Genderbenders (Multi-fandom)

[medie]

Title: History, Herstory
Author: medie
Spoilers: general ones for Stargate and Smallville.
Email: medie2.0 @ gmail.com just take out the spaces.
Personal Website: An Unexpected Snow
Note: guess it's too late to point out I'm totally terrified, right? *G* Thought so. In this case, I'll just thank people who read this for me. scrollgirl, divagypsy, azarsuerte, dragonsinger, angelsgracie. Oh, and special thanks to raelan who tried to pry me off the ceiling and give me the nerve to post this. *grin*



Ohmigod you stole his cock!

A cry oft heard in relation to the phenomena that we know as 'genderbending' wherein we take a character, and, well, bend their gender. From Daniel to Danielle, Lex to Lexa, Clark to Hudson, Jonathan to Johanna, Samantha to Samuel...you get the idea.

As cute as the comment is, though honestly it's not really that cute after fifty or so hearings, it's also quite inaccurate. In fact, I'm sure if a fan were to ask Michael Rosenbaum, Tom Welling, or Michael Shanks if they were still in possession of their penis, they would reassure said fan that, yes, they are. All right, in reality they'd probably give that fan an 'are you on the special crack?' look and ever so subtly - read waving frantically - signal security, but go with me here. I like a little dramatic license. Which, interestingly enough, dovetails nicely into my subject matter...

Years ago, when I was still participating actively in the Sentinel fandom, I remember hearing about someone who'd penned a story wherein Blair Sandburg changed gender. I have not read the story but that was my first exposure to genderbending. If I recall correctly, Blair started out male, became female, and then went back to being male again by the end of the story, so while it was my first real exposure I don't really consider it the same as the ones I've seen since.

Back in ye old fandom days, genderbending was looked at quite askance but we've come a long way. It is, particularly in the Smallville fandom thanks to aelora's 'Downfall' Series, a lot more accepted, but every now and then, you come across those 'oh, you stole his penis' comments and. The answer to that is...

No. We didn't.

When I first heard of genderbending, my reaction was somewhat similar to the opening comment of my essay. I stopped and, for a while, couldn't quite wrap my brain around the idea of making Blair a woman, however temporary the change. But the idea stuck with me, and after some contemplation, I had to admit, it was a fresh take on the character and no one could accuse the author of rehashing an old story. In truth, that's probably why the idea stuck in the back of my mind. I love fresh ideas and experimenting in stories. I probably loved colouring outside the lines when I was a child too...but I digress. I'm supposed to be trying to make this sound rational and logical and well, Mr. Spock -like - or should I say Ms. Spock? - and I'm not. But, I do love to ramble ad nauseum so...

Where was I again? Oh right, cock-stealing.

Primarily, genderbenders seem to be from male to female. The reasons for this are many and varied. The reasons I may do it, may not be the reasons someone else would. For as many authors who try something like genderbending, there are as many reasons for why they are doing it. When discussions arise, one very big reason mentioned by those of us who write genderbenders is... Women? For as much progress as we've made, Hollywood, and by extension society, still has trouble with women in power roles. They don't get to be the heroes much. They don't get to be the strong, centered, confident ones. Even the so-called strong women of today's TV still get the short end of the stick plot-wise.

Nowhere is this more evident than in the superhero genre. Back in the good old days of comics, the majority of the protagonists were men. Batman, Superman, Spider-man...you get the drift. Women were largely the damsels in distress who the hero inevitably rescued. And, typically, once she was out of distress, he also got her out of her dress. Heroines were few and far between. When they did emerge, they were the marginalized characters. Supergirl, Batgirl. The choice of names given to them can subconsciously encourage the reader to put them on a lesser level. When one pictures Superman, you think of an adult male, strong, capable, can lift the world on his shoulders, and so on and so forth. When you picture Supergirl, most of us think what the word implies. A girl. A teenager who will land herself in trouble and need to be saved by Superman.

It's not always true these days. Characters like Buffy are slowly changing that. They're not perfect but...they're quite the departure from where we started. And where we started is with a perception that is still out there. Women don't get to save the day in the same way the men do. The differences in the Superman and Supergirl movies are a prime example of that. Superman saves the world from Lex Luthor, Supergirl gets some sorceress with a stolen Kryptonian knickknack and very bad fashion sense.

