October is fetish month #2 Gender Transformation – Is it just trap?
Posted on | October 5, 2007 | 12 Comments |
First of all, announcement! It’s even relevant a little bit. Love and I will be at the Adults Only Show at the NIA in Birmingham (UK) this Saturday from about noon til afternoon sometime. If there’s anyone thinking of going, poke me and say hi! Then scurry away in shame. Your mother should have told you to know better.
| Hazumu is SAFE. Having been a man then a woman he is in the perfect position to serve both female and male carnal urges
Anyway, back to the fetishes. I’ve noticed that there’s less discussion this month, and that’s sad. Oh well, I’ll keep writing and hopefully at some point the conversation will pick up ^_^
The topic this time is Gender Transformation!
I’m sure some of you readers have wondered at least at one point in your life – “What would it have been like to have been born the opposite sex?”.
I can envisage a handful of thoughts possibly running through your minds right now
- “Eww! Be a woman/man? That would mean having woman/man bits! That’s like…gay and stuff!”
- “Yep, I’ve thought about it, then I got a sex change – HELL YEAH!”
- “BREASTS BREASTS BREASTS BREASTS BREASTS”
I reckon most would be the latter ^_^. I think in my case, the answer would be – flat chested, petitely built and butt-ugly. Oh wait, that’s just me now, my mistake -_-;;
| Simoun – the ultimate in gender confusion shows! NO ONE HERE IS SAFE!!! BEWARE SUDDEN GENDER TRANFORMATION!
After the last topic, gender transformation (a variety of “henshin fechi“) takes us kicking and screaming from Technicolor real life back into the world of two dimensions. If ever there was a competition for “themes that would only ever really work in anime”, gender swap would definitely be up there.
Sure you get your transvestites and your sex change patients and I’m told that some of Thailand’s ladyboys aren’t so bad looking. But, for an altogether less scarring process (both physically and *ahem* mentally), you’d better turn to anime. It would probably be wrong to say that it features commonly, but with mainstream titles like Ranma 1/2, it’s fairly easy to imagine that henshin would be a logical extension to the already burgeoning cross-dressing theme (Ouran High School Host Club, I! My! Me! Strawberry Egg!).
In mainstream, all gender transformation themes provide are light comic relief and unexpected non-trap fanservice – for example, when the transformed character forgets to wear a bra or accidentally does a panchira (Kashimashi), and so in these cases, it serves pretty much the same role as cross-dressing – i.e. a character that displays aspets of both genders leading to hilarious circumstantial comedy.
However, once we trespass over into the realm of hentai, things become quite different. Once the clothes come off, all the previous definitions go out of the window. With cross-dressing (josou), Male->Female characters become trap submissive shota males whereas their Female->male counterparts lose their bravado and become normal (dull) submissive girls.Needless to say, F->M josou doesn’t feature commonly in hentai.
Henshin, on the other hand, is a different metal receptacle of piscine organisms. Typical scenarios could be divided into two major types:
- Bodyswap
- Single Character henshin (drug/magic induced)
| Haruhi is TRAP! Well, whatever the female version of trap is. PART I guess. No wait, that doesn’t sound right….
Bodyswap is a tried and tested hentai and non-hentai manga storyline. Classically it is usually acheived by some kind of accident in which both parties’ lives are put at risk (I would guess that there was a legend regarding this – given the number of times it crops up. c.f. Murder Princess), or simply by traumatic cranial collision (i.e. banging heads). Other more eclectic methods include the “solve any plot problem” miscellaneous magical spell or futuristic teleportation device gone wrong.
These stories usually run on fairly preset lines. Inconvenienced by being in each other’s bodies, the two unwitting teenagers first try to get used to the differences between the two lifestyles, often with HILARIOUS CONSEQUENCES. This usually includes at least one trip to the wrong toilets and forgetting to wear particular items of essential underclothing. Once they figure out what went wrong, there follows first inexplicable exploration of their new erogenous zones (and obviously then several days off school polishing Darth Vader’s Helmet) and the “out of nowhere hypothesis” that if they have sex then they might swap back. Sex is often accompanied with comments on how THE OTHER SEX’S BODY FEELS MUCH BETTER. Obviously all these authors are MALE. Everyone knows GIRLS HAVE MORE FUN.
In Single Character Henshin the storyline may vary a lot more. The general theme is that either a man is transformed into a woman so that she can be gangraped without the reader thinking that reading the manga MAKES THEM GAY, or that a woman is transformed into a man so that she can rapeify another girl and therefore avoid trespassing into the realms of hawt yuri loving. Lord knows why you would want to do that… I can only assume that there are similar themes in yaoi manga/anime in which girls get transformed into men to have hawt gay secks. Please correct me if I’m wrong!
In essence, gender transformation in hentai is very different from cross-dressing. While most themes including cross-dressing follow basically DISCOVERY -> RAPIFICATION OF A HETERO OR HOMOSEXUAL VARIETY, original gender transformation storylines derive their thrill from playing on the readers hidden desire to think about what it would be like to swap bodies with/turn into the opposite sex for a short time with no ramifications. And then obviously spending five days off school playing with their new toys. In addition, gender transformation based on existing anime allows male characters to be turned into female characters for rapification purposes – if that’s your cup of tea, of course. Gender transformation also has the added bonus point that even in the reader’s imagination he or she can be sure that the character is all the OPPOSITE GENDER and therefore avoiding all ARGH DOUJINSHI MAKES ME GAY effects.
In conclusion, gender transformation is a genre in which the theme is transferred into the imagination of the reader and relies on the superposition of the reader in the place of the main characters for it to exert its EXTRA FETISH effects. Forget the summer dresses and chicken fillet push-up bras, I’m waiting for them to invent a teleportation device. I think you can guess I’ll be first in line to test it.
