The Etruscan Leotard
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The Etruscan Leotard is a 1979 responsefic by Gaylen Reiss printed in The Ermine Violin #3.
The fic comments on the tie-in novel The Procrustean Petard by Sondra Marshak and Myrna Culbreath which is a 1978 bodyswap story.
The Author's Preface
From the zine:
The following story was written in desperate response to "The Procrustean Petard," by Sondra Marshak and Myrna Culbreath printed in Star Trek: The New Voyages 2.
The authors' idea of switching the sex of the Star Trek characters intrigued me, and that is what kept me reading, in hopes that they would do interesting things with it. I was, to say the least, deeply disappointed. Despite some of the negative implications we saw in "Turnabout Intruder," I don't think Kirk would be overwhelmed with despair to find himself in a woman's body, especially if a good portion of the crew were going through the same experience. (And," in today's button-pushing society, let alone in one 200 years from now — the Star Trek century — one's success does not depend on male muscular strength.)
Being throughly irritated with "The Procrustean Petard," I set out to write a humorous parody/satire to point out the story's faults. However, my version rapidly turned into a light-hearted/seriousness which, if nothing else, is closer to the attitude I believe the Enterprise crew would take, in place of the almost-simpering primitive fear of the original story.
I also refuse to copy their use of little-known parables and quotes to make a cute point at the risk of alienating most readers. Instead, I took one of the theories rejected by those authors and turned it into a plausible reason for the existence of that strange sex-change capability. I think you'll agree with my reasoning. If not, you'll at least understand it, which is a giant step in the right direction.
I even came up with a ST-oriented explanation of how the thing works -- which also happens to take care of some of the unmentloned but deficient aspects of the original story, such as hairstyle changes. I won't, however, try to explain why everyone looks "ravishing" in their new bodies. That is a bit much.
I leave the Klingons out of this story also. Suffice it to say that when the Enterprise crew finds the solution, they'd probably offer it to the Klingons who have been changed, as well. Now, whether the Klingons would trust members of the Federation to control a machine that messes around wth Klingon's bodies is another question, and probably another story, as well.
My story ends up regaining the status quo. This is not imperative in Treklit, but, in my opinion, it is preferable to the alternative given by those authors. If the purpose of their story was to incite objectionist counter-literature, they were successful. (And why else would they have written it that way?)
If they are serious (and boy, do they write it like they were serious) about this story, I offer my version as soothing medication for other wounded Trekfen.
Live Long and Prosper.