naked — horrifying Sasha to the point where he ran away from home.
    • Psychonauts 2's optional dialogue includes an interaction between Raz and his father Augustus wherein the former can try to help the latter practice performing pyrokinesis by telling him to imagine the hottest thing he can think of. When Augustus cheerfully responds that "I'm thinking of your mother," Raz fires back a flustered "Dad!"
      Augustus: [Clearly amused with himself.] We're human beings, Razputin.
    • In Psychonauts 2's Playable Epilogue, Raz can similarly interact with his Nona, who is found with Ford Cruller, since the two seem to be rekindling an old relationship. When Raz asks Ford about his future plans, Ford mentions he'd like to show Lucy (Raz's Nona) Whispering Rock Psychic Summer Camp. Raz has a Squick moment when Nona confides her suspicion that Ford thinks if he gets Nona in a canoe on the lake at sunset, she won't be able to keep her hands off him. Raz's reaction worsens when she adds, "He's right!"
  • Teens in The Sims 2 will react in disgust to their parents doing any type of romantic reaction, whether it be a simple kiss or a full-on make-out session. In addition, if they are on the same lot when their parents engage in public Woohoo, rather than cheer or jeer like other sims, they will run to the edge of the lot and cover their face in embarrassment.
  • This occurs during a boss battle in South Park: The Stick of Truth. The player is shrunk down by Underpants Gnomes and must battle them while watching the player character's parents having sex in the background. The boss battle even has a quicktime event where you must dodge your dad's scrotum.
  • In the sequel, South Park: The Fractured but Whole, the player's tragic backstory is that, when they were younger, a group of burglars broke into the player's house, leading to the player... walking in on their parents having sex. This scene is revisited every time the player unlocks a new class, with the ending revealing that their parents weren't having sex, but getting drunk and high and arguing over you. At the end of the game, Mitch Conner reveals he orchestrated the plot out of revenge for his father, who got "fucked". Mitch's mom defuses the situation by explaining that she was the one to fuck Mr. Conner. Keep in mind that both backstories were fabricated by Cartman and that the Conners are just hand puppet personas he made up. Kyle snaps at Cartman that everyone's parents had to have had sex in order for them to have children in the first place.
  • In The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt following the reunion of Geralt the player character and Ciri, who's essentially his daughter, the two of them get the opportunity to visit Ciri's bartender friend, Bea. After they help her out, Bea (whilst she's still unaware of his identity) jumps upon an opportunity to flirt very unsubtly with Geralt, prompting Ciri to chide her for shamelessly flirting and also clueing her in on who Geralt is. Bea is sheepish for bare moments before flirting with him again, forcing Ciri to resort to I'm Standing Right Here to get her to back off.
    • After they leave the tavern and are out of Bea's earshot, Geralt twists the knife by turning the tables on Ciri and teasing her about her friendliness with Bea, saying that Bea "seems nice"; Ciri wearily says Geralt's terrible.

    Web Animation 
  • RWBY
    • This is weaponized by Ruby and Yang's uncle Qrow, who tells a story about how he was "defeated" by a waitress' skirt to gross out Yang while playing video games against her. He brings out a photo of the team he and their parents were part of when boasting about how Team STRQ ("Stark") was the coolest Beacon team of its era, and suggests he could reveal a number of "inappropriate stories" to back up just how fashionable and cool they were. This time, it's Ruby who shudders and complains he's being gross.
    • In Atlas, Jaune gets an assignment to escort children to pre-primary school, and finds himself fawned over by a gaggle of young mothers. As one of them offers him yet another batch of home cooking, her daughter looks back in clear embarrassment, sticking out her tongue in disgust.
  • If the Emperor Had a Text-to-Speech Device: When the Emperor learns that he has still living mortal offspring, he reminisces to his (tube-grown) sons Magnus and Kitten about how rough he used to be in bed and leaving his partners bruised, much to their disgust.
    Magnus: LALALA I CAN'T HEAR THIS. I DON'T WANT TO BE ON THIS PLANET ANYMORE.
