Genderbending Beyond the Binary
Mar. 20th, 2021 08:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmithI came across this rant against genderbending as inherently transphobic:
I have yet to see a ‘genderbent’ version of a male character who lacked breasts and a dfab body.
Now, I read a LOT of genderfic, both genderbending and otherwise, and can only surmise that this author reads a verrry different range of literature than I do, because writing fanfic about trans, nonbinary, and otherwise diverse genders is pretty popular. Frex, see the "Alternate Universe - Trans" tag on AO3 with 486 works. I've also seen it in crowdfunding, where readers can ask for whatever they want.
My contribution, Schrodinger's Hulk, is actually based on a premise in psychology that everyone has aspects of more than one gender: a man has an anima (indwelling feminine spirit) while a woman has an animus. Since the Hulk (Bruce's indwelling spirit) is hypermasculine, that would indicate Bruce is actually a woman, passing as a man due to a male body and presentation.
I've even seen some authors positing trans equivalents in other contexts, for example, a character with alpha body but omega personality. Some of the Tolkien fanfic about Dwarven sex/gender dynamics is just brilliant, occasionally spilling over to Hobbits, Elves, etc. See Dwarf Gender Concepts and this entertaining "Explanation on Dwarf Gender."
I've written trans aliens, like Tseep in Feathered Nests, and a transgender starship (neuter ship, feminine personality) Clipper Angeldust R1212 in "Mosaic Identities." And of course, more genders than I can count without literally keeping a record of it. Plus a few odd examples in which someone's sex and/or gender changes due to a template or splice (e.g. male in human form but female in werewolf form, or a centaur with a male top half and female bottom half, or various complex feather/sex/gender dynamics in Fledgling Grace), and no, I'm not the first person to do that either.
Genderbending, like racebending, is a fascinating and powerful tool for exploring what these concepts even mean and how they influence people. These are ways to challenge social expectations, to break rules in relatively safe ways -- even to experiment with things we might like to try out ourselves. I've made more than one thing because my characters had it and I thought it was cool. I've also put extra effort into describing genderflexy things in case someone else wanted to make some.
And oh yes, I'm a genderqueer person who loves genderfic and genderbending. (This applies to many of my genderqueer and other queer friends also.) I basically treat gender like a fidget. Okay, maybe that's why some people get annoyed about genderbending, because lots of people hate fidgets and fidgeting.
Sure, genderbending can be written badly. Anything can be written badly. Almost everything gets written badly before it gets written well! Hell, most people take 20-30 years to figure out how to write a new trait well in the course of identity literature. I never have that kind of patience, I just skip ahead to trait-having heroes. I may not get it right the first time, but at least I'm not wasting decades doing things I know are dumb.
Gender is so much more than the binary, and there are so many stories to tell. It's not a pair of pigeonholes, and you don't have to play with it like it is. Gender is a construct, and you can take it apart for spare parts if you want to. (I've written that too.) Tell ALL the stories!
So, anyone else got favorite examples of genderbending to something other than cisbinary?
I have yet to see a ‘genderbent’ version of a male character who lacked breasts and a dfab body.
Now, I read a LOT of genderfic, both genderbending and otherwise, and can only surmise that this author reads a verrry different range of literature than I do, because writing fanfic about trans, nonbinary, and otherwise diverse genders is pretty popular. Frex, see the "Alternate Universe - Trans" tag on AO3 with 486 works. I've also seen it in crowdfunding, where readers can ask for whatever they want.
My contribution, Schrodinger's Hulk, is actually based on a premise in psychology that everyone has aspects of more than one gender: a man has an anima (indwelling feminine spirit) while a woman has an animus. Since the Hulk (Bruce's indwelling spirit) is hypermasculine, that would indicate Bruce is actually a woman, passing as a man due to a male body and presentation.
I've even seen some authors positing trans equivalents in other contexts, for example, a character with alpha body but omega personality. Some of the Tolkien fanfic about Dwarven sex/gender dynamics is just brilliant, occasionally spilling over to Hobbits, Elves, etc. See Dwarf Gender Concepts and this entertaining "Explanation on Dwarf Gender."
