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The female, for her part, may become irritated and impatient with this behaviour, may be understanding and accommodating (or even condescending), or may even respond in kind, in which case getting any kind of conversation going will take something akin to a miracle.
 
Despite the title, female characters who cannot talk to men are not uncommon. In this case it's usually triggered only by male characters they find attractive or have a crush on; if a female character literally has difficulty talking to any male at all, it's usually a sign that she had [[Abusive Parents|an abusive or domineering father]], grew up in [[No WomansWoman's Land|a misogynistic culture]], or had [[Single -Issue Psychology|some other bad experience that explains the issue]]. When a male character cannot talk to women, in contrast, it's almost always an issue of a general lack of confidence and/or experience and is rarely portrayed as a result of trauma.
 
Related to, and not to be confused with, [[Love Makes You Dumb]]. Also related to [[Socially Awkward Hero]]. In extreme cases may become [[Allergic to Love]].
 
{{examples|Examples:}}
== [[ComicsComic Books]] ==▼
 
* [[Captain America (comics)|Captain America]], sometimes.▼
 
* [[Clark Kenting|Clark Kent]] is this all day. Not [[Superman]], though. [[Depending Onon the Writer|Usually.]]▼
▲== [[Comics]] ==
* [[Spider-Man|Peter Parker]] has been [[Flanderization|flanderized]] into this over the years; in the early days, his romantic problems stemmed from the social hazards of [[Secret Identity|keeping a secret identity]], with a generous helping of [[Tsundere]] behavior from his love interests thrown into the mix during [[The Silver Age of Comic Books|the Silver Age]]. Possibly an example of [[Adaptation Decay]] from [[Spider -Man (Filmfilm)|the movie]].▼
▲* [[Captain America]], sometimes.
▲* [[Clark Kenting|Clark Kent]] is this all day. Not [[Superman]], though. [[Depending On the Writer|Usually.]]
▲* [[Spider-Man|Peter Parker]] has been [[Flanderization|flanderized]] into this over the years; in the early days, his romantic problems stemmed from the social hazards of [[Secret Identity|keeping a secret identity]], with a generous helping of [[Tsundere]] behavior from his love interests thrown into the mix during [[The Silver Age of Comic Books|the Silver Age]]. Possibly an example of [[Adaptation Decay]] from [[Spider Man (Film)|the movie]].
 
== [[Film]] ==
* Cody Banks, in the ''[[Agent Cody Banks]]'' movies, is like this.
* ''[[Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle]]'': Harold has a crush on one of his neighbors, but he can never get up the nerve to talk to her until the end of the film.
* ''[[Captain America: theThe First Avenger|Captain America]]'': Steve Rogers. It's even a plot point.
* [[Spider -Man (Filmfilm)|Peter Parker]] again. He never works up the nerve to tell Mary Jane how he feels until ''she'' comes to ''him''.
* Applies to Andrew Steyn (Marius Weyers) in ''[[The Gods Must Be Crazy]]''.
 
== [[Literature]] ==
* ''[[Audrey Wait (Literature)|Audrey Wait]]'': James' first line of real dialogue with Audrey after she tries to make conversation with him is "...the store needs more butter pecan."
* ''[[Discworld|Rincewind]]'': Rincewind is mentioned to be a rarity among wizards, in that he can talk to a woman without needing a cold shower and a lie-down after. However, if the subject turns to sex, he's completely out of his depth (wizards as a whole aren't supposed to marry or rather have sex, as this increases the chances of a [[Physical God|sourcerer]] being born).
 
== [[Live Action TV]] ==
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* ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'': Kendra the Vampire Slayer had a hard time talking to men who weren't her Watcher or a vampire, due in part to being brought up by her Watcher to focus single-mindedly on slaying.
** Oh, she wasn't just bad at talking to men. She was forbidden from speaking with them by her Watcher.
* In an episode of ''[[That '70s Show]]'', Eric can only say "Uh...... buh." in the presence of a girl he finds really attractive.
* One of Jeff's main traits in ''[[Coupling]]''.
* [[The Medic|Simon Tam]] of ''[[Firefly]]'' uses almost these exact words after accidentally insulting [[Wrench Wench|Kaylee]] in The Message.
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* When Guybrush first meets Elaine in ''[[The Secret of Monkey Island]]'', he is unable to do anything except utter random syllables. In their second meeting he acquits himself better, but the conversation quickly turns to increasingly saccharine pet names, which [[Sickeningly Sweethearts|in a way is worse]] He relapses into gibberish in later games whenever a woman is upset with him, indicating Guybrush just cannot take a woman's scorn.
* Akihiko in ''[[Persona 3]]'' proves completely incapable of talking to women other than his teammates, and in the female protagonist's route in the PSP version he gets pretty tongue-tied around her at times as well.
* In ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword]]'', [[Jerk Jock|Groose]] quickly loses track of what he was doing or saying when Zelda is talking to him.
* [[Leisure Suit Larry]]. That's kinda the whole point.
* Alistair in ''[[Dragon Age]]''. It's possible to become intimate with him if the Warden is female, but ''you'' have to make the first move, and until he loses his naivette, his attempts to respond to any romantic advances come off as lame, awkward or both.
 
== [[Web Comics]] ==
* The character of the socially inept nerd Michael in Jen Babcock's webcomicweb comic, ''[[CestC'est la Vie (webcomic)|C'est Lala Vie]]''.
 
== [[Web Original]] ==
* In ''[[DoctorDr. HorriblesHorrible's Sing Along Blog (Web Video)|Doctor Horribles Sing -Along Blog]]'', Billy in the beginning cannot speak to Penny (Laundry Day/ See you there/ Under things, tumbling/Want to say/ love your hair/ there I go, mumbling). This may or may not apply to all women, as Penny is the only female character in the first two acts.
 
== [[Western Animation]] ==
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[[Category:Character Flaw Index]]
[[Category:Stupidity Tropes]]
[[Category:Cannot Talk Toto Women]]
[[Category:Trope]]
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