History Main / ThereAreNoGirlsOnTheInternet

-->'''Michael J Nelson:''' "''...no one who looks like Meg Ryan is chatting with you, either. No one named Meg is chatting with you... Guys, if there's a void in your life that you think is being filled online, keep in mind the person doing it has a beer gut and is named Dan, and remember that you're also filling a void in his life. Ladies... well, you don't need any advice, because you don't chat online.''"

* ''Film/TheMatrix'': Neo is surprised that "Trinity" is a woman, he thought it was a guy. She replies that most guys assume she is a man, mocking the trope.

* Averted with a passion in ''LightNovel/AndYouThoughtThereIsNeverAGirlOnline''. Hideki/Rusian tried to confess to a girl online, but she admitted that she was actually a guy in real-life. However, when his present-day guild decides to have a real-life meetup, not only does the girl he ended up marrying in-game turn out to be an actual girl, but his other two guildmates turn out to be female CrossPlayers. [[spoiler: Also, the first girl ended up being a girl after all, and one of his guildmate's friends, also a girl, ends up joining later.]]

As the Internet grew, women became more common. Sadly, men pretending to be women became even ''more'' common as well; it soon became apparent that announcing you were female online (and thus a geek girl) was a way to get lots of attention and accommodation from other users, even to the point of some them being tricked into mailing gifts, cash, or passwords. In some circles the backslash was huge and violent, leading to anyone claiming to be female to instantly be accosted with demands of "proof" (eventually codified [[{{GIFT}} as "Tits or GTFO"]]).

->''"The Internet, where [[InternetToughGuy men are kids]], [[{{GIRL}} women are men]], and [[{{Paedohunt}} kids are undercover FBI agents]]."''

* Deliberately averted in ''TheGuild'', in which there about as many female gamers as there are male ones.

Nowadays, the lingering sentiment can only be seen as a [[MemeticMutation meme]] in [[{{Imageboards}} certain corners of the Internet]] and in people's assumption that anyone they meet online is male unless obviously otherwise. You can still see this in the gaming community, but that too is fading with time. With the advent of Voice over IP it's pretty obvious who's female (at least physically) as your voice will "give you away". It's still good to keep in mind that sometimes the software distorts or changes the voice so that people will question your sex regardless.

Nowadays, women dominate communities such as {{Fanfiction}} sites, SoapOpera boards, {{Facebook}}, ''SecondLife'', LiveJournal and its clones (particularly in JournalRoleplay), {{Tumblr}} (the successor to LiveJournal for fandom blogging) or MySpace. As such, this is mainly a DiscreditedTrope these days.

Nowadays, the lingering sentiment can only be seen as a [[MemeticMutation meme]] in [[{{Imageboards}} certain corners of the Internet]] and in people's assumption that anyone they meet online is male unless obviously otherwise. You can still see this to some degree in the gaming community, but that too is fading with time. With the advent of Voice over IP it's pretty obvious who's female (at least physically) as your voice will "give you away". It's still good to keep in mind that some people [[CassandraTruth will not take your advice seriously]] and that sometimes the software distorts or changes the voice so that people will question your sex regardless.

There are, in fact, certain places where women now dominate the community, such as in {{Fanfiction}} sites, SoapOpera boards, {{Facebook}}, ''SecondLife'', LiveJournal and its clones (particularly in JournalRoleplay), {{Tumblr}} (the successor to LiveJournal for fandom blogging) or MySpace. As such, this is mainly a DiscreditedTrope these days.

As the Internet grew, women became more common. Sadly, men pretending to be women became even ''more'' common as well; it soon became obvious that announcing you were female online (and thus a geek girl) was a surefire way to win lots of attention and accommodation from other users, even to the point of them being tricked into mailing gifts, cash, or performing other favors. This led to anyone claiming to be female to instantly be accosted with demands of "proof" (eventually codified [[{{GIFT}} as "Tits or GTFO"]]).

This was a lot of fun for real women. Even a vague mention of a boyfriend or husband as an aside would get these righteous Internet College Males screeching in rage that you were an evil AttentionWhore pretending to be female to get things. Girls naturally responded to this by ''[[SweetPollyOliver pretending to be men]]'' just to avoid the verbal harassment and righteous screeching.

Part of the paranoia was [[JustifiedTrope justified]] on the ''early'' internet by both {{GIRL}}s and even some actual girls, taking advantage of the fact that the internet had a great number of socially awkward males who were easily duped into thinking this girl who was paying attention to them was seriously interested in dating them, if only they 'proved' their affection with gifts and [[DungeonMastersGirlfriend special privileges]]. Nowadays, of course, attempting this usually elicits the aforementioned righteous screeching, deservedly so.

Common assumption on the early years of the Internet, then a typical joke and finally a DiscreditedTrope.

Back in the dim recesses of history, the Internet was predominately populated by computer savvy people which were assumed to be mostly men. While you might occasionally find a person with a genuine female identity typically anyone you met with a female username [[{{GIRL}} was actually male.]]

