History Main / AlienGenderConfusion

* ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/8086402 Gender Trouble]]'' is a ''Supergirl'' FiveThingsFic about this. Krypton and Earth have different viewpoints on what makes someone {{transgender}}. Alex thinks that Kara is a trans girl because of her anatomy. However, Krypton doesn't gender anatomy but instead genders hand preferences (female-identified people are right handed, and males their left), which makes the left-handed Alex come off as a trans girl to her alien adopted sister.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': It's a RunningGag that [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Strax]] cannot identify humans by sex, and always guesses wrong. He also has a tendency to default to male pronouns and call everyone "boy". In his case, it's because he's a Sontaran, a [[CloneArmy race of clones]] who are only male.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': It's a RunningGag that [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Strax]] cannot identify humans by sex, and always guesses wrong. He also has a tendency to default to male pronouns and call everyone "boy". In his case, it's because he's a Sontaran, a [[CloneArmy race of clones]] who're only male.

* ''ComicBook/{{Orbital}}'', a Franco-Belgian science-fiction series by Sylvain Runberg and Serge Pellé, lampshades this. One of the main characters is Mezoke, a Sandjarrian, a jet-black humanoid whose silhouette has a stunning feminine look for humans, but both genders appear similar and to ask questions is decisively an offense for Sandjarrians. In the first issue, Caleb explains this this specific fact to a guy who was admiring Mezoke.

* ''WesternAnimation/GolanTheInsatiable'': Golan, a warrior king from another dimension, sometimes has trouble telling human boys & girls apart.

* Seen in ''ComicBook/InvaderZimOni'' Issue #13.

* Lampshaded in ''Orbital'', a Franco-Belgian science-fiction series by Sylvain Runberg and Serge Pellé. One of the main characters is Mezoke, a Sandjarrian, a jet-black humanoid whose silhouette has a stunning feminine look for humans, but both genders appear similar and to ask questions is decisively an offense for Sandjarrians. In the first issue, Caleb explains this this specific fact to a guy who was admiring Mezoke.

* B.O.B., the [[WhoEvenNeedsABrain brainless]] BlobMonster from ''WesternAnimation/MonstersVsAliens'' has no idea that Susan is a woman. Later he is also convinced that Susan's fiancé Derek is ''his'' fiancée, and when he meets Susan's mom he mistakes her for Derek.

* Played the other way in the Extended Edition of ''Film/TheHobbitAnUnexpectedJourney'' when Kili mistakes an Elf-man for an Elf-maid, to his companions' amusement. This nascent interest in Elves serves to set up his romance with Tauriel later on.

* A minor plot point in the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' novel ''Literature/{{Snuff}}'': humans can't easily tell goblin genders and, [[FantasticRacism regarding goblins as vermin]], seldom try. But a rural community becomes somewhat disconcerted when they find out a goblin that had been ruthlessly butchered by a couple of local thugs was female.
* ''Literature/TheLeftHandOfDarkness'' takes place on Gethen, a planet inhabited by androgynous aliens descended from the same stock as Earthmen. A visitor from Earth cannot help but think of them in term of a certain gender. At the beginning, he lives in the house of a Gethenian whom he calls a "landlady" due to a feminine figure, but he/she is a father to three or four kids, and a mother to none.
* Sarah of the ''Literature/InCryptid'' series isn't classed as an alien, though we're pretty sure her species came from another dimension, but she is a member of a telepathic race (Johrlacs, or cuckoos) mildly affected by this. Because cuckoos tell people apart by their minds, they had no evolutionary need to recognize faces, making them essentially face-blind. Because of the telepathy, Sarah can generally tell what gender someone is -- but not what gender they're presenting as. She doesn't have issues most of the time, but she tells us that she's made mistakes in the past.
* An amusing example in ''Literature/TheSparrow'' as Earth explorers make FirstContact with the deerlike Runa. Both peoples are going by size; the Earthers think the smaller Runa who do most of the child care are women. Meanwhile, the Runa think the taller Earth people are women.

%%* Creator/TheodoreSturgeon's classic short story "The World Well Lost" is based around this, very much not played for laughs.
* In order to avoid confusion (or inadvertently giving offense by referring to an individual as the incorrect gender), aliens in the ''Literature/SectorGeneral'' series are properly referred to as "it"; characters thus only have their gender specified if they appear in a novel written from the point of view of a member of their species.

* On ''Series/DoctorWho'' it's a RunningGag that [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Strax]] cannot identify humans by sex, and always guesses wrong. He also has a tendency to default to male pronouns and call everyone "boy". In his case, it's because he's a Sontaran, a [[CloneArmy race of clones]] who're only male.

