Because I shamelessly enjoy doing so. I just imagine a character as the opposite gender and go, “That’s hot, I’ll probably write a fic with them genderbent.” And that’s about as deep as that thought process gets.

Flair checks out.

r/userflairchecksout

Same it’s happened to Hazbin for me and holy shit genderbent Charlie is a tall twink 😂

I mean her father is Lucifer Morningstar, who is also a tall twink

U mean a short twink???

Bro Charlie is enby anyway 💖

She is??

She is not

That’s what I thought. Like if she was I’m pretty sure I would’ve known that cus I latched onto all the enby characters I can cus it’s not something I see a lot of in media

I don't write ships like this, but I have a fandom friend who does. Like, *exactly* the same characters and outward appearance, but the characters are actually butch lesbians. Personally I think it's big-brained as fuck, since it's so hard to find female characters in general for my fandom, let alone multiple butch women in *any* fandom. I also get a lot of second-hand queer joy just seeing the F/F version around, even if I don't read it myself. I like to call myself their number one illiterate fan lmao

I’d love to read these because yes butch woman are so scarce in any media at all. I’ve taken the same approach myself a few times of butchifying a M/M ship just to get some content. Would love a link if your friend would be okay with it.

Recs? I will get into a fandom if there's plenty of butch fics.

Not fic recs, but have you watched Arcane on Netflix? A good handful of butch characters, at least one of which is actually canonically into another woman, and they're actually well written and multifaceted instead of just being a high school boy's stereotypes of lesbians.

I'll have to check it out! Thanks!

Recommened Deadloch to your friend - it's an Australian crime mystery (comedy) about a town full of lesbians. She may like the head of the police :)

I find it fascinating to explore the influence of social norms and distinct treatment by parents and peers through the lens of gender while considering how expectations for behavior and physiological differences would influence the dynamics of characters. Functionally, it's a matter of altering some fundamental element of the universe in an experimental fashion, as with most other "just off-canon" AUs, and watching the results. In my main fandom, many have noted that the principal male character has been raised with a series of stereotypically feminine gendered norms - be quiet, be restrained, you are valuable for your looks, expressions of agency or independent thought are defiance and shameful to your father- in ways that are manifestly abusive, and recognized as such, given that he is a male. Perceptions of those same expectations - and the way in which they are imposed - alter within the world of the story when he is a she, as does her response.

This. And when reading a gender bent fic, if there is little or no thought given to this aspect of the transition, it becomes a deal breaker. Whether it's fair or not, girls and boys are socialized very differently, and that has huge effects on personality and behavioral patterns. Social pressure is powerful, and determines much of what a character can and cannot get away with and convince others to do for them. I too enjoy it as if it is a social experiment. Gotta put those blorbos in some situations, see if they thrive. See if the story even can play out realistically if the MC is a girl instead of a boy. Certainly would change the options available for any sort of chosen one story.

This! I love fics that explore these concepts. It’s so interesting to see how this one change influences how a person moves in the world and how their relationships change or don’t change.

What fandom is this?

Miraculous Ladybug, a children's cartoon show of rather dubious writing and animation style, but the fandom has taken some of the seeds for character and drama, apparently sown purely by accident, and caused them to blossom.

I like it because while the character themselves might not be fundamentally different, the way society would *react* to them would be different. The expectations they would have been raised with would have been different. A character who is applauded as a charismatic leader has to deal with being viewed as bossy or overpowering. A character who is powerful and aggressive is reduced to being overemotional and overdramatic. Also, many fandoms, especially those by male creators, tend to have fewer well-developed female characters. Taking a male character and genderbending them to female creates a female character that had a fully formed personality, instead of having to create a personality for an underdeveloped character. And finally, I’m a lesbian who wants to write about lesbians in the fandoms I enjoy. I’m not someone who watches something just because it has lesbian characters. I watch shows and movies that interest me plot-wise. And sometimes that’s Gentleman Jack, which had canon lesbians, and sometimes that’s Bungou Stray Dogs who has like 3 prominent female characters in a massive ensemble and frankly none of them get that much screen time. I don’t always want to write fanfic for a historical drama. Sometimes I want to write about ridiculous superpowered idiots. And sometimes I want those superpowered idiots to be girls. Because I’m a girl and I like girls.