  • Helluva Boss: Octavia is annoyed by her father Stolas' absent-minded thirsting over Blitzo in her presence.
    Stolas: (on the phone with Blitzo while Octavia is in the room) Why, hello, my big-dicked Blitzy.
    [Blitz and Octavia Spit Take simultaneously]
    Blitzo: WHAT-
    Octavia: THE-
    Blitzo: FUCK-
    Octavia: -DAD!?
    Stolas: Language! Everyone!
  • Inverted in "Batmetal Forever". When Batgirl starts stripping at the rock concert, her father Commissioner Gordon awkwardly shields his eyes.

    Web Comics 
  • The appropriately named "TMI" episode of Batman: Wayne Family Adventures has Batman go ahead with Dating Catwoman... while forgetting to turn off his comm line. The reactions are as follows:
  • Roy in The Order of the Stick is horrified to learn that both of his parents have become considerably more promiscuous since dying and moving on to the afterlife; apparently they took the "til death do us part" wording of their marriage vows literally.
  • In Narbonic:
    • Dave and Helen's Kid from the Future walks into a bar shortly after their breakup just as Dave is loudly bemoaning that he will never have any lesbian sex again.
      "Holy crud I picked the wrong time to come in."
    • Word of God is that this is part of the reason Artie tries to change the subject when Dave and Helen's relationship comes up; he'd never admit he sees Helen as a mother, but he kind of does.
  • Girl Genius:
    • In a sidestory, Old Man Death is telling his granddaughter about how he used to run with the Jaegers:
      Old Man Death: ...Then one day, while sacking a castle, I was ravished by a wild princess...
      Zeuxippe: You the who what now?
      Old Man Death: Heh, even today your grandmother is a remarkable woman.
      Zeuxippe: Eeew! Grandpa!
      Old Man Death: Tsk. Poor sensitive child. At any rate, she sort of abducted me. Took me away from that, you know? And now, through mysterious processes I'll forbear to mention, here I am and here you are.
    • When Tarvek is disguised as a waiter at his grandmother's party and has to rescue her from a maddened crowd, he tries to maintain his cover by saying "I realise I will no doubt later be flogged for my audacity". She says he sounds like his grandfather, and Tarvek replies "Yerk. I did not need to hear that."
  • In El Goonish Shive, Tedd is put off by his father just mentioning his impotence even though he didn't mean it in that way.
  • Happens in Dinosaur Comics, but it comes off as even more of a shock to T-Rex as he either didn't know what sex was or didn't know sex was required to have babies.
    T-Rex: MOM did that?
  • In Housepets!, when Henry Milton, Keene's master, met his biological mother while in Heaven, he took a liking to her. Bear in mind that, while taking the form of a ferret in Heaven, Henry was a human during his lifetime.
    Keene: Dad, don't hit on mom. That's weird.
  • Kevin & Kell: The titular couple are very openly loving. Rudy, their teenage son, is usually the victim of the squick.
  • In And Shine Heaven Now, Integra is horrified at the thought of hearing her father's teenage exploits as told in a novel. Alucard reassures her she has nothing to worry about since the writer/narrator is a twit and wouldn't know sexual content if it bit him. Considering said narrator is Bertie Wooster, he's pretty much right.
  • The Non-Adventures of Wonderella:
  • In S.S.D.D. Tessa's adoptive parents are embarrassingly open about sexuality, in particular their own open marriage.
  • The page image comes from an xkcd comic, where parental sex is treated like some sort of awful disease.
  • In Shortpacked! Mike basically banked on this trope to try to get Amber to leave him once and for all, by manipulating events so her mother had sex with the sex addict Jacob, recording it, and playing the tape for Amber. While Amber did throw up after hearing the tape, she later expressed disbelief that Mike thought she'd leave him because she heard her mother (who's middle-aged and had been abused in her marriage) finally have a fulfilling sexual experience. As for the vomiting? Turns out that was Morning Sickness.
  • Goes several ways in Questionable Content:
    • Zig-zagged by Marten, whose mother is a fetish model and whose father runs a gay nightclub. He's pretty blasé about their work stories, but doesn't particularly want to hear details, and is grossed out when one of his mother's anecdotes turns out to be about his father. He also gets weirded out when he learns that his mother's erotic photos were his bisexual girlfriend's Closet Key.