Common assumption on the early years of the Internet, then a typical joke and finally a meme with only lingering traces left.

An Internet trope that was originally true, then an attitude in general, and finally a meme with only lingering traces left.

Back in the dim recesses of history, the Internet was predominately populated by young male nerds. While you might occasionally find a person with a genuine female identity in general anyone you met with a female username [[{{GIRL}} was actually male.]]

* Way, way, averted in ''Series/PersonOfInterest'', where for quite a long stretch the BigBad is a female [[TheCracker black hat hacker]] who goes by the handle Root. (Bit of a GeniusBonus there: in the Unix world, "root" is the usual name of the superuser account, which gives whoever's logged into it total control of the system. Windows has the same sort of account, but calls it "Administrator", which is the same thing the Machine calls Howard.)

* This was kind of alluded to by Drew Carey on ''WhoseLineIsItAnyway'' once. His line went something like this: "Welcome back to ''Whose Line Is It Anyway'', the show where everything's made up and the points don't matter. Yep, the points are something you'll never see, just like a ''real'' lesbian in a lesbian chat room."
* Played straight in ''TheBigBangTheory'': Howard and Bernadette had a breakup caused by him having online sex in a Warcraft Game with a female troll. Turns out the person playing the female elf was [[{{GIRL}} actually another male]].

* A variation is used in ''{{Foxtrot}}''. Jason meets a fellow {{RPG}}er who he finds incredibly cool and talented. He is then horrified to learn that the player is a girl after she offhandedly comments that she has to get her bangs trimmed. [[spoiler:Turns out it's Eileen Jacobson, who found out his username from his friend.]]

* Tucker of ''RedVsBlue'' fame says this at one point to his his alien baby, advising him, among other things, that "all the girls on the internet are actually dudes".

* Everyone in VisualNovel/{{SC2VN}} assumes that Reva is male.

* On ''{{NCIS}}'', [=McGee=] is very taken with a woman he's met in his online gaming program, the one where he's an elf lord. [=DiNozzo=] confides to Ziva that it's really ''him,'' messing with "Probie" and trying to teach him a lesson that women online aren't to be trusted. It's then subverted when [=McGee=], tipped off thanks to Ziva, turns the prank around on Tony by PullingTheThread and pretending to be getting a little ''too'' serious about the nonexistent woman, to Tony's great consternation.

* In ''DinoSquad'', Buzz gets hooked to an online dino game. The BigBad finds out and, using various technological means, [[http://spectrumofmadness.com/?p=214 poses as a teenage girl who plays alongside of Buzz]] and getting to know him a bit. Ultimately, Buzz is lured to an abandoned house after the "girl" shouts that a dinosaur monster is attacking.
* In ''{{Undergrads}}'', Gimpy (hacker alias G-Prime) catches another hacker hacking his computer. He automatically assumes this to me a male hacker until her name and logo comes up: She-Prime. He's initially freaked out.
-->'''Gimpy''': Whoever did this is a man of skill! A man of cunning!
-->She Prime logo comes up.
-->'''Gimpy''': A... A ''girl''? A '''girl'''!?

* Way, way, averted in ''Series/PersonOfInterest''. The current BigBad is a female [[TheCracker black hat hacker]] who goes by the handle Root. (Bit of a GeniusBonus there: root access on Linux is the same as being an administrator on a Windows machine, which is what The Machine calls Harold.)

* ''ArthurKingOfTimeAndSpace'': In the contemporary arc, Arthur and Guinevere first meet when their characters on an MMORPG team up; Arthur initially doubts that Guinevere is really a girl, partly because she's playing a male character but mostly because she also claims that in real life she's not wearing any clothes. (She isn't lying: She's a [[InnocentFanserviceGirl nudist]].)

* Frequently mocked (yet entirely subverted) in ''{{Enjuhneer}}''.

* Two of the characters in ''[[FlintlockesGuideToAzeroth Flintlocke Vs. The Horde]]'' [[http://pc.gamespy.com/flintlocke-vs-the-horde/episode-5-talkin-bout-locks/917701p1.html try to]] [[http://pc.gamespy.com/flintlocke-vs-the-horde/episode-5-talkin-bout-locks/918405p1.html figure]] [[http://pc.gamespy.com/flintlocke-vs-the-horde/episode-5-talkin-bout-locks/918581p1.html out]] if Cheri the warlock is really a girl. [[http://pc.gamespy.com/flintlocke-vs-the-horde/episode-6-to-the-barrens/926156p1.html Turns out she is.]]

* ''Main/ResidentEvilMusicals'''s creator ShadowLeggy has been constantly mistaken for a guy on the earlier days, until she told her fans she was a girl. She even mocks this trope sometimes herself.

* Averted with ''Website/Pinterest'', a site whose user base is filled with far more women than even Website/{{Tumblr}}.

** ''Red Vs. Blue'' also did this in its "Real Life Vs. Internet" PSA, in a skit with Donut (a gay male character with pink armor) pretending to be the girl and Simmons playing a skeptical guy.

* ''WebComic/SabrinaOnline'' mentions this quite early.