History Main / AmbiguousGenderIdentity

* ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'': In "The Cruciferous Vegetable Amplification", Sheldon makes a family tree and we see that his grandmother had three children, his mother Mary and two sons named Carl (who was killed by a badger) and Edward. In the prequel ''Series/YoungSheldon'', Mary says that her siblings are named ''Charlene'' and Edward. This may be a {{retcon}} or [[SeriesContinuityError continuity error]], but it's also possible that Charlene and Carl are the same person and is transgender.

* ''Series/TheBigBangTheory'': In "The Cruciferous Vegetable Amplification", Sheldon makes a family tree and we see that his grandmother had three children, his mother Mary and two sons named Carl (who was killed by a badger) and Edward. In the prequel ''Series/YoungSheldon'', Mary says that her siblings are named ''Charlene'' and Edward. This may be a {{retcon}} or [[SeriesContinuityError continuity error]], but it's also possible that Sheldon's uncle Carl is a transgender man.

* Yamato in ''Manga/OnePiece'' isn't the least bit androgynous physically, appearing to be a [[StatuesqueStunner beautiful]], well-endowed woman. However, he's referred to as both the son ''and'' the daughter of ArcVillain Kaido and claims that he's a man. Yamato refers to himself as male because he identifies as being Kozuki Oden [a man], and wants to take up his name and legacy. But Yamato does acknowledge that Kozuki Oden is a different person than himself, bringing into question whether he considers himself a man as "Yamato" or not. Most characters call him Kaido's son, but his official introduction narration calls him Kaido's daughter, and a flashback the members of the Spades pirates refer to Yamato as such. Another flashback to Yamato's childhood consistently used female pronouns and the description "princess", though this could be before he "came out" as male. To add to the ambiguity, Yamato gets mad at Luffy when the latter refers to him as "Yama-O". Since the "O" suffix refers to a male, it's hard to tell if Yamato's mad at Luffy for referring to him as male or if Yamato just hates nicknames, since he also gets mad when Luffy calls Ulti by a nickname. Luffy also uses male pronouns when referring to Yamato in the English translation, but the pronouns are neutral in the original Japanese. Other characters in the present also refer to Yamato with male pronouns, even those who are antagonistic to him. All of this adds up to Yamato's gender identity being questionable. (For the sake of simplicity, this wiki refers to Yamato with male pronouns, as Yamato's gender identity has been the subject of {{Edit War}}s, and we're not looking for any more fights on the subject.)

* ''WesternAnimation/Nimona2023'': Nimona herself has this, since along with her [[AmbiguouslyHuman ambiguous humanity]], it's not entirely clear what she identifies as regarding gender. While she's consistently referred to with she/her pronouns both in-universe and out, and she doesn't contest that, whenever Ballister refers to her as a "girl" she either ignores it or gets mildly annoyed, either because she doesn't fully identify as female, or possibly just because "girl" implies "human" and/or "child", of which she is neither. She also has no issues with using her shapeshifting to become male (like turning into a young boy or Ballister himself), though she doesn't do this as often as [[Webcomic/{{Nimona}} her comic version]] does.

* ''WebVideo/DanganronpaAbridgedThing'': Chihiro Fujisaki was explicitly male [[VisualNovel/DanganronpaTriggerHappyHavoc in canon]], but the abridged series makes this more ambiguous by [[CharacterExaggeration placing more emphasis on his gender identity]]. By the time [[spoiler: they are killed]], Kirigiri explains that they were designated male at birth, but their ID recognizes them as male. Shortly after, Monokuma declares that they "[[LetUsNeverSpeakOfThisAgain never talk about this again]]."[[note]]As he says that, he holds up a sign with a disclaimer specifically stating that a person's genitalia does not indicate gender identity... which does absolutely nothing to help clear things up about ''Chihiro's'' identity in this abridged series.[[/note]] From then on, Fujisaki is only referred to as "[[GenderInclusiveWriting they/them]]."

* ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'': Perry the Platypus is clearly referred to as being male, yet no one in the family seems surprised that he would lay an egg. In another episode, he sweats milk, which only female platypi do. In another, a professional platypus hunter hired by Doofenshmirtz references male platypi having poisonous stingers, which confuses Doofenshmirtz since Perry has never used anything like that. Finally, the [[WordOfGod creators of the show]] simply said "[[MathematiciansAnswer Yes]]" when asked about Perry's gender.

* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}''

* La China (Spanish for the feminine form of "The Chinese one") from Cuban film ''Film/JuanOfTheDead'' wears female attire, and makes it obvious that she finds men attractive. Juan and others refer to La China in masculine terms ("That dude was getting on my nerves!"). Given the setting, La China could be a femme-presenting gay man or a heterosexual transwoman who is misgendered by the others.

