Disguising a woman

[Tsuki Z]

I recently thought of an idea for a story. For the main character, I sort of want to hide the fact she is a woman from the readers until the very end.

At the moment, the theme is quite futuristic and she's part of the Defence Force in a mining colony where only her superiors know her past and she wears a suit reminiscent of Jim Raynor's in Starcraft at all times.

But I'm not sure of how to go about this to completely hide her gender. I don't mind dropping hints as I usually do.

Does anyone have any advice on how to deal with this?

[Turnilk]

You can use male pronouns instead of female ones or a neutral options if the society has any, as well as the character's name or nick name(s).

You might have an easier time using first person, provided no one refers to her as a female. I'm not quite sure how you'd do it in third or second person, but I imagine talking about certain things (like her boobs) would give it away instantly.

And that's all I've got...

[Tsuki Z]

Turnilk

You can use male pronouns instead of female ones or a neutral options if the society has any, as well as the character's name or nick name(s).

You might have an easier time using first person, provided no one refers to her as a female. I'm not quite sure how you'd do it in third or second person, but I imagine talking about certain things (like her boobs) would give it away instantly.

And that's all I've got...

Her names is a gender neutral name Leonide, called Leo for short.
At the moment, I expect her to be in the suit for most of the time and none of her physical appearance will be seen. Not even her face. The only time she takes it off is in the privacy of her living quarters.

I'm also planning to use 'he' since the introduction involves someone else referring to her as a man.

[Turnilk]

Tsuki Z

Turnilk

You can use male pronouns instead of female ones or a neutral options if the society has any, as well as the character's name or nick name(s).

You might have an easier time using first person, provided no one refers to her as a female. I'm not quite sure how you'd do it in third or second person, but I imagine talking about certain things (like her boobs) would give it away instantly.

And that's all I've got...

Her names is a gender neutral name Leonide, called Leo for short.
At the moment, I expect her to be in the suit for most of the time and none of her physical appearance will be seen. Not even her face. The only time she takes it off is in the privacy of her living quarters.

I'm also planning to use 'he' since the introduction involves someone else referring to her as a man.

Couple of things I feel like I should point out:
- It could just be me, but "Leo" sounds like a masculine name. When I hear or see it used, I picture a male lion. You can use the name however you like, though.
- Rarely takes off her armor? So, she's like Samus? Or Mulan...
- You should keep in mind a voice can give away whether or not someone is male or female.
- Men can look feminine in their facial features just like women can look masculine in theirs.
- Will the narrative be calling her a him outside of speech? If the characters refer to her as a him, fine, but if the rest of the narrative does it might seem like a purposeful lie just so the author can hide the character's gender. Perhaps others can give you better advice on what to do in this case, I don't really have any for that specific instance.

Also, you should probably think of why your character is disguising themselves. In history, women have disguised themselves to be able to do something they wouldn't normally be able to do just because they were women. If your character isn't hiding something and you're just going for the "I got you!" moment like the people who made Metroid, it might feel like cheap trickery to the reader. No offense meant.

[SparklyEevee]

If you do choose to include physical description of her body, then the fact that she does something that I would guess is physically demanding may help you. Make reference to short hair, height, musculature, etc. Even if you weren't disguising that she's a woman, the readers wouldn't actually need to know about her breasts anyway.
Also, I recommend reading Bonedance, by Emma Bull, which manages to conceal for like two thirds of the novel that the protagonist is neither male nor female.

[Tsuki Z]

Turnilk

Tsuki Z

Turnilk

You can use male pronouns instead of female ones or a neutral options if the society has any, as well as the character's name or nick name(s).

You might have an easier time using first person, provided no one refers to her as a female. I'm not quite sure how you'd do it in third or second person, but I imagine talking about certain things (like her boobs) would give it away instantly.

And that's all I've got...

Her names is a gender neutral name Leonide, called Leo for short.
At the moment, I expect her to be in the suit for most of the time and none of her physical appearance will be seen. Not even her face. The only time she takes it off is in the privacy of her living quarters.

I'm also planning to use 'he' since the introduction involves someone else referring to her as a man.

