Tom,
That is generally the case for powered connectors but in my work, the signal direction determines the male plug. That is why all microphones have male XLR connectors and mixers have female XLR sockets. For fixed installations we provide connectors of both flavors so that the direction convention can be maintained. (yes, we cheat with turn arounds when needed) Camera hardware is the same whether it was the old
TV 81 cable, Triax or fiber. TV81 had some reversed pins because voltage(s) was generally sent to the camera for operation. In some cases this was pretty high. In the case of Triax, original cameras could have 220 VAC running to the camera on the inner conductors but the female connector was designed so you can't contact both of those easily. Newer designs have far less voltage feeding the camera.