Basic Trope: A woman withholds sex from her man to get what she wants.
- Straight: Alice wants her Lazy Husband Bob to paint the garage, so she refuses to have sex with him until he does so.
- Exaggerated:
- Alice and Bob haven't had sex in years because Bob hasn't painted the garage, even though it burned down and they moved to an apartment years before.
- Alice twists the knife by also getting nude and letting Bob caress her before pulling back. Additionally, she makes it clear that this will happen multiple times every day until he paints the garage.
- Downplayed:
- Alice only does this very, very rarely, as a last resort, and only for something she really feels is important.
- Saying no to your husband's advances is a no no in this setting. Instead Alice threatens to "cold fish" him.
- Justified:
- Alice and Bob are not exactly in a healthy relationship.
- Alice knows exactly what will motivate Bob and that garage really needed painting.
- Alice hates sleeping with Bob and uses this as an excuse.
- Inverted:
- Alice has lots of sex with Bob to butter him up and get him to paint the garage.
- Alice has sex with Bob to bribe him into not painting the garage, because he’d do a terrible job.
- Alice refuses to have sex with Bob after he has painted the garage.
- Alice has lots of sex with Bob as a reward for having painted the garage.
- Alice offers Bob sex (or extra sex, or a particular sex act) if he'll do something for her. This only counts if Alice is in the stronger bargaining position or at least offering freely. If Bob has something Alice desperately needs and demands sex for it, that's Sexual Extortion.
- Sexual Extortion
- Gender-Inverted: Bob wants his Manic Pixie Dream Girl wife Alice to "grow up", so he refuses to have sex with her until she does.
- Subverted:
- When Alice says she'll deny him sex until he paints the garage, Bob says he doesn't care.
- Alice immediately changes her mind.
- Alice was just joking.
- Double Subverted:
- After a Gilligan Cut, Bob is seen frantically painting the garage.
- She says she won't make him his favourite dish for dinner until he paints the garage.
- Parodied:
- There is a town down the road where all transactions are conducted with one party holding back a resource until the second party acquiesces.
- Alice pulls this trope in an attempt to make Bob suffer. Turns out Alice suffers even more than Bob. Bob ends up painting the garage out of pity for Alice.
- Alice pulls this trope in an attempt to make Bob suffer. He doesn't, because sex with her has worn out much of its appeal for him.
- Zig-Zagged:
- Alice caves, but Bob stands firm. Two days later, Bob is weakening but Alice has strengthened her resolve. Eventually Alice is threatening to paint the garage herself unless Bob doesn't have sex with her.
- Alice denies Bob sex until he paints the garage. Then she gives him sex to encourage him to buy groceries. Then she denies him something that isn't sex to get him to change the lightbulbs. Then she gives him the same non-sex thing to incentivize him to fix the toilet. Then she simply asks him to feed the pets, with giving and withholding activities or things he wants not on her mind.
- Alice and Bob are both bad at remembering to do certain household tasks and they deny each other sex to make them do them.
- Averted:
- Alice considers the idea then decides it's demeaning for both parties.
- Alice never got this idea.
- Bob already painted the garage.
- Enforced: "There had to be a reason why the attractive, married Alice is a Celibate Hero."
- Lampshaded: "This is one of them Lysisses plots, isn't it?"
- Invoked: Alice reads the play and reasons that her self-control is strong enough to pull it off successfully.
- Exploited: Bob makes Alice sleep on the couch to prove that he can go without sex.
- Defied:
- "If you want Bob to paint the garage, have you considered not having sex with him until he does it?" "Do I look like a whore?"
- Bob: "Alice, I don't find anyone sexually attractive, nor do I care much for sex. The only reason I have sex with you is because I love you and thought that you enjoyed that sort of thing."
- Alternate Bob: "Alice, I love you, and you are incredibly sexually attractive, but I'm not going to paint the garage just for sex. You're better than that".
- Discussed: "If my girlfriend didn't put out, there's no way I'd do whatever she said just to get some!"
- Conversed: "Women have the poon, so they have control. It's just like in that one Greek play."
- Deconstructed:
- Bob starts treating Alice like a whore because she apparently treats sex like a commodity.
- Alice needs the sex more than Bob does.
- Bob goes and has sex with Carol.
- Bob files for divorce because he feels disrespected by Alice.
- Reconstructed: The garage painting is just one part of an overly unsatisfying marriage, and this is part of Alice's attempt to get through to Bob.
- Played for Drama: Bob cheats on Alice because she keeps withholding sex from him.
- Played for Horror: When Alice tries to withhold sex from Bob, he forces himself on her.
- Played for Laughs:
- Bob paints the garage ... that is, he paints a silly slogan or picture on it in a spot where Alice can see it. Alice admits it's Actually Pretty Funny and they have make-up sex.
- Bob begs Alice to deny him anything else but sex to make him paint the garage. Despite the obviously self-serving nature of his request, she ultimately acquiesces.
- Implied: Bob refuses to paint the garage, but later does so, after which Alice has sex with him.
You're not getting any until you go back to Lysistrata Gambit.
