Basic Trope: A parent forbids their teenage or adult child from having sex in their home.
- Straight: Teenagers Alice and Bob have started dating. Their parents tell them, "You are not allowed to have sex under our roof. We'll be keeping an eye on things during visits."
- Exaggerated:
- Alice's parents don't allow her and Bob to show any displays of affection at home, including hand-holding or kissing.
- Bob's parents remove his bedroom door and install cameras around the house to make sure he doesn't have sex in the house.
- Alice and Bob are married adults, but they have to sleep in separate bedrooms when they visit Alice's parents.
- Downplayed:
- Bob has to leave his bedroom door open when Alice is over.
- While Alice's parents don't have rules against her and Bob having sex, it's very clear they don't want them to.
- Justified:
- Parents are often uncomfortable with the idea of their kids having sex, especially if their culture or religion forbids premarital sex.
- Alice and Bob are 13. Their parents believe they're too young to be having sex.
- Alice doesn't have reliable (if any) access to birth control, and her parents are worried that she might get pregnant.
- Bob shares a room with his brother Charlie, and his parents don't want him locking Charlie out of his own room or subjecting him to Sex in a Shared Room.
- Inverted:
- Alice and Bob are only allowed to have sex at their parents' house, and nowhere else.
- The children have a rule banning their parents from having sex at home.
- Subverted: Alice's parents tell her and Bob that they don't want the two of them getting up to any "hanky-panky" in their house, but it turns out they were using the term innocently and just meant "don't cause any mischief."
- Double Subverted: ... But Alice's parents also consider sex under their roof to be a form of "mischief."
- Parodied:
- When Bob visits Alice's home for the first time, her parents hand him a list of "house rules," which includes a ban on every possible sexual act.
- Bob's parents tell him and Alice that they cannot have sex under their roof, only on top of it.
- The local Love Hotel or No-Tell Motel offers a discount to any couple that still lives with their parents.
- Zig-Zagged:
- Alice's mom and dad don't want Alice having sex under their roof. Her parents are divorced, though, and her stepmother (who she lives with sometimes) is fine with it.
- Bob's parents allow him to have sex under their roof, but only on certain days of the week and during specified hours.
- The parents only ban heterosexual sex. Gay sex is allowed.
- Averted:
- Parents are fine with their children having sex in their home.
- Alice and Bob do not have sex.
- Enforced: The writers need to show that Alice has Helicopter Parents.
- Lampshaded: "I know, I know. You want me to leave the bedroom door open so we don't get up to anything, right?"
- Invoked: Alice knows Bob wants to have sex, but she isn't ready yet, so she brings Bob to her parents' house.
- Exploited: Charlie dislikes Alice or wants to get Bob in trouble, so he arranges for his parents to come home early and catch Bob and Alice in the act.
- Defied: Alice's parents, worried about her safety, explicitly tell her that it's okay for her to have sex at home as long as she's practicing safe sex.
- Conversed: "Bob's parents are way too concerned with making sure he has no sex life."
- Implied:
- Alice is over at Bob's house. His parents, clearly suspicious, keep peering into the room or "checking on them" every five minutes.
- Bob goes to shut the door to Alice's room, but she stops him and says, "Don't. My parents will think we're up to something."
- Played for Laughs:
- Alice and Bob turn to Making Love in All the Wrong Places, which results in awkward moments or Amusing Injuries.
- Bob's parents walk in on him and Alice. Cue Bob and Alice both giving increasingly ridiculous explanations as to why it's Not What It Looks Like.
- Played for Drama:
- Because Bob's parents made it clear they did not want Alice and Bob having sex, the two have sex in secret. Alice gets pregnant, or one of them contracts an STI, but they're too afraid to ask for help since that means admitting they had sex. They try to resolve (or hide) the problem in increasingly dangerous ways.
- Alice has Abusive Parents who tend towards physical violence. Walking in on Alice and Bob having sex sends her parents into a rage, and one or both of them get seriously hurt.
Back to Not Under the Parents' Roof