Even after all that the feminist movement has done, after all women have done to empower themselves, we still get that 'there, there, dear, go back inside...' sentiment. Even when Hollywood tries to make them the heroes, they still come out on an unequal footing with their male counterparts. A good illustration of this have been the Batman and Catwoman big screen adaptations. Catwoman, in her move to the big screen, has taken a backward step from her comic origins which has upset more than a few fans. It proves that even today, movies and tv shows with female protagonists, strong female protagonists, can face quite the uphill battle.

So, when you're not given the female characters you want...you create them.

You do this one of two ways. You create one of your own from scratch or you genderbend. The argument can be made for other options, of course, but I'm not here to talk about those other options. Since a friend is covering original characters, I'm not here to talk about them either. I should point out that, I don't consider my characters to be the absolute perfect examples. I will be using them as examples, however, because I feel more comfortable picking apart my characters and my reasons. So, without further ado...

The best explanation I have ever seen for genderbending comes from the challenge that birthed my Calla Kent, Alexandra Luthor, and Aelora's Hudson Kent. elke_tanzer's 'A Distinct Shift'

She explains it with an eloquence I lack so I'm going to quote from her challenge directly.

I'm tired of seeing (in many of the traditional myths of our society) the powerful women being the villains because they have power. And as Janis said to me in email, "A girl with superpowers is told to hide them and stop reminding people she has them. A boy is told to make something special of himself. The world hates special girls."

The challenge she gave us was to take the reality of one of the Superman incarnations and...give it a little twist. Change the gender of one of the participants. Make Clark...Claire? Make Lex...Alexandra. Put a woman in the driver's seat so to speak, and let her speak for herself. Put her on equal footing.

It isn't about lopping off some guy's penis. It's never been about that. it isn't about hating the characters we're working with either. When I created Alexandra Luthor, Calla Kent and Danielle Jackson, it wasn't because I didn't love the characters I was genderbending. I'll reference Danielle here specifically. I have been a Daniel fan for years. And years. And years. Since he first showed up on the movie screen. I adored him then and now. So, when I decided to create Danielle, it had nothing to do with hating the character of Daniel. Even in Stargate, which seems more willing to give female characters room to breathe it does happen. The female characters still get marginalized to a degree. Sam Carter is a very strong female presence but she is, by the nature of her existence, not on equal footing. She can't be by virtue of the timing and manner in which she entered the story and many of the plotlines she's been given in later seasons. In later seasons, her storyline and her identity have largely become wrapped up in who she does or does not love. While the male characters have had similiar issues, none of them ever advanced to the extent Sam's has. In earlier seasons, she was very much the feminist "I'm as tough as a guy, watch how!" persona but as the years have passed, the storylines she has been given took a marked difference from her male counterparts. She is still far beyond most of her peers in Hollywood but even she has fallen victim to the 'there, there dear,' sentiment I referred to earlier.

Some of that can be attributed to how she was shoehorned into the Stargate universe. By trying to connect her to the movie, even though we never saw her there. In my eyes, the PTB all but christened her to be 'The Girl' for women were expected to root for. Instead of letting Sam stand on her own footing and give fans the chance to decide for themselves, they manufactured reasons why she was 'good enough' for us to like her. To me, It was a mis-step. Sam would have been just fine on her own. Smart, strong, played by a talented actress, she didn't need their help to be liked. Therein lies the problem. Even when we have a strong, female protagonist like Sam Carter, Hollywood doesn't trust us to recognize that on our own. By trying to prove it to us, they in effect, lessen the character and put us right back at square one.

Starting from scratch.

So, why Daniel? Daniel Jackson was in the position I needed. Someone with the kind of standing within Stargate Command and the story of Stargate itself I was looking for. But aside from the logistical attractions, there is the less practical side of it. The story itself. The story of Daniel Jackson is rich, strong, and full of compelling drama. It gives a writer a lot of room to play with and a lot of material to work with. When it all comes down to it...if the character doesn't have a good story behind them, then there isn't as much 'wiggle room' so to speak. One of the best things about genderbending is changing the gender and watching the character shift with it.

