I really like captions like this. I always wonder, however, how many people really would be able to truly adapt to an involuntary gender-change? The existence of transgender people might suggest that actually, no one would. After all, trans* people live big chunks of their lives in the wrong gender before transitioning (those that do), and they never get used to it.
On the other hand, I wonder if gender-identity is more of a continuum than is commonly thought. In that case, there are people who would not currently be considered trans, because they wouldn't seek to change their sex, but would adapt, and maybe even thrive, if permitted or forced to live as the other gender. Likewise, if the barrier to transition were lower, I wonder if you'd see the percentage of people who are considered transgendered skyrocket?
As you may have realised by now, I've spent a lot of time considering what would happen if the barriers to transition were to be drastically lower. Would there be a net migration from one sex to the other? Would some people become 'gender commuters', changing sex on a regular basis? Would the government attempt to regulate transitions? Or use them as a means of social control?? I do think gender identity is more like a continuum than an either/or, though probably more like a cube, or hyper-toroid, or some other kind of weird, non-geometric shape. Making sense of sex and gender is *hard*. Everything I've read about the subject seems inadequate. I write these stories in an effort to try and untangle things a little bit, hopefully as a step towards some sort of answers...
I did realize that :) It's why I like your blog so much!
If I had to bet, my guess would be that if sex-changes were really cheap and easy, you'd see a lot of women becoming men, to take advantage of the higher status society accords them. There would also be a number of men (albeit a smaller number than their distaff counterparts, I'd wager) who'd become women to gain a perceived advantage. In both cases, I'm thinking of people who don't identify with their target gender, but think they'd be better off anyway living as the opposite sex.
In an optimistic outlook, maybe most of them eventually return to their original genders (though not all), and society as a whole becomes more gender-egalitarian for the experience. Men who became women (even temporarily) have the opportunity to experience sexism first-hand, and might be more aware of and motivated to fight it even if they don't stay female. Women-turned-men might use their new social clout to promote equality, too.
As for gender-commuters, they definitely exist; I know a few people who'd do it in real life, if it were technologically possible. I used to think I was one of them, but now I've pretty much realized I'd much prefer a female body full-time.
The government, they pretty much regulate transitions now, to one extent or another, don't they? Speaking from a U.S. perspective here, by the way, though I understand it's even more true in the U.K.
And social control, I think that's getting into the real black-bug-room stuff. I remember hearing about some cases of forced sex-changes during WWII in Nazi Germany, and some during the Apartheid regime in South Africa (I don't know how credible the former are, but I understand the latter are verified), plus at least one unintentional one in East Germany during the Soviet era. Makes good fodder for TG caps, but not the sort of thing anyone should want to see in real life.
I don't know if you recognized my screen name or anything, but I write some TG captions too. I used to have a Yahoo group; still do, but I don't use it much anymore. Now I'm mostly on Rachel's Haven. I never understood why the subject appealed to me so much; later, I understood it was because I was transgendered myself, and writing TG captions and fiction was my way of dealing with it. Even after coming to understand that, I still enjoy captioning, though my new perspective has altered my style somewhat.
Please note I'm not saying that's the case for you! I would never presume to psychoanalyze someone on the internet like that. Merely sharing my own experience :)
See, my feeling is that there'd be more men becoming women than vice versa. This is partly because I assume (or hope) that the kind of systematic sexism you speak of will be eradicated by the time this sort of technology comes about. But also MtF transsexuals are a lot more common than FtM, which perhaps implies that the grass really is greener on the other side. I could well be wrong, though. I think realistically, some kind of regulation would be necessary, if only to prevent people from trying to change sex to escape debt collectors/criminal records, etc, and to ensure the transformations are safe. Perhaps in the future passports will have two entries for name: one male and one female? As far as social control goes... well, there are degrees of social control. It doesn't have to be done with violence; you can control people with propaganda, with taxation, with benefits rules, by restricting certain opportunities. All that needs to happen is to establish certain norms, and people will often drive themselves nuts trying to fit in with them. I did think I recognised your screen name! I'm not a member of Rachel's Haven (yet?) but I'll have to check out your stuff. I've probably seen it before and not remembered the name though... And of course, you're welcome to ramble any time you like...
There's definitely a perception that trans-women are more common than trans-men. I think that comes from a flawed data set, though. Most studies I have seen tracking the incidence of trans* people have been done by tracking the number of SRS surgeries performed. But a lot of trans-men don't choose to have a penis constructed, since the results are less satisfactory for them than for trans-women getting a vagina. So in short, I think the data systematically ignores trans-men.
