History Main / GenderConcealingWriting

* On [[Website/TVTropes this very wiki]], it is not unheard of for tropers to use gender-neutral "they/them" pronouns in situations where merely specifying a character's gender can run the risk of spoilers.

* ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas'': During the countryside missions that follow the first act, Caeser hooks up CJ with his cousin, whom he only refers to as "they". This is to preserve the reveal that it's Catalina, the antagonist from ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto3''.

* In ''Film/{{The Avengers|1998}}'', the head of the Ministry is a man codenamed "Mother", as in the series. To continue the joke, his deputy is a woman called "Father".

* In ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'' we hear about Dr. Clark, who turned Gray Fox into the Cyborg Ninja. In ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4'' we discover that Dr. Clark is a woman, Para-Medic from ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3''. In this case it's one-half this trope (in universe, since the character who referred to her as man had never actually met her) one part RetCon since they decided to combine what were originally two different characters.

* In ''Film/{{The Avengers|1998}}'', the head of the Ministry is a man codenamed "Mother", as in the series. To continue the joke, his deputy is a woman called "Father".

* ''Film/Cube2Hypercube'' has many people looking for "Alex Trusk," who is only known by name, as a hacker. [[spoiler: It turns out that "Alex" is Sasha, who has been in the hypercube with them the whole time. Also doubles as a BilingualBonus since "Sasha" is a common diminutive for people named Alexander/Alexandra in Slavic countries]]

* ''Film/{{Them}}'' features Dr. Pat Medford, who the characters expect to be a male entomologist, presumably named Patrick, instead of the female entomologist named Patricia. ''Them!'' was [[FollowTheLeader such an influential film]] that a great many science fiction films of the era also had female scientist characters with male or androgynous names... sometimes even when there wasn't any actual misdirection!

* In ''Literature/TheLostSymbol'', Langstron assumes that the head of the CIA's Office of Security, Inoue Sato, is a man before meeting her.

* ''Double Standard'', a 1952 sci-fi tale by Alfred Coppel, has a disguised man sneaking on board a RetroRocket because only a certain type is allowed into Outer Space. TheReveal is that he's disguised as a woman because the crew is entirely female. The story has the usual female nurse or "girl assistant" you'd expect from a 50's scifi tale, but takes care to avoid mentioning the gender of the ship's officers. Likewise the man's fake identity document just gives an initial for his first name.

* During the first episodes of ''Series/PrisonBreak'', we learn that Lincoln was framed for killing the Vice-President's brother. Behind this conspiracy, there's a mysterious unseen and unidentified woman, only heard and usually seen doing seemingly household chores, who seems resolute to expedite Lincoln's execution. Later it runs out that ''she'' is the Vice-President. %% The reference to her as the Vice-President is this trope, as the viewers would expect a man. %%
* In a deleted scene from ''Series/DoctorWho'' story ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoS8E3TheClawsOfAxos The Claws of Axos]]'', American government official Bill Filer arrives at UNIT HQ looking for Jo Grant. It's clear when they meet that he was expecting a Joseph rather than a Josephine.

* In ''Series/{{Lost}}'', Danielle Rousseau abducts Sayid thinking he was one of those who had kidnapped her daughter. She questions him about her whereabout, but only refers to her as "Alex" and "child." In season two, we meet a girl who only later is revealed to be Alexandra, her long lost child. (This created [[DubInducedPlotHole issues in foreign languages]], as some DVD subtitles had referred to Alex as male.)
* In ''Series/TheXFiles'' this was [[WhatCouldHaveBeen planned]] for Mulder's new MysteriousInformant Mr. X (after [[spoiler: Deep Throat is killed]]), an actress is even the one providing the silhouettes initially, but this was changed at the last minute.

* In the ''Series/StargateSG1'' pilot, Captain Samantha Carter is intentionally referred to as "Sam" so that O'Neill can shoot his mouth off about having 'some new guy' added to his team as she walks in behind him.
* Similarly on ''Series/LasVegas'', famed Casino Host Samantha Marquez is referred to as "Sam," and thus assumed to be a man by Danny.
* In an early episode of ''Series/ThirtyRock'' Jack sets up Liz with a friend of his named Thomas, who turns out to be a female named Gretchen Thomas. Jack thought Liz was a lesbian.

* In the TV series ''Series/TheAvengers1960s'', Steed's boss, codenamed "Mother" (or some variations on "grandma" in translations), is a man in a wheelchair.

* The mysterious BigBad of ''Series/{{Utopia}}'' is [[OnlyKnownByTheirNickname only known as Mr. Rabbit]], but turns out to be a woman.

* In-universe one in ''Series/ThePuzzlePlace''. The viewers, as well as Julie and Kiki, know Jodi's karate instructor Grand Master Li is a woman, but Ben, Leon, and Skye do not. So when they refuse to accept that Jodi is better at karate than Ben even after beating him more than once, they video call Grand Master Li and presume the man she's sparring with is Grand Master Li. Leon's question about if boys are better than girls is answered when the man informs him his female partner is Grand Master Li.
* ''Series/{{Farscape}}''
** When John Crichton tries to assure the aliens who've thrown him in a cell that he means them no harm, Rygel points to another occupant of the cell--a menacing figure in a black spacesuit with smoked-glass helmet--and says, "We can no more trust you than we can trust ''[[ItIsDehumanizing that!]]"'' Of course calling their captive "her" would have given the SamusIsAGirl trope away before Aeryn Sun [[DramaticUnmask removes her space helmet]].
** In "Family Ties", Aeryn relates an incident from her childhood.
--->'''Aeryn:''' When I was very young, one night a soldier appeared over my bunk. Battle-hardened. Scarred...\\
'''John:''' Your father.\\
'''Aeryn:''' My mother.

* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'': Batman believed the terrorist known as "Red Claw" to be a man until they met.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse'' episode "L Is For Love", Luna's crush Sam isn't referred to with any pronouns. [[spoiler:This is to hide the fact that she's a girl. However, despite the lack of pronouns, the other Louds do seem to assume the crush is a boy judging by their actions]].

* The season 2 premiere of ''WesternAnimation/WanderOverYonder'' introduced KnightOfCerebus [[SheIsTheKing Lord Dominator]], who's set up as an AlwaysSomeoneBetter version of erstwhile BigBad Lord Hater and is only seen as a suit of towering armor until the ending reveals her to the audience as an adorable [[PsychopathicManchild Psychopathic Womanchild]] of a GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe. The other characters continue to assume Lord Dominator is male and refer to "him" with male pronouns until [[spoiler:she gets a very public SamusIsAGirl reveal in "The Battle Royale," changing the game considerably since more than one of her rivals now wants to date her.]]

* Harold Berselius, the MadScientist in ''VideoGame/TalesOfDestiny2'', is in fact a woman and chose "Harold" on purpose to surprise people.
* An early subplot in ''VideoGame/TalesOfVesperia'' has the party searching for a great mage named Mordio. Upon meeting ''Rita'' Mordio, they are surprised to find out they're not only female, [[ChildProdigy but much younger than they expected.]]
* In ''Franchise/MassEffect'', you don't see "Jack", the deadly Subject Zero, until the end of the mission. You've heard a number of people in the nightmarish prison Purgatory refer to Jack in terror up until this point. When you release Subject Zero from the cryogenic cell the notorious criminal's been sealed in as a safety measure, most players were probably a little surprised to find that ''she's'' a small young woman in her twenties. Unless, of course, you [[TrailersAlwaysSpoil watched the trailers]].
%%* In ''VideoGame/{{Tekken}} 6'', the character Leo seems to deliberately invoke this trope. (It's short for Eleonore/Eleonora)
* The true identity of the Imperator Librarius in ''Videogame/BlazBlue'' turns out to be a female, [[spoiler:Jin and Ragna's long-lost sister Saya]] a fact disguised by the masculine sounding title. Less so in the original Japanese where the title is the gender-neutral "Mikado."

* A minor example in ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneyJusticeForAll''. Until the trial in chapter 2, the prosecutor is only referred to as "Prosecutor von Karma" or with gender-neutral nouns like von Karma's "kid" or "successor". When the trial starts, ''Franziska'' von Karma's opening dialogue acknowledges the reveal and wonders if Phoenix is surprised.

* Done in ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse'' when Luna Loud repeatedly frets over whether a classmate named Sam returns her affections. It isn't until the end of the episode that we learn Sam is a girl and Luna actually [[QueerEstablishingMoment likes girls]].

* In ''LightNovel/{{Maoyu}}'', Hero comes to the Demon world to search for the Maou (translated as "demonic ruler"), and is extremely surprised to discover that ''she'' is in fact a very polite, buxom redheaded woman. Though her title in Japanese is technically gender neutral she's assumed in story to be male until the reveal, and some translations refer to her as the Demon ''King'' to keep the ambiguity.

* In ''LightNovel/ScrappedPrincess'', Mauser is referenced throughout the series either by name only or as "Lord God Mauser". Mauser's name even sounds like it would belong to a male. In the end, however, not only is Mauser revealed to be a woman, [[spoiler: she looks like a twenty-something version of Pacifica!]]

* ''Film/{{SWAT}}'' features Chris Sanchez, who was one of the members of the SWAT Team, who was thought to be named Christopher, turns out to be a woman named Christina. Most women named either Christina or Christine (especially younger women) tend to go by either Chrissy, Christy or Christie these days.

-->'''Winston''': "I thought Gozer was a man."\\
'''Egon''': "It's whatever it wants to be."
* In ''Film/TheAvengers1998'', the head of the Ministry is a man codenamed "Mother", as in the series. To continue the joke, his deputy is a woman called "Father".

** ''Film/ClerksII'' has "Kinky Kelly", one half of a depraved donkey show. Randall points out that Kinky Kelly's website doesn't have any photographs and Kelly's handler only ever refers to Kelly by name, never by pronouns. Then Randall and company find out that [[spoiler: Kelly is the donkey - who is male because "Kelly can be a guy's name, too" - and Kelly's partner is a fat guy]].

* The ''Literature/{{Quarters}}'' series by Creator/TanyaHuff often refers to minor or background characters by their occupation — "two guards," "a secretary" — a few lines before the gendered pronoun is used. The reader then realizes that the guard or secretary to which s/he had unthinkingly assigned the "conventional" gender is, in fact, just the opposite.

--->'''Aeryn:''' When I was very young, one night a soldier appeared over my bunk. Battle-hardened. Scarred...
--->'''John:''' Your father.
--->'''Aeryn:''' My mother.

[[folder: Radio]]

[[redirect:GenderNeutralWriting]]