Genderswap - Fanlore

Genderswap is a fic 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 and Supernatural than in Star Trek, The Professionals or Blake's 7.

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.

Notable Genderswap stories

• The Same Inside by helenish (popslash)

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.