Genderswap - Fanlore

Genderswap

Synonyms: Genderswitch
See also: Genderfuck, genderbender, genderfuckery, sexswap, bodyswap, Story Tropes, Transfic
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Contents

Genderswap is a fanfiction and fanart trope in which one or more characters switch sex. Genderswap fic is a subset of the more general genderfuck type of fic. Star Trek had a genderswap (actually a bodyswap, too) in canon in the final episode, Turnabout Intruder, and in one of the first collections of professionally distributed fiction, The Procrustean Petard in Star Trek: The New Voyages 2. Despite this, genderswap stories have only recently become hugely popular; much easier to find in recent fandoms like popslash, Stargate Atlantis, Supernatural and Star Trek reboot than in Classic Star Trek, The Professionals or Blake's 7.

Terminology

While it should correctly be called sexswap, since the biological sex is being swapped (and the social gender only as a consequence of the biological change)[1] , the term is established for a number of likely reasons, e.g. the conflation of sex and gender in discourse [2] or the better flow of words[3].

Further pointing to the fact that the gender is not what has been changed, in the large majority of genderswap stories, the character who has been swapped retains their pronouns in the (generally) third person narrative. In most genderswap stories, the character is restored to their original gender by the end, although some stories consciously subvert this trope.

Always been a Girl

A less common genderswap trope is "always been a girl", where one or more of the canon characters are written as if they have always been the opposite of their original sex. These stories tend less towards crackfic and more towards seeing what might have changed in a favored character if this one piece of their life had been changed.

However, with the release of the Star Trek reboot movie in 2009, there has been a surge of interest in genderswap fic in which one, or more, of the characters — almost exclusively male[4] — has always been a different sex from what s/he is in canon. Kirk appears to be the character most often portrayed as female, with McCoy, Spock and Chekov trailing well behind with less than half the number of instances.[5] This offshoot of the reboot fandom is popular enough to have launched the Livejournal community st_genderswap, two months after the movie's release.[6]

Trans issues

More recent genderswap stories, and genderswap stories in newer fandoms (especially bandom) are more likely to reference, overtly or not, trans issues as part of the genderswap.

Criticism

[T]oo often I will see the author switch into new pronouns to match the new body, or depict the character enthusiastically "trying out" their new body, often sexually. I can tell you for sure, suddenly having the wrong body means CRAZY issues. I can't even look at myself undressed. A new body means learning to use it, first of all, and then all the dysphoria that comes with it, and one thing it isn't going to do is turn its owner on. Long story short, most "genderswap" (which should really be called "sexswap", considering the context the term is most often used in) offends me hugely, and manages to avoid all the opportunities to bring trans issues into the mix. [7]


Notable Genderswap stories

Pre-internet:

Earlyish:

  • The Same Inside by helenish (popslash) -- Written in 2000. An important step; the viewpoint character has fun being female, and delivers non-didactic feminist smackdowns on his teammates when they get gender essentialist on him.

SGA had a number of long and influential genderswap stories:

  • Girlfriend by Resonant. Rodney has exact zero trauma going male to female to male; Sheppard is the one to have life-changing revelations.
  • Straight as a Circle [8] by toomuchplor -- is technically not genderswap: Aliens turn Sheppard straight rather than female, but the process of seeing the world differently and wondering if world is seeing you differently, is very similar to most longer genderswap stories.
  • Should've Been My Girlfriend by Crysothemis does an unusually good job of showing how feels to be in the wrong body, and how the chance to have the right person be attracted to you might not be enough to make it worth while; borderline transfic. -- Written in 2008.

Star Trek reboot:

  • Karma by graceandfire is set in a Mirror Universe where women are second class citizens and Mirror McCoy is just as bad as the rest of the men...until he gets turned into a woman. The context allows McCoy to examine his own assumptions and gender stereo-typing, while helping him realize the women have a degree of resourcefulness and cunning they rely on to survive that he was previously blind to.

Fanart

Genderswap Picspam

References

  1. ↑ August 26th 2008. Sherrold. why ask why? LiveJournal post. Accessed October 3rd 2008.
  2. ↑ August 27th 2008. See strangerian's and omnivorously's comments to sherrold's post. Accessed October 3rd 2008.
  3. ↑ cf. August 28th 2008 ifyourweremine's comment to sherrold's post. Accessed October 3rd 2008.
  4. ↑ Tags for the LJ st_genderswap community record only one instance each of Uhura, Chapel and Saavik as always male, compared to 49 instances of Kirk as always female (as of July 2010).
  5. ↑ As of July 2010, st_genderswap showed 25,22 and 10 instances of always-a-girl for McCoy, Spock and Chekov respectively.
  6. ↑ st_genderswap had over 170 members, as of July 2010.
  7. ↑ META: Five+ Ways Being Transgender in Fandom Really Sucks, and Why I Stick With It Anyway (Accessed April 9, 2010)
  8. ↑ [1] Straight as a Circle by toomuchplor, on her LJ
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