Heh, looks like a lot of newgirls went in a bit unprepared if the government needs to issue stuff like that. Typical government work. Hey, our female population just died off, let's convince some boys to change sex. That'll solve our reproduction issues. Totally forgetting about the issues those people are going to have.
I wonder what other leaflets are going to be there. Advising Newgirls in other aspects of their lives.
I'm not a massive fan of governments either, but in this case, I think we should cut them some slack. They were facing the end of the entire human race (though through a massive drop off in female births rather than a die-off), and the only way to save humanity was to convince a substantial portion of young men to change sex. They're in pretty much uncharted waters here. There's bound to be some pretty significant problems, and you could argue that producing these leaflets are part of an attempt to address these things. I keep meaning to flesh out the background to the Depopulation Event world in short story/novella form, but life keeps getting in the way... Some day.... I'm glad you liked this one, and now you mention it, there may be some other advice leaflets on the way....
Ah so she's a prototype? The first generation who went through the process?
I figure the biggest problems are likely going to be social. Do they want to behave like normal women, do they want to celebrate the difference? What's the stance there? Both, neither, do what you want as long as you breed?
I'm also curious if they're looking into other solutions. I mean Iron wombs have been a staple of sci-fi for a long time. Might be something to consider for your background. Because even if they get every vaguely gender queer guy to sex-change, they're still not going to get enough women.
It would obviously make sex-changes far more acceptable though.
I've been interested in this kind of scenario for quite some time, but most are a bit too focussed on the gender bendering to fully explore the situation.
Have natural women become unfeasible for some reason, or is this effectively a single generation problem? In the latter case we'd likely get a higher acceptance of sex-changes, but otherwise things would be back to normal after 20-30 years or so.
Meanwhile the case that genetic females can't be grown for some reason would have interesting implications. It would likely result in the artificial creation of transgendered people. Basically make sure that the male fetuses are overdosed with female hormones in the right phases of pregnancy.
That would give the society the desired females whose bodies would only need to be adjusted to fit their gender. And it makes more sense in the long run than trying to rely on queer dudes or force converting guys that are fully cis.
Heh, might make a nice caption. 15 year old girl finally gets her sex properly adjusted. The long anticipated operation where they get rid of the willy and give her her baby making equipment.
I'd also love to see the reasoning and motivations of a person who decides to sex change in this situation. Not this patriotic propaganda stuff the girl above spouts, but the real reasons and worries.
I kinda love this about your captions. It's not just about the sex(change), but also about the story of the people in question.
Okay, I'm going to try and keep my responses relatively vague, because it might mean spoilers for an as-yet-only-part-written story. At the moment, I'm trying to build up a stash of captions so I can focus on writing 'proper' stories - fleshing out the 'depopulation event' universe and the 'Brigid's Orchid' universe, which is the one where feminising your son is considered completely normal, socially acceptable behaviour. So, regarding your questions: The girl in this story is not THE first, but one of the first, say, thousand. Part of a pilot study, I guess? As for the gender identity of the new girls? It varies. Some will take the 'I'm still a dude, I just have a womb' approach. Others will try to become entirely female. Sometimes one will fade into another. I'd rather not discuss this in great detail, because a) spoilers, and b) space. As for other solutions? They've looked into all sorts of options - IVF is probably the most likely possibility, realistically. However, these have all failed, and continue to fail. That's fairly hard to justify scientifically, but it's necessary for the sort of stories I'm trying to tell and the sort of world I'm trying to build, and I'm going to file that as 'necessary suspension of disbelief'. To clarify, there's no reason to assume this is a single generation problem. Scientists are unable to explain it: all they really know is that very few girls are being born any more, and that IVF etc have all failed. It might stop just as mysteriously as it started. We just don't know. The 'artificial trans' possibility is interesting. I hadn't thought of that. It might not be necessary to do it artificially though - if a guy has a lot of older brothers, they tend to be exposed to more female hormones in the womb anyway, as the mother 'immunises' herself to the baby's male hormones. Anyway, I'm glad you liked this caption, and it's always handy to talk about some of the aspects of world-building!
Loved the images, both pictorially and as you painted them with the great monologue.
ReplyDeleteThank you!
