#theproblemwithgenderbends

[potential-zine-blog]

Why is “genderbending”  problematic?

The answer to this is quite long. I’m going to make a list version, and include an essay like the version at the bottom of this post. Please, at the very least, read the list version!

DISCLAIMER: Even though this conversation was inspired by an incident on discord, I AM NOT singling anyone out. Instead, I’m hoping to hold a conversation I should’ve had a long time ago (and educate people in the process). 

ZINE POLICY:  Due to my own discomfort with genderbends and the discomfort of multiple other creators, genderbends will be not be allowed in the zine. This decision was difficult for me to make because I really don’t like saying “no, you can’t do that.” 

Genderbends are problematic because:

-it enforces the idea of (switching) genders/there only being 2 genders, which in turn invalidates non-binary gender identities (side note: I, the mod, am non-binary/genderfluid)

-it often involves giving male characters breasts/changing bodies - this makes it seem as though physical traits and gender are the same thing WHEN THEY ARE NOT

-I sort of already mentioned this but it enforces the “there are opposite genders” which ignores the fact that gender is a spectrum 

-it often makes characters hyper-masculine/hyper-feminine and tends to not include varying body types (what I’d like to call Barbie Doll syndrome)

-it seems to focus on cis people, with the “bending” changing characters to be cismale or cisfemale

-genderbend characters tend to be hypersexualized

-they tend to enforce gender stereotypes

On ‘Genderbending’ 

source:

 http://viria.tumblr.com/post/116908105638/kagemxneon-genderbending-lately-ive-been

Lately I’ve been seeing people discuss why ‘genderbending’ isn’t transphobic, or why it’s something that’s fine and should be accepted. Most of the people who have been discussing this are cis, which is an issue right off the bat, so I’m going to preface this post by saying that if you are not trans, you do not have the right to determine what is or is not transphobic. Full. Stop. So if you’re cis, and your first instinct is to argue with me on this, I would like for you to consider why you believe that you can recognize transphobia better than someone who is routinely subject to it. That being said, let’s get into this.

To start off, what is ‘genderbending?’ Most fansites will define it as the act of ‘switching’ a character’s gender, but there’s already an issue with this. ‘Genderbending’, or ‘rule 63’ as is called in some circles, it not just about switching a character’s gender, it is about changing that character’s body as well. I have yet to see a ‘genderbent’ version of a male character who lacked breasts and a dfab body. This the first and most obvious reason why ‘genderbending’ is inherently transphobic - it assumes that physical traits and gender are the same thing, and that you cannot be female without also being dfab. This is cissexism, and this is transphobic. The message that ‘genderbending’ says is that you must have breasts and a vagina to be female, and you must have a penis and a flat chest to be male. I should not have to explain why that message is transphobic.

However, the way ‘genderbends’ are carried out also has distinctly transphobic implications in how it switches out the physical traits of characters to make them ‘the opposite gender’ ( the notion of there being ‘opposite genders’ is some fresh bullshit that I’ll cover later in this post ). For example, by giving a male character breasts and curves when ‘genderbending’ him, the message is clear that this character was cis to begin with. ‘Genderbending’ inherently implies that all characters are cisgender by default, and erases any possibility of these characters being trans. This is not as overtly transphobic as the first point, but it is harmful to trans people within fandom spaces, as the assumption that all characters are cis until explicitly stated otherwise pushes us out of media and removes whatever representation we might try to make for ourselves.

The third issue with ‘genderbending’ is that it is always cis male <—> cis female, and nothing else. I have never seen people ‘genderbend’ characters by making them nonbinary or intersex. I have never seen a genderbend of a female character which made her a trans male instead. ‘Genderbending’ implies that there are only two options when it comes to gender: cis male and cis female. There is no such thing as nonbinary people within this ideology. Intersex people are laughable at best. Agender people are little better than a distant myth. ‘Genderbending’ ignores that it is impossible to make a character ‘the opposite gender’, because there is no such thing as an ‘opposite gender’. Gender is a spectrum, not a binary, but you wouldn’t know that from the way fandom spaces treat it.

Of course, there are some reasons for ‘genderbending’ cis male characters into cis females that will always get brought up in discussions on the politics of ‘genderbending.’ The most frequent is that cis girls, who only see themselves as one-dimensional characters in media, want to have characters like them who are just as multifaceted and developed as the male characters that we are given, so they make their male faves female to give themselves the representation they desire. This is a decent reason for ‘genderbending’, but it does not excuse the fact that the way in which ‘genderbending’ is done is inherently transphobic, and it gives fans yet another excuse to ignore female characters in favor of focusing on their male faves.

Another reason for ‘genderbending’ that I’ve heard is ‘it’s for the sake of character exploration - like, what if this character had been born as male/female instead?’ This excuse is cissexist and transphobic from first blush. The idea behind it is that someone ‘born as female’, aka with breasts/vagina will automatically be a cis female, allowing fans to explore what that character’s life would have been like if they were female. Why not explore the possibility of a character being designated female at birth, but still identifying as male? Why do you need a character to be cis for you to find their personality and life interesting to explore? Why do you automatically reject the notion of your fave being trans? If you want to explore what it would have been like for your male fave to have struggled with sexism, consider them being a trans woman, or a closeted dfab trans person.

As a closing statement, I want to make one thing very clear. ‘Genderbending’ does harm trans people. It perpetuates dangerous cissexist notions and the idea of a gender binary being a valid construct, erases nonbinary and intersex people, and others trans people. These are what we call microaggressions - they are not as dangerous as outright harassment and assault, but they enforce and support a system and ideology in which we are other, and we are worthy of hate and violence because we do not fit in.

‘Genderbending’ is a transphobic practice, and if you engage in it, you need to be aware of and acknowledge this.

SOME CREATORS HAVE MENTIONED OTHER IMPORTANT REASONS ON DISCORD! Although I think this post sums them up pretty well...