the-andorian-mining-consortium:
esotericxentourage-archive-deac:
it’s pretty bad, friend. here’s why:
- super cissexist/transbigoted in general.
- erasure of trans women and trans men via equating breasts & vaginas to women and flat chests & penises to men, ignoring the fact that trans people, both binary and nonbinary, exist and are not defined by their genitalia.
- erasure of intersex people, as well.
- nonbinary erasure (due to the fact that “genderbending” in and of itself is binarist, and treats male and female as if they are the only two genders and that they are the “opposite genders” from one another, despite the fact that gender is a spectrum and therefore there’s really no “opposite” to any gender).
- generally presents as a toxic ideology that when one’s genitalia changes, so does one’s entire gender identity, completely disregarding the individual’s original identity for the sake of equating genitalia to gender.
things to consider as an alternative to “genderbending”:
- trans headcanons
- trans headcanons
- trans!!! headcanons!!!
Not to mention the fact that the vast majority of ‘genderbend’ stories/artwork, seem to depict men and women in a highly stereotypical way (for example, male characters receiving a vagina and breasts and suddenly also developing an interest in fashion, shopping, wearing dresses and hairstyles traditionally worn by women) thus promoting the idea that women and men must stick to designated hobbies/lifestyles/interests as dictated by their genitalia. Many also link sexual orientation to gender and sex as though these are things that must go hand in hand. (In other words, a heterosexual male who becomes ‘genderbent’ then becomes a heterosexual female, thus allowing them to be shipped with male characters in an apparent heterosexual ship, or gay men becoming lesbians/lesbians becoming gay men, promoting the harmful misinformation that both sex and gender are linked with sexual orientation). Genderbending in the vast majority of cases I’ve seen is offensive, both because it erases trans*, intersex and nonbinary people, and also because it usually plays on extreme stereotypes and all in all, promotes a plethora of extremely bigoted views. (I know some of this is kinda what you said already OP, but I wanted to add my 2 cents to your already great post to make some additional points which I hope you don’t mind.)
Stories about people experiencing changes to their reproductive organs and/or sex chromosomes can be done well, but in my experience this is a very rare thing.
fearlessstateofmind backup 