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Women Prefer Strong Men
Looks like Mr. Potato Head doesn't measure up.

Exactly What It Says on the Tin. This trope is behind the stereotrope that any given girl would prefer to date the captain of the football team instead of the captain of the chess team. The former is bigger, broader, and more physically fit. Back in the day, this is the kind of guy that would spear boars or kill bandits, i.e. a more practical husband. This is no longer the case in many soceities but the distinction remains.

Note that this does not mean stronger than the woman in question but strong, period. In turn, even a weak woman isn't going to be impressed by a guy merely stronger than her; he has to be fairly strong as far as guys go, too. Thus the strongest man in the room is the most attractive.

Even works applying this assumption may still portray women as befriending weak guys and consider them "cute" in a very literal sense of the word but it will still present a in-universe obstacle to weak guys looking for a date.

Compare All Amazons Want Hercules, where the (Amazonian) woman would only settle for a man who is stronger than her. Contrast Weakness Turns Her On and the genderflip, Amazon Chaser, where a guy is attracted to strong girls.


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     Anime And Manga:  

  • Possible with Bulma in Dragon Ball; it would explain her falling for Vegeta, recently a genocidal villain, in Dragon Ball Z. He is in a different league than her previous boyfriend, Yamcha, a much lower threat.

     Comic Books:  


  • The pictured example from Toy Story 3 is more of a parodical example.

     Live Action TV:  

  • In The Big Bang Theory, all of Penny's ex-boyfriends are dumb, muscular guys. Then inverted, when she falls for Leonard, they become an item, and she finds it very hard to go back to dating such idiots.
  • In the Louie episode "Bully," the middle-aged Louie is on a date with a middle-aged woman. It goes well until a teenager whom Louie asked to quiet down comes over and threatens to beat Louie up. Louie backs down and his date explains in brutally honest fashion that while she understands intellectually that Louie made the sensible, adult choice, at some gut level for her he's simply not a sexual or romantic prospect anymore because he wasn't "strong." They exchange awkward, mutually unhappy goodbyes, with both of them acknowledging that this is a screwed up situation, and the date ends.
  • This is a major point in an episode of Noah's Arc. When Wade and Noah briefly live together for the first time, Noah sees all the beauty products Wade uses. Noah later comments with his friends about how the whole "metrosexuality" thing is a bit of turn off and prefers a strong, rugged man.
  • Friends: Inverted with Monica when her boyfriend Pete trains to become the Ultimate Fighting Champion. (He doesn't do a good job, but is still a lot stronger than before). Monica hates seeing him hurt, and prefers him when was sweet and geeky. They eventually break up because of it. A similar case happened with her husband Chandler. When he and Ross are armwrestling, Monica says she loves his sensitivity and kindness not strength. From his end, he happily admits that she is freakishly strong and could kick his ass.

  • One version of "Could You Use Me" (as sung by Judy Garland in 1943 in the film version) from the musical Girl Crazy and its remake Crazy For You:
"There's a chap I know in Mexico/Who's as strong as he can be/Eating nails and drinking Texaco/He is the type for me"
"Some day he'll come along/The Man I love/And he'll be big and strong/The man I love"

     Web Comics:  

     Western Animation:  

Women Are DelicateStereotype    
Unskilled, but StrongStrength IndexWorld's Strongest Man
The Unfair SexMen Are ToughAll Amazons Want Hercules
With This RingLove TropesWorking with the Ex
Prison EpisodeImageSource/Animated FilmsX Meets Y

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