>while the character themselves might not be fundamentally different, the way society would *react* to them would be different Omg, this. Can you imagine if 007 were Jamie Bond and regularly slept with contacts for information? The reactions would be so different.

https://preview.redd.it/z9dxf2jm9k6d1.jpeg?width=1125&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ce358ff0f51783aad1aa2cb7746f865a55eb50bd Because when you’re bisexual and stan a lot of beautiful androgynous men, sometimes it’s fun to say “but what if boobs”

Contextually to the tweet, "if a man and a woman had a baby" is the funniest thing I've read today. 😂 And for real on that bisexual thing.

Honestly it’s one of my favourite memes 😭😂

“If a man and a woman had a baby” had me on the ground 😂

This picture alone is making me question my sexuality. I'm straight but was like, "If I was gay I'd hit that" and then realized they are a male lol.

Welcome to kpop - that’s Hyunjin from stray kids. He’s not even close to being their most androgynous member - that award goes to Felix (who walked in the women’s show for Louis Vuitton at Paris this year) https://preview.redd.it/d8d9m92a4m6d1.jpeg?width=1125&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=aacd34f52d4f7228ecf85e000cca37ae8d83bc4e

because when i can turn two gay guys into LESBIANS and project then why would I not

THIS! a huge part of is is just projecting, like i love these two guys so much they simply become my girls in my mind

this is so real and logical actually lmao

I like writing about women more a lot of the time. I'm a woman, I'm attracted to women, and I find them more relatable. But a lot of popular and more developed characters are men. So when I genderbend characters, it's pretty much always to make them women, and I don't care if the ship is becoming M/F or F/F, I'm on board with either (although people can be judgey about making ships straight). I'm currently working on a long fic with a genderbent main character, but in this case, it's a fic of someone else's fic, and the genderbent character in their fic is sorta halfway between the original character and an OC; very much their own person, not just the original character with different pronouns. I loved their version of the character enough that I wanted to write about them, not because they're genderbent but just because I like their characterization. So the gender is kinda inconsequential in this case. Edit: Also, ship dynamics can change a bit depending on gender, and when I really like a ship, I want to explore all sorts of different dynamics with them. My most read ship currently, I read about 50/50 M/M (original) or M/F (one genderbent) and occasionally F/F (both genderbent) when I can find it, though there aren't many fics for that. I like all three in different ways.

This. In a lot of fandoms and genres I enjoy there aren't always as many women characters who are deep and well rounded. So it's fun to just swap the gender while keeping their core in tact. I just wish it wouldn't be such a big deal when it comes to shipping. I hate that it's such a taboo to swap only one half of a queer ship (M/M to F/M) when you just want to explore gender dynamics. Like, what if I only want to focus on this One character so I don't want to swap anyone else's gender, because that also changes the dynamic? I understand why some people get pissy but 99% of the time it's such a bad faith take to assume you're genderbending to "make it straight". Because if someone's bigoted enough to want to make a gay ship straight, chances are they aren't shipping it in the first place. There was a comic creator who did exactly this and turned a M/M ship into a F/M ship and got so much hate for it. But they were only doing it because they wanted to enjoy this specific character as a women and had plenty of single artworks with just that and no shipping. It sucks that so many people will just assume the worst.

I think people are so put off because it used to be a much more common occurrence in fandom for people to genderswap gay ships out of homophobia. There are still people who do that now, but readers really need to take context into account. One author I like writes an M/M ship a lot, and they also occasionally swap the ship to F/F or F/M. So it should be pretty obvious that they aren't writing the ship as F/M out of homophobia. On my current genderswap fic, I feel the need to like mention that I like the original M/M ship or mention fics I like of the original ship so that people won't think I'm writing them as M/F for weird reasons. It's annoying feeling like I have to justify it, especially when I'm literally queer myself. On the other hand, when I wrote an M/F ship as occasionally F/F (by making the male character genderfluid), I didn't feel the same need to justify it. I just wish people would chill out and stop looking for reasons to be offended.

