Sexual Karma

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
"Do the right thing; Karma will get you laid!"

If fictional characters knew that being good gets you good sex, there might not be any villains. One common way this shows up, especially in Comedy, is with Sexual Karma. Though not just in the sense of "you give good sex, you get good sex back" (which can certainly come into play, but is not the end of it). What happens is that good characters will, through wacky and unpredictable happenstance, usually end up falling into a veritable harem of highly desirable and willing members of their preferred gender, while the Jerkass will be dumped into a veritable harem of their least favored members of their (un)preferred gender. While in chains. Where no one can hear them scream.

Implementation varies, they don't always fall through a skylight onto a pile of cushions with various scantily clad concubines (though that is the classic). Even sex need not be involved, it might just be a single guy ending up alone with a bus full of volleyball players they helped save and who are grateful enough to flirt with and/or dote on him. Or the good character might mope that, after spending all the movie helping the lead solve his or her love problems they're still single... to the unbearably attractive bar-person who happens to be single! Alternately the wingman and winggirl of the two leads may become a happy Beta Couple. Depending on the rating, they may only be implied to start dating, get it on, or actually get it on screen.

In contrast, most Jerk Asses (and a fair number of heroic Butt Monkeys) will somehow find themselves socially or physically trapped alone with one (or more!) overly amorous people of a group that isn't just outside their target demographic, but may well scare or repulse them. Of course, to these people, "no means yes" and their struggles just set them in the mood. For extra points, he or she will have previously insulted or put down the same person or people that he or she is now trapped with due to their own actions. If the jerkass was kicking dogs, rape is implied to happen.

It's not always a person, though; animals, "monsters", or aliens can also be substituted in either case. Even a Nice Guy may have to endure a dry-humping pet of their Love Interest's as part of the romance. Extra points if it's a gorilla, which is a favorite.

Depending on how it's used, this trope may carry Unfortunate Implications. Please don't ask us to elaborate, therapy isn't cheap.

A subtrope of Black Comedy Rape, and closely related to Laser-Guided Karma. See also Redemption Equals Sex.

No real life examples, please; Real Life is not scripted.

Examples of Sexual Karma include:


Anime and Manga

  • Sanji from One Piece ends up on an island full of cross-dressers after Bartholomew Kuma rockets the Straw Hat Pirates away from each other. He spends a lot of time unknowingly saying that he likes dressing in women's clothing to a cross-dresser he believed was a beautiful woman. Hilarity Ensues.
    • Also, Absalom's molestation and ogling of Nami/Robin is repaid with the affections of Lola. Who is a zombie. And ugly. And a warthog. This is more detailed in the anime.
    • Luffy, on the other hand, for being such a good hearted moron, wins the affections of Boa Hancock, the World's Most Beautiful Woman, one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, and leader of the all-woman kingdom Amazon Lily, which means her subjects love him too. Being Luffy, he doesn't quite 'get' how lucky he is.
  • In Jura Tripper, instead of being requited by any of his love interests, Jerkass God only receives affection from pet dinosaur Miyu.
  • A Yakuza member in Witchcraft is dropped into a pit full of bored homunculi. We don't see precisely what happens to him, but the homunculi were created for sex, and despite their feminine forms, they have penises rather than vaginas.

Comic Books

  • Starr in Preacher (Comic Book) orders an incompetent minion to set him up with a prostitute. He gets a male one who does not take no for an answer. This is actually quite early in Starr's Humiliation Conga.
  • In Ernie, a sleazy boss tries to get Doris to sleep with her, threatening to fire her if she don't go along. She beats him up and quits on her own. However, this was apparently not enough punishment for some people (the next strip is of the artist being chewed out by his wife and banished to the couch because the sleaze "got away with it"), so the boss is later on vacation and tries the hot tub... which is then occupied by several recently-conceiving mothers. Uh, yeah. If this seems a bit convoluted to you, you're not alone.