* A (probably) facetious example can occur in ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights2'' between a male PlayerCharacter and a demon.

* An inverted, tragic version occurs in ''VideoGame/TheBannerSaga'': the stone-like Dredge have such incomprehensible biology compared to the setting's other, mammalian races that they initially assume every combatant they encounter is male. It's only when they realize some of them have children strapped to them that they realize the Dredge army comprises both sexes and are actually InvadingRefugees.

* In a DummiedOut conversation in ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' a turian groundskeeper asks Commander Shepard if she is female, since she has those "funny bumps" on the front like an [[OneGenderRace asari]].

* Initially averted with ''Webcomic/{{Digger}}''. The titular wombat is always identified as female (when her sex is relevant at all), despite being a furry, cylindrical member of a species nobody else in the story has ever encountered. She had barely visible breasts in early pages, but the artist phased these out later. However, the trope is played straight for the hyenas, with several characters expressing inability to determine their sex. This is TruthInTelevision: hyena sexes are difficult to tell apart even for those familiar with them.
* The vixen Cindy from Robert and Margaret Carspecken's ''Webcomic/FauxPas'' gets taken to a commercial shoot in Randy the dog fox's place in the week 60, day 3 installment. The studio honcho mentions to the handler that the shot calls for a "foxy lady" but that "Randy" is a male. The cosmetologist is told to work her "makeup magic" to turn Randy into a girl fox. The cosmetologist makes one careful observation, then reports, "This ''is'' a girl fox." The honcho replies, "Great work, Essie. Take a bonus out of petty cash." Poor Cindy can only look at Essie as if to ask, "Are all humans this cuckoo?"

* In ''WesternAnimation/GolanTheInsatiable'' Golan, a warrior king from another dimension, sometimes has trouble telling human boys & girls apart.

** Used as a throwaway joke in the second episode when Zoidberg is introduced as the company doctor, who knows nothing of human medicine, including such basics as discerning genders.

** In the episode "Neutopia", the Planet Express crew meet a SufficientlyAdvancedAlien who has no concept of gender. It uses RealityWarper powers to make them genderless so that they may see each other as equals, which actutally works until they realize they can't have sex anymore. When the alien restores their genders, however, it gets them mixed up, making the male characters female and vice versa. It is killed by Zapp Brannigan before the mix-up could be corrected.
* In ''WesternAnimation/{{The Brak Show}}'' episode "Pepper", Zorak becomes physically attracted to the titular alien that he believes to be female, but finds out at the end that it is actually male.
* ''WesternAnimation/Ben10'': When Ben first meets Myaxx, he not only mistakes her for a man, but specifically mistakes her for [[BigBad Vilgax]]. Indeed, from a human perspective the two look near identical; the main difference is their voices and Myaxx being ''slightly'' skinnier than Vilgax was pre-cybernetic enhancement. Regardless, Myaxx takes understandable offense.

* In ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'', the Qunari have a rather different set of social norms from the rest of the races. If the Warden is a female warrior, Qunari party member Sten will declare that despite appearances, she is a man, as women are not warriors in Qunari society. ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition'' goes into more detail on the subject. In the Qun, role determines gender rather than the other way around. For example, a woman who displays a proficiency for combat that is expected of a warrior is considered a man under the Qun regardless of her biological sex. Individuals who fall under this rule are referred to as the Aqun-Athlok.

* Creator/TheodoreSturgeon's classic short story "The World Well Lost" is based around this, very much not played for laughs.

* In a DummiedOut conversation in ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' a turian groundskeeper asks Commander Shepard if she is female, since has those "funny bumps" on the front like an [[OneGenderRace asari]].

!!Examples

--> '''Extraterrestrial Abductor:''' Behold! The ugly human female you call ''your best friend!''
--> '''Zim:''' AHHAHHAHH! Dib is ''neither'' of those things...or...at least, hey Dib, ''are'' you female? I can never actually ''tell'' with humans.

* ''WebVideo/StarTrekContinues'': Upon a new species making first contact with the Enterprise, one of their ambassadors mistakes Spock for a human female. The aliens of the week are humanoids themselves, which makes it especially funny.

[[folder:Film - Animated]]
* B.O.B., the [[WhoEvenNeedsABrain brainless]] BlobMonster from ''WesternAnimation/MonstersVsAliens'' has no idea that Susan is a woman. Later he is also convinced that Susan's fiance Derek is ''his'' fiance, and when he meets Susan's mom he mistakes her for Derek.
-->'''B.O.B.:''' What? No way, it's a boy. Look as his boobies.
-->'''Link:''' [[TheTalk We need to have a talk.]]

