I Have Boobs - You Must Obey!

Obey the hypno boobies!

Amanda: I've got breasts, Chuck. I can make men do whatever I want. I could even make you punch yourself for a peek at these.
Chuck: Please don't make me do that.

—Class Mishaps
It's a level eighty female-only persuasion spell. We try not to over-use it.
—Lilah, Ctrl+Alt+Del

How do you get something you want from another person? Logical arguments, bribery, force, or—if you're a woman trying to persuade a man—the mere fact of having mammary glands.

Yes, because writers think All Men Are Perverts, women don't even need to pretend that getting sex is a likelihood or even a possibility. All they have to do is possess secondary sexual characteristics to get men to do their bidding. We mean, They're Men, They Can't Help It, right?

Can be Truth in Television, though of course in fiction it's often exaggerated. Compare the Lysistrata Gambit, which differs in that the characters are in a relationship and that sex is on the table, but still shares the underlying assumption about men's self control. See also Distracted by the Sexy, which is perhaps an unintended side effect, and Screw the Rules, I'm Beautiful, for when it isn't necessary for a woman to have a couple of good reasons to do so. See Ignore the Fanservice for one way this gambit falls flat on its face. Another is for the woman to attempt this on a man by opening their shirt/showing "the goods," only to then find out that the man they're trying it on is gay.

Compare Glamour, where the effect is universal, and Favors for the Sexy, the voluntary, almost always male, response.

Examples of I Have Boobs - You Must Obey! include:

Anime & Manga

  • Naruto, despite being male, uses this quite a few times via shapeshifting.
  • Hevn of GetBackers.
  • One episode of Golden Boy has a busty blonde as an office boss.
  • Subverted by Bleach's Rangiku Matsumoto, who's technically second-in-command to squad captain Hitsugaya. Not that anybody remembers that little detail....
    • She tries this on Ichigo to get him to let her stay at his house during a mission to the world of the living. He resists...but just barely.
  • Faye Valentine in Cowboy Bebop hints that this may be the reason behind her iconic outfit.
  • Invoked and lampshaded in Otaku no Musume-san.
    • The author even goes so far as to put in a sidebar note "Are huge breasts truly righteous!?"
  • Bulma tries to invoke this occasionally on Dragon Ball. It seldom does much good: Yamcha is too bibbledy over her to be useful, Vegeta is too much of a Jerkass, and though Goku will usually help her out, it's because his Grandpa taught him to be nice to women, not because he is particularly attracted to them.
    • One subversion in the early series actually involves Bulma offering a lot more than a peek to General Blue, who is consequently horrified by the prospect, hinting his tastes run ...elsewhere.
    • The only time this tactic has worked for Bulma is when she has to cajole Kame Sen'nin into giving up a dragon ball. Due to forces unexpected, she ends up giving Kame a bit more than she thought she did...
  • Lampshaded in this Funny Motivational Poster
    • By a character who is only rarely magically gifted. What's even funnier is her breasts even then are still not that big, not even as big as Belldandy's , and Urd's are significantly larger
  • Momoko Kibitsu from Ookami-san and her "kibidango" that she uses to control her three fanboys...and Urashima.
  • Suggested in the Beach Episode of RahXephon. Ayato's drawing ability becomes known, Cathy McMahon subtly rubs one of her breasts in Ayato face, 'suggesting' that he pick her as his next subject.
  • In one Kamen no Maid Guy episode Naeka got pulled into a restaurant feud centering around a bakery whose manager had decided to go for a business model that depended on this trope to distract customers from how bad the food actually was.
  • Ranma ½: What do you get when you take one protagonist that's a Manipulative Bastard With A Heart Of Gold and make him a Gender Bender? That's right. This trope. Hellooooo, nurse!
  • In Ben-To, Sen Yarizui uses this on both Hana and You to get them to join the Half-Priced Food Lovers club.
  • Rosario + Vampire: Kurumu Kurono may be a succubus who has the power to charm men into loving and obeying her, but having breasts big enough to suffocate the main character only makes it easier.