Genderbending is a lot more than just swapping reproductive organs. There is, as the title of Elke's challenge suggests, a distinct shift in the character. Danielle Jackson is still Daniel but she's not just Daniel without a penis. Women are shaped differently by the world and thus view the world differently. Interact differently. I did choose, with Danielle to put her into a romantic relationship with Jack O'Neill, but that is not why I created her. If I wanted a Jack/Daniel, I'll write that myself thank you very much and, have done so, will continue to do so... It's about more than romance and sex.

Speaking of sex...

You Homophobe!

I brought that up for a reason. I know people who have experimented with genderbending who have done so because I did and one of them was promptly accused of being homophobic because of it.

To say I saw red upon hearing about this is to put it mildly. Just because I write Danielle Jackson and Jack O'Neill in a romantic relationship does not mean that I'm doing so because I'm homophobic, and I will respond strongly to anyone who presumes I am. That is not what this is about. I write Jack/Daniel. But Jack and Daniel aren't Jack and Danielle. Writers don't genderbend because we're homophobic. We genderbend because we want to explore.

The heart of genderbending is the human condition. Trying to understand it. Writing is an exploration of the human heart, not the human reproductive system. Genderbending, to me, is getting to know the character in a new skin and through new eyes. Who they go to bed with in a story is almost inconsequential. When I match a character up in a romance, the specifics of gender fall pretty far down on the scale of what I'm looking for.

Most often it's the history and connection between the characters that I'm looking for. It's that which fascinates me and that which keeps me writing. It's also what keeps me reading. Someone once remarked about me that I'll ship almost anything if I can be made to believe the relationship between the characters and, quite frankly, that is true. If I wanted to write Clark or Lex or Jack O'Neill - or whoever - in a heterosexual relationship with just any random powerful female character, then I would do so. I'd write a crossover with a show/movie/book that provided us with a character of that nature or simply create an original character all my own. But that's not what I did, not what we do. We want to explore the connections between characters, play with them, tweak them, experiment with them. Throw in a few monkey wrenches and see what comes out. We're not alone in this desire either as the recent new version of Battlestar Galactica can stand testament to. There are writers in Hollywood who are beginning to think the same way. Or, rather, perhaps, like us, they're now being given a little more leeway to try it.

But what about the boys...

Before anyone tries to cry foul and throw up the Mary Sue flag, there are genderbends that go the other way. Taking a woman and making them a man. One of my favorites that is being done by a friend of mine which is why I've seen it - ha! privilege! - is Colonel Samuel Carter. Formerly known as Colonel Samantha Carter. Hmm, wonder if that's where all the stolen cocks are going? (Yes, I am pretty much going to beat that particular bad joke to death.)

Sam(uel) comes from that 'let's play with what happens if...' reasoning that also fuels the genderbender writer. How would the character be different if is pretty much how many of us approach the actual process. There is that period where we sit there and contemplate the character we know and love and then wonder what would have happened if they had grown up male instead of female and vice versa. With Sam, this is a prime example. Like many female characters in the military, Sam(antha) has always had to deal with the stereotype I've discussed above coming at her from all sides. The 'little woman' myth. It has, in some ways, made her more defensive and, dare I say it, a little obnoxious on occasion. She goes out of her way to prove the point. The old 'be twice as good in order to be half as respected' method.

Sam(uel) lacks that. He's never had to deal with that problem because, hey, not a woman! Does that make him better? No. Just means he's got a whole new set of issues of his own because, hey, this is Stargate? What character doesn't have issues? But, therein, lies the point.

Gender is one of many details of canon, and canon is something writers love to play with. Experiment with. Changing it is, on some levels, no different than changing another aspect of the story. Making Lex into Lexa, or Daniel into Danielle is no different than making Lex the son of Jor-El or supposing Daniel never joining the SGC. They are departures from the canon the show has given us, and they change what most fans view as the foundation of the show.

