Why so few female-to-male gender benders?

BubbleC

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Nearly all gender benders are male-to-female, not female-to-male. Why? Is this just due to da horny? Are female characters just easier to write? Is there no market for FTM gender bender besides myself? Is this proof that females are the superior gender?

Another question is, why are there so many gender bender yuri but no gender bender yaoi? My hypothesis is that BL authors would be criticized for fetishizing if they did that, but I'm not sure. After all, I haven't heard anyone say that gender bender yuri is bad.

Ultimately, I'm just confused.
Why are there so few female-to-male gender bender stories? Why?
 

CheertheDead

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I think there is the manhwa “my girlfriend turned into a man” and another manga about a fujoshi turned into an uke :3

It’s true that ftm is quite rare. As an active fudanshi i do know at least a dj about ftm Mikasa Ackerman and may be one or two more during my years.
 

Saorimono

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I actually from time to time have spotted gender bender yaoi. It is rare though. I think it also depends on what kind of gender your talking about. I have seen a lot of crossdressing go in both ways. Although some of the "sissy" ones leave a bad taste in my mouth. Recently I have spotted a few more girl crossdressing. The full transformations are just rare in general. It could be that a lot of the full transformations are isekai types of stories. These generally have a larger male audience. I think more will leak out in the future. I think that at least for some of the gender bender it focusses on life changes that the audience might find erotic. I think in general people aren't used to showing the horny for male bodies. I think in general though it boils down to the people interested in wanting to and feeling safe to write female to male. I think there will always be more crossdressing stories than full transformations. I think for the full transformations there is just more acceptance of mtf stories. I personally am un-interested in bl or ftm stuff, so this is only my conjecture.
Edit: I also noticed gender bender only became popular pretty recently. So I think there is probably more to come!
 
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EchoingRuby

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I guess there are a few reasons.

Demographics:

1. There are a lot more trans women on this site than trans men, and trans writers tend to write about things they can personally relate with.
2. Trans readers like reading affirming stuff.
3. The prevalence of Yuri vs Yaoi in general indicates that most people on this site like women.

Japanese Influence:

Many authors on this site write stories influenced by otaku culture, and MtF is much more prevalent in Japan than FtM.

An Exodus:

There was a GB fetish website that, over time, started transforming into a transgender fiction website because, surprise, turns out that wanting to be a girl is a symptom of being a girl. The moderator of that site turned out to be opposed to this change, and long story short a bunch of trans authors left for ScribbleHub, including prolific authors like QuietValerie and Elamimax. Because, statistically, men (or people who thought they were men) create and consume more porn than women, most of these authors ended up being trans women, and thus wrote Yuri as per an earlier point.

Wish Fulfillment:

As stated above, trans people who don't know they're trans gravitate towards reading and writing GB stuff.

A reminder to all the trans girls in denial out there - you're allowed to be a girl, and you're allowed to be a lesbian. Trust me, it's pretty great.

Market Research:

If a story type is more prolific, new authors who want to gain an audience will tend to write more stories of that type. This leads to a positive feedback loop.

And there's probably other reasons too but these are the ones that are obvious to me.
 

BubbleC

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I also noticed gender bender only became popular pretty recently. So I think there is probably more to come!
I'd definitely say there's been a renaissance for FtM gender-benders recently, particularly within the Chinese web novel sphere (Rebirth of the Star General, Crossing Over Into the Future, It's Not Easy Being a Man, Dominion's End). There have been more JP gender-benders too. So, maybe there's hope.

Demographics:

1. There are a lot more trans women on this site than trans men, and trans writers tend to write about things they can personally relate with.
2. Trans readers like reading affirming stuff.
3. The prevalence of Yuri vs Yaoi in general indicates that most people on this site like women.
I wholeheartedly agree with this, and I think the differences between the audience's motives for reading gender-benders contribute to the discrepancy between MtF and FtM GBs. Trans-women do appear to be substantial consumers of MtF GB, but it appears that trans-men are not the ones reading FtM GB. It's primarily cis-women who read FtM GB for the purpose of seeing a girl capable of holding her own around men, for a sort-of "Mulan" premise. I suppose this is why full FtM transformations are rare because the audience reading it is not looking for a transformation, but a reveal. It's the anticipation of seeing the other characters in shock that this "male" badass was actually a female badass that garners an audience for FtM GBs.