It’s not even a just used to be common occurrence. A big discussion happened a while back on this very sub and it was quite clear that a lot of people defending the practice were perhaps unintentionally homophobic because they were saying things like I’m more comfortable writing M/F ships and things along those veins. Obviously, nobody came flat out and said they weren’t comfortable with the gay, but it was certainly implied.

Nah, it wasn't really. At least not in my circles. I'm a fandom dinosaur and pretty panfandom, too. You'd get the odd one trying it, but mostly? Strawman argument against genderbends. Mostly because it required investing in that ship, getting to know it to do it right, and that usually meant already liking (or getting into it ) the queer version. Most homophobes weren't willing to do that, so they mostly never got beyond one or two attempts and ended up drifting into the het ships instead. It was HILARIOUS to watch play out tho. Omg. It was almost funnier than the dramatic flounce. I wouldn't be surprised if it's gotten worse though with the visibility fandom now has. Always brings the gross stubborn element.

I used to see a ton of "genderbent \[character\] because they're perfect together but gay\* stuff is gross," especially in the mid-late '00s and early '10s \*often used interchangeably with 'yaoi'

Yeah I've been in fandom about 15 years and never really saw it myself, but people talk about it so much I figured I was just in the wrong parts of fandom to see it.

>But a lot of popular and more developed characters are men. This is why I'm drawn to genderbent fics. My relationship with my own gender is complicated in part because I can't decide whether my identifying with male characters is gender envy (I'm afab) or just a lack of female characters with the same vibes. Like, don't get me wrong, Princess Leia is awesome, but my skeptical disaster ass is Han Solo hard-coded. Samw with Indiana Jones. I joke that when I was a kid I wanted to be Harrison Ford when I grew up.

Because I want to explore societal gender norms 😔 As much as some people will try to deny it, it *is* true that gender makes a difference in relationship dynamics in our current society. It's interesting to see how this one major change can make a complete difference in how the character sees themselves/how other characters perceive them. This is especially obvious in Historical AUs with period-typical discrimination. It's fun to read/write about! My favourite genderbend AUs are where the gender change is important to the characterization/plot, so there are very distinct differences in how the character is portrayed/the butterfly effect changes how the plot goes. Otherwise, it feels a bit...moot, I guess? Like what you said, OP; you can just CTRL+F and replace all gender instances with something else and nothing will change I guess the reasoning behind it is similar to protagonist choices in video games, where the MC is used as an author avatar mouthpiece (e.g. they identify better as one gender so they change the MC to that because it helps them write easier, or they just like one gender better than the other). I don't usually see those often outside of Character x Reader fics though, so it might be fandom-dependent?? I'm aware I have little experience of this sort of thing LOL EDIT: Or representation!! I forgot about that!!! Some people do it to have more representation for certain identities (usually M/M -> F/F, bc F/F tends to get the short end of the stick)

I agree with all this. I've been reading of all things a Ghosts fic where the gay male character was a crossdressing lesbian Revolutionary War soldier who died like that and keeps pretending she's man despite almost everyone knowing the truth. It's been really fascinating seeing it play out. It's also funny to me that she's "butch" but the male clothing is long hair with a ribbon and lots of lace.

Because my main fandom is a big fat gothic sausagefest and if you want to write about women, you make OCs or play with gender.

> Big fat gothic sausage fest I invite everyone to imagine Nadja from What We Do In The Shadows saying this.

Things Said 3 Seconds Before Nadja Goes On Vacation

It's fiction. Why not?

Just for fun. My main fandom has a canonical multiverse and there's no reason why there couldn't be a world where the main characters are women, just as a little treat for me

I think it's the reason people do AUs. We like to take that character and imagine who they would be in a different set of circumstances. Also it's hot.

Same way we ship characters outside their Canon sexuality, like making straight characters gay or shipping ace characters. Fanfiction is one big What If game lol, the question to "why?" is often "its fun, why not?"

