Sexless Marriage: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

Usually appears in fiction (and [[Truth in Television|real life]]) in the form of furiously whispered rumors. "I hear [[Alice and Bob]] don't even sleep in the same bed anymore." Mostly used to indicate a marriage that has hit the rocks for whatever reason - sometimes a particularly bad betrayal of a spouse, sometimes serial small betrayals, sometimes simply a marriage where the love has died over the years.

 

If sex is not included in a marital relationship in order to demonstrate [[Courtly Love|the purity of the love the couple has]], or due to some other restriction such as a [[Self-Imposed Challenge]], it should go under [[Chastity Couple]].

 

{{examples}}

* In ''[[Umineko no Naku Koro ni]]'', Krauss and Natsuhi apparently do not share a bed and sleep in separate bedrooms.

* In ''[[Vampire Game]]'' Ashley admits to never having slept with Leene, presumably because of her love for Yuujel. {{spoiler|This has clearly changed by the epilogue, as they have a kid.}}

* In ''[[Fate/Zero]]'', the marriage Saber (aka [[King Arthur|Arturia Pendragon]]) had with Guinevere was devoid of sex due to the fact that [[Sweet Polly Oliver|Saber had to conceal her gender in order to be King]]. It was because of this that Guinevere started looking for love in other places - Lancelot, for example.

 

 

 

* Archie and his wife in ''[[A Fish Called Wanda]]''

* ''[[Mean Girls]]'' - one of the secrets that Gretchen lets slip about Regina is "her parents totally don't sleep in the same bed anymore".

* The protagonist in ''[[Extract]]'' has a great deal of sexual frustration due to this trope.

* Lester and Carolyn Burnham in ''[[American Beauty]]'', hence Lester's [[A Date with Rosie Palms|morning habit]] (and [[Your Cheating Heart|Carolyn's afternoon habit]]). They ''do'' attempt to get it on once, but Carolyn's desire to keep the sofa clean puts the kibosh on that.

 

* Emperor Paul Muad'Dib and Princess Irulan in ''[[Dune]]'', while Paul's "real" wife, Chani, is a [[Hot Consort]] who is his wife in everything but name. Of course, Paul and Irulan were never in love in the first place (at least on Paul's side) and they both knew that the marriage was purely political, not to mention that Paul knew that sleeping with her would just play into the [[Evilutionary Biologist|Bene Gesserit's]] plans. Despite mostly ignoring her he does seem to at least somewhat care for her, and in ''Dune Messiah'' {{spoiler|spares her when the details of the conspiracy she was involved in, in particular Chani's infertility due to Irulan feeding her contraceptives and later [[Death by Childbirth]], come out into the open, and he has to talk Chani out of having Irulan killed with the rest of the conspirators}}. It seems that at the very least he values her as an adviser, and after {{spoiler|he exiles himself}} Irulan refers to him with some affection.

* In ''[[Carrie]]'', Carrie's Christian fundamentalist parents wanted to have a marriage like this, because they believed that [[Sex Is Evil]]. Her father once couldn't resist the temptation, and raped her mother; that's how she was conceived.

* In ''[[The Hunchback of Notre Dame (novel)|The Hunchback of Notre Dame]]'', Esmeralda marries Pierre Gringoire only to save his life, and doesn't let him touch her. He accepts that pretty easily.

* In ''[[Tobacco Road]]'', Lov's wife Pearl refuses to sleep with him, and doesn't even let him touch her.

* Karl Oskar and Kristina in "[[The Emigrants|The Last Letter Home]]" after it becomes clear that Kristina won't survive another pregnancy. It doesn't last for long however.

* Scarlett in ''[[Gone with the Wind]]'' decides that she doesn't want any more children, and tells Rhett that their marriage should become this. {{spoiler|It does...mostly.}} Melanie has a delivery go ''very'' badly, and is warned not to have more children; consequently, she and her husband sleep apart. {{spoiler|We discover -- [[Death by Childbirth|tragically]] -- that Melanie and Ashley weren't entirely sexless either}}.

* {{spoiler|Jacky}} and Higgins in ''[[Bloody Jack|The Wake Of The Lorelei Lee]]'' - which is to be expected, since Higgins is [[Ambiguously Gay|gay]] and {{spoiler|Jacky is [[Catch Phrase|promised to another]].}}

* ''[[In Death]]'' series: ''Imitation In Death'' reveals that {{spoiler|Pamela and Niles}} have this sort of marriage. They pretty much hate each other's guts. Here's the kicker... {{spoiler|Pamela is an [[Ice Queen]] with a total [[Lack of Empathy]] who knows that her husband is the psychopath and a [[Serial Killer]], as well as knowing that he rapes the nanny, using his wife's frigidness as an excuse. Pamela does not care, because at least it doesn't affect her own little world. To add to the heinousness of the situation, they have a kid, and while the kid hasn't been harmed, Pamela didn't even think about kid's safety and well-being once}}!

 

* In ''[[Frasier]]'', Niles and Maris don't even sleep in the same room.

* In ''[[Kaamelott]]'', Arthur hasn't touched Gueneviere since their wedding, which hasn't stopped him from sleeping with just about every other woman in the castle or his in-laws from repeatedly slipping them fertility potions.

* Tobias and Lindsay in ''[[Arrested Development (TV series)|Arrested Development]]''.

* Heavily implied between Salvatore Romano and his wife in ''[[Mad Men]]''. In fact it appears that the two of them barely even speak.

* Londo Mollari, the Centauri Ambassador to ''[[Babylon 5]]'', has three loveless marriages. He purposefully left all three of them back on Homeworld when he went to Babylon 5, and no matter how bad things seem at the station the thought that the three are back home waiting for him makes him firmly want to stay there.

 

* In ''[[A Little Night Music]]'', Fredrik and Anne's marriage lasts for eleven months without being consummated, though they both consider attempting it.

* In ''[[The Little Foxes]]'', Regina has not let her husband sleep with her since ten years before the events of the play. She claimed that there was something medically wrong with her, and hated him for believing her lie.

 

* Female!Hawke could have something like this in [[Dragon Age II]] if she romances Sebastian, who took a vow of chastity before meeting her.

** After Carver mocks this aspect of his sister's "marriage", Hawke jokingly replies;

'''Sebastian''': Yes love... [[Think Unsexy Thoughts|rein it in.]] }}

 

'''Stewie:''' That's not the point! Don't change the...[[Anatomically-Impossible Sex|it's a]] [[Is It Something You Eat?|kind of cake]]? }}

** In the episode "The Perfect Castaway", when Peter disappears at sea and declared dead, Lois and Brian get married but don't have sex (though he would really like to).

** After Apu cheated on Manjula, they still slept in the same bed, but with considerable distance between them.

* Double D's parents in ''[[Ed, Edd 'n' Eddy]]''.

[[Category:Marriage Tropes]]

[[Category:Truth in Television]]