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Basic Trope: A character is disgusted and/or upset when they find out their parents have a healthy and active sex life.

  • Straight: Bob hears his parents having sex Right Through the Wall. He runs to the bathroom for a Vomit Discretion Shot.
  • Exaggerated:
    • Bob is Driven to Suicide over it.
    • Bob is disgusted at the idea of his parents kissing/watching porn/thinking sexual thoughts/masturbating/holding hands.
    • Bob is grossed out by an older couple who vaguely resemble his parents.
  • Downplayed: Bob shudders and puts on some Heavy Metal to drown out his parents' sex noises.
  • Justified:
    • This is nature's way of ensuring genetic diversity by preventing the desire to mate with parents.
    • Bob's parents are into Head-Tiltingly Kinky fetish stuff and/or lots of dirty talk that seems very odd coming from them.
    • Bob's parents aren't exactly discreet about where, when, and how they do it.
    • Bob still believes Girls Have Cooties, and that romance is gross. (Even if he only knows about the kissing part.)
    • Bob's parents are typically a Chastity Couple, so their public displays of affection look like they're trying to pass themselves off as a "normal" sexual couple in public. Him picking up on this provides the basis for his disgust.
  • Inverted:
    • Bob's parents hear him having sex with Alice, or masturbating, or watching porn. They are visibly disturbed.
    • Bob is disturbed that his parents don't have a sex life.
    • Conversely, Bob's parents are disturbed that he doesn't have a sex life.
    • Bob is enthusiastic about hearing about his parents' sex life, worrying them that he may be secretly into it.
    • Bob thinks his parents are hot, and therefore finds their sex life even hotter. They don't dare to talk about it in his presence.
    • Bob and Alice have a kink where they pretend to be parents (maybe even each other's) during sex. Their parents are freaked out when they learn this.
  • Subverted: Bob is throwing up in the bathroom while strange noises come from the bedroom, turns out it's Not What It Sounds Like.
  • Double Subverted: Even if nothing was happening in the between Bob's parents at the moment, even the very possibility of something naughty happening makes Bob disgusted.
  • Parodied: Bob, now an adult living on his own, calls home, and his mom answers the phone during sex. Bob immediately hangs up, and chugs a bottle of whiskey.
  • Zig-Zagged:
    • Bob keeps changing his mind about how he feels about his parents having sex.
    • Bob is disgusted by the idea of his parents having sex, but not Alice.
  • Averted: Bob doesn't care that his parents have sex.
  • Enforced: Truth in Television, The Talk, Rule of Funny.
  • Lampshaded:
    Bob's Mom: Now, Bob, what your father and I are doing isn't all that different from what other married couples do when they love each other.
    Bob: I still think it's gross to see you and Dad do it! For Christ's sake, you're my parents!
  • Invoked:
    • Bob enters his parents' bedroom without knocking.
    • Bob's dad decides to punish Bob by making him clean the garage... and that Bob won't be able to resist snooping into the box on the shelf where Bob's dad hid the racy love letters.
  • Exploited:
    • Bob's parents give him money so he'll go to the movies, so he won't know they're having sex, or be grossed out.
    • Bob pictures his parents having sex, to help him last longer in bed, or to lose an inappropriately-timed erection.
    • Alice mentions Bob's parents during sex, as part of a Please Dump Me gambit.
    • One or both of Bob's parents are superheroes and when he suspects their Secret Identity, they imply it was related to their sex life so Bob will drop the subject.
    • One of Bob's parent's old lovers threatens to regale Bob with lucid details of their sex life if he doesn't give them what he wants.
  • Defied:
    • Bob's parents have ninja-quiet sex, after Bob is in bed (or they wait until he goes to summer camp/Grandma's/a sleepover at a friend's house/etc.)
    • Bob knocks before entering bedrooms and bathrooms.
    • Bob's parents choose not to have sex after they're done having children.
  • Discussed: "I think about me having sex and it's fine but I hate thinking about my parents having sex!"
  • Conversed: "These characters were naturally conceived, yet, they hate the idea of their parents getting it on."
  • Played for Laughs: Bob's dad, out of spite, tells Bob what he was going to do with Bob's mom for end-of-the-world sex. It involves chocolate pudding. Cue Vomit Indiscretion Shot.
  • Played for Drama: Bob learns that his mother used to do porn before he came along, or even does cam shows or answers for an adult phone chat line now to supplement the household income. It causes a rift in their relationship, and treats her poorly over it.


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