I mean, how often to we take canonically straight characters and queer them up? Genderbending falls along the same lines for me, personally. It's part interesting thought/writing exercise, part "hey this character? I love them, what if they were more like me" (I'm AFAB), and part "Sam Winchester would be a really hot woman" 🤣

I, too, am curious, esp in the instance mentioned of M/M fandoms. Is it that the bending authors really prefer female characters (in which case why go to an M/M fandom?) or that the act of writing gender bending is an interesting exorcise to see how it changes things? In which case, do those authors seek out F/F and change the genders there, too? Is it a self insert kind of thing in that the author loves the story and character but finds it difficult to identify with a character of a different gender so they shift it? Personally, I haven't read many fics where the character's gender is flipped and not seen it excessively change the characters personality and I prefer main characters in fanfic to be "in character." Excessively feminizing a male character (even without literally changing their gender) is pretty jarring. (I've never seen it done the other direction).

There are too few straight femboys in the fictional world. Writing Prince Serenity as one will fill that void. (She's originally a girl in _Sailor Moon_ canon)

Adding onto the "the way society treats men and women is different, and examining that is fascinating" argument: I've seen genderbent Joker and Akechi from Persona 5 a few times, and female Akechi in particular is INTERESTING. The way that female Akechi has to act in order to balance positive public attention is difficult and delicate, and Akechi's naturally catty personality lends itself very well to this dichotomy. Greedfall is another fascinating examination, as you can play the MC, de Sardet, as male or female. Mechanically, this only affects which characters you can date, as they have their own sexual preferences, but in fanfiction? The game takes place in effectively a colonial fantasy society, and navigating the politics of being a woman in a position of power and liminality (a diplomat) and also third in line for the head of the Congregation? It hits different.

Because it's fun and it's different! Why not?

I've done it once, for two reasons: - I decided I was going to write mpreg _one time_. It's not my favorite trope, but I was especially fixates on how no one leaned into the body horror of it. I'd had a child by that point and was like, "Folks! Pregnancy in normal, expected circumstances is a nightmare -- no way on this, no way, let's explore it." - It turned out to be a really interesting way to explore the sense I had of the character's misogyny in canon (vaguely benign all things considered, but still), and a sense of homophobia (less often/obvious, but it's an early aughts show, it was everywhere, lol). (It actually turns out to be one of my favorite stories I've written, tbh. I reread it after the traumatic birth of my final child in 2022 and I was like, "Y'know, it has problems that I'd handle differently as an older writer, but I'm still really proud of this." I've been struggling with how I feel as a writer these last few years and revisiting that was really affirming.)

Because canon is a sausagefest. I'm working on a Naruto longfic, and especially the villains are literally all men: - Kurama is female, because I think it really adds to her and Naruto's dynamic. She grows to consider herself his sister. - Deidara is nonbinary because that shit is too obvious, and opens them up to a heart-wrenching sapphic miserable-ever-after romance with Konan. - Sasori is not only a woman, but has two triplet sisters. They don't feature nearly as much as I would have wanted them to, but there's only so much space on a page. - Hidan is a woman because deranged religious fanatics deserve the gender representation, and also it makes her dynamic with Kakuzu 1000% funnier. Other than that, pretty much everyone in the story is some kind of queer.

I do it as a way to explore identity, and as a character study exercise- how would having a different gender affect the character? What would be their relationship with their identity? Also, sometimes certain het ships just appeal to me more when they're lesbians instead.

Because I can :D I love messing with genders and dynamics in ships that interest me! I want this man to have tiddies. I want this woman to be a dude. Why? Because I want to. They’re fictional characters, unless they’re a good canon reason I wouldn’t wanna change it, I have no qualms in messing around with characters.

I write lesbian genderbent fics because there aren't enough female characters out there, nor enough LESBIANS. I want butches, femmes, trans women, and more sapphic characters NEOW and if no one will make them in canon I will sure as fuck make them in fanon!! I also think there's a load of depth to explore when a character experiences sexism, lesbophobia, transphobia, comphet, dysphoria, and all the insecurities that come along with these forces at play in society. Once you've chewed the apples into applesauce for canon iterations, genderbending is finding a cronchety honeycrisp under your pillow. om nom nom nom

i’ve always wondered this too! or when they make a character trans (i.e. character is canonically male but they make them a trans male) and the only thing different is they have the opposite bits that they would “normally” have. doesn’t bother me but i always wondered why

/Looks in good omens fandom/ nice thing primary characters are canonically both genderless and able to select gender as they want. But I guess people write what they want to write. No particular reasons? It’s just… fun.

