Unsettling Gender Reveal: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

{{quote|''"Oh, sweet Jesus, she's got a penis."''

 

Sexual attraction is a funny thing, and sometimes if a character ''physically appears'' to be the right gender to appeal to their sexual preference, then they'll become attracted to them, regardless of what that character's ''actual'' gender might be. Usually said character's true gender is being kept secret purposefully and they are a male [[Disguised in Drag]] or a female [[Sweet Polly Oliver|disguised as a male]], but whether the misunderstanding was intentional or not, due to [[Rule of Drama]], they ''will'' find out and it ''will'' be awkward, hilarious and possibly traumatizing for all involved.

 

{{examples}}

* ''[[Shugo Chara]]'': Nadeshiko/Nagihiko, whose family has a long-standing tradition of making its boys dress, act, and, for all intents and purposes, ''be'' girls for about the first twelve years of their lives. He had to repress all boyish desires, no matter how slight, and was forbidden from revealing his true gender to anyone.

* ''Juubei-Chan 2''. Dropped on the audience ''and'' on Jiyu, who spent the entire series thinking this person was either chibi spirit Koinosuke or reincarnated baby Koinosuke... only for it to end up being Koinosuke's never-before-mentioned daughter who looks exactly like him.

* Natsume Takashi from ''[[Natsume Yuujinchou]]'' tends to get mistaken for his [[Identical Grandson|grandmother, Reiko,]] by Youkai on an almost constant basis. One of these Youkai is Hinoe, who ''[[Les Yay|really]]'' liked Reiko and [[Does Not Like Men]]. She gets as far as groping Natsume's non-existent breasts before she learns her mistake.

{{quote|'''Hinoe:''' ... ''Where are your boobs!?''}}

* In ''[[Sakura Gari]]'', we have a boy named Youya... better known as Sakurako Saiki. This is ''not'' [[Played for Laughs]] as s/he is an [[Jerkass Woobie|insane, thoroughly broken]] [[Yandere]], who ends up [[Driven to Suicide]].

* ''[[Black Butler]]'': While undercover in a circus, Ciel shares a tent with a skinny teen that he calls "Freckles". Turns out that he is really a girl named Doll. She offers to show him her privates so he can be sure.

* Prostitute Haru from [[Fire Candy]], pretty much all of the gang members who see him for the first time assume that he is a cute, young [[Pettanko|flat chested girl]] and only later ([http://static.mangatraders.com/view4/45806/797882de6c65e46feea0d1fa1ab831e6.jpg often already past the point when it would be just diosturbing]{{Dead link}}) are informed of the error in that assumption.

* A variation appears in ''Kuroneko Guardian''. An actor is assigned a bodyguard who he believes is a boy until he walks in on her topless (when she was taking a shower).

 

* Even [[DC Comics]]' woman-lovin', homicidal, [[Anti-Hero]] [[Badass]] [[Lobo]] has had this happen to him. In "Lobo's Big Babe Special", he is hired as a bodyguard for an intergalactic beauty pageant. But each of the ladies in the pageant has one nasty surprise or another (even the ones he knew!) and were subsequently eliminated. Each of them, that is, except the extremely busty T.V., the one Lobo has been drooling over the entire time. Once T.V. was crowned the winner, the horny Main Man made his move, despite her subtle hints that it wasn't a good idea. Finally, T.V. tells him to "put your hand ''here''." [[Meaningful Name|I think Lobo and everyone reading now knows what the name "T.V." stands for...]]

* Used, of course, in ''[[Liberty Meadows]]''. Dean goes to a bar and sees someone who, from behind, appears to be a lovely long-haired lady. He proceeds to crudely offer to play some "tonsil hockey" with her before discovering that "she" is in fact a long-haired man.

{{quote|'''Zenith:''' TNT Tom left with a smile on his face, mind...}}

 

* Frieza did this to Krillin in ''[[Dragon Ball Abridged]]''. Later, {{spoiler|Dodoria}} inverted this to ''everyone''. {{spoiler|Granted, part of the joke is [[She's a Man In Japan|she's a man in the original series...]]}}

* A slightly different version used in the sequel to ''[[A Very Potter Musical]]'': the gay Dumbledore falls for the rather mannish Professor Umbridge (who, incidentally, is played by a man), and is shocked and horrified when he discovers that she doesn't have a penis.