Genderbending is no different. It changes a concept that is a part of the canon the show gives us. Yes, it is a bigger change in that you're looking at a different face, different naughty bits and personality changes. But guess what? Stargate's a prime example of changes an alternate universe can give. The civilian Dr. Carter of the alternate realities Stargate has given us was quite different from her military counterpart and I don't just mean hairstyles. Each and every choice a person makes in life changes who they are, but so do the things that they cannot chose. Like their gender or the family into which they are born and by changing those...

We open up a whole new world of possibility...

Speaking of...

They're not them if...!

It never fails to amuse me when people complain to be an accurate genderbender, the character has to have certain characteristics. Only, ones dictated by them. As if, say, in order for Danielle to be considered a female Daniel she absolutely has to fit certain criteria people lay out. If the character happened to miss even one of these criteria, they are designated failures and the reasons for which become the inevitable subject of speculation.

I once happened up on a discussion where in one of my genderbender characters, Lexa Luthor, came up as a topic. Originally, she was suggested as an example of them in the Smallville fandom. Her validity was called into question because of the fact Lexa, unlike Lex, still has her hair. At the time, I chose not to participate in the discussion but, I'm writing this essay to explain, or try to explain, the reasons behind why writers choose to genderbend.

When I make a choice to go with something other than the original canon, more often than not, I'm doing so because I feel it is organic to the changed character. If I were to hold to that standard and determine everything had to remain the same, I would find myself confronted with a whole set of problems. Namely a world that doesn't quite fit the newly changed character. Nevermind the fact that if I changed absolutely nothing about the character but the gender, I might as well be writing the character themselves. There's no experimentation in it.

When I am working with the genderbended version of a character, I'm trying to capture the essence of the canon character not the nitty gritty details. So, Lexa still having her hair in the 'Someday' Universe has absolutely nothing to do with me having a problem with bald women. It came out of the fact I wanted her to have similiar issues to Lex but not identical ones. So, I chose to go with her hair going completely white which is another response to trauma hair can have.

I said all that and now I'm going to throw a curve ball and admit, to be honest? I really didn't think about it. It was an organic change that I barely even took note of when I was writing the character's introduction. It didn't even occur to me until I saw that discussion. I really hadn't wracked my brain or pondered or went, EWWW a bald woman!, or anything of that nature. When I created Lexa I let her have her own identity and her own issues and when I got to that moment in the pilot episode where Lexa speaks of the day of the meteor shower, that was the first I really thought about it. Describing her hair as turning completely white felt organic to Lexa. It opened the door for her to have the same issues of isolation and 'difference' that her male counterpart did but it gave her just that slight step to the side which allowed her to have a different identity. In that choice and a few others, I hoped to allow her to maintain the essence of Lex, which I hope she does, while adopting an identity of her own.

Another problem I've heard floated about is the issue of romantic interests. I once heard someone remark that they couldn't see how a genderbend with Lex would work when you considered the fact, in the show, Lionel has a habit of sleeping with Lex's former girlfriends. Again, I was surprised by it. When, to use Lexa as an example again, I began writing my own female!Lex, I never once even thought that, say, Victoria would be a problem. Since in Kansas homosexual marriages are not yet legalized, Helen became male and the plotline surrounding Desiree changed for similar reasons but, if that had not been a problem? I would have had absolutely no issue leaving them female as I have no doubt a female!Lex, certainly not Lexa, would have little problem with a same sex relationship. You can imagine my surprise that in the Smallville fandom, a place where slash is a very strong presence, the idea wasn't even suggested.

As I mentioned, in situations where slash cannot be used, the changes can snowball and cause plotline shifts as well. Take, for another example, Danielle. Given the fact that, in the movie, Daniel Jackson ended up accidentally married to Sha're (okay Sha'uri in the movie) I had an issue was to what to do with her. The suggestion that Kasuf would mistake Danielle as a gift to him from O'Neill was brought up and made a lot of sense. So, with that in mind, I created another son of Kasuf to whom he would arrange the marriage. When it came to incorporating the events of "Children Of the Gods" into Danielle's life, I chose to have her husband be taken as host of Apophis while Sha're still ended up host to Apophis' queen. It added another layer of angst to the storyline. The majority of Danielle's Abydonian family taken by the Goa'uld as hosts. It was a minor shift and one that worked well.