* Jo from ''Literature/LittleWomen'' is a {{tomboy}} who has [[http://www.btchflcks.com/2015/08/jo-marchs-gender-identity-as-seen-through-different-gazes.html more than a few lines suggesting gender dysphoria]] - such as lines like "I can't get over my disappointment in not being a boy!" and how she dislikes her more feminine full name - though readers generally think she's being confined by the strict gender roles of the day.

** In one episode Steve and his friends join a massive BoyBand called B12, consisting of twelve members. One of them looks female yet refers to himself by male pronouns and in a song where each member gives one line to describe themselves, he announces "I have the penis of a man".

* Meg from ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' is depicted in the future living as a man named Ron in ''Stewie Griffin: The Untold Story''. While this could explain some things, considering the gag nature of the series and its NegativeContinuity this is largely up in the air. Making things more confusing is the episode "This Little Piggy", where a CutawayGag suggests that Meg was born male, with Peter having cut off her penis instead of the umbilical cord.

* Matsuri of ''Manga/AyakashiTriangle'' gets subjected to a GenderBender curse which turns him female, and much of the manga's run is spent with him trying to find a way back to normal. While he still identifies as a boy and still very much acts like one to a degree, Matsuri does slowly warm up to living as a girl - most especially enjoying the GenderBenderFriendship with his ChildhoodFriend Suzu, who reciprocates in kind. [[spoiler:As such, while he's given the option to finally break the curse at the series' end, Matsuri elects to remain a girl for the foreseeable future in order to maintain his bonds with Suzu and her friends.]]

* ''Film/MyAnimal'': Heather is told off for hanging out in the boys' locker room (to see her brothers after they win a game, while hoping to also join the men's hockey team) by the coach, saying no girls are allowed there. This just makes Heather jokingly ask "What girl?" Heather's played by Creator/BobbiSalvorMenuez, and this could indicate Heather is nonbinary like them. It's not explicitly said though, nor come up again (Heather doesn't appear to object when being called a girl, she etc though it could be fear of a reaction or simply not knowing any options exist besides this as it's set in the 1980s).

** In ''Tiffany Aching's Guide to Being a Witch'' by Creator/RhiannaPratchett and Gabrielle Kent, Tiffany says that she once asked why Geoffrey Swivel (the male-presenting witch from ''Literature/TheShepherdsCrown'') didn't want to be a wizard, the traditional vocation of magically-inclined men, and was told that Geoffrey wasn't a man, just Geoffrey. Tiffany uses a couple of singular theys, but mostly avoids using pronouns for Geoffrey altogether at that point, while Granny Weatherwax's marginalia starts to call Geoffrey "the lad" before correcting herself (and you know it matters if Granny Weatherwax is prepared to correct herself). Since it's not clear if words like "non-binary" or "genderqueer" even exist on the Disc, and entirely possible that nobody on the Chalk would know them even if they did, it seems that everyone just accepts that Geoffrey's Geoffrey and that's how it is, without seeking further details.

* Matsuri of ''Manga/AyakashiTriangle'' gets subjected to a GenderBender curse which turns him female, and much of the manga's run is spent with him trying to find a way back to normal. While he still identifies as a boy and still very much acts like one to a degree, Matsuri does slowly warm up to living as a girl - most especially enjoying the GenderBenderFriendship with his ChildhoodFriend Suzu, who reciprocates in kind. [[spoiler:As such, while he's given the option to finally break the curse, Matsuri elects to remain a girl for the foreseeable future to maintain his bonds with Suzu and her friends.]]

** In ''Tiffany Aching's Guide to Being a Witch'' by Creator/RhiannaPratchett and Gabrielle Kent, Tiffany says that she once asked why Geoffrey Swivel (the male-presenting witch from ''Literature/TheShepherdsCrown'') didn't want to be a wizard, the traditional vocation of magically-inclined men, and was told that Geoffrey wasn't a man, he was just Geoffrey. Tiffany uses a couple of singular theys, but mostly avoids using pronouns for Geoffrey altogether at that point, while Granny Weatherwax's marginalia starts to call Geoffrey "the lad" before correcting herself (and you know it matters if Granny Weatherwax is prepared to correct herself). Since it's not clear if words like "non-binary" or "genderqueer" even exist on the Disc, and entirely possible that nobody on the Chalk would know them even if they did, it seems that everyone just accepts that Geoffrey's Geoffrey and that's how it is, without seeking further details.

* ''Film/{{Sorceress}}'': Mara and Mira were [[RaisedAsTheOppositeGender raised as boys]] for protection against [[ArchnemesisDad their own birth father]], who wanted to [[HumanSacrifice sacrifice his firstborn]]. Due to this, both of them wholly identify as being male initially, completely oblivious that it might be otherwise (somehow, they don't even know their anatomy is female). Even by the end of ths film it's still not clear if they see themselves as men, women or something else.