    • Clinton is utterly grossed out when he stops by his mom's house and finds her with a 20-something guy whom he used to tutor. His sister, Claire, is more positive about it.
    • Dora gets creeped out when her mother starts telling her how hot Marten is, but that's probably because he's her boyfriend at the time.
    • One time Faye was talking about her family history and came to a distressing realization about her great-grandma's stories about being "boarded by Yankee sailors".
  • Girls with Slingshots: Hazel reacts to her mom hooking up with far more squick than a woman her age really should, even factoring in this trope.
  • Tripping Over You:
    • Milo borrows a condom from his single father's drawer, then pointedly refuses to consider the question of why his father has condoms. Milo's boyfriend later points out a woman who seems particularly friendly around the father, which prompts Milo to reach for the Brain Bleach.
    • Inverted with Liam's father, who's a bit thrown off when reminded that Liam and his boyfriend are looking for a one-bedroom apartment.
  • Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal: Exploited for Gallows Humor by a suicide hotline, of all things, which talks people down by making them imagining their grieving mothers getting Sex for Solace.
  • Everyday Heroes: In the "The Talk" arc, Jane explains to Summer about Nylvarrine, the drug that nullifies superpowers for a few hours to allow supers and normal humans to be intimate without the Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex problem. For obvious reasons, this potential source of vulnerability is a closely guarded secret.
    Summer: OK! I get it! It's super-duper top secret! I won't tell! Now can you please get on with it? Whatever it is, I'm ready for this!
    (beat panel)
    Jane: Have you ever wondered how your father and I make lov—
    Summer: (slumped down onto the table) I'm not ready for this....

    Web Original 
  • In Dragon Ball Z Abridged, this became something for Future Trunks. For example, in Episode 50:
    Semi-Perfect Cell: (finishes powering up) Now, do you understand, Vegeta?
    Vegeta: What I understand is, I'm going to pound you so hard, the boy's mother is going to be jealous.
    Future Trunks: OH, CAN WE NOT?!
    Goku: I guess my penis is an arm, because sometimes Chichi wants me to do that thing which involves my fist, and then some ramming it up in...
    Gohan: NO DAD! DON'T SAY ANYTHING MORE!
  • Looming Gaia: In "Hereditary", Evan tells Connor, who recently contacted lycanthropy, to think about something disgusting every time he sees blood so he won't crave it as much. Connor tries thinking about his mother's squash soup, a trough full of pig slop, and a maggot-infested horse carcass, but Evan gets him really disgusted by mentioning that his parents had sex at least once.
  • In this Not Always Related/Romantic note  story, a woman thinks she's sending sexy selfies to her husband, but they're going to her squicked-out child instead.

    Western Animation 
  • Adventure Time: In "Rainy Day Daydream", when Finn turns Jake's imagination back on, he also imagines a fairy turning Jake's imagination into overdrive. Finn hastily turns Jake's imagination back to normal, and Jake moans "Aw, I imagined my mom naked! Yuck!"
  • The Amazing World of Gumball: "The Cringe": Gumball and Hot Dog Guy deliberately put themselves in embarrassing and awkward scenarios to try and figure out why they feel so much of the titular feeling between each other. After a few unsuccessful tries, Hot Dog Guy suggests that they "take things to the next level"; cue Gumball entering Hot Dog Guy's house pretending to be his step-father and attempting to give HDG The Talk. HDG begs Gumball to stop, but Gumball can only get a few words out before their faces crumple up like paper from embarrassment.
  • American Dad!:
  • Archer, to the point where his mother getting married actually causes him enough stress to push him into a fugue state.
  • Bob's Burgers: In the premiere episode "Human Flesh", Bob and Linda start making out at the apex of a Ferris wheel. The kids are in the car right behind them, and while Tina is okay with it, Gene teases them and Louise gets weirded out.
    Gene: You're a couple of sluts!
    Tina: I think it's nice.