The same but different. At the core of genderbending, that is the mentality that rules. It's what happens when reality takes a little nudge to the side and reforms around the character. The soul of the character remains unchanged, Danielle is still very much like her male counterpart, a scholar, a dreamer, and just a little naive. Lexa is, like Lex, very driven, very focused on the truth, her story inexorably tied to that of a young superhero in the making.

Genderbending isn't about hating characters and wanting to change them, it isn't about wanting to lop of someone's genitals and feminize them. Not to me, at least. To me, it's about wanting to get to the heart of the character, the soul of the character, and see what would happen to the character if this were to happen...it's about wanting to see women, in the case of male to female genderbends, get to be the equals, the superheroes and to be unapologetic about it.

It's about looking at something...and wondering.

And I like to wonder.

Now, for some examples of genderbending you can check out a few places. There's a comm for genderbended stories now. genderbenderfic where you may find some of my stories and stories by other authors. It's a fairly new community but it is growing.

There's also the community for the Downfall Universe, which is Aelora's Hudson Kent series, and that can be found here downfall_series

The oft mentioned challenge which spawned a lot of fantastic genderbends A Distinct Shift which I encourage people to try.

and while they aren't distinctly for genderbends, you may find some of them turning up there smallville_au or occhallenge.

The Without a Trace fandom has azarsuerte's girl!Martin series. Beginning with her intro in The Long Road Home which features my Danielle and the sequel Before Sunrise and I have it on good authority she'll write more. *grin*

dragonsinger has also written a female!Rodney McKay which you can find on her homepage here

this is, by no means, a comprehensive compliation. Just me throwing out where I've seen and read some genderbenders.

I suppose I should also offer myself up to the proverbial slaughter *grin*. The Danielle Jackson series can be found on it's subpage of my site. Cornerstone and the Lexa Luthor series would be on my SV subpage. Direct link for it: Someday

and once in my travels on the internet I discovered a promotional picture of Terry Farrell from which I took the title of this essay.



And now, I'm gonna go book a flight to some strange, uninhabited island and go into essayist protection. :-p

Comments

[kelex.livejournal.com]

Ooooh.

As someone who loves the Downfall series (I haven't started the Danielle fics because I'm trying not to fall prey to either of the Stargate series and failing miserably) I'd just like to say that this essay presents a lot of things to me that I hadn't even thought about before. But, I can say that as I've read this, I keep going "yeah, uh-huh, how'd she know?" and I realized that you've hit on a lot of the reasons why I like the genderbenders that I like, and the reasons that draw me into them.

I guess it all boils down to, "Good job!"

[medie]

Hee!

*sighs happy* Downfall...love that one. (*cackle* should warn you, aelora has discovered Season1 of Stargate....you're surrounded! :-p)

And why thank you! It's the first time I ever really had to stop and delve into why it's something I'm so heavily involved in and find such value in but I'm kinda pleased with how they came together. Terrified to let anybody read it but pleased people did. ;-p

Thanks!

[pepperjackcandy.livejournal.com]

First, who's that in your icon? Richard Dean Anderson and Jennifer Garner? Crossover pairing or just random eyecandy?

Good job! A few random thoughts I had as I was reading:

I . . . couldn't quite wrap my brain around the idea of making Blair a woman, however temporary the change.

I tend to like permanent genderbending better. It's easier to explain the causation when the causation's random 50/50 (well, 51/49) chance.

The heart of genderbending is the human condition. Trying to understand it. Writing is an exploration of the human heart, not the human reproductive system.

Love, love, *LOVE* this!

Now, for some examples of genderbending you can check out a few places. There's a comm for genderbended stories now. [Unknown site tag] where you may find some of my stories and stories by other authors. It's a fairly new community but it is growing.

:runs off:
:joins comm:
:returns:
:finishes reading essay:

[medie]

That would be my genderbended Danielle and Jack. :-p azarsuerte made it for me back on my birthday.

And oooh thoughts...*bounces*

You're right. I tend to perfer the permanent stuff. Especially if they started out the other gender. It just works better for me when I'm reading.