ReplyDeleteHeh, looks like a lot of newgirls went in a bit unprepared if the government needs to issue stuff like that.
ReplyDeleteTypical government work. Hey, our female population just died off, let's convince some boys to change sex. That'll solve our reproduction issues. Totally forgetting about the issues those people are going to have.
I wonder what other leaflets are going to be there. Advising Newgirls in other aspects of their lives.
Great caption, I loved this one,
Beyogi
I'm not a massive fan of governments either, but in this case, I think we should cut them some slack. They were facing the end of the entire human race (though through a massive drop off in female births rather than a die-off), and the only way to save humanity was to convince a substantial portion of young men to change sex. They're in pretty much uncharted waters here. There's bound to be some pretty significant problems, and you could argue that producing these leaflets are part of an attempt to address these things.
ReplyDeleteI keep meaning to flesh out the background to the Depopulation Event world in short story/novella form, but life keeps getting in the way... Some day....
I'm glad you liked this one, and now you mention it, there may be some other advice leaflets on the way....
Ah so she's a prototype? The first generation who went through the process?
ReplyDeleteI figure the biggest problems are likely going to be social. Do they want to behave like normal women, do they want to celebrate the difference? What's the stance there? Both, neither, do what you want as long as you breed?
I'm also curious if they're looking into other solutions. I mean Iron wombs have been a staple of sci-fi for a long time. Might be something to consider for your background. Because even if they get every vaguely gender queer guy to sex-change, they're still not going to get enough women.
It would obviously make sex-changes far more acceptable though.
I've been interested in this kind of scenario for quite some time, but most are a bit too focussed on the gender bendering to fully explore the situation.
Have natural women become unfeasible for some reason, or is this effectively a single generation problem? In the latter case we'd likely get a higher acceptance of sex-changes, but otherwise things would be back to normal after 20-30 years or so.
Meanwhile the case that genetic females can't be grown for some reason would have interesting implications. It would likely result in the artificial creation of transgendered people. Basically make sure that the male fetuses are overdosed with female hormones in the right phases of pregnancy.
That would give the society the desired females whose bodies would only need to be adjusted to fit their gender. And it makes more sense in the long run than trying to rely on queer dudes or force converting guys that are fully cis.
Heh, might make a nice caption. 15 year old girl finally gets her sex properly adjusted. The long anticipated operation where they get rid of the willy and give her her baby making equipment.
I'd also love to see the reasoning and motivations of a person who decides to sex change in this situation. Not this patriotic propaganda stuff the girl above spouts, but the real reasons and worries.
I kinda love this about your captions. It's not just about the sex(change), but also about the story of the people in question.
Okay, I'm going to try and keep my responses relatively vague, because it might mean spoilers for an as-yet-only-part-written story. At the moment, I'm trying to build up a stash of captions so I can focus on writing 'proper' stories - fleshing out the 'depopulation event' universe and the 'Brigid's Orchid' universe, which is the one where feminising your son is considered completely normal, socially acceptable behaviour.
ReplyDeleteSo, regarding your questions:
The girl in this story is not THE first, but one of the first, say, thousand. Part of a pilot study, I guess?
As for the gender identity of the new girls? It varies. Some will take the 'I'm still a dude, I just have a womb' approach. Others will try to become entirely female. Sometimes one will fade into another. I'd rather not discuss this in great detail, because a) spoilers, and b) space.
As for other solutions? They've looked into all sorts of options - IVF is probably the most likely possibility, realistically. However, these have all failed, and continue to fail. That's fairly hard to justify scientifically, but it's necessary for the sort of stories I'm trying to tell and the sort of world I'm trying to build, and I'm going to file that as 'necessary suspension of disbelief'.
To clarify, there's no reason to assume this is a single generation problem. Scientists are unable to explain it: all they really know is that very few girls are being born any more, and that IVF etc have all failed. It might stop just as mysteriously as it started. We just don't know.
The 'artificial trans' possibility is interesting. I hadn't thought of that. It might not be necessary to do it artificially though - if a guy has a lot of older brothers, they tend to be exposed to more female hormones in the womb anyway, as the mother 'immunises' herself to the baby's male hormones.
Anyway, I'm glad you liked this caption, and it's always handy to talk about some of the aspects of world-building!