Couple of things I feel like I should point out:
- It could just be me, but "Leo" sounds like a masculine name. When I hear or see it used, I picture a male lion. You can use the name however you like, though.
- Rarely takes off her armor? So, she's like Samus? Or Mulan...
- You should keep in mind a voice can give away whether or not someone is male or female.
- Men can look feminine in their facial features just like women can look masculine in theirs.
- Will the narrative be calling her a him outside of speech? If the characters refer to her as a him, fine, but if the rest of the narrative does it might seem like a purposeful lie just so the author can hide the character's gender. Perhaps others can give you better advice on what to do in this case, I don't really have any for that specific instance.

Also, you should probably think of why your character is disguising themselves. In history, women have disguised themselves to be able to do something they wouldn't normally be able to do just because they were women. If your character isn't hiding something and you're just going for the "I got you!" moment like the people who made Metroid, it might feel like cheap trickery to the reader. No offense meant.

I did consider a voice synthesizer built into the suit. Leo is shortened from a gender neutral full name.

Her face is also concealed at all times because of the suit.

The story behind this is because women don't belong on the mining colony she was kidnapped. One of commanders' took her in and placed her into the defence force that is entirely male dominated.

The 'haha, I got you,' is just the fun bit. I'm more concerned about making her question her identity and existence since she's forced to keep people at arm's length and traps herself in that giant a** battle suit just to be able to live in the only home she has.

Does that make sense?
I'm not good at compressing things.
I think I may have goofed some parts of explanations

[Tsuki Z]

SparklyEevee

If you do choose to include physical description of her body, then the fact that she does something that I would guess is physically demanding may help you. Make reference to short hair, height, musculature, etc. Even if you weren't disguising that she's a woman, the readers wouldn't actually need to know about her breasts anyway.
Also, I recommend reading Bonedance, by Emma Bull, which manages to conceal for like two thirds of the novel that the protagonist is neither male nor female.

This is an image of the suit she's in all the time. When the mask comes down, you don't see her face either.

When she's out of the suit, I rather not make more description than necessary. So far, she's described as someone with dark hair and eyes.

I will hunt that book down. Thank you for the recommendation. ><

[Your_NewLunarDoll]

How does it serve the story besides jolting the reader a little in the end? If you obscure her sex, how can she deal with the sociocultural issues you mention you'd like to deal with? I think these are questions to consider. I don't presume to know your answer, but just personally, I feel like O.Henry jolts rarely serve a long work.

[Tsuki Z]

Soup Dumpling

How does it serve the story besides jolting the reader a little in the end? If you obscure her sex, how can she deal with the sociocultural issues you mention you'd like to deal with? I think these are questions to consider. I don't presume to know your answer, but just personally, I feel like O.Henry jolts rarely serve a long work.

The issues are mainly from her past of being sold to that colony as a sex slave and having to hide her gender permanently now so that it wouldn't happen again.

I thought of revealing her gender half way through to the readers, but allowing them to think of her as a separate character from the scary person in the battle suit.

.... I... I'm not sure what O.Henry means actually.

[Turnilk]

Tsuki Z

I did consider a voice synthesizer built into the suit. Leo is shortened from a gender neutral full name.

Her face is also concealed at all times because of the suit.

The story behind this is because women don't belong on the mining colony she was kidnapped. One of commanders' took her in and placed her into the defence force that is entirely male dominated.

The 'haha, I got you,' is just the fun bit. I'm more concerned about making her question her identity and existence since she's forced to keep people at arm's length and traps herself in that giant a** battle suit just to be able to live in the only home she has.

Does that make sense?
I'm not good at compressing things.
I think I may have goofed some parts of explanations

A voice synthesizer could work, but then you'd have to explain why she has it. If the suits are issued to people rather than custom made, there isn't a reason she'd have one unless everyone else does. If the suits are custom, then she should either be in debt or have/had money to get the thing. If you are going with the idea that someone is helping her stay disguised, they could lend her money for the suit, and/or help her get a voice synthesizer built into hers.

I was commenting on the nickname, not the full name.

I mentioned facial features so you would know that if you are just doing it to hide the fact she's female, you don't necessarily have to.