    Louise: (to the operator) Can we get this thing moving? I'm getting mentally scarred up here!
  • The Cleveland Show: In one episode, Cleveland's Dad and Donna's "Auntie Momma" have ludicrously dirty sex (in the dark) and then discuss it at the dinner table. Causing Cleveland to vomit continuously for almost a minute. Though that may have been because he knew that "Auntie Momma" was actually "Uncle Kevin" as his Dad had the same reaction when he found out.
  • Daria:
    • In the Bizarro Episode "Depth Takes a Holiday", Helen and Jake are hit by Cupid's taser and turn into Sickeningly Sweethearts. Quinn is disgusted, and also believes that they're trying to have a new baby. I mean, why else would they be... you know?
    • Also alluded to in "My Night at Daria's":
      Jane: Anyway, being in a relationship can't possibly hinge on physical intimacy 'cause that would mean our parents are still doing it.
      Daria: Which is absurd.
      Jane: No chance.
      Daria: I'd join the circus.
      Jane: Right behind you.
  • Disenchantment: In the first episode, Bean cringes as her stepmother tries to give her The Talk before her own Arranged Marriage. (The fact that she's a Fish Person doesn't help.)
    Oona: I know I am not your mother—
    Bean: Please don't.
    Oona: But I do have sex with your father.
  • The Epic Tales of Captain Underpants: In the Halloween special, Harold spots the Ship Tease between his mom and Mr. Meaner and promptly goes into a Heroic BSoD over it.
  • The Fairly OddParents!: Timmy, having wished he was adult, watches an adult movie and is squicked when he sees the characters on screen kissing. He then sees his parents making out a few rows down and is even more disgusted, screaming "IT BURNS!" while covering his eyes.
  • Family Guy:
    • "The Son Also Draws": Stewie is freaked out after accidentally walking in on Peter and Lois having sex the night before. Brian messes with him by suggesting where else they did it.
    • "The Fat Guy Strangler": Lois discovers she has an older brother who had been committed to a mental hospital before she was born. When he was a kid, he had walked in on their mother giving a blowjob to Jackie Gleason and found the sight so traumatizing that he had a severe mental breakdown. Even all these years later, he is still haunted by it to the point of developing a hatred of fat men. When Lois has him released since he appears sane enough (aside from the imaginary wife), he becomes the titular Fat Guy Strangler.
    • "Lois Comes Out Of Her Shell": As a result of her mid-life crisis, Lois gets a lot raunchier with Peter, and the two of them end up having sex in the laundry room. However, Chris, Meg, and Brian hear them having sex from the living room, and are disgusted.
      Meg: Oh my god, that's so disturbing!
      Chris: I know, gross!
      Brian: Yeah, and my hearing's a lot better, so I hear, like, suction and stuff.
  • Futurama: Leela finds out that it's worse when the parental sex is with your Abhorrent Admirer.
    Munda: I'm not too old to enjoy hot sex with Zapp.
    Leela: Ugh!
    Munda: Sex with Zapp! Sex with Zapp! Sex with Zapp!
    Leela: No, no!
  • The Great North: "Risky Beefness Adventure": Moon's subplot with Jerry is set into motion by him opting to eat his breakfast outside when the conversation turns to his father's desire to have sex. Throughout the episode, Judy's only role is to try and fail to hide how mortified she is by the constant topic of Beef's sex life until she snaps and breaks off a piece of the table in frustration. Averted with Ham and especially Wolf, who encourages Beef and throws a party to celebrate him getting laid, with a cake and a banner. If anything, everyone else has to hold back Wolf's enthusiasm about it.
  • Inside Job (2021): "Buzzkill": Rand mentions past sexual antics with Tamiko, squicking out Reagan.
    Reagan: Ugh! This is why I'm going. In space, no one can hear their dad talk about boning their mom.
  • Invincible (2021): One of Mark's first scenes is Screw This, I'm Outta Here because his parents are getting too affectionate in front him. He even says that one of the things parents should never do is have sex in front of their kids, and his mother lightly remarks that he should be happy that his parents love each other so much.
