Fairfax gives this advice to Jane on her wedding night.
In the Jane Eyre fic Mustard Seed, Mrs.
When he wonders if his bride was refused by the king for being ugly, his father merely answers that Jonnel will have to bed her with his eyes closed.
A Rare Male Example in A Northern Dragoness when Jonnel Stark tries to protest about his Arranged Marriage.
For instance, did you know that a pureblood witch is still expected to enter her wedding bed a virgin, undress her husband and then herself, lie on her back, and then allow her husband to do exactly as he pleases, without protest of any kind, whether she wants what he does, or not. Thats how the pureblood laws are written. Luna: A woman is supposed to be subservient to her husband in all things.
The line is used in A Scotsman in Egypt by Depraved Homosexual Puccio to a handsome and rather uninformed English diplomat, who wasn't aware he was an extra incentive in allying Milan and England against the Scots.
She also thinks to herself that she'll wipe Dolorosa's mind of it afterward to spare her from remembering it.
In Hivefled Mindfang manages to secure protection against Dualscar for herself and The Dolorosa by having both of them have sex with The Grand Highblood, and keeps this sort of attitude during it to keep her disgust at bay.
However, in Elsa's case, it's less dislike of sex and more due to political calculus.
Done in the Frozen fanfic Ice on the Rhine, where Elsa has a marriage/procreation agreement with Napoleon (yes, that Napoleon) and on her wedding night, she lies back and thinks of Arendelle.
Whether he cared to use his body that way or not.
There's also a fic that has it that Loki, as the second/lesser prince, was "encouraged" by Odin to use his wiles on various noble men to make them more amenable to Asgard's interests.
She invokes this (replace England with Asgard), thinking that he will not let her enjoy the experience.
Mentioned in the Thor fanfic Between Worlds, during a flashback showing Loki taking a young noblewoman to bed.
It's somewhat played straight in this fic, which has Queen Victoria herself literally doing this. As in, a LOT (but it's usually a massive inversion of the trope).
This phrase is used a lot in Hetalia: Axis Powers fanfiction.
See also Awful Wedded Life for when nothing about being in a relationship is enjoyable. For the trope about wives "putting up with" sex they don't actually want, see Marital Rape License. Thinking of Margaret Thatcher naked on a cold day is a terrifying last resort recommended only for characters in comedies (however, young men in Latin American countries were often recommended to think of Celia Cruz - before her death, that is - although Mexican men prefer Elba Esther Gordillo).Ĭompare British Stuffiness and Stiff Upper Lip, related to the same national stereotypes. Thinking of baseball (or cricket, or some other sport - perhaps even one in which balls are not struck with some form of stick) is especially common. It is also used as an Inverted Trope, one used to prolong a sexual experience: when a man is reaching the point of no return, he may get in the habit of thinking of something else to try and muster up some more stamina. The sentiment " All Women Are Prudes" is also used and is not as severe. Finally, contrary to "Common Knowledge", it's got nothing to do with Queen Victoria, who had died eleven years earlier and who was very Happily Married. Additionally, Lady Hillingdon (if she was indeed the author) was in her fifties when she wrote this, and so may have had problems - many now treatable - which rendered sex no longer enjoyable for her. In other words, lying back and thinking of England may have been the best of bad options. Keep in mind, though, that in this time period it wasn't unheard of for a woman of a high class to have to choose between marrying a strange man many years her senior who had no interest in pleasing her, and suffering serious societal repercussions including being possibly left penniless when her parents died. It's possible the phrase was invented as a joke on the assumption that Victorian and Edwardian ladies were prudish in the extreme. The phrase seems to have originated in one Lady Hillingdon's journal, where she wrote in 1912 that "When I hear his steps outside my door I lie down on my bed, open my legs and think of England." However, the journal itself has never been found, so it's uncertain how reliable this attribution is. Then it's time to grit your teeth, hike your skirt, "lie back and think of England". Feigning headaches, stomachaches and menses can only postpone the dreaded inevitable. For women, sex is a chore, a duty that must be endured.