If we can discount differences between the sexes in terms of surgical techniques, and if we also assume sexism has been eliminated, then my guess would be people switching sexes would be evenly distributed across the gender spectrum. But that's just a guess. It would be interesting to find out the real answer!
In my idea world, regulation wouldn't be necessary because sex-changes are easy and reversible, needing no more regulation than, say, a nose-job or breast implants (i.e. enough to make sure the surgeon in question is reputable). As for people doing it to escape debts or other obligations, I think there have been a few real-world cases of that, but it usually doesn't work. Also, anyone changing their sex as things stand now is probably transgendered anyway and using debts or whatever as an excuse, since there are many easier ways of ditching your old identity that don't involve sharp objects and your genitals.
I agree with you that it might be a thing in the future, though. I like your idea of ID that has male and female entries on it. I remember reading some John Varley stories that included easy sex-changes as a background element. In those stories, people gradually switched over to using only gender-neutral names. If you haven't read his story "Options," you should check it out. It's one of the best TG stories I've read (FTM, for what it's worth, though there are secondary MTF characters).
On the issue of social control, I think it always comes down to violence. If nothing else, the unspoken implication is that if you ignore the rules, the penalties are backed up by the police, or the military (in extreme cases). Even ignoring government control, there's often a threat of violence from one's peers; I'm sure we've both heard of a lot of sad cases of that sort. I completely agree with you about social pressure to fit in, including the self-imposed sort, though.
If you do happen to join Rachel's Haven, be sure to check out the caption trading forum. I'd be happy to write one for you!
ah at long last someone just really does dare to put it down in wrting just how so very many of us want wish and really do feel just like this those of us who are really willing to go all the way and become female's oh oh oh i want and wish for this too i have alway's really just wanted to be a girl with breast and a vagina pussy i want to be able to get pregant have a life growing inside of me have periods sit to pee! i've alway's felt that i would make a far better girl than a boy which is just what i am stuck being but inside of me is a girl who want's put! oh oh oh i just love this caption all of us should just take this one to heart!
I really like captions like this. I always wonder, however, how many people really would be able to truly adapt to an involuntary gender-change? The existence of transgender people might suggest that actually, no one would. After all, trans* people live big chunks of their lives in the wrong gender before transitioning (those that do), and they never get used to it.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, I wonder if gender-identity is more of a continuum than is commonly thought. In that case, there are people who would not currently be considered trans, because they wouldn't seek to change their sex, but would adapt, and maybe even thrive, if permitted or forced to live as the other gender. Likewise, if the barrier to transition were lower, I wonder if you'd see the percentage of people who are considered transgendered skyrocket?
As you may have realised by now, I've spent a lot of time considering what would happen if the barriers to transition were to be drastically lower. Would there be a net migration from one sex to the other? Would some people become 'gender commuters', changing sex on a regular basis? Would the government attempt to regulate transitions? Or use them as a means of social control??
ReplyDeleteI do think gender identity is more like a continuum than an either/or, though probably more like a cube, or hyper-toroid, or some other kind of weird, non-geometric shape. Making sense of sex and gender is *hard*. Everything I've read about the subject seems inadequate. I write these stories in an effort to try and untangle things a little bit, hopefully as a step towards some sort of answers...
I did realize that :) It's why I like your blog so much!
ReplyDeleteIf I had to bet, my guess would be that if sex-changes were really cheap and easy, you'd see a lot of women becoming men, to take advantage of the higher status society accords them. There would also be a number of men (albeit a smaller number than their distaff counterparts, I'd wager) who'd become women to gain a perceived advantage. In both cases, I'm thinking of people who don't identify with their target gender, but think they'd be better off anyway living as the opposite sex.
In an optimistic outlook, maybe most of them eventually return to their original genders (though not all), and society as a whole becomes more gender-egalitarian for the experience. Men who became women (even temporarily) have the opportunity to experience sexism first-hand, and might be more aware of and motivated to fight it even if they don't stay female. Women-turned-men might use their new social clout to promote equality, too.
As for gender-commuters, they definitely exist; I know a few people who'd do it in real life, if it were technologically possible. I used to think I was one of them, but now I've pretty much realized I'd much prefer a female body full-time.
The government, they pretty much regulate transitions now, to one extent or another, don't they? Speaking from a U.S. perspective here, by the way, though I understand it's even more true in the U.K.