  • King of the Hill: Hank feels pretty awkward about sex in general. When he comes into the kitchen to see his mom and her boyfriend doing it on his counter, he experiences Temporary Blindness until he and the boyfriend talk through their problems. He's also continually exasperated with his father's womanizing ways.
    Hank: How could you not know you had another son?! How many women have you slept with? Five? Six?!
    Cotton: 273.
  • Lizzie: "Fifty Shades of Green" has Lizzie Green creeped out by her parents being overly affectionate toward each other in front of her. She puts a stop to it by tricking her father into watching a home movie of her grandparents getting intimate on the night of her parents' anniversary.
  • Metalocalypse:
    • "Dethfam": Nathan Explosion delivers the line "the fact that my parents had sex to create me makes me want to be buried alive."
    • Skwisgaar walked in on his mom having a threeway. Twice. The first one caused him to run away and find the guitar that inspired him to be a musician. The second one made him realize that he's not, and can never be, a 'regular jackoff' and returns to the band, which he previously tried to quit.
  • Rick and Morty: Happens a few times. It's played straight with Morty and Summer about their parents, Beth and Jerry, and inverted by Rick, who's Beth's father.
    • "Lawnmower Dog": Inverted. When Rick and Morty are several layers deep in the subconscious of Morty's math teacher, they end up in a strip club with Hookers and Blow. Rick mostly doesn't have a problem with it, but he and Morty are both completely revolted when they see a Stripperific mind-version of Summer (Morty's older sister and Rick's granddaughter) there, who hits on them.
    • "Rick Potion #9": Summer, Jerry, and Rick are discussing the possibility of Beth cheating on Jerry with her coworker, Davin. Summer points out that, as horse veterinarians, digging around the insides of horses probably isn't the most romantic setting, but Rick brings up that Beth may have lied about having to work, leading to:
      Rick: Maybe Davin is digging around in her insides.
      Summer: Grandpa Rick, so gross! You're talking about my mom!
      Rick: Well, she's my daughter, Summer, so I outrank you.
    • "Mort Dinner Rick Andre": Summer makes a crack about her parents not wanting her to say "Let's lick tits!" because they're not getting any. Jerry and Beth proceed to correct her that they've been very "sex-positive" lately and watch porn together, eliciting grossed-out reactions from both Summer and Morty. Rick also walks in to see Beth and Jerry flirting with each other, and informs them all that they have poison capsules in their teeth.
    • "Bethic Twinstinct": Morty and Summer are already horrified enough to learn that the two versions of their mom (one of whom is a clone of the other) are having an affair with each other behind their dad's back. But it gets worse for them by the end, when Jerry and the Beths reconcile via him watching them have sex in front of him, which quickly turns into Three-Way Sex... which Rick, Morty, and Summer can hear in its entirety from downstairs at the dining room table. Unable to use a portal gun to escape the situation, the three of them can only sit and listen in misery and disgust, and it drives the kids to literal tears.
  • The Simpsons
    • "Grampa vs. Sexual Inadequacy": Exploited by Abe when Homer begs him not to talk about sex. Homer shudders after Abe admits that he's had sex.
    • Marge was once asked about Bart's first words. She remembered a time she was having sex with Homer, baby Bart enters to the room, and cries "Ay, Caramba!". So she said she does not remember it.
  • VeggieTales: Larry sings a silly song about how his great-grandparents (give or take a few 'great's) invented macaroni and cheese. His grandfather was from a family of pasta makers, and his grandmother was from a family of cheesemakers, but alas, they were Feuding Families. After an accident mixed the macaroni and cheese together, the families agreed that they tasted better together and ended their grudge, the young lovers leaned in for a kiss... cut to Larry slamming shut the photo album and exclaiming, "Whoa! Those are my grandparents! We don't need to see that!"

 
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Jerry's Threesome

As Rick, Morty, and Summer uncomfortably listen from the dining room table, Jerry, Home Beth and Space Beth have an increasingly sexual conversation from their bedroom above the dining room that culminates in all three of them hooking up. Rick makes a futile attempt to calm Morty and Summer down as they break down into tears over the situation.

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