History Main / BehindEveryGreatMan

* ''Series/BlakesSeven''. The episode "Power" is [[ValuesDissonance derided by fans for its misogynistic overtones]] involving a literal BattleOfTheSexes between a primitive male tribe and a technologically-advanced [[StrawFeminist female tribe that hates men]]. However, the chief of the male tribe Gunn Sarr is portrayed as [[AsskickingEqualsAuthority strong but somewhat dim-witted]] with his wife (a [[AMatchMadeInStockholm captured former leader of the female tribe]]) implied to be secretly running things behind the scenes.

--> ''[[YeGoodeOldeDays Now there was a time when they used to say]]''
--> ''That behind every '''great man'''''
--> ''There had to be a '''great woman'''''
--> ''But in these times of change you know''
--> ''That it's no longer true''
--> ''[[StayInTheKitchen So we're comin' out of the kitchen]]''
--> '''Cause there's somethin' we forgot to say to you (we say)''
--> ''Sisters are doin' it for themselves''

[[folder:Asian Animation]]

[[/folder]]

* ''WesternAnimation/RunningMan'': Liu is the player with the most wins in the game, but other players such as Popo knew that Liu isn't the champion of his home tribe. Liu admitted that the first champion is actually his [[spoiler: older sister named Jean, who mysteriously 'died' and Liu took her place for this reason]].

** This parallels the Christina/Burke situation. After Burke's gunshot wound and surgery, he loses some fine motor control in his hands. He keeps it a secret from everyone, as he would lose his job and status as the best heart surgeon in the state. Christina offers to be present on all his surgeries and take over for him when his hands start to shake under the guise of him teaching her the methods. Eventually, his hands fully recover, and they prepare to get married. He leaves her at the altar (claiming she's not ready for marriage) and moves out. The next big mention of Burke is him winning a prestigious award, which devastates Christina. She gives the Chief a tirade about how none of what she did for Burke appears to matter now. He wouldn't have won the award if not for her helping him get past his crisis and keeping it quiet, and yet he's the world-famous surgen, and she's still where she was before he left.
* ''Series/BlakesSeven''. The episode "Power" is [[ValuesDissonance derided by fans for its misogynistic overtones]] involving a literal BattleOfTheSexes between a primitive male tribe and a technologically-advanced [[StrawFeminist female tribe that hates men]]. However the chief of the male tribe Gunn Sarr is portrayed as [[AsskickingEqualsAuthority strong but somewhat dim-witted]] with his wife (a [[AMatchMadeInStockholm captured former leader of the female tribe]]) implied to be secretly running things behind the scenes.

** Cersei is the Queen Regent when her son is on the throne, but it's an open secret that she's the one running the show. However it's subverted the moment he becomes king and goes OffTheRails.

* As one might expect this being TruthInTelevision can be hard to determine. While it rarely percolates up to pop-cultural history level if you study more detailed biographies most important men in history (particularly politicians) were either married or otherwise had other important female figures in their lives. These women often served as sounding boards, confidants, and advisers so how much this might be in play can be anybody's guess. Its would not be unreasonable for a number of historical cases to have slipped through the cracks.

* Courtney Milan's The Countess Conspiracy has a brilliant biologist who has her less talented male biologist friend take credit for her discoveries - until he refuses to keep up the pretense.

* In ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'';

* In ''Literature/ABrothersPrice'', it is an open secret that Keifer Porters marriage to the princesses was engineered by his (all female) family, who prettied him up as much as possible, and allowed him to be alone with the eldest princesses. (Which is usually considered inappropriate). He himself was dumb as bread, and might not even had the cunning to seduce the princesses into marrying him. [[spoiler: And his family was ''also'' behind his poisoning the Prince Consort (his father in law), something he could never have planned on his own.]]

* UsefulNotes/{{Augustus}} and his wife Livia. His time was Princeps, i.e. JustTheFirstCitizen. His wife Livia was addressed as Romana Princeps, which more or less could translate as "First Lady":

[[folder: FanWorks]]
* In ''Fanfic/AFantasticUpheavalOfPreviouslyHeldNotions'', Angor Rot implies that Strickler's emotional attachment to Barbara and the control this gives her works as a better weapon to use against him than the magical link between them.
[[/folder]]

** Cersei is the Queen Regent when her son is on the throne, but it's an open secret that she's the one running the show.

-> ''"I worked my way up to be a GM at a Sbarro in Tel Aviv. Then one day I’m stuffing couscous into a calzone, and I realized a woman’s life is worth nothing unless she’s making a great man greater."''
-->-- '''Creator/AmySchumer''', "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDk5wDBR3hA Foodroom]]," ''Inside Amy Schumer''

* ''[[Literature/ElementalMasters The Fire Rose]]'': At one point, Rose thinks back to a fellow student who had both courted her and stolen her research paper (instead of doing the coursework himself). She wondered at the time if it would really be so bad to let her husband present her research as his own. It ends up a moot point as the student in question was only interested in her father's money; when the money was lost to a scammer, the student dumped Rose.

-> ''I worked my way up to be a GM at a Sbarro in Tel Aviv. Then one day I’m stuffing couscous into a calzone, and I realized a woman’s life is worth nothing unless she’s making a great man greater.''

* Walter Keane was widely known for his paintings of large-eyed children ... that had been painted by his wife Margaret. TheOtherWiki [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Keane#Biography claims]] that Walter locked Margaret in a room and forced her to paint pictures that he then sold under his name. After a "paint-off" in court in the 1980s, a federal judge ruled that Margaret had the rights to those paintings.

* As one might expect this being TruthInTelevision can be hard to determine. While it rarely percolates up to pop-cultural history level if you study more detailed biographies most important men in history (particularly politicians) were either married or otherwise had other important female figures in their lives. These women often served as sounding boards, confidants, and advisers so how much this might be in play can be anybody's guess. Its would not be unreasonable for a number of historical cases to have slipped through the cracks.

-->-- '''Amy Schumer''', "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDk5wDBR3hA Foodroom]]," ''Inside Amy Schumer''

* The song, “Sisters are Doin’ It for Themselves” by Music/ArethaFranklin and [[Music/Eurythmics Annie Lennox]] [[DefiedTrope defied this trope]].

* The song, “Sisters are Doin’ It for Themselves” by Music/ArethaFranklin and AnnieLennox [[DefiedTrope defied this trope]].

* The Creator/AgathaChristie novel ''Destination Unknown'' had a chemist whose first wife was murdered. The chemist was later kidnapped by a rich millionaire who wanted a monopoly over the greatest scientific minds in the world (in exchange for giving them a place where their genius would not be limited by lack of funds or political alignment). Unfortunately, it turns out the chemist isn't producing anything because the brilliant discovery (that got him kidnapped in the first place) was actually his wife's work, and he murdered her to take the credit for it.

* The song, “Sisters are Doin’ It for Themselves” by ArethaFranklin and AnnieLennox [[DefiedTrope defied this trope]].

* The song, “Sisters are Doin’ It for Themselves” by ArethaFranklin and AnnieLennox defied this trope.

-> ''"I worked my way up to be a GM at a Sbarro in Tel Aviv. Then one day I’m stuffing couscous into a calzone, and I realized a woman’s life is worth nothing unless she’s making a great man greater."''
-->-- '''Amy Schumer''', "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDk5wDBR3hA Foodroom]]," ''Inside Amy Schumer''

* In ''ASongOfIceAndFire'';

* In ''ThePillarsOfTheEarth'', Aliena is driven by ambition to regain her family's power and vengeance against the people who took it (and killed their father), but frequently has to use her meek and timid brother Richard to do it because people won't listen to her alone.