And social control, I think that's getting into the real black-bug-room stuff. I remember hearing about some cases of forced sex-changes during WWII in Nazi Germany, and some during the Apartheid regime in South Africa (I don't know how credible the former are, but I understand the latter are verified), plus at least one unintentional one in East Germany during the Soviet era. Makes good fodder for TG caps, but not the sort of thing anyone should want to see in real life.
I don't know if you recognized my screen name or anything, but I write some TG captions too. I used to have a Yahoo group; still do, but I don't use it much anymore. Now I'm mostly on Rachel's Haven. I never understood why the subject appealed to me so much; later, I understood it was because I was transgendered myself, and writing TG captions and fiction was my way of dealing with it. Even after coming to understand that, I still enjoy captioning, though my new perspective has altered my style somewhat.
Please note I'm not saying that's the case for you! I would never presume to psychoanalyze someone on the internet like that. Merely sharing my own experience :)
Anyway, sorry for rambling so much!
See, my feeling is that there'd be more men becoming women than vice versa. This is partly because I assume (or hope) that the kind of systematic sexism you speak of will be eradicated by the time this sort of technology comes about. But also MtF transsexuals are a lot more common than FtM, which perhaps implies that the grass really is greener on the other side. I could well be wrong, though.
ReplyDeleteI think realistically, some kind of regulation would be necessary, if only to prevent people from trying to change sex to escape debt collectors/criminal records, etc, and to ensure the transformations are safe. Perhaps in the future passports will have two entries for name: one male and one female?
As far as social control goes... well, there are degrees of social control. It doesn't have to be done with violence; you can control people with propaganda, with taxation, with benefits rules, by restricting certain opportunities. All that needs to happen is to establish certain norms, and people will often drive themselves nuts trying to fit in with them.
I did think I recognised your screen name! I'm not a member of Rachel's Haven (yet?) but I'll have to check out your stuff. I've probably seen it before and not remembered the name though...
And of course, you're welcome to ramble any time you like...
There's definitely a perception that trans-women are more common than trans-men. I think that comes from a flawed data set, though. Most studies I have seen tracking the incidence of trans* people have been done by tracking the number of SRS surgeries performed. But a lot of trans-men don't choose to have a penis constructed, since the results are less satisfactory for them than for trans-women getting a vagina. So in short, I think the data systematically ignores trans-men.
ReplyDeleteIf we can discount differences between the sexes in terms of surgical techniques, and if we also assume sexism has been eliminated, then my guess would be people switching sexes would be evenly distributed across the gender spectrum. But that's just a guess. It would be interesting to find out the real answer!
In my idea world, regulation wouldn't be necessary because sex-changes are easy and reversible, needing no more regulation than, say, a nose-job or breast implants (i.e. enough to make sure the surgeon in question is reputable). As for people doing it to escape debts or other obligations, I think there have been a few real-world cases of that, but it usually doesn't work. Also, anyone changing their sex as things stand now is probably transgendered anyway and using debts or whatever as an excuse, since there are many easier ways of ditching your old identity that don't involve sharp objects and your genitals.
I agree with you that it might be a thing in the future, though. I like your idea of ID that has male and female entries on it. I remember reading some John Varley stories that included easy sex-changes as a background element. In those stories, people gradually switched over to using only gender-neutral names. If you haven't read his story "Options," you should check it out. It's one of the best TG stories I've read (FTM, for what it's worth, though there are secondary MTF characters).
On the issue of social control, I think it always comes down to violence. If nothing else, the unspoken implication is that if you ignore the rules, the penalties are backed up by the police, or the military (in extreme cases). Even ignoring government control, there's often a threat of violence from one's peers; I'm sure we've both heard of a lot of sad cases of that sort. I completely agree with you about social pressure to fit in, including the self-imposed sort, though.
If you do happen to join Rachel's Haven, be sure to check out the caption trading forum. I'd be happy to write one for you!
ah at long last someone just really does dare to put it down in wrting just how so very many of us want wish and really do feel just like this those of us who are really willing to go all the way and become female's oh oh oh i want and wish for this too i have alway's really just wanted to be a girl with breast and a vagina pussy i want to be able to get pregant have a life growing inside of me have periods sit to pee! i've alway's felt that i would make a far better girl than a boy which is just what i am stuck being but inside of me is a girl who want's put! oh oh oh i just love this caption all of us should just take this one to heart!
ReplyDelete