 

* Handled much more realistically in possibly the most famous example, [[It Was His Sled|Fergus and Dil]] from ''[[The Crying Game]]''. Subverted in that, even after finding out about Dil, Fergus realises that [[If It's You It's Okay|he still loves her]]. For most, this is [[All There Is to Know About "The Crying Game"]].

* Madmartigan's performance in ''[[Willow]]''.

** What's even better, [[Robot Chicken|somebody remembered it and wrote a comedy sketch about it!]]

 

* There is a pornographic story that was [[Gender Neutral Writing|written in first person]], in which the narrator makes love to a man. In the last sentence of the story, it is revealed that the narrator is also male, which is a revelation to the ''reader''.

* Done with a twist in the ''[[Darkover]]'' novel ''Hawkmistress'': The main character is a young woman disguised as a young man, and is traveling with a group of mercenaries. The leader of the group starts hitting on her. She figures he's seen through her disguise; turns out he's gay.

* In ''[[Let the Right One In]],'' Oskar finds out that {{spoiler|Eli is actually a castrated boy.}} He doesn't mind, though. The Swedish film includes this plot point but is a bit more ambiguous about it, while the American remake mostly removes it, and a deleted scene suggests that {{spoiler|Abby is probably is an actual girl}}.

 

* Korean drama ''[[Coffee Prince]]'' is actually an odd example. The manager initially thought he was in a gay relationship, and was hesitant for this reason. But since he was trying to avoid arranged marriages and was so shocked to suddenly find this out, even though it was a workable relationship.

* Oh, [[David Tennant]]! Or should I say, ''"Davina"''... [http://youtube.com/watch?v=xB-M_tYhLGU Seriously, watch this!]

{{quote|'''Chang:''' Winger, no date? Huh. ''[[Failed a Spot Check|Gaaaaayyyy.]]''}}

 

* The music video for the song "Smack My Bitch Up" by [[The Prodigy]] does this to the viewer. It's a first person-camera accounting of a night of drunken carousing, drug use, and barhopping in which the protagonist gets into at least one fight with some guy, and molests a girl in a club, ultimately ending the night with a hooker. It's then revealed by a look in the mirror that the protagonist {{spoiler|is actually a hot chick herself.}}

* "Well I'm not the world's most masculine man / But I know what I am / And I'm glad I'm a man / [[The Kinks|And so is Lola]]"

* The second version of "Uneasy Rider", when the singer and his friend go into a gay bar and the friend goes off dancing with a lovely lady.

{{quote|''I grabbed her hair

** Used in this case to [[Depraved Homosexual|show how depraved the homosexuals are]] [[Values Dissonance|in the singer's eyes]], and both preceded and followed by gay bashing, since one of the other patrons in the bar did [[Disproportionate Retribution|flirt with him.]]

* The Filipino song "Chicksilog" <ref>a portmanteau of Chick (in the girl sense), SInangag (Fried rice) and ItLOG (egg, specifically a sunny sideup); [Viand Name]silog is a popular meal in the country. Culturally translated, it effectively means "A Chick with [[Double Entendre|eggs]]".</ref> by Kamikazee is about a ''[[Ragnarok Online]]'' player's reaction to finding out the hard way that the "girl" his character hangs out with a lot turns out to be a [[Cross Player]].

* Tone Lōc's "Funky Cold Medina", a nightmare of [[Unfortunate Implications]] by modern standards, from the [[Love Potion]] as [[Date Rape]] Drug issue to this bit of [[Hide Your Gays|transphobia]]:

{{quote|''I went up to this girl, she said, "Hi, my name is Sheena"

* ''The Doug Anthony All Stars'' song Sailor's Arms also has this theme.

* [[Pet Shop Boys]]' "One thing leads to another". The protagonist [[Drowning My Sorrows|gets drunk]], picks up a woman in a bar, attempts to make love to her, and discovers she's has a penis. He drives off, confused, and crashes his car and dies.

* "Dude Looks Like A Lady," one of [[Aerosmith]]'s '80s comeback singles:

{{quote|''Never judge a book by it's cover

* Happened near the end of "Nobody Move" by Eazy-E

* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzjMPPyze7I Ritsu Namine] is a boy

* Biz Markie's "A Thing Named Kim": "She didn't look none like she looked across the room/She had big broad shoulders and her titties was big/They were filled with silicone, and her hair was a wig... So I hurried out and left, she said, "Please stay"/I said, "Sorry money grip, I don't go that way"/So I stepped out in a hurry, to gather my wits/And thought ''that's a damn shame, he had nice tits''/And that's the last I ever saw of Kim/You wanna know why? Cause she's a he and her's a him." Needless to say, Markie didn't win many GLAAD awards for that one.

