put your hand between an aching head and an aching wound.

[thepurpleswitch]

So. A rant, about "genderswap".

It's almost disguised as meta, because of the rational language, relative lack of capslock, and list format. Do not be fooled. I am Ranty McRantpants.

Comments

[impasto]

'70s key parties FTW!

The "sex solves everything" trope isn't my biggest peeve (since I share pretty much every one you've mentioned) but it's at the top of my head these days since it seems to be so prevalent in weemo fic. Almost as prevalent as the trope that when someone turns into a girl, the first response is to phone either Pete Wentz or Bill Beckett, because they are clearly the Gurus of Weird Shit That Happens.

But there is lots of good fic in weemo! You're just more adventurous than me, wandering into badfic territory. ;P

You know how awesome I think this is, and I'm glad my inarticulateness could be of service. I have windy thoughts, and you make them straight! *G*

[thepurpleswitch]

The "sex solves everything" trope isn't my biggest peeve

But it's the one you always bring up, so! Forgive me for assuming ;)

Gurus of Weird Shit That Happens.

Dude, did you read that one where Patrick goes to Gerard Way for voodoo advice? *hands!*

But there is lots of good fic in weemo!

I have weird standards. Like, really. Not high or low or middling, just weird.

[impasto]

Of course! I'm just so immersed in weemo and my own fic at the moment that it's always bubbling just under the surface. But my biggest peeve is probably the misunderstanding of "sex" and "gender," because it's just so fundamental and yet. Some people don't get it!

I don't think I've read that one, but I can believe it.

You? Weird? I can't believe it.

[thepurpleswitch]

But my biggest peeve is probably the misunderstanding of "sex" and "gender," because it's just so fundamental and yet.

Me too. Probably just because of the word geekiness/OCD, haha (typo of the day: "geekiness/COD". I am also dyslexic?).

I don't think I've read that one, but I can believe it.

It's by the same person who wrote that one about Pete accidentally strangling Mikey Way. So, you know, it's fairly awesome, if totally inaccurate and not nearly as dark (no dead bodies! Sadface!).

You? Weird? I can't believe it.

*makes talky-talky gestures*

[quasiradiant]

THANK YOU. the only thing that thing post is missing is the phrases "Taco Show" and "Magic Stick". also, i don't know what weemo means.

i have long meant to write something (perhaps someday i will) about how "genderswap" (and yes, i am with you about how that's totally the wrong word for it) fic wherein two males become two females IS NOT GIRLSLASH. it isn't. it is boyslash wherein the boys involved have girl-parts. that's all.

because saying that m/m-->f/f (wherein --> is the magic genderswap machine of magic) is girlslash or m/m-->m/f is het is to contend that a person's gender has nothing to do with anything except their dickishness or dicklessness. which... bwuh? i find this absolutely bewildering. especially because other people that i know -- notably projectjulie -- who are really attuned to gender/sex related things who... well, for example, there is an spn comm wherein the boys get turned into girls and then touch girlparts. julie contended this should be covered by femslash_today while i contended that it most certainly should not. you

[thepurpleswitch]

And I didn't even know those terms existed, hee.

Weemo means "wee emo," "weenie emo," or "(Pete) Wentz emo," none of which will help you if you don't know what emo is. Ha.

two males become two females IS NOT GIRLSLASH.

Oh good heavens no. It's kind of like saying that girl-on-girl porn==lesbian porn, which. NO. No, it does not. Guy-on-guy porn isn't gay porn, either (though, oddly enough, I find it just as interesting, whereas girl-on-girl porn doesn't pique me at ALL).

you could argue either way, i guess, but, yes.

Yeah. I have no idea how I'd go on that. Probably towards the inclusion end of things, 'cause that's how I generally roll, but I can see the sticky, sticky quagmire.

This whole thing is making me think there might be an invisible kind of transfic out there that no one even knows about. It's stealth!

so: RIGHT THE FUCK ON.

*throws the devil horns with BOTH HANDS*

[iridescentglow]

Thank you for writing this up. It's a great post. And just... yes. Lots of YES. :)

[thepurpleswitch]

My neuroses say you're very welcome ;)

[bexone]

Word. Excuse me, I need to go jump up and down in the corner for a minute.