And bwee! *hugs you*

*Grins* Welcome to the comm! I must go haunt it now and see what's up. :-p

[illmantrim.livejournal.com]

bravo! Good job mmy friend!

[medie]

Squee! Thanks!

[jenab.livejournal.com]

Good essay with a lot to think about.

The heart of genderbending is the human condition. Trying to understand it. Writing is an exploration of the human heart, not the human reproductive system.

This makes me understand genderbending a lot more now and why people like to write it.

Is any fic dealing with Colonel Samuel Carter posted anywhere yet?

[medie]

Thanks so much!

And oh I'm so very glad!!!

There's the one which I did to tease azarsuerte but the intro one is still in progress. :-p

[elke-tanzer.livejournal.com]

Bravo!!!

[medie]

Thanks! :-)

[alicambs.livejournal.com]

Fascinating essay. I've always been ambivalent about genderbending, and while I too have been a fan of Daniel for years and years (isn't it fun), and write Jack/Daniel slash, I've always enjoyed Daniel as a very delightful and complex man. Your essay makes me realise that there is far more to writing a male character as a woman than the opportunity to pair them with the 'hero' and impregnate them - and that seems to occur rather a lot in such stories.

[medie]

Daniel! *squees quietly*

Sorry. :-p

*nods* it does. When I do genderbend, I don't back away from the characters having that kind of a life if that's where the story goes but, it's a part of, to me, rounding out their lives so it feels real. The same way I do with any Jack/Daniel or any other kind of fic I'd write. Filling in the gaps of what the show provides. Fleshing things out as it were. :-p

Thanks for commenting!

[debc.livejournal.com]

Where was I again? Oh right, cock-stealing.

*giggles*

Essay rocked, hon! Way cool!

I can't wait to read C's now!

[medie]

*Snicker* that joke was just a leeettle too fun *G*

and yay! Thanks!

Oh it's gonna be good :-p

[linzeestyle.livejournal.com]

:applauds madly:

I'll admit I've never really gotten into genderbending (with SV in particular, Lex seems to like his dick a little too much for me to take it away from him *g*) - but this was a fantastic essay and it really explained to me a lot of the draw behind something I'd never understood. Also, I know you were nervous about this, and you had no reason to be - it's *very* well written. Bravo (or -a, I suppose :))!

Linzee

[medie]

*curtsies* *falls over*

Yeah, not the most graceful :-p

And hehehe...*giggles* he does tend to enjoy playing a lot. *coughs innocently*

Oh thanks!!!! *hugs you* I'm always pleased to know it worked the way I was hoping!

nervous? Nooo terrified. :-p *hugs you some more* THANKS! And (psst...word on your collages? SOOOO out in SV. *cackle* Everyone's all happy and squee-y over 'em. :-p *G*)

[aelora.livejournal.com]

Wonderful essay, honey! Of course, you already know my feelings on the whole genderbender issues, and it's so nice to not have to feel completely alone in this obsession. ;)

You outlined the perfect reasons for why writing characters in this manner is such a draw. Of course, I still won't hold my breath for the day when people will read fics not according to the sex of the characters, but for the value of the story itself.

We've got a long way to go, baby, but we're getting there! ;)

*hugs you tight*

[medie]

Oh thank you! And I do! :-p I think at a few points I might've been channelling you!

Oooh new Lexson icon *stares happy* It's lovely!

Excellent! And, I don't plan on holding my breath on that one either but...we can dream! And ploy evilly along the way. Between Lex & Lexa, we've got two of the most devious strategists evah...and Hudson and Clark can totally beat up anybody who crosses us. *wink*

and we do! But, we are! And I really do think, in SV, you had a lot to do with it. :-)

*hugs much*

[serenitysea.livejournal.com]

Yay, Medie!!!

*loves*

This ROCKED.

[medie]

Squee! ThANKS!!!

[gwyntastic.livejournal.com]

You have a lovely way with words M!

This essay made me giggle so damn hard.. Stole his cock! That thought has also crossed my mind.

And the idea they are Homophobe has crossed my mind, I'd be lying if I told you it hadn't. You really tackled that section wonderfully and I must applaud you

::claps madly::

[medie]

Why thank you!