The gist of what I got is that the people who work at the mining colony and/or the people who run it are sexist. You could say that its because women are physically weaker, but then they have big a** scifi suits on. If they have the technology for the suits, then they have the technology to allow women to work there too. You could say it cut costs to have men instead of women since women need a bunch of things men don't, but then you said in another post that they have sex slaves. The cost would be lower if they used androids instead or didn't have any sex slave or bot.

I assume you've got a reason for the commander to place a woman in the defense force? A kidnapped, one no less. It would seem odd if the commander simply did it out of the blue. Also, depending on how long she's been in the defense force, certain issues would be incredibly difficult to hide. Also, is someone helping her hide the fact that she's a woman? She would have to be trained at some point and training would probably include things that require her to not be in the suit. Unless she's wearing cloths that hide it well, there is a good chance someone noticed.

"... only home she has"? If she gets paid she could save up and forge a new home elsewhere. If she's in debt, or has an emotional attachment to the place or someone there, I suppose it would make sense for her to stay. However, everyone has a breaking point, whatever reason she's staying better be a good one for that point to not be reached, or if it is reached, then ignored.

[Tsuki Z]

Turnilk

Tsuki Z

I did consider a voice synthesizer built into the suit. Leo is shortened from a gender neutral full name.

Her face is also concealed at all times because of the suit.

The story behind this is because women don't belong on the mining colony she was kidnapped. One of commanders' took her in and placed her into the defence force that is entirely male dominated.

The 'haha, I got you,' is just the fun bit. I'm more concerned about making her question her identity and existence since she's forced to keep people at arm's length and traps herself in that giant a** battle suit just to be able to live in the only home she has.

Does that make sense?
I'm not good at compressing things.
I think I may have goofed some parts of explanations

A voice synthesizer could work, but then you'd have to explain why she has it. If the suits are issued to people rather than custom made, there isn't a reason she'd have one unless everyone else does. If the suits are custom, then she should either be in debt or have/had money to get the thing. If you are going with the idea that someone is helping her stay disguised, they could lend her money for the suit, and/or help her get a voice synthesizer built into hers.

I was commenting on the nickname, not the full name.

I mentioned facial features so you would know that if you are just doing it to hide the fact she's female, you don't necessarily have to.

The gist of what I got is that the people who work at the mining colony and/or the people who run it are sexist. You could say that its because women are physically weaker, but then they have big a** scifi suits on. If they have the technology for the suits, then they have the technology to allow women to work there too. You could say it cut costs to have men instead of women since women need a bunch of things men don't, but then you said in another post that they have sex slaves. The cost would be lower if they used androids instead or didn't have any sex slave or bot.

I assume you've got a reason for the commander to place a woman in the defense force? A kidnapped, one no less. It would seem odd if the commander simply did it out of the blue. Also, depending on how long she's been in the defense force, certain issues would be incredibly difficult to hide. Also, is someone helping her hide the fact that she's a woman? She would have to be trained at some point and training would probably include things that require her to not be in the suit. Unless she's wearing cloths that hide it well, there is a good chance someone noticed.

"... only home she has"? If she gets paid she could save up and forge a new home elsewhere. If she's in debt, or has an emotional attachment to the place or someone there, I suppose it would make sense for her to stay. However, everyone has a breaking point, whatever reason she's staying better be a good one for that point to not be reached, or if it is reached, then ignored.

The battle suit are only for the Defence Force that does not allow women in by default. There are creatures out in the mines that are out to kill those trying to mine the crystals. The miners are only allowed the be men due to health regulations.
I can see your point about the cost cutting though.

So far, what I worked out, there are three people who know her gender, The doctor, the head engineer and the commander.

At the moment, the pay is high and she needs the money to get the hell out of there and try and find somewhere else. Her main emotional attachment is only with the commander that she sees as a parent figure.

As for the suit, she runs maintenance on her own but you got a point on the reason behind the voice thing. Some of the soldiers who've been on the mining colony the longest have doing mild customisation on their suits like paint jobs and stuff.

Thanks for all the points. I'm gonna keep working to cover the bases. blaugh

[Turnilk]

Tsuki Z

The battle suit are only for the Defence Force that does not allow women in by default. There are creatures out in the mines that are out to kill those trying to mine the crystals. The miners are only allowed the be men due to health regulations.
I can see your point about the cost cutting though.