Comics

  • In Young Justice, the first villain the team ever fought literally had this trope as her superpower. After she had retrieved some artifact from an archaeological dig, mousy but slightly hot Nina Dowd was transformed into the voluptuous Mighty Endowed. ME's power was the ability to shine, er... headlight-type beams from her newly ample bosom, hypnotizing all men who saw them. The responses from the guys were hilarious.
    • For the record, she was defeated when her newly gigundus breasts caused her to lose her balance and fall flat on her face, blocking her powers. In a later appearance, she literally had to have a pair of male minions help her stand.
  • In The DCU, Power Girl does this, constantly. At one point, Batman bribed a Teen Genius to save the world simply by presenting Power Girl.

Batman: He's also a thirteen year old boy, find a way to distract him!
Power Girl: Why is everyone looking at me? How am I supposed to distract -- (quietly)Oh.

  • A series of Dilbert comic strips showed a woman whose only quality was the ability do this, much to the annoyance of the less "feminine" Alice.
  • In Liberty Meadows, Jen convinces Frank to come with her to a party by pushing his face into her ample cleavage.
  • During a fight with the Incredible Hulk in The Ultimates, The Wasp had to distract the Hulk. So, she just undid her top and showed her boobs in all their glory.

Nick Fury: A double PHD and all you could think of to distract him was the Mardi Gras special!?!?

  • To get access to a corpse, Tim Drake had to dress as a female med student in a costume apparently created by Alfred. When Tim complains about the bust being too big:

Alfred: I made them big enough that you would get preferential treatment, but not so big that you'd be remembered.


Fan Works


Films -- Animation


Films -- Live Action

  • Erin Brockovich: When asked how she will gain evidence: "They're called boobs, Ed."
  • Men in Black 2: Serleena comments, "Silly little planet. I could rule the place with the right set of mammary glands."
  • In Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines the TX is speeding in a stolen convertible and a police officer stops her. She spots a big Victoria Secret billboard with a model wearing a wonderbra and inflates her bust size before the cop walks up next to her. It works and the cop is momentarily distracted by her cleavage.
    • An especially Egregious example, since, aside from Fan Service, there is absolutely no reason for the TX to do this. There's nothing the squishy human cop could have possibly done to stop her, a near-indestructible killer robot, whether distracted or not.
    • I suppose the Rule of Funny could be all the justification, but possibly it could be that the TX didn't want to attract undue attention, and killing a police officer would definitely qualify.
    • The police officer was only distracted for about a second, which the TX spent simply staring at him, after which it is implied that she killed him anyway, after stealing his gun. ...Shortly thereafter she tore up half a city block with Car Fu, held a high-speed chase with giant construction vehicles through a down-town area, and invaded a high-security military facility. It really seems keeping a low profile was not on the TX' list of priorities—possibly because she knew Judgement Day was about to happen anyway. A combination of Fetish Fuel and Rule of Funny, invoking this trope but not really using it straight, was pretty much the only justification for the police officer scene.
      • It also revealed early on that Terminatrix was a shapeshifter.
  • In Material Girls Hilary Duff's character watches an old Film Noir and remarks that you can always get your evidence with nothing but a push-up bra. She invokes this when she tricks the security guard with a cleavage-revealing Little Black Dress.
    • She was actually watching Erin Brockovich.
  • In Jennifer's Body, Megan Fox's character cites this almost by name.
  • In The Cannonball Run a pair of jumpsuited beauties in a Lamborghini use this to evade speeding tickets. It ends up backfiring on them when they try it on a cop who, as they soon discover, ends up having her own impressive assets in this area.
  • During the rescue sequence of The Living Daylights, Bond gets a little help from this trope; his helper on the east side of the Berlin Wall distracts a guard by unveiling her assets. When last seen, the distracted party is planted face-first in them while the defector escapes.
  • Oh, Honey, you are so barking up the wrong tree right now
  • In Billy Madison, Veronica helps Billy study history by asking him what year certain events took place, removing an article of clothing for every correct answer. Unfortunately, his bus driver does the same thing.


