USB as a whole is both female and male. They have interconnected shapes that make use of both types, with the power being supplied from the internal connection. Most AC connectors utilise the same principal where the pins are shielded from prying fingers, the direct wall plugs being the exception, but they're also fairly poorly designed as a whole, and from a time before our current understanding of proper power safety mechanics. Some are better than others, the US' standard is quite poor by comparison to the other standard's.

If you've ever had a laptop or games console with a barrel plug (looks similar to USB-C, but circular), they are the reverse of USB-C, with the live outside, and ground inside. They're still not terribly dangerous, as they also don't carry a very high voltage. Although you can actually feel the power flowing through those, where as USB standards, if you touch the metal are such low voltage that its almost negligible. Both work on the same principal though, that DC is not terribly dangerous in low voltages, where as AC is consistently quite dangerous.

The lightning cable (Apple's phone standard) is effectively the reverse of USB-C, with the male cable plugging into the female device. Although these are live on the outside of the connector, Apple doesn't utilise quick charge technology on it's lightning connector, so the power delivery is lower than most of the previously mentioned barrel plugs.