* In a rare example that has nothing to do with appearance, most people are surprised to learn that Angela Gossow, the vocalist of Swedish band Arch Enemy, is a woman. Why? Well... [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMGpcjzb67Q just listen.]

* In Rodney Carrington's appropriately named "I Think I'm Dancing with a Man" the singer begins to get suspicious of the woman he's been dancing with because of many masculine traits. His friend then takes "her" for a dance and "her" skirt falls off confirming it.

 

* A common prank that people pull on the internet is to post a picture of a hot girl for everyone to oggle, only to reveal that the hot girl is really a very feminine man.

** Some goons at [[Something Awful]] did this by making a female Myspace profile with the lone picture of some cleavage, later revealed to be a guy pressing his manboobs together.

* Let's not forget all the hot women in the internet that are actually [[GIRL|guys posing as women online.]]

* Many [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAs7IFvnhZA online] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZ8oTyG0ey8&feature=channel_video_title webcam] pranks invoke this trope.

 

== Print Media ==

* Occured on a huge scale in an issue of ''[[Maximum PC]]'' with an advertisement. Sufficient numbers of people were surprised that the actor was male, that it was mentioned in the letter from the editor in the next issue. The ad in question featured [[Toplessness From the Back]], but a very effeminate male.

 

{{quote|"Oh sweet Jesus she has a penis!"}}

 

* The ''[[Eberron]]'' setting of ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'' actually notes that this possibility of this occuring is one of the main reasons for the [[Fantastic Racism]] leveled against the shapeshifting Changeling race, whose members are fully capable of changing not just appearance but gender at will, regardless of the gender of their actual native form. It's a well known joke in Eberron fan circles to point to any depiction of an attractive male or female character and declare that it's really a changeling of the opposite gender.

* While technically androgynous in the new fluff, Daemonettes from ''[[Warhammer 40,000]]'' will play this trope on one of their victims just to watch them squirm. Because, yanno, that's what they do. (And then they gut their victims like pigs with their claws, which can go through [[Power Armor]] like a knife through butter.)

 

* The play (and subsequent film) ''M. Butterfly'' is about a French diplomat who has an affair with a Chinese opera singer, unaware that she is a) a spy for the Chinese government and b) a man in disguise. This is, believe it or not, a case of [[Truth in Television]]: the play is partially based on the life of [[wikipedia:Bernard Boursicot|Bernard Boursicot]].

* This one's [[Older Than Steam]] because [[Zeroth Law of Trope Examples|Shakespeare did it first.]] Someone falls for the [[Sweet Polly Oliver]] in both ''Twelfth Night'' and ''As You Like It''.

 

* Bridget, the [[Wholesome Crossdresser]] teenage boy in a nun habit from the ''[[Guilty Gear]]'' series, and former [[Trope Namer]]. In Bridget's birth town there was a superstition that if twins of the same gender are born, disaster will come. Rather than let the town sentence him to death, baby Bridget's parents put him into the custody of the local convent's nun who raised him as a girl. Bridget's gender is never a secret in the game, at least not to the audience, and is spelled out right at the beginning of his storyline. He also never intentionally hides that fact (anymore; it's a long story), thus [[Downplayed Trope|only a few characters actually get the unsettling reveal]]. The problem is that most other characters simply ''assume'' he's a girl, either because he's lived most of his childhood as one or because of his [[Moe Moe]] nun outfit.

** Even Zappa from ''[[Guilty Gear]] XX'' has a Bridget dropped on him in Story Mode. As written in a letter to his mom (which he writes during his brief periods of lucidity), he says he found an injured young girl by the side of the road who he wished to make his wife. (He is unaware that he is the one who pounded her into the pavement). But when he attempted to pick her up and carry her, he finds...

* The ''[[Digimon]]'' series has played with Renamon's gender (or lack thereof) for some time, but ''Digimon World Data Squad'' amped it up by giving us a ''male'' Renamon with a painfully obvious female voice (in fact, it was the same voice actress who played Renamon in ''[[Digimon Tamers|Tamers]]''). Let's ignore the [[Unfortunate Implications]] of a male Sakuyamon.