Literature

  • The Promise from The Sweet Potato Queens' Book of Love is related to this.
  • In the earlier Discworld books it's mentioned that people are practically lining up to be arrested by Angua because of her... unique talents.
    • This, of course, is stated before it becomes clear that she's a werewolf capable of shredding anyone who resists arrest ...
  • In The Dresden Files novel Turn Coat, Harry's apprentice Molly gets information out of a rival P.I. by employing this trope. She takes off her bra under her T-shirt, and uses a cold beer bottle to...... bring attention to the fact she's not wearing a bra, before going to talk to the guy in his air-conditioned car. As Harry comments, "He didn't stand a chance".


Live Action TV

  • Elliot and Jordan on Scrubs both do this fairly frequently. Although Elliot would use this on J.D., at times she had some ethical dilemma because she didn't want to build a reputation on her sex appeal (with others telling her it is okay because as a female doctor she got the short end of the stick anyway). Jordan, not being a doctor or even a real working woman, has no qualms about that.
    • At one point, Elliot believes that her breasts have miraculous healing powers that enable her to cure sick patients by showing them off.
  • An episode of Friends begins with the cast discussing who's going to say what about Joey's new show without hurting his feelings. Phoebe doesn't have to say a word—she just presses him against her chest. His response? "... It wasn't that good."
    • It later turns into a Brick Joke when his show gets canceled. As Joey is completely distraught, he asks "It was a good show! Right!?" Then both Rachel and Phoebe press him against their chests simultaneously. One from the front, one from behind.
      • Not like that, get your mind out of the gutter.
  • Averted in the Stargate Atlantis episode "Trio", when McKay, Keller and Carter are trapped underground, and McKay suggests that Carter should offer a glimpse of her breasts to motivate a group of boys to help them. Carter, appalled and incredulous, refuses. Keller just ignores him.
  • In The Office, Jan gets Michael to rekindle their relationship by getting implants. Michael had no desire to get back together with her until she showed him the goods. Michael maintained that it was not shallow but "emotionally magnificent".
  • Attempted by Jenna on Thirty Rock. Upon arriving at a restaurant, the Maitre'd tells her it will be a 45 minute wait. She bends over, opens her top button... And it's still going to be a 45 minute wait.
  • Donna in That '70s Show works this one out and subsequently manages to convince guys of things by just showing her bra strap. She also lampshades this one with a downward look:

Donna: These things are awesome!

  • Star Trek: Enterprise revealed that the entire Orion race basically works this way.
  • In the first episode of Outlaw, Lucinda (Carly Pope) tells Eddie that she's going to get the construction plans she needs from a government office by flashing her breasts. She gets the plans, but it's left ambiguous as to whether she actually had to flash her breasts to get them or was just teasing Eddie.
  • In the pilot of Bones, Angela is waiting for Brennan at the airport, but finds the arrivals board broken and therefore has no idea at which terminal Brennan's plane has arrived. She goes to speak to a serviceman, who is too busy punching keys to talk to her. After about ten seconds of being ignored, she rips open her shirt, showing off a very nice pair of breasts. The FATASS man then gives her his full attention.

Angela: Yeah. Hi. The flight from Guatemala?

    • Aaaand then Brennan walks up behind her.

Brennan: Tell me you tried "Excuse me" first?

      • To Angela's credit, she simply embraces her friend gleefully without a trace of shame.
  • In an episode of 3rd Rock from the Sun, Sally conducted an experiment to see how much abuse a man would take from a beautiful woman before he would tell her to go to hell. She invited a man over and bossed him into doing an endless series of chores, never once showing an interest in him. Eventually, he collapsed from exhaustion and she exclaimed, "Oh my god! I'm so hot I killed him!"
      • One time Sally and Nina went to the watering hole. Sally approached some random guy.

Sally: Hey, buy us a couple of beers?
Man: Sure. So are you girls going to the big game?
Sally: We don't want to talk to you, we're just broke.

  • In the Seinfeld episode "The Gum", Elaine does it by accident; a button falls off from her blouse, resulting her showing a great amount of cleavage, but she doesn't notice it, until she easily convinces a policeman to tell a florist to disconnect a hose he was washing the sidewalk with.
  • Will and Grace: Karen Walker tries to do this to a cop (Vince) when pulled over for reckless driving by making them talk to him in baby voices. It doesn't work.
  • Averted in Casados con Hijos: Laura and Coqui try to buy something expensive, so Laura hugs sensually the salesman and asks for a discount. "Excuse me, I'm gay". So she leaves leaves him... and makes Coqui hug him sensually instead, and ask for the discount. "Excuse me, I'm gay, but not desperate".
  • Heroes: Claire Bennet pulls this, convincing a man to enter a drinking contest with her (which she knows she can't lose, thanks to her regenerative powers) by removing her shirt.