I think this is partially why FtM GBs are so rare because the audience's expectations for the GB are so narrow that it limits many FtM GBs to the same "Mulan" plot. The lack of variety ends up making it difficult for the genre to branch out to other possibilities, while MtF GBs enjoy a wider range of premises and thus have a higher chance of creating unique, interesting plotlines to keep people engaged in the genre. Of course, this is just a theory since a similar premise does not equal a similar plot. But I do think there is a standard FtM template to a degree that boxes it into very predictable boundaries. The only author I know that really pushes the boundary with FtM GBs, going for full-transformations and pretty wacky plots, is Yu Wo who wrote Half Prince and Dominion's End.

In any case, the FtM GB issue may not be as bad as I had thought as I have seen quite a considerable amount of them in NovelUpdates since I've last checked (though many appear to be of questionable quality). I suppose it'd take a while for FtM GB to grow to the same degree as MtF GBs have, but I don't think it's impossible.
 
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Redemit

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Because nobody wants to learn about the plights of being a man in the modern world men are leaser beings in modern society I remember seeing a video where a bunch of female to male trans were talking about how horrible it was to be a man and how nobody told them it as hard as it is that's why nobody writes about it
 

ArcadiaBlade

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Because most writers of Gender Benders tend to be a guy and can understand what would happen if they turn to the opposite gender. As for FTM GB, while I can personally write myself one, it would be hard for a guy to write on a female's perspective which they viewed to be difficult to understand.

Basically, its like a stereotype of a man driving and a woman cooking. We guys can drive a car better than a woman but we can't cook better and vice versa but there are rare types of people who not only do the vise versa, they can do both.

Which is why the second part relates to popularity and the demographic. GB tend to have male readers who can sometimes relate to a circumstances as women as well. However, we also run in with confusion on both sides and unable to relate to each other's perspective.

Finally, the main core is favortism. While people don't know, women tend to be on a luckier side due to not knowing some men's circumstances and men who write GB tend to point out the strong points in being a woman. Women can also write the strong points in being a man but as time goes on, they would realize 'Huh, turns out we are lucky afterall.' No offence to women but its not sunshine and rainbows being a man as they can't understand how men works while men would slowly understand how a women works due to how they would abuse the favorability in being a woman.

This is just my opinion so I appreciate any criticism on my findings.
 

Daitengu

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One thing different than everyone else has stated, is that there is a general social moral that, " 'real' men don't read fantasy and fiction. That's for sissy nerds."

As such, people who would think about being a "man" would be less inclined to read FtM transgen or gb novels.

I say this with an in-law aunt who always acted and says she's rather have been born a gay man. She was extremely active when younger. Lifting, rock climbing, shooting, having a beta male husband, etc.
 

EchoingRuby

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I wholeheartedly agree with this, and I think the differences between the audience's motives for reading gender-benders contribute to the discrepancy between MtF and FtM GBs. Trans-women do appear to be the main consumers of MtF GB, but it appears that trans-men are not the ones reading FtM GB. It's primarily cis-women who read FtM GB for the purpose of seeing a girl capable of holding her own around men, for a sort-of "Mulan" premise.
I forgot to mention this in my earlier post, but there's actually two distinct types of MtF GB (in general). There's the "this was written by a trans person" type and the "this was written by a straight man" type. I know a lot more about the former, but the latter shouldn't just be swept under the rug here.

I know those names aren't particularly helpful, but it's just a difference you pick up on from having read a lot of GB stuff. Contrast The Chick Before The Egg with In another world as my waifu #1: Brave New World and the Fallen Prince(ss). I'm not really sure why the latter type is so popular (excluding the previously mentioned trans girls in denial) but they exist and we can't just ignore them in this discussion.
 

PrincessFelicie

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I would absolutely love for there to be more FTM GB stuff, if only because things are really lopsised right now. Sadly, I know I personally wouldn't be able to do it justice. But in my personal experience, when you can't find what you want... There is no stronger force to make them show up than to start going "Fine, I'll do it myself!" and blamo, once the ball has started rolling, people that can, want, and do write stuff you like will start being inspired by your work and create their own in the genre.
 

sereminar

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I think that we should probably consider the huge popularity of slash (fan)fiction and yaoi. At least while discussing the cis authors writing. Like mentioned before a lot of cis male authors will write mtf gender bender stories because A: they suck at writing female characters, and B: it's statistically a pain in the ass too ask men to empathize/read stories with female mc's so you can grab a male audience if the mc is "male".