** [[She's a Man In Japan|The German fans must've been laughing hard at that one.]]

* Iita in ''[[Blaze Union]]''. Oh, ye gods, Iita. She's a perfectly adorable little [[Fille Fatale]], cute and squeaky and very girly. Then night falls, and the other half of her [[Split Personality]] takes over—the side that is male, brash, [[Hot-Blooded]], and downright thuggish. Her male half cheerfully announces to the stunned women of the game's cast that "oh right, sorry, I forgot to say: I'm a man at night". Equally shocking to people who first see Male!Iita and then realize that what they thought was a boy dressed in girl's clothes is actually still physically female.

** Sting is all too happy to play with the latter situation, by the way; as is the norm, a number of [[Fan Service]]-y phone cards are being produced. One features Male!Iita smirking and slowly peeling the clothes off of his ''very'' female body.

* ''[[Dark Souls]]'' has the Dark Sun Gwyndolin, the last born son of the Lord of Sunlight, Gwyn. Because of his lunar magic and association with the moon, he was raised as a girl.

 

* Inverted in the "Blood Gulch Chronicles" seasons of ''[[Red vs. Blue]]'' with the character Tex, who is mistaken to be a guy, but is actually a [[Action Girl|woman]] to say the least. Played Straight with the character Donut, whose pink armor has gotten him mistaken for a girl, at least in the earlier episodes.

* This joke was done as a gag during a scene where Hal is trying hit on women in episode 6 of ''[[Bowser's Kingdom]]''.

 

* Amber from ''[[Khaos Komix]]'' thought Nay was a Boy when she first met her.

* In ''[[El Goonish Shive]]'', this happens quite a lot when someone's stepped out of their normal gender. Somewhat unusually, it often gets milked for some drama in the process.

** The "Sister" arc was ''full'' of this. Minor characters were falling at Elliot's feet, and that's ''before'' Ellen took on a life of her own.

* ''[[The Wotch]]'' manages to do this to ''both'' participants, [http://www.thewotch.com/index.php?epDate=2003-09-10 here] when Jason is transformed into Satyr Sonja he has random flirty outbursts he can't control. When he "puts the moves" on Robin they both freak out. Jason continues to flirt-and-freak throughout the arc. And one flirt-and-freak recipient winds up wanting to date "Sonja" later.

* ''[[Ghastly's Ghastly Comic]]'':

** A rather ridiculous case when the two similar-looking characters in the rather ambiguous fighting game (within a web comic) "''Loli vs. Shota''", both finally decide to actually check their genders... and are shocked to find out that they're both ''wrong'' on which one they thought they were. And yet even though we learn they're both wrong, the reader still is left in the dark about which character is which gender.

{{quote|'''Hatsuki:''': I just ''had'' to go someplace new, didn't I?!}}

 

* The title [[Wholesome Crossdresser]] in ''[[The Saga of Tuck]]'' does this both when crossdressed and in his normal, baggy boy clothes. The latter tends to annoy him.

* ''[[Awkward]] 4'' has a flashback sequence of a series of Alex's ill-fated blind dates, one of whom is a man who stammers "Alex" in shock and quickly checks to confirm that, yep, that's an adam's apple before running for dear life.

* [[The Nostalgia Chick]] uses the Austin Powers "She's a man!" joke to express her doubts about Mel C being a real woman.

 

* ''[[SpongeBob SquarePants]]'': Patrick does this in the episode "That's No Lady" to everybody in the Krusty Krab, including Mr. Krabs and Squidward who had fallen for "her" after he tears off the girl disguise he was wearing.

* In the surprisingly serious short ''What's Opera, Doc?'', Elmer Fudd finds out that the girl he fell for was [[Bugs Bunny]] in a dress—and ''[[Downer Ending|actually kills Bugs]]'' with his magic helmet. Although it's unclear whether he does it because Bugs is male, or if it's because Bugs rejects him the moment the disguise is off! Or because, well, he's Bugs.

* ''[[Batman Beyond]]'' sees Ra's Al-Ghul transferring his mind into his daughter Talia's body... and Bruce Wayne has quite the history with her [[Celibate Hero|(Well, as much as he does with anyone)]]. What transpires thoroughly creeps both Bruce and Terry out.

{{quote|"I did not mean for you to find out this way. But I suppose what's done is done...[[Larynx Dissonance|DETECTIVE!]]"}}

* In a later episode of ''[[King of the Hill]]'', Peggy befriends a drag queen, after discovering "she" has size 16 feet like her.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Comedy Tropes]]

[[Category:Gender Blending Tropes]]

[[Category:Plots]]