...Anyway, about the only thing that I would quibble (gently) with is the hormones --> mood/behavior changes, because I think people's sensitivities vary wildly; I know that when I went on BCP, it was both drastic and unpleasantly quick. (Obviously, it wasn't *swallows first pill* I am Bexzilla fear me! *RAR*, but it was well within the first half of the pill pack not counting sugar pills.) Something well-written* can convince me that the characters would notice fairly quickly that something was up. And once I've handwaved the entire mystical conceit of "I went to sleep with a cock and balls and woke up with breasts and a vagina!" I don't really have a problem taking it that extra step *wayne's world wavyhands* and making all systems functional and go.

I also don't have a problem with the first impulse (well, the second, after the mindbending panic to start with) being wanting to try out the new equipment and see how it actually works and was that girl back

[thepurpleswitch]

because I think people's sensitivities vary wildly;

You're absolutely right. I was trying to be general without actually using statistics, lol. I have a similar BCP story, except for that I was fine the first year I took it, then I had a year off, and when I went back on the same prescription I turned into a horrible paranoid rageaholic within two weeks. It was awful.

I also don't have a problem with the first impulse (well, the second, after the mindbending panic to start with) being wanting to try out the new equipment and see how it actually works

Me neither! Again, I think people's reactions would vary wildly, and as long as it's written believably, I'll probably believe it.

I hope your tiny as-yet-uncrushed optimism is on the money, and I do share it, to some extent. I also remember my own years as a teenager in fandom, and yeah. Also also, looking at the teenagers around me now--GAH. Pussycat Dolls are not feminist!

But I do like it when it's clear in the story that they're consciously performing the gender.Yes, and yes to

[bexone]

BCP are evil. No, really, they are. (God, I sound like some kind of wackjob far-righter. I swear, I'm not! Up with birth control! I just think the whole hormonal BC movement was sloppily done and poorly handled and just yet another example of how the medical establishment makes it a point to shaft women every chance they get. Um. /segue)

I hope your tiny as-yet-uncrushed optimism is on the money

well, acceptance and support of things like non-discrimination laws and marriage equality skew further up the younger they poll, which is... not entirely the same thing, but definitely a good start.

GAH. Pussycat Dolls are not feminist!

I just keep reminding myself that teenagers are, by definition, stupid. And that most of them actually can grow out of the stupid if they've got good examples in front of them.

"I have female parts now, so that means I have to act like this"

which is I think what I was trying to get at with the Panic! kids -- pfft! teenagers! -- and oh my god, so much really good (and painful in that grab your heart and

[violin_road]

I do think that bandom seems a little more likely than other fandoms** to have an overwhelming number of writers who haven't had much if any experience with how the dynamics between friends (or otherwise) change once sex is added to the equation
As someone in bandom, I am desperately curious as to how you drew this conclusion.

[baked_goldfish]

Okay. All right. Seeing as how I am completely dense when it comes to fannish vocabulary, I don't know if this counts, but:

A Mile In His Moccasins: a Buffy/Giles fic where they swap bodies. Does this count as female to male genderswap, or is it not quite that? I'm seriously asking, as I have no clue.

[thepurpleswitch]

I am completely dense when it comes to fannish vocabulary

You're better off without it, seriously.

I am going to think about that one. Thinky thoughts, many of them.

[sarken]

Does this count as female to male genderswap, or is it not quite that?

Would you mind horribly if I stuck my nose in here? I just wanted to say that whenever I've seen things of that nature, they were labeled as bodyswap, which seems to be considered disctinct from genderswap. Heaven knows why, though -- it almost seems like it could/should be considered a subgenre of genderswap.

[baked_goldfish]

Stick your nose in all you like! I'm incredibly ignorant when it comes to fannish terminology, so any information is good information.

It does seem to me like this should fall under the category genderswap, or somehow be related to it. Although, I suppose that, since bodyswap fics can take place between two males or two females, that's why it's considered separate from genderswap (I've seen male to male in fanfic, at least, and certainly the episodes of Buffy where Buffy and Faith switch bodies is an example of female to female). I don't know, though. I wonder if that B/G fic should be considered both body- and gender-swap.