But cis women authors have no compunction about writing male characters, heck 44% of stories on AO3 are m/m ships Source and the vast majority of it is written by cis women authors. And a vast majority of yaoi outta written by/for women as well.

I'm pretty sure this has a big impact on at least the cis authors side of the equation. But I don't really know enough to really expand on it.
 

Sylvie

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Because most writers of Gender Benders tend to be a guy and can understand what would happen if they turn to the opposite gender. As for FTM GB, while I can personally write myself one, it would be hard for a guy to write on a female's perspective which they viewed to be difficult to understand.

Basically, its like a stereotype of a man driving and a woman cooking. We guys can drive a car better than a woman but we can't cook better and vice versa but there are rare types of people who not only do the vise versa, they can do both.

Which is why the second part relates to popularity and the demographic. GB tend to have male readers who can sometimes relate to a circumstances as women as well. However, we also run in with confusion on both sides and unable to relate to each other's perspective.

Finally, the main core is favortism. While people don't know, women tend to be on a luckier side due to not knowing some men's circumstances and men who write GB tend to point out the strong points in being a woman. Women can also write the strong points in being a man but as time goes on, they would realize 'Huh, turns out we are lucky afterall.' No offence to women but its not sunshine and rainbows being a man as they can't understand how men works while men would slowly understand how a women works due to how they would abuse the favorability in being a woman.

This is just my opinion so I appreciate any criticism on my findings.
I read MtF Gender benders and definitely prefer them over FtM gender benders despite being female. It's quite fun to see the protagonists struggling in their new female bodies. Although the main reason might be the lack of quality FtM Gender Benders I guess. FtM Gender Benders usually end up bland or lacking on the emotional level and become physical relationship smut really really fast whether they be straight or BL.

I agree with the writers part, this website does seem to favor females and GL a lot more. But if you go to novel updates, it's literally filled with heaps and heaps of yaoi and you'd be hard pressed to find much yuri. Just a matter of preferences I guess. Although actual FtM Gender Bender remains a scarce resource there. Just heaps of cross dressing.

Also fantasies might look cute and bloat impressions on being a woman but imo there's hardly a difference in the overall difficulty of life in reality. Abusing favorability and what not is complete bullshit and either doesn't work in reality or puts you in annoying situations (if not outright dangerous) more often than not even if it does work. The way this sounds to me is probably how a female writer looking at brotherly friendship between men through rose tinted glasses would sound to you I guess.
 
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CadmarLegend

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Nearly all gender benders are male-to-female, not female-to-male. Why? Is this just due to da horny? Are female characters just easier to write? Is there no market for FTM gender bender besides myself? Is this proof that females are the superior gender?

Another question is, why are there so many gender bender yuri but no gender bender yaoi? My hypothesis is that BL authors would be criticized for fetishizing if they did that, but I'm not sure. After all, I haven't heard anyone say that gender bender yuri is bad.

Ultimately, I'm just confused.
Why are there so few female-to-male gender bender stories? Why?
Ah, most likely because it hasn't been introduced yet. Like, BL had to be introduced a lot for people to see if they liked it or not, right? Just like that, until someone starts posting decent female to male, it's not going to get popularity.
 

Sylvie

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I think that we should probably consider the huge popularity of slash (fan)fiction and yaoi. At least while discussing the cis authors writing. Like mentioned before a lot of cis male authors will write mtf gender bender stories because A: they suck at writing female characters, and B: it's statistically a pain in the ass too ask men to empathize/read stories with female mc's so you can grab a male audience if the mc is "male".

But cis women authors have no compunction about writing male characters, heck 44% of stories on AO3 are m/m ships Source and the vast majority of it is written by cis women authors. And a vast majority of yaoi outta written by/for women as well.