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12 Responses to “October is fetish month #2 Gender Transformation – Is it just trap?”
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October 5th, 2007 @ 11:19 pm
does “chicks with dicks” is assosiated with gender transformation ? (one of the most sickest ideas for many hentais/doujinshis)
i’ve thought sometimes what it would be like to be a woman (and given my male nature it will be “i have boobs now i can play with myself forever and ever”). so gender transformation can appeal to all audiences (as long as “chicks with dicks” is not included).
October 6th, 2007 @ 12:16 am
Hello dood. It seems you may have missed one of the highlights of last fetish month (http://www.yuribou.net/blog/?p=200). I guess it is related but does seem to be a pretty separate genre in the hentai world.
As for being one of the most sickest ideas.. mm.. I guess authors here might hope you mean that in a good way ^_^
Also i guess if a man turning into a woman is like ‘whoa i can play with my breasts for ever’ why aren’t lesbians being caught constantly fondling under their shirts.. or maybe they secretly are..
as Jeff from Coupling would say “if you’re gay masturbation is practice”
October 6th, 2007 @ 1:54 am
oh i see!
NO WAY! ‘Chicks with dicks’ is not gender transformation LOL!
there…uhh… hmm… REALLY GUYS BUT HAD PLASTIC SURGEY On there face and chest o.O;;; trans-sexual
October 6th, 2007 @ 6:46 am
Well…generally speaking most characters in anime I think are defined by their personality more than their looks, or rather their looks take after their personality. However in the case of trap, reverse trap, trans, etc. in anime at least, the characters tend to not retain any of their “original gender’s” traits. On the other hand, if they do… then its more creepy than cute ~_~
October 6th, 2007 @ 10:50 am
Lol gender transformations are wrong.
Aren’t we ever like… “Gosh she’s cute! MAN she’s cute.” Then you find out she’s a man. I have and I didn’t like the experience. Inevitably made me question my sexuality, just because I was so damn sure that he was the hottest thing ever.
Has anyone ever wondered how yuri is so okay, but yaoi is so wrong? Do chicks see it in a kind of reverse way? Cause that would be lawl. Interesting but lawl. Means that girls like more than they let on.
October 6th, 2007 @ 5:30 pm
I find this kind of thing interesting, because it reveals how people view each other based on gender and sex. Most generic anime has clearly defined definitions for male and female, but examining the specifics is best done through comparison. Cross-dressing and gender changes are ideal tests for this kind of topic. Based on circumstances the tests may differ, but generally there is an overall pattern. For instance, as stated in the main article, cross-dressing characters in anime are almost always discovered. Confronted with the main character’s real gender, those who have connections with him/her reveal in their reactions how their relationships with each gender differ. Gender transformations, on the other hand, put to the test the main character’s gender identity, observed from his/her reactions after the switch.
October 8th, 2007 @ 1:07 am
Kashimashi was actually the first anime I ever downloaded fansubs of. That kind of set my view as being generally a-ok with the whole “gender transformation” thing.
I never did watch Simoun, though now I think I should make the time.
October 8th, 2007 @ 12:11 pm
I think Haruhi Fujioka (above) is cute in a hot way.
1. Does it make me more or less gay then if I was a guy rather than a girl?
What I mean is, if I am a girl am I a lesbian for thinking Haruhi is hottie/cute? Or am I more gay if I think Haruhi is cute even though she looks like a hot bishonen?
October 14th, 2007 @ 12:18 pm
I just recently started watching Ouran and was conflicted on my thoughts of Haruhi. Even after I realized he was a she, I still thought she was cute. I don’t think that makes me a lesbian, maybe bi-curious, lol. Seriously though, the great thing about anime and manga is that it isn’t real. At least that’s how I think about whenever I watch something that might disturb me in real life.
Actual gender transformations, as is the case with Hazumu and the “ladies” of Simoun are a lot tricker to deal with than cross dressing in my opinion. One is just a case of mistaken identity (so to speak) while the other is genuine attraction. Hypothetically speaking, if I were to fall in love with a guy who was really a girl (because of magic, aliens, etc.), and then reverted into a girl again, not sure how I’d deal with that. That being said, I agree with the author of this, and would totally jump on the “teleportation device” bandwagon. I’d be very curious to experience the world as a guy.
November 6th, 2007 @ 8:48 am
as you know, when it comes to sexuality it clouds our judgment and thinking, cause you just want to satisfy your urges, so its natural to wonder what’d it be like playing for the other team…whether you like to admit it or not…I’d try out for the pink one, just to see what its like on the other side of the fence…and for sex…
Btw, does anyone have a list of GT hentai/anime movies? I would really appreciate it if they did, remember, sharing is caring ^_^
April 13th, 2008 @ 1:23 pm
[...] The situation becomes more complicated when we just have one image which appears to be a genderswap – as with the picture of a younger, female CHAR which I have used before. This image feeds off the Mobile Suit Gundam canon for its effect, but isn’t part of that canon. Are we to consider this a trap? Well, ‘if it looks like a duck,’ &c. Then we have situations where a character undergoes a within-canon change of physical sex, as in Ranma ½ – currently receiving Den Beste coverage [yes, a pun] beginning here – and, for a more permanent change, Kashimashi: Girl Meets Girl. (Apparently physical changes of gender function rather differently in hentai.) Is this still a male mind in a female body? In Ranma’s case, perhaps. In Hazumu’s case, I really have no idea. Is it fair to talk about ‘a male mind’ in the first place? You tell me. [...]
December 4th, 2008 @ 8:29 am
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