Reasons I write genderswap

[elizabeth_hoot]

I write a lot of always-a-girl genderswap. Most people don’t like it, fine, but some responses to it are starting to really annoy me, especially the “it’s all X” or “they only write it because Y.” So here are my actual reasons for doing it - which may not be others genderswappers’ reasons, but should at least give a better idea of “but whyyyy” than

Comments

[sweetestremedy]

Those sound like very valid reasons - though that's probably a bad phrase, like there's invalid reasons, so maybe I should say, they're very understandable.
As for the criticism, I don't get how genderswap changes the character - it may change how they were brought up, or how they or society perceives them, but it always appeared to me that the point of genderswap is still having the same character. In that, Lucy Skywalker almost seemed like a kind of "social experiment" to me, like you took Luke as a character, changed one aspect of him and watched the reactions of the other characters, as well as the creators of the movies. (Speaking of which, from the paperdolls you once posted I gather that you have some rough plans to continue the Lucyverse all the way through Return of the Jedi, and I'm burning to know how it continues, especially with the giant twist you finished with!)

This reminds me that I once read that Ripley from Alien wasn't originally intended to be female and the decision for her to be a woman was only made during the casting process. I guess it's much easier to create a full-fleshed three dimensional character when gender isn't the first thing on one's mind (which, sadly seems to happen more often when the character is thought of as male). And genderswap seems to do the same thing, ironically gender exactly isn't the first thing the character is defined by - if only more characters were written that way, instead of some stereotyped Strong Female Character.

[elizabeth_hoot]

Thanks! I do think - I mean, within reason, that people should be able to do whatever it is they happen to like without getting all judged for it. But it's also annoying when the reasons people come up with for why we do it aren't mine at all!

And yes, exactly - I think it says more about the audience than the trope that the change of gender seems so much more radically different than 'they have wings' or 'but now they're doctors in New York' or all the kinds of things people regularly do. And yes, the intellectual experiment really is what Lucy was about - all genderswap, really, but Lucy in particular.

Yes, I do have further plans! In fact, the main plot I came up with actually started at the end of ESB, and these two were mostly just setting it up - basically establishing what's the same and what's different before things sharply swerve off. I kind of lost interest towards the end of the Imperial Menace - mostly because lj was dying and I didn't have anyone to talk to (and to be fair, also because I was finishing my bachelor's degree and preparing for grad school).

I think that can definitely help - and that's kind of exactly what genderswap is doing. Well, ideally. I'm sure there are a lot where 'everything is different because girls are a different species' or 'nothing is different at all,' but I mostly haven't read them. I do think it can avoid Strong Female Character syndrome, though, and I get a kick out of having my favourite characters as women.