So far, what I worked out, there are three people who know her gender, The doctor, the head engineer and the commander.

At the moment, the pay is high and she needs the money to get the hell out of there and try and find somewhere else. Her main emotional attachment is only with the commander that she sees as a parent figure.

As for the suit, she runs maintenance on her own but you got a point on the reason behind the voice thing. Some of the soldiers who've been on the mining colony the longest have doing mild customisation on their suits like paint jobs and stuff.

Thanks for all the points. I'm gonna keep working to cover the bases. blaugh

You can get around her voice simply by saying its hard to tell one way or another if she's a male or female. There are people who have a sort of in between voice like that. Or she could deliberately keep her voice deeper to throw people off.

You may also want to work on the "health regulations" part. Since women can be just as healthy or not healthy as men, it won't make much sense if vaguely pointed out, but no details given.

I'd also recommend making sure to think out the creatures themselves. My suspension of disbelief has be ruined many times by terrible reasoning behind whatever the threat is.

I wish you the best of luck in your work and hope it all turns out well in the end.

[Tsuki Z]

Turnilk

Tsuki Z

The battle suit are only for the Defence Force that does not allow women in by default. There are creatures out in the mines that are out to kill those trying to mine the crystals. The miners are only allowed the be men due to health regulations.
I can see your point about the cost cutting though.

So far, what I worked out, there are three people who know her gender, The doctor, the head engineer and the commander.

At the moment, the pay is high and she needs the money to get the hell out of there and try and find somewhere else. Her main emotional attachment is only with the commander that she sees as a parent figure.

As for the suit, she runs maintenance on her own but you got a point on the reason behind the voice thing. Some of the soldiers who've been on the mining colony the longest have doing mild customisation on their suits like paint jobs and stuff.

Thanks for all the points. I'm gonna keep working to cover the bases. blaugh

You can get around her voice simply by saying its hard to tell one way or another if she's a male or female. There are people who have a sort of in between voice like that. Or she could deliberately keep her voice deeper to throw people off.

You may also want to work on the "health regulations" part. Since women can be just as healthy or not healthy as men, it won't make much sense if vaguely pointed out, but no details given.

I'd also recommend making sure to think out the creatures themselves. My suspension of disbelief has be ruined many times by terrible reasoning behind whatever the threat is.

I wish you the best of luck in your work and hope it all turns out well in the end.

The thing is, when introducing her as a separate character, her voice might still sound familiar to her new partner.

I am actually planning to do some research on coal mining so I can incorporate the usual dangers of mining into the story as well.

The threat is simply them mining crystals that are the life source of the creatures. The higher the concentration of crystals, the more creatures were found trying to stop them from mining.

Thank you! whee

[Turnilk]

Tsuki Z

The thing is, when introducing her as a separate character, her voice might still sound familiar to her new partner.

I am actually planning to do some research on coal mining so I can incorporate the usual dangers of mining into the story as well.

The threat is simply them mining crystals that are the life source of the creatures. The higher the concentration of crystals, the more creatures were found trying to stop them from mining.

Thank you! whee

Not sure what else to say about the voice. There are a few options discussed already, so think it through and pick the option that works best within the story.

There is more than just coal mining and there are a couple of different techniques. I'd suggest researching as many as you can. you might get useful information from one that you weren't expecting to have said useful information.

It sounds a bit odd that a creature would live off a crystal. Probably because I don't know of any that do that here on earth. Science fiction plus alien life form, so you might be able to pull it off, just make it as believable as you can.

And you're welcome emotion_c8

[Maltese_Falcon91]

Tsuki Z

Does anyone have any advice on how to deal with this?

The biggest problem I'm seeing is that if she gets shot or wounded, someone is going to have to take that armour off.

There's also the matter of how she eats, drinks, and goes to the bathroom, though I could kinda see the suit having some form of waste disposal system, and I could also see the suit having a nutrient drip that keeps her alive, but... it's kind of stretching credulity that nobody ever sees Leo outside of "his" armour. Especially if it's similar to the Star Craft 2 suits. Just getting those things on is a pretty involved process.