Film

  • Oh, the ending to Gremlins 2. Gets the extra points and everything, and a particularly mean example because the guy wasn't a villain so much as kind of a Jerkass. At the end he just shrugs and accepts that the amorous female Gremlin is going to have him one way or another. After all the chaos he's been through regarding the regular gremlins, the one female that has a major crush on him is probably the least of his problems.
  • Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls has the protagonist enjoy a night with The Chief's Daughter, while the unfortunate Big Bad finds love in the bush. With the Extra Points.
    • Of course, this comes back to bite Ace in the ass.

Fulton: I believe he's saying she's not a virgin.
Ace: ...they can tell that? *Cue entire Wachati tribe chasing Ace through the jungle

What... like the back of a Volkswagen?

    • And the karma rebound for his jerkassery throughout the film is he ends up screwed in a very uncomfortable place for many years. Jail.
  • In the film version of George of the Jungle, the villain winds up with a (semi-sentient) gorilla... who he'd just exchanged vows with while in a dark cave, thinking it was Ursula.
  • In Don Bluth's Anastasia, Rasputin's bat sidekick abandons him at the climax and is awarded a female bat at the end with no explanation.
  • The ending of Dumb and Dumber subverts this—the two characters look like they're about to get a bus full of beautiful women all to themselves as reward for their noble actions, only to have it ruined by their stupidity—and then hilariously double-subverted seconds later.
  • Eurotrip has the Jerkass sidekick going to a normal-looking brothel and not realizing anything is wrong until the girls leave as soon as he's all chained up. A burly man enters and he struggles with the complex Safe Word... failing to pronounce it, he instead begs for what turns out to be the name of a sinister-looking anal rape toy. This is the only sexual encounter he has in the whole movie until the Pair the Spares happy ending.
  • Sorority Boys: Throughout the film, Adam encourages Jimmy, his little brother in the fraternity, to take advantage of inebriated girls. So when "Adina" (Adam dressed in drag) ends up passed out in in Jimmy's room, he capitalizes on the opportunity. Adam then takes the same humiliating walk of shame that girls had to endure after a night with him.
  • Trading Places: the protagonist ends up with Jamie Lee Curtis, while the callous, Jerkass Beeks ends up with a male amorous gorilla in a cage.... wearing a (female) gorilla suit.....
  • At the end of Shrek 2, the handsome but awful Prince Charming is grabbed and forcibly kissed by the ugly step-sister.
  • Intermission: Oscar and Sally, the two shy ones, find each other. John (whose messy breakup with his girlfriend because he couldn't show any commitment kicked off the whole plot) gets her back when he admits that he cares about her. Sam gets back together with his wife (who left him when he cheated with a younger woman) -- unfortunately for him, she's discovered she can use threats of physical violence to keep him in line.

Web Comics

  • The wife of David Hopkins, author of Jack, was stalked for a while by her creepy ex. Apparently, among other problems, the creepy ex had bragged to her about his habit of finding beached dolphins and doing unpleasant things with their blowholes. She and Dave got their revenge on this guy by putting a cameo of a thinly-veiled avatar of him in the comic's Ironic Hell setting, condemned to be raped by dolphins for eternity.

Web Original

  • Solange of the Whateley Universe gets the ultimate in Crystal Hall.
    • The fandom promptly exploded after the section where it happens was posted, dividing into three groups: the first felt that Solange deserved it and it was hilarious; the second felt that, no matter what Solange had done, she didn't deserve that; the third felt that while it was a terrible thing that no one—not even Solange—deserved, she did sign a contract that gave a telepath complete control of her body for a whole weekend, in a dorm that was completely hostile to her and if she didn't see the potential consequences inherent in that, then she was being incredibly stupid when she agreed to the terms. Bringing it up can still result in a more... heated... response than you might otherwise expect.

Western Animation

  • In an episode of South Park, an antagonist who repeatedly tries to get Jimmy killed is raped by a shark. On-screen. Twice.
  • Kid-friendly example: In the Tale Spin episode "The Time Bandit", Baloo's punishment for almost getting Rebecca executed with one of his Zany Schemes is having to go on a date with a woman who really likes him—but happens to be as fat as Baloo himself.