Theatre

  • The seguidilla in Carmen. After being arrested, Carmen convinces José to let her go by singing a song that can be summed up as "I'm available, let's meet at an inn later tonight."


Video Games

  • While Maya Fey of Ace Attorney is reasonably small-breasted, her (dead) sister Mia has a much larger bosom. On one occasion Maya channels her to fill out a waitress outfit that Maya was wearing, thus convincing an older witness with a maid fetish to give them information. Mia is not pleased about her role in the ploy.
    • It's also used in one of the short oekaki comics in the Case Files manga, where Maya channels Mia in order to get the waiter to give her another serving of pork.


Web Comics

  • In Casey and Andy, time-traveling Jenn gives this as the reason why the younger Casey and Andy have to agree to help her time-travel back home.
    • Actually backfires and plays into the plot. It led to a crush, which led to the seduction of the past-Jenn, and her being married to Andy in the present, which she then has to go back and fix.
    • Hell, Satan explains what finishing touches she put on woman come Creation.
  • This is a life strategy of Julia Greenhilt from Order of the Stick. When she tries this on Durkon ("Don't you want to pay attention to the girl with the boobs?") and he doesn't react, she decides he's gay and catatonic. He later (off screen) subjects her to a talk about respecting her body.
  • In Questionable Content, Ellen wears short-shorts to coerce Steve to help Marten move.
  • Misfile: Ash, being an involuntary Gender Bender, is understandably reluctant to exploit her rather ample chest in this way, leading bewildered flat-chested Missi to fantasize about what she would do if she had Ash's "assets" in the page image above.
  • Sinfest: Monique does it frequently. Admittedly she usually uses her buttocks, but the principle is the same.
  • Jade's sister, Miranda, in Pv P does it to virtually anything male.
    • Worth noting is that it only has about a 50% success rate. Brent tries to resist it (and usually does), Cole has too much business ethics, and Max is (probably) gay. It works perfectly on Francis and Jason and most passers-by. Miranda typically counters this with a rapid fire approach.
  • Jamie in Girls with Slingshots uses her... considerable assets to get free drinks.
    • It's actually so second-nature to her that there's a minor plot arc when an extra-cold winter forces her to stash the cleavage, and she discovers that she's actually gotten to the point of doing it involuntarily. She's rather taken aback to discover that even her closest friends have been swayed by it.

"You've been giving me boob discounts?!"

    • She's not entirely innocent, as she didn't even take money when going to a bar because "That's what guys are for". Unfortunately, she was in a gay bar and was shocked that it didn't work there. "Powers...weakening..."
  • Sometimes used by Lilah in Ctrl Alt Del to make Ethan do things.
    • Most notably, these were used to instantly cure him of his addiction to EverQuest; an addiction that otherwise took at least two weeks of therapy to cure.
    • Ethan claims to have learned from this, and later attempts to use his penis to create this effect on Lilah. This does not work at all.
  • Daisy from Daisy Is Dead tries to do this, but it only worked when she was still alive. Being a zombie complicates things.
  • Joked about in Sam and Fuzzy.
  • Intentionally parodied by Robin DeSanto in Shortpacked who wants to use her body to influence people, only she just can't figure out how.
  • Beautifully lampshaded in this DMFA strip.
  • Inversion in Yet Another Fantasy Gamer Comic, where Wolf's status as having the best ass in the Underdark allows him to sleep his way up the ranks—he's a male Drow in the female-dominated world of the Dark Elves.
  • From Sluggy Freelance: "Y'know, times like these make me want to invest in a push-up bra."
  • Used in this and this issue of Exiern.
  • In Ménage à 3, Yuki does it with Gary.
  • In an Easy Skankin guest comic crossover with Ansem Retort, Dingy tries to invoke this on Duke to get him to do a guest comic for her. He points out that her boobs violate the Geneva Convention, and also that, if he did this, she would have to admit that she was lazier than a sprite comic artist. She relented.
    • Ironically, the entire comic was in sprite comic format.
  • Memorably carried out in Megatokyo.
  • It'sWalky!: "This is a clear abuse of power"
  • Cecania of Sore Thumbs is aware of this trope.
  • Defied in Dominic Deegan:

Barkeep: Very nice, Melna, but you still have to pay for those beers.