*snicker* I figured, if you can't laugh at it...:-p

aww *HUGS* well I can definitely say in the case of myself and the other people I know writing it, we definitely are not. :-) So I'm glad I communicated that one pretty well. :)

*hugs you* Thanks!

[valarltd.livejournal.com]

Lovely!

I've been playing with some genderbending, but stalled out a bit. Princess Lucia Organa was not being cooperative. (I doubt Leland Skywalker is going to give me quite so much trouble when Leia gets XY'd)

Your essay may be just what I needed to get back on track.

Because it's really not about body-shape.

[medie]

Thank you!

oooh...welcome to the fun. :-p *Grins* Those princesses...can be such a pain. :-p (Nah...Leland's likely to be a lot more sensible. :-p)

and oooh I hope so!

Definitely not. *nods firmly*

[liviapenn.livejournal.com]

Nice essay. I wrote a gender-switch Sentinel story once, with Jim and Blair as women (http://www.debchan.com/livia/sentinel/inva.htm), and I got a bit defensive in the same way, too-- someone commented about how the story just wasn't TS fanfiction any more, because it had changed the "basic premises" of the characters, and I was just like, you're kidding, right? The story changes Jim and Blair to women, but otherwise it's a scene-by-scene 'novelization' of the pilot, nearly identical except for a couple of flashbacks (and the sex scene at the end. ;)) Compared to other AUs like, say, "Model!Blair and Photographer!Jim," I'd say switching the genders isn't a very huge change at all. :)

[medie]

*nods* That's the one that always irks. "That's not such and such anymore" and you just wanna smack 'em. It changes a canon point but...heh, I've seen bigger changes that've been adored. (And in TS, there're some HUGELY different AUs. The ones I could name...:-p)

And ohhh...must read that one. :-p

And yeah, a genderbend is definitely not the most 'out there' AU the Sentinel's ever produced.

[la-reine-bleu.livejournal.com]

Brilliant. Having been involved in some rather heated debate on this topic lately due to having dared explore the matter in the Hornblower Fandom, this essay just had me going "yes, yes, *yes*!!" all the way through. There are too many bits that had me nodding to quote them here, but:

Genderbending isn't about hating characters and wanting to change them, it isn't about wanting to lop of someone's genitals and feminize them. Not to me, at least. To me, it's about wanting to get to the heart of the character, the soul of the character, and see what would happen to the character if this were to happen...it's about wanting to see women, in the case of male to female genderbends, get to be the equals, the superheroes and to be unapologetic about it.

It's about looking at something...and wondering.

sums up my position on it all exactly. Thank you for writing this - it has strengthened the courage of my convictions :-)

[medie]

YAY! Thanks! Oohhh...Hornblower huh? Now there would be a fic with some complicated issues if I ever saw one *applauds you* very cool.

*dances* I'm glad it did that for you and bwee! Strength good. Go get 'em! :-)

[la-reine-bleu.livejournal.com]

YAY! Thanks! Oohhh...Hornblower huh? Now there would be a fic with some complicated issues if I ever saw one *applauds you* very cool.

lol!! Well I've just finished part 6, so if you ever feel like a read, just let me know!!! Is definitely a challenge, but great fun! Not sure if I said before, but it's Archie i've turned female - thought using Horatio himself would be *far* too simple!!! ;-)

*dances* I'm glad it did that for you and bwee! Strength good. Go get 'em! :-)

Hehehe going to post the link to this with part 1 of the story when I post it properly to the list - is that ok? Think it speaks perfectly as justification for gender-bending fics everywhere!

[medie]

I flicked over to your LJ and took a read actually. I liked it! And yeah, Horatio'd be a bit obvious. Plus, the added fun of him trying to deal with a female best friend slays me. I haven't seen or read much of him but what I have seen...Hehe.

Oh sure!! Absolutely no problem!!!! Go for it! :-)

[apatheia-jane.livejournal.com]

These aren't my fandoms, & I have to admit a fair few of the references were over my head.

I still found this essay fascinated, & was v impressed with it.