I'm pretty sure this has a big impact on at least the cis authors side of the equation. But I don't really know enough to really expand on it.
Well I guess this is true. A lot of cis female writers write male main characters for their sto Well male main characters are ries except when writing romance. Well male Mcs are a lot more popular and the problem is that a male readers tend to avoid books with male love interests. Doesn't matter if the MC is male or female but female readers generally do not mind the love interest being female. I've seen this in a lot of my friends who are male. They generally tend to avoid books with male love interests. Also the reason why straight MtF Gender Benders are a lot less popular than the GL ones.
Because nobody wants to learn about the plights of being a man in the modern world men are leaser beings in modern society I remember seeing a video where a bunch of female to male trans were talking about how horrible it was to be a man and how nobody told them it as hard as it is that's why nobody writes about it
Is it really that bad? Although, harsher realities make for better stories so if It's true there's got to be some good potential for FtMs.
 
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Redemit

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Well I guess this is true. A lot of cis female writers write male main characters for their sto Well male main characters are ries except when writing romance. Well male Mcs are a lot more popular and the problem is that a male readers tend to avoid books with male love interests. Doesn't matter if the MC is male or female but female readers generally do not mind the love interest being female. I've seen this in a lot of my friends who are male. They generally tend to avoid books with male love interests. Also the reason why straight MtF Gender Benders are a lot less popular than the GL ones.

Is it really that bad? Although, harsher realities make for better stories so if It's true there's got to be some good potential for FtMs.
I can't find the video I watched it months ago but in general the people in it talked about the difference of treatment they experienced as men and women men are expected to do all of the heavy lifting never complain and never show emotion when they needed support they were told to man up and shut up they never received any respect and at their jobs they were expected to work twice as hard and long for no reason they didn't receive the preferential treatment they were always told men receive in the workplace and general everyday socializing was more difficult as men one of the most impactful things one the people said was nobody warned them or told them how hard it is to be a man and that's because men don't ever talk about it they just live with it
 

BubbleC

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Because nobody wants to learn about the plights of being a man in the modern world men are leaser beings in modern society I remember seeing a video where a bunch of female to male trans were talking about how horrible it was to be a man and how nobody told them it as hard as it is that's why nobody writes about it
I don't think that people avoid writing FtM GBs because they're intimidated by men's issues, because most people don't think that men have issues, to begin with. Sadly, many of men's real issues (toxic masculinity, abuse, etc.) are swept under the rug by women and men alike because it's an uncomfortable topic and seen as a secondary concern. Plus, many GBs aren't centered around the struggles of being the opposite gender because the main appeal in GBs doesn't lie in the struggle. It lies in the fantasy. It lies in the prospect that your life would be better or more interesting as the opposite sex. Realism is often forgone in many GBs.

But I do think the difficulties that men face would serve as great material to write a GB on. To bring these things to light in a GB would actually be quite novel and interesting. Reminds me of Mimic Royal Princess, an MtF GB where the MC pretends to be a girl in a society where men are oppressed. It's set in a fantasy world so it doesn't reflect many modern-day struggles, but it's good nonetheless.

I think that we should probably consider the huge popularity of slash (fan)fiction and yaoi. At least while discussing the cis authors writing. Like mentioned before a lot of cis male authors will write mtf gender bender stories because A: they suck at writing female characters, and B: it's statistically a pain in the ass too ask men to empathize/read stories with female mc's so you can grab a male audience if the mc is "male".

But cis women authors have no compunction about writing male characters, heck 44% of stories on AO3 are m/m ships Source and the vast majority of it is written by cis women authors. And a vast majority of yaoi outta written by/for women as well.

I'm pretty sure this has a big impact on at least the cis authors side of the equation. But I don't really know enough to really expand on it.
And yes, this is very, very true. I didn't really consider it, but it certainly makes sense. I think in general most cis-women (if that's the audience we're assuming here) don't fantasize about becoming a girl one day nor are they particularly fascinated by men (especially men's bodies) the way cis-men are. This is likely a societal/cultural thing. Throughout history, it has always been men who held the center stage of media whilst women's lives were often shrouded in mystique. Views on masculinity/femininity have also made it more taboo for a man to act like a woman than it has for a woman to act like a man.

With most stories featuring a male lead, I think many cis-females, as @Sylvie stated, are perfectly content reading novels with a male MC and not a genderbent one because (1) they're accustomed to it, and (2) they don't have that curiosity of what it's like to be a man because everyone kinda already "knows" from all the male-oriented media out there.

But then again, all of this is just conjecture. I definitely agree to some extent that BL is the cis woman's gender bender though.
 
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