I've written trans aliens, like Tseep in Feathered Nests, and a transgender starship (neuter ship, feminine personality) Clipper Angeldust R1212 in "Mosaic Identities." And of course, more genders than I can count without literally keeping a record of it. Plus a few odd examples in which someone's sex and/or gender changes due to a template or splice (e.g. male in human form but female in werewolf form, or a centaur with a male top half and female bottom half, or various complex feather/sex/gender dynamics in Fledgling Grace), and no, I'm not the first person to do that either.
Genderbending, like racebending, is a fascinating and powerful tool for exploring what these concepts even mean and how they influence people. These are ways to challenge social expectations, to break rules in relatively safe ways -- even to experiment with things we might like to try out ourselves. I've made more than one thing because my characters had it and I thought it was cool. I've also put extra effort into describing genderflexy things in case someone else wanted to make some.
And oh yes, I'm a genderqueer person who loves genderfic and genderbending. (This applies to many of my genderqueer and other queer friends also.) I basically treat gender like a fidget. Okay, maybe that's why some people get annoyed about genderbending, because lots of people hate fidgets and fidgeting.
Sure, genderbending can be written badly. Anything can be written badly. Almost everything gets written badly before it gets written well! Hell, most people take 20-30 years to figure out how to write a new trait well in the course of identity literature. I never have that kind of patience, I just skip ahead to trait-having heroes. I may not get it right the first time, but at least I'm not wasting decades doing things I know are dumb.
Gender is so much more than the binary, and there are so many stories to tell. It's not a pair of pigeonholes, and you don't have to play with it like it is. Gender is a construct, and you can take it apart for spare parts if you want to. (I've written that too.) Tell ALL the stories!
So, anyone else got favorite examples of genderbending to something other than cisbinary?
Re: Thoughts
Date: 2021-03-24 04:51 am (UTC)I've written a cross-gendered character and my AU Steve is, well, still very Steve even with a new configuration.
Oh, I read a very interesting Frederick Pohl short, Day Million. Sorta related.
Re: Thoughts
Date: 2021-03-24 04:57 am (UTC)I agree.
You always have to think about how to interpret Hulk because there are so many options. I generally favor Hulk as a gentle giant, but one of the movies had a very surly Bruce who reminded me of how abusers sometimes dissociate and feel like a monster takes over. That one is a lot more plausible with "I'm always angry" than the one in the Avengers movie, who seems so fragile and fatalistic.
>> I lean into underpinning him with 'looking like his father' and I wrote some of his Thunderbolt Ross related (I don't even have words for that).<<
Interesting.
>>I've written a cross-gendered character and my AU Steve is, well, still very Steve even with a new configuration.<<
Go you!
>>Oh, I read a very interesting Frederick Pohl short, Day Million. Sorta related.<<
I'm familiar with the author but not that story.
Re: Thoughts
Date: 2021-03-24 07:06 pm (UTC)Back when Avengers was Original Six, I really wanted a bit more gender parity. And having by that time watched MCU's Iron Man origins, yeah, no. For the humans, that meant Steve. "Yay know, somehow I thought the future would have more women in charge." Sgt. James B. Barnes (retired) That I happen to have some research knowledge of immigration/labor history and the finer points of cold water flats versus full service cogeneration...
I read the omnibus for early 616 Hulk, and along with other iterations I like, that seemed to be the kernel of BruceNHulk. Hulk may be Hypermale but he's also somewhat toddler. As in, this is all the fight that Bruce couldn't bring to bear against his father before he witnessed his mother's murder. Since MCU has made The Other Guy serum-adjacent, well, see Steve, Bucky, and The Red Skull.
I have only seen the fandom curated portions of Hulk (aka Betty Ross, pizza delivery, etc); I take "I'm always angry" much as Steve couldn't run away from a fight. Thunderbolt is a bully; Betty knows where his handles are.Poisson is the story that delves that journey.
MCU tends to roam regarding character integrity; it's why every fan work is a repair mission. ;^)