ARRGGGGGHH!!!!!! AKA why I can't stand gender swap fics
Or gender ambiguous fics for that matter. Now there ARE exceptions by people I know are good writers, but for the most part the following sadly holds true.
When a normally male character is made "female" or even hermaphroditic, they all of a sudden become ineffectually nit-wits! It's as if they develop hips/boobs/uterus they must then also be shrieking ninnies! What the hell?! Worse yet, when normally female character is made male or at least hermaphroditic, they lament about how they aren't strong enough and aren't man enough, because apparently if you have a dick, you can beat up everyone right, left and center.
Seriously, what eh bloody hell, people!?
I'm currently reading one fanfic that has a nromally male character BE a male character until his 16th birthday and THEN he becomes some kind of child baring hymphrodite with "woimanly curves" to boot. Now granted it IS supposed to take place in AU Victorian Egland where attitudes towards woman (and by women themselves) is very different from what we know in this day any age why on EARTH would a health, active male boy suddenly into a blushing, fainting idiot because he can now squeeze out kids?! Never mind that he was an effective fighter and accomplished horsemen and RAISED as such for the last ten years of his life. No no, now that he's in a "feminine" role all of that is utterly forgotten and he's the damsel in distress!
I"m just....I'm flabbergasted. Even more so when it's obvious that the majority of this authors ARE female. I'm sitting here wondering if they hate themselves. Or if they honestly think women are just born victims.
Please, for the love of gods people, put DOWN the harliquine reomances and go out and MEET people. Get some life experience in this diverse world of ours. There are any number of ways to make changes in gender/attitudes/personality plausible and damned interesting because gender isn't a black and white issue. Not by a long shot. Trying to make it such just turns your poor character into utterly uninteresting cardboard cut-outs.
This entry was originally posted at http://aiyokusama.dreamwidth.org/23879.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
When a normally male character is made "female" or even hermaphroditic, they all of a sudden become ineffectually nit-wits! It's as if they develop hips/boobs/uterus they must then also be shrieking ninnies! What the hell?! Worse yet, when normally female character is made male or at least hermaphroditic, they lament about how they aren't strong enough and aren't man enough, because apparently if you have a dick, you can beat up everyone right, left and center.
Seriously, what eh bloody hell, people!?
I'm currently reading one fanfic that has a nromally male character BE a male character until his 16th birthday and THEN he becomes some kind of child baring hymphrodite with "woimanly curves" to boot. Now granted it IS supposed to take place in AU Victorian Egland where attitudes towards woman (and by women themselves) is very different from what we know in this day any age why on EARTH would a health, active male boy suddenly into a blushing, fainting idiot because he can now squeeze out kids?! Never mind that he was an effective fighter and accomplished horsemen and RAISED as such for the last ten years of his life. No no, now that he's in a "feminine" role all of that is utterly forgotten and he's the damsel in distress!
I"m just....I'm flabbergasted. Even more so when it's obvious that the majority of this authors ARE female. I'm sitting here wondering if they hate themselves. Or if they honestly think women are just born victims.
Please, for the love of gods people, put DOWN the harliquine reomances and go out and MEET people. Get some life experience in this diverse world of ours. There are any number of ways to make changes in gender/attitudes/personality plausible and damned interesting because gender isn't a black and white issue. Not by a long shot. Trying to make it such just turns your poor character into utterly uninteresting cardboard cut-outs.
This entry was originally posted at http://aiyokusama.dreamwidth.org/23879.html. Please comment there using OpenID.