open/close all folders
Unable to Conceive
Basic Trope: The harder a couple tries to conceive a child, the less likely they actually will conceive.
- Straight: Alice and Bob are trying to have a baby, but they notice that during this time, conception does not happen.
- Exaggerated: Alice and Bob schedule the sex for the instant Alice ovulates, and have even tried seeing a fertility specialist and still nothing happens in their favor.
- Downplayed: Alice manages to get pregnant, yet it takes a little longer than expected.
- Justified:
- Alice and/or Bob may be infertile.
- Alice stresses out so much about trying to get pregnant that she makes her menstrual cycle irregular. And Bob feels like he's under so much pressure to get her pregnant every time they have sex that he can't even get it up.
- Members of Alice and Bob's species naturally become less fertile with repeated efforts for one reason or another.
- Inverted: Alice and Bob try to conceive, and they conceive highly easily.
- Subverted: Alice and Bob don't get it on their first try, but they try again next month and it works.
- Double Subverted: But Alice has a miscarriage early in the pregnancy, or the egg gets fertilized, but for some reason does not implant in her uterus in the first place.
- Parodied:
- Alice and Bob have sex every day, several times a day and still don't conceive.
- Alice and Bob loudly discuss how difficult and expensive it would be to have children, hoping to achieve fertility via Reverse Psychology.
- Zig Zagged: Some couples conceive easily, others don't.
- Averted: Alice and Bob try to conceive, and they get it realistically quickly.
- Enforced: The writer is discussing the strain infertility or difficulty in conceiving places upon a marriage.
- Lampshaded: "If you think about it too much, it won't happen."
- Invoked: Bob makes use of reverse psychology to convince Alice the opposite of what he really wants concerning the baby, believing that the results will happen respectively.
- Exploited: Alice and Bob use this time to try role-playing, new positions, fetishes and focus more on the sex itself.
- Defied: Alice and Bob decide to just let things happen naturally and take a sort of "que será, será" attitude to it, reasoning that by trying too hard to have a baby, they'd just hurt their chances.
- Discussed: ???
- Conversed: ???
- Deconstructed: Alice and Bob put so much pressure on themselves to conceive a child, and the resulting stress messes up their fertility (and puts strain on their relationship.)
- Reconstructed: Alice and Bob stop trying so hard, resolving to just "let it happen". And it does. (And even if it doesn't, they still learn An Aesop about appreciating who and what they already have.)
- Played For Laughs: Alice and Bob decide to try to have kids as a form of birth control. Despite going at it like rabbits they never get pregnant.
- Played For Drama: Alice and Bob put so much pressure and stress on themselves to conceive, and this puts a strain on their relationship and sex life.
- Implied: After getting married, Alice and Bob plan to have kids soon, but a couple years later, there are still none.
- Plotted A Good Waste: It turns out Alice was secretly on birth control because she didn't actually want a baby.
Unwanted Conception
Basic Trope: If a couple is not trying to have a child, the woman will get pregnant easily.
- Straight: Alice and Bob are not trying to have a baby, but Alice gets pregnant anyway.
- Exaggerated:
- Alice is on the Pill, taking it at exactly the same time to the nearest nanosecond every day, and Bob always wears a condom coated with spermicide, and Alice still gets pregnant!
- And so does Bob!
- Alice is well past childbearing age.
- Alice is a virgin.
- Alice is a lesbian, who has only ever had sex with other women, and who has never undergone any sort of artificial insemination.
- Downplayed: Alice and Bob aren't really planning on having a baby just yet, but Alice gets pregnant within a year. They're unprepared but pleasantly surprised.
- Justified:
- Alice and Bob are teenagers who Can't Get Away with Nuthin' for the sake of a Very Special Episode about the perils of Teen Pregnancy.
- Birth control isn't 100% reliable, even when used correctly. There is always a failure rate, however small it may be.
- Alice and Bob aren't using any form of contraception. Or, maybe they are, but they're using a method that's not exactly known for its effectiveness, such as "pulling out" or the rhythm method.
- Alice and Bob didn't plan ahead of time, but they have sex (maybe while they're drunk or high.)
- They figure they don't have to worry, since Alice is nearing the end of her reproductive lifespan, or has been told she's infertile or even outright sterile
- Alice favors the rhythm method, but unbeknownst to her, her hormones and menstrual cycle have changed without warning, so what was previously a "safe day" is no longer.
- Inverted: Alice and Bob have unprotected sex while Alice is ovulating and she manages to not get pregnant.
- Subverted: Alice and Bob use a method of birth control (such as the Rhythm Method or coitus interruptus) not known for its reliability and still don't conceive.
- Double Subverted: Or so it seemed. Because Bob's sperm survive in Alice's reproductive tract, she gets pregnant while going about her mundane life 3 days later.
- Parodied:
- Alice and Bob are using every known method of contraception (save for abstinence) and then some, all at the same time, and still conceive.
- Alice and Bob have never had sex, but Alice gets pregnant with Bob's child anyway.
- Alice and Bob only use methods that don't result in kids (oral, etc) but still conceive.
- Alice and Bob are trying to conceive so in an attempt to invoke it keep on loudly saying "Geeze I sure hope (you/I), don't get pregnant!"
- Alice and Bob loudly discuss how badly they want to have children, hoping to achieve avoid pregnancy via Reverse Psychology.
- Zig Zagged: Some couples conceive easily, others don't.
- Averted:
- Alice and Bob try not to conceive, and they don't conceive.
- Alice and Bob don't even have sex in the first place.
- Enforced: The show is a Teen Drama, and they need An Aesop for a Very Special Episode, to discourage Teen Pregnancy.
- Lampshaded: "If you have sex, you WILL get pregnant and you WILL ruin your life. Even if you use a condom."
- Invoked:
- Bob makes use of reverse psychology to convince Alice the opposite of what he really wants concerning the baby, believing that the results will happen respectively.
- Alice and Bob were originally a hoping to have children so they decide to stop trying so hard, so the fundamental perversity of the universe will start working in their favor.
- Exploited: Alice intentionally sleep with Bob, who does not want a child, to make use of Baby Trap.
- Defied: "It'd be really awful if we had a baby! I mean, with school, and work, and our parents, and the ultimate fate of the universe resting in our hands, we'd be pretty much screwed from every direction." "Whoa, good job Tempting Fate. Maybe we're not ready to have sex after all." "I guess you're right. Darn."
- Discussed: ???
- Conversed: ???
- Deconstructed: Alice and Bob are so lost in each other that they forget all about contraception or aren't using it correctly, resulting in a baby, which, being unwanted and all, will cause some serious issues.
- Reconstructed: Alice and Bob deal with Alice's unplanned pregnancy (whether by marrying and raising the child, Alice having an abortion, or putting the child up for adoption), and resolve to be more careful in the future. They learn An Aesop about not thinking that something can't happen to you.
- Played For Drama: Alice and Bob have to deal with Alice's unplanned and unwanted pregnancy, and the impact it will have on them both as individuals and as a couple.
Back to Law of Inverse Fertility.
