Does the Gender Bender genre fit?

[TheLovelyFire]

Does Gender Bender fit if the main character was a hermaphrodite, but then become just a girl?

 

[Moonpearl]

Hm... Maybe? Although you might want to note in your story description that it's not typical gender bender.

 

[Silver_Sky]

Does Gender Bender fit if the main character was a hermaphrodite, but then become just a girl?

I think it depends on how you look at it or from the characters POV which they view themselves as if that makes sense to you.

 

[mrsimple]

Moonpearl's suggestion would be the one I'd take. Yes, this is GB material, but not the usual kind you'd find.

 

[Allarielle]

I wonder what the actual gender bender genre is supposed to be, yeah? To me, having read a fair amount of gender bender and also being trans myself, I think it's something different from a character simply being trans or going through gender transition. I think that the gender bender genre is supposed to be about a character coming to terms with being in a gender role other than the one they know, whether they adapt to or reject that new role. So a story that features a character changing gender or sex is not automatically a gender bender by any means.

Edit: Ah, sorry if that was confusing. I just meant that a character going from one sex to another is not GB, it's just a story about a character who is trans. GB means that the character didn't intend to go from one to the other, didn't want it, wasn't prepared for it, etc - the genre is built around someone pretending to be a gender they aren't, or trying to fit in to a new gender while not knowing the rules.

 

[BenJepheneT]

So, discarding whatever the guy upstairs just said, if you switch from one gender mentality to the other, you could kind-of shrug it off as GB.

To be honest, we should actually draw a distinction to what GB extends to. Is it just the dick morphing into a clam or is it the character's self-identity of gender changing to a different mentality, since there's the whole trans wave that's been hitting recently.

 

[gaylolis]

i think it'd be much better if they could turn the D on/off like a remote control.

tho i consider futanari as a girl so maybe it doesn't count (unless the original gender is male).

 

[Feather]

Does Gender Bender fit if the main character was a hermaphrodite, but then become just a girl?

While Gender Bender meant gender swap in the beginning, over time it became an all-encompassing term for any and all gender related genres because of the increase in popularity and need for explicit distinction between categories.

It includes crossdressing, bodyswap, genderswap, LGBT stuff any anything with similar characteristics. You should be as specific as possible, if you can't, write a disclaimer.

 

[DaoFox]

I wonder what the actual gender bender genre is supposed to be, yeah? To me, having read a fair amount of gender bender and also being trans myself, I think it's something different from a character simply being trans or going through gender transition. I think that the gender bender genre is supposed to be about a character coming to terms with being in a gender role other than the one they know, whether they adapt to or reject that new role. So a story that features a character changing gender or sex is not automatically a gender bender by any means.

Edit: Ah, sorry if that was confusing. I just meant that a character going from one sex to another is not GB, it's just a story about a character who is trans. GB means that the character didn't intend to go from one to the other, didn't want it, wasn't prepared for it, etc - the genre is built around someone pretending to be a gender they aren't, or trying to fit in to a new gender while not knowing the rules.

it includes both willing and unwilling, intentional and accidental, magical or scifi or fantasy or supernatural.

gender bender is literally just the bending of a characters gender as experienced by the reader, so if its never mentioned to the reader its not GB as we dont know something isnt as it is "supposed to be". while TG elements greatly align, GB typically has no direct correlation to whether or not the story could be considered TG as that is just a single aspect of a plot. the origin of the term relates back to doujins, where aspiring writers would take popular characters from existing media and write a story based on the scenario of a male canon character being female and how things would have been different plotwise and vice versa.

what you described is applicable only to a vast minority of what mainstream media considers to be gender bender. being specific, gender bender is a plot tag while TG is a character tag, TG is in the mind of the character while GB is referring to the setting and plot of the story itself, so it can be both at the same time. a story can be both a gender bender and be about a transgender person, they are neither exclusive nor dependant on the other condition being present.

in gender benders, the important aspect is the change or percieved change itself, not the process or the motivations, not the intent or the justness of the situation.

so in short:

man is turned into woman suddenly - GB, check. and vice versa.
character goes back and forth - GB, check.
character dresses up as the opposite sex - GB check.
character is fine with the change - GB check
character is NOT fine with the change - GB check.
character canon is male while fanfic is female - GB check.
male becomes female, but now likes guys - GB check
male becomes female and still likes girls - GB check.
.
.
.
man like another man - not GB
girl likes girl - not GB
character looks like the opposite sex or is androgynous - GB


and so on.