[[folder:Film - Live-Action]]

-->'''Gazoo:''' I am here to observe your species' mating rituals. So...get to it!
-->'''Fred:''' Oh, Barney and me don't, uh...
* ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy'': Rocket tells Groot to learn his genders when he tries to kidnap Gamora instead of Peter.

* In ''Film/ThorRagnarok'', the Grandmaster is an alien being (entity?) who is millions of years old, has an orgy ship, and plays host to many different species of alien guests, not all of whom look close to human. He is also visibly confused about Thor's gender when he first sees him, so presumably, even though he looks like a human [[HumanAliens or Asgardian,]] he's far from it. Notably, having no clue what gender Thor is doesn't stop the Grandmaster from [[ExtremeOmnisexual hitting on him, though.]]

--> '''Male PC:''' No, I'm not female.
--> '''Baalbisan:''' But it looks female. How can I be certain?
--> '''Male PC:''' I suppose I could show you. Stand back -- I'll need a lot of room.
--> '''Baalbisan:''' It offers to reveal its parts, but my vision is not what it was. I doubt I could make out something so diminutive.
-->'''Neeshka:''' Well, from what I have heard, it is not that small at all.
-->'''Elanee:''' What did you say?
-->'''Neeshka:''' (''quietly'') Hey, I don't know, I'm just trying to help.

* In ''Film/ThorRagnarok'', the Grandmaster is an alien being (entity?) who is millions of years old, has an orgy ship, and plays host to many different species of alien guests, not all of whom look close to human. He is also visibly confused about Thor's gender when he first sees him, so presumably, even though he looks like a human or Asgardian, he's very different.

* ''WebVideo/StarTrekContinues'': Upon a new species making first contact with the Enterprise, one of their ambassadors mistakes Spock for a human female. (The aliens of the week are humanoids themselves, which makes it especially funny.

* A minor plot point in the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' novel ''Discworld/{{Snuff}}'': humans can't easily tell goblin genders and, [[FantasticRacism regarding goblins as vermin]], seldom try. But a rural community becomes somewhat disconcerted when they find out a goblin that had been ruthlessly butchered by a couple of local thugs was female.

* Used as a throwaway joke in the second episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' when Zoidberg is introduced as the company doctor, who knows nothing of human medicine, including such basics as discerning genders.
-->'''Phillip Fry:''' Uh, is there a human doctor around?
-->'''Zoidberg:''' Young lady, I'm an expert on humans.

* In ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'', the Qunari have a rather different set of social norms from the rest of the races. If the Warden is a female warrior, Qunari party member Sten will declare that despite appearances, she is a man, as women are not warriors in Qunari society. ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition'' goes into more detail on the subject. In the Qun, role determines gender rather than the other way around. For example, a woman who displays a proficiency for combat that is expected of a warrior is considered a man under the Qun regardless of her biological sense. Individuals who fall under this rule are referred to as the Aqun-Athlok.

* In ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'', the Qunari have a rather different set of social norms from the rest of the races. If the Warden is a female warrior, Qunari party member Sten will declare that despite appearances, she is a man, as women are not warriors in Qunari society.

* On ''Series/DoctorWho'' it's a RunningGag that [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Strax]] cannot identify humans by sex, and always guesses wrong. In his case, it's because he's a Sontaran, a [[CloneArmy race of clones]] who're only male.

* Seen in ''[[WesternAnimation/InvaderZim Invader Zim]]'' #13.

--> ''Extraterrestrial Abductor:'' Behold! The ugly human female you call ''your best friend!''
--> ''Zim:'' AHHAHHAHH! Dib is ''neither'' of those things...or...at least, hey Dib, ''are'' you female? I can never actually ''tell'' with humans.

[[folder: Comics]]

[[folder: Film - Animated]]

[[folder: Film - Live-Action]]

[[folder: Literature]]

[[folder: Live-Action TV]]
* On ''Series/DoctorWho'' it's a RunningGag that Strax cannot identify humans by sex, and always guesses wrong. In his case, it's because he's a Sontaran, a race of clones who're only male.

[[folder: Video Games]]

[[folder: Webcomics]]

[[folder: Web Original]]

[[folder: Western Animation]]

[[/folder]]

* A minor plot point in the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' novel ''Discworld/{{Snuff}}'': humans can't easily tell goblin genders and, regarding goblins as vermin, seldom try. But a rural community becomes somewhat disconcerted when they find out a goblin that had been ruthlessly butchered by a couple of local thugs was female.