Fanlore:Featured Article Archives/2019: Week 16

Tinhat is a term referring to a person who believes that the halves of their ship are really a couple, forced by The Powers That Be to keep their relationship a secret. The term itself is derived from the stereotype of conspiracy theorists and other paranoid people wearing tinfoil hats to protect themselves from telepathic, microwave or radio transmissions by aliens, the government, or both. A lot of tinhat theories are based on fantasies of closeted celebrities (usually actors) who are unable to be open about their relationship in their profession, although tinhatting of opposite-sex pairings does occur (and predates the term itself). Although not as common as in RPF fandoms, tinhatting in fictional media such as film also occurs.