The only fandoms I've found decent genderbender fic would be Buffy, X-files, & Xena. Hell, in Xena & X-files it was temporarily canon. Although they were more past/future lives stories, same soul in different body, with varying levels of awareness of past lives. there also seem to be a surprising number of Xandria, vampire slayer! stories.

It also makes a big difference whether it's AU or wackiness ensues! due to bad Willow spell, paranormal phenomena, or the gods, depending on which fandom. Whether they're still looking at the world thru eyes of previous experience as other gender, or whether (in AU) their different experience has led to them being different people.

Anyway, very good essay, well thought out & interesting.

[medie]

Whoops. :-p *hugs you*

Oh yeah, in Xena & XF...just about! The canon there...:-p there's not much one could concievably come up with that you couldn't find a basis in canon for. *pets them*

*nods* It's always a fantastic way to explore the shift of a character, of what makes them them...absolutely fascinating most of the time.

And thank you very much! :-)

[angelsgracie.livejournal.com]

Well you know how I feel about this, but I'll say it publically. This one rocks! I put mine off because there's no way that mine makes nearly as much sense as yours! *hugs* This was awesome girl!

[medie]

Bah, yours'll kick ass! :-)

and thanks!

[angelsgracie.livejournal.com]

Oh I don't know about ass kickin'. Hee!

And you're welcome!

[djinanna.livejournal.com]

This was a fascinating examination of genderbending. I haven't really gotten into the theme much myself, but you've definitely peaked my interest and I'll be putting some of your links to good use.

BTW, just for completeness sake, I think the Sentinel story you're referring to is Gillian Middleton's BJ Sandburg series, wherein the Sandburg family changes gender for one year on (I think) their 30th birthday. It can be found here: http://www.lexicon.net/gillianm/Slash_Page.html

[medie]

Why thank you!!! And enjoy. They really do some amazing things with the concept.

*thinks* You know, I think you're right. Thank you!!!!!! :-)

[alexevans.livejournal.com]

This is quite interesting... I had no idea the phenomenon existed, let alone that there was a term for it. I guess I wasn't being as original as I thought with my fic where Alex (from Roswell) is a girl. But I never managed to finish that story, and perhaps with a little thought about the issues surrounding the change, I'll be able to do so.

[medie]

Interesting's a good word! And really, it seems to be that way for most of us. Even after I saw that first fic, I really thought it was an isolated phenomena and thus didn't even so much as think it could actually work and then I stumbled across Smallville and it was actually encouraged by some fans...color me shocked. By then it was pleased shocked but still...and oh..I do so hope you do! Roswell is one that I've never seen a genderbender for. There's a certain degree of fun in being one of the first in a fandom to do it. *grin* And good luck! :-)

[kayim.livejournal.com]

Wow! Thanks for giving me even more fics to think about! Seriously, I've only recently even heard the term, but you've definatly given me a new idea or two.

* thinks Daniel(le) will still be a hottie *

[medie]

Hee! You're welcome! And WOOT! new ideas? Always fun!!

*Snicker* And still quite popular with the alien folk plus, kidnapping and landing herself into trouble as easily as she breathes. Some things just never change. *G*

[valarltd.livejournal.com]

Genderbending is a kink of mine.

I fell hard for "The Procrustean Petard" in the ST:The New Voyages 2 book when I was in high school. Miss Kirk, indeed.

I just finished writing Princess Lucia Organa, which is a whole different ball game than writing Luke Skywalker. She doesn't have the father-need, or the adventure yearning or anything that defines Luke in the first 2 movies. She's very much a RotJ sort of Luke, calm and centered in the Force.

You've given me some things to think about while writing a bodyswap fic as well. There it's not just the sex-change, it's living someone else's life.

[peppermintwords.livejournal.com]

Thank you for posting this essay. I myself have written genderswitch for some anime fandoms (just 2, actually) and I can very well say that it's still something that's looked down upon, especially by the hard core slash fans. I've gotten one or two reviews even, and their only purpose was to complain about how hard it was to imagine as certain character as a woman.
And I get that about the homophobia part, too. I know a bisexual woman, a lesbian and another fic author who follows the Wiccan faith who enjoy reading and writing genderswitch. So homophobia isn't the case. Not always, anyway ;).