The Rape Culture Double Standard

geekmehard:

verstehen1:

I’m putting most of this under a read more because… somehow I wrote 2000 words about this omgwtf. 

It’s no secret I like genderswap. I tend to prefer “born the opposite sex” genderswap, rather than “turned the opposite sex” genderswap but I’ll read both. The vast majority of genderswap tends to be of the male-to-female (MtF, to borrow the trans terminology) and I love that. MtF genderswap is inherently about taking a character in a position of power and privilege — because of their masculinity — and ripping away that male privilege and making them vulnerable. It’s interesting to me to think about the repercussions that change might have for the character, the people they know, and the world more generally. (For the record, the few FtM I’ve read seem to be the “turned opposite” variety which makes sense — it’s about taking a character without power and seeing what they do when they suddenly have it.) 

But as much as genderswap is basically a bulletproof kink for me — I’ll read anything, even if the summary makes me wince, even if I can tell within the first paragraph that it’ll be stupid or OOC or ridiculously misspelled — 90 percent of it is disappointing. A lot of writers tend to: 

(a) Make genderswap essentialist

(b) Ignoring the cultural impact on shaping our gender identities and how we do gender 

(c) Ignore the “ripple effect” of that change in terms of how the character will be different and how differently people will treat them (what I sometimes jokingly refer to as “REALISM: we can haz it”)

So, while I really want to focus on reason (c) (it’s the one that irritates me the most), I should at least briefly touch on the others. 

Read More

Yes to all of this!

I don’t read a lot of genderswap fics because of many of the issues listed in the OP. 

One of the only genderswap fics I ever wrote was an All Human Twilight fanfic where I made Edward Cullen a teenage lesbian, Edina Cullen. The reason was not for kink, but rather to draw the parallel that being a lesbian in a small rural town in the Pacific Northwest can feel like being a vampire. Out of place and viewed as a monster by some. And to find a girl (Bella Swan) who could look past the societal stigmas and confusion about her own sexual orientation to follow her heart even if it lead her to love another woman can seem like a mythical creature.

Another genderswap Twilight fic that is one of the best meta fics I’ve ever read is Boys with Girlfriends. It stays close to the Twilight canon (with vampires and werewolves) but it switches the genders the three main players, and through this change reveals some fascinating insight into the behavior displayed in the original story of Twilight. 

While Edward’s possessive and controlling behavior is seen as romantic (by some readers) when he’s a man, when Mary (Edward) the vampire uses those same tactics (beautiful, charm and outright coercion) on Lucas (Bella) the human boy the manipulative and unhealthy nature of the relationship is much clearer. As is the heartbreakingly relatable situation of Ruth (Jacob) the young werewolf who is burdened with loving a human boy who is to “dazzled” by a 100 year old vampire girl to give her anything more than friendship. 

I feel that great genderswap fic isn’t just about the kink, though that is totally valid, it is also a subversive act. Usurping the protagonist of the source material and changing the challenges of their world by forcing them to walk a mile in women’s place. Especially, when the male character is an alpha or in a high social status (like Arthur in Merlin) we see how gender changes the game even for women born into privilege and status. 

Anyway, enough of my rambling. Read the OP. It’s very interesting and absolutely worth the read. 

I think you give authors too much credit. I WON’T as a rule read genderswap, and that’s because 99% of the time, I’m seeing it used as either a fetishization or (more commonly depending on the fandom I’m reading in) to heteronormalize a popular slash pairing.

Genderswap and MPREG exist on the same plane: how can we alter these characters to fit our preconceived roles? How can we write two gay men but still have the white wedding and babies we all expect at the end of a romance? All the better if we make one of them female; we can get around the icky subject of MPREG and do it the “right” way. So Draco and Harry, and Jack and Ianto, and Stiles and Derek can all go on their merry way having babies and driving off into the HEA sunset without getting the realities of being in a same-sex couple all over that man/woman/babies/picket fence HEA.

Can genderswap be done well? Absolutely. But it’s far too rare.

stuckinabucket:

flatluigi:

• A faint line is no longer visible on the heads of babies.
• Fish are no longer duplicated in the fridge when moving homes.
• Sims can no longer “Try for Baby” with the Grim Reaper.
• Sims who are on fire will no longer be forced to attend graduation before…

(Source: thesims3.com)