Web Original

  • Tink and Clara convince Codex to try this in The Guild to make an attractive neighbor forget that she threw up on him.

Clara: More cleavage!
Codex: I don't have more!
Tink: She means get more out.

Girl: Hi, I heard you were a lesbian.
Author Avatar: [Rants about being pigeonholed by this single trait] ...I've had just about enou--
Girl [unzips her top]
Author Avatar: Hi, I'm a lesbian.

  • In the Fark video "World of Wifecraft", the husbands can be perpetually killed by their wives (necessitating that they run back to their bodies from the graveyard) because the wives' breasts instantly raise them to max level.
  • This Cracked article clearly explains the power of boobies.
  • Calypso in the MSF High Forum has discovered this power. The world may be doomed.
  • Tom from Echo Chamber begins sleeping with his Psycho Ex-Girlfriend Shannon again because she has great boobs.


Western Animation

  • Minerva Mink from her shorts in Animaniacs often used her feminine charms to get men to do things she didn't feel like doing for her.
  • During an early episode of Family Guy, Peter recalls trying to get out of a speeding ticket by pulling his shirt up to expose his man boob.
  • An episode of South Park is titled "Bebe's Boobs Destroy Society." You can guess the rest.
    • Although Played With—it's about a girl who first starts developing (tiny) breasts and is freaked out by how it makes boys her age act around her. It also involves the boys learning how to defy this trope.
  • Gender-flipped example in the hour-long special of Total Drama Island and early Total Drama Action. Justin is able to manipulate the girls (and some guys) in the game by showing his abs.
  • American Dad The episode, "My Morning Straitjacket" had Francine doing this in order to get her and Stan past security at the various areas at a concert.
  • The Robot Chicken sketch "The Lion, the Witch and the Locker", a parody of The Chronicles of Narnia. A nerd wound up in Narnia and the evil Queen asked him to kill the lion Aslan (Jesus). When he argued about whether a mere lion was worth his effort, she just sighed and showed him her boobs. He instantly agreed to obey.
    • Following a Gender Bender moment, he does this at the video store.

Video Store Owner: That will be $68.50... (The Nerd flashes him and he gasps) by which I mean free!

  • Used in an episode of Stroker and Hoop where a henchwoman had the ability to hypnotize people regardless of gender by getting them to stare at her breasts. She also swirls them around, like a hypno-spiral.


Real Life

  • A couple of years ago, Abercrombie & Fitch sold T-shirts for girls that read right across the chest: "WHO NEEDS BRAINS WHEN YOU HAVE THESE?" A group of teenage girls protested and managed to get the shirts pulled from the shelves due to the blatant sexism.
    • T-Shirt Hell, however sells a similar shirt which reads "I'LL BE USING THESE TO MY ADVANTAGE".
    • The band Silverfish had a slogan Hips, Tits, Lips, Power which also found its way on to a T-shirt and sums this trope up quite nicely.
    • That's a far cry from the original '80s shirt that said ALL THIS AND BRAINS TOO.
      • Not to mention there was another 80's shirt that said OBJECTS UNDER THIS SHIRT ARE LARGER THAN THEY APPEAR.
  • There are numerous cases of topless robbers who use this distraction to keep victims from getting a good description of their faces... a plan which is frequently prone to failure.
  • Parodied here.
  • The ancient Greek courtesan Phryne got acquitted from a trial for sacrilege by showing her breasts to the (all-male) jury. This is also a case of cultural dissonance, though; in ancient Greece, physical beauty was often seen as a symbol of favor by the gods, so displaying her body was a legitimate rebuttal to charges of sacrilege.
  • Some girls take advantage of this trope to obtain discounts from male employees. Smile + hint of cleavage = Let's see if we can lower the price.
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