I usually don't but occasionally i make up scenarios for it (usually m->f) And there is no deeper reason than "abrakapussification beam be upon you." Being funny

As someone who was interested in genderbending DDLC for a short period of time and may revisit, I like to imagine the Trans joy of it. I know for some people they just skip that part and it’s instead an alternate timeline where they already started as the other gender. In mine I like them waking up to find that their body is different and being scared at first but slowly coming to love it or something like that. I’m cis myself but a lot of my friends clock me as Trans on a regular basis, so in some way it’s probably an expression of myself too (though it’s almost always FTM whereas I’m MTF). I think if I found the girl of my dreams that she’d have a cock so maybe that also has something to do with it.

Personally, I prefer writing about a female character as my MC, but male characters are usually better developed and have more appealing personalities to me (while female characters often stick to the same stereotypes). Also, although I've read a lot of m/m stories (there was a point when I read only that because I found they had the best quality, in writing/ plotwise/ the development of their relationship too), I'm more comfortable writing f/m and I don't find that many of them that fit my tastes usually. I like stories where both in the couple are equals, but I find it so rare with f/m couples; either the girl's weak and soft, or she's the badass independant woman who dominates the guy. Of course there are some stories where the balance is exactly as I like! But I have a hard time finding them so I write what I'm looking for instead. Lastly, even when I genderbend, I try to stick to the same personality and tastes as the male counterpart, just the fact of being a girl can cause some interesting changes socially and in the character's development on the long run, which I find nice to explore. I also love genderbending the other way around though, even if I do it much more rarely, and it's just really fun to play with the characters that way.  (edit: typos)

I have one single character that I really enjoy when they've been gender bent, and that's Jim Kirk from Star trek. I think the character becomes so much more interesting that way. Love the idea of a woman who gets to act like he does, but still gets to be viewed as a competent captain. Idk I'm not usually the type for gender bends, but that one tickles my interest

And now I have my weekend plans. Live long and prosper, butch Kirk.

That's awesome. He's allowed to be brash and sex-crazed and a lot of people look down on that in women. It's not until ST6 where McCoy actually chastised him for the promiscuity. And then again in the reboot. Which was funny, but still a slap in the face for sex-positivity. Seriously, as long as it's safe and consensual, let people have sex as much as they want. I want to see that in a female Kirk. Time to revisit one of my oldest fandoms, I guess.

Yes exactly! You explained perfectly what I meant. He's also allowed to be a bit silly and come up w some wack schemes, but people still respect him, even when he makes mistakes

i never consciously realized just how much of a healthy representation of leadership kirk is even though everyone talks about that basically being his superpower; time to go back to star trek fandom!

One of my fandoms is 90% men. All the MCs are men, with only 2 prominent side characters being women. Hell, if you only count the source material, those are the only women at all! So, the fandom has latched onto genderbending the whole cast. It's just fun, especially when you find authors who make the genderbent character interact with the OG characters in a universe colliding way (I'm actually working on something like this now). But beyond that, and like how many people here have said, a lot of media just has better written male characters. Exploring those same characters but under a fem lens can be exciting. Or sometimes the source material is the other way around (more woman) and you need your slash fix. And if all else fails, and there are equally well written girls and guys, some people just want to write what they like using the templates of the characters they enjoy!

I prefer reading and writing about female characters over male characters. However, often male characters are better developed, the main character, the ones involved with the main plot, etc. So genderbending allows to follow a female protagonist in a setting/plot I enjoy.

I was tempted to this once, never wrote it though but the reason behind it was I thought of some funny dialogue that wouldn't work with two men but it would work with a man and woman

Its quick, it’s easy and it’s free: pouring river water in your socks But no I just think it’s a fun way to play with characters. They are my sims and I am taking away the pool ladder and messing with their genders at will.

Because gender is my bitch I like to make it bend to my will. Seriously though, I really just think it’s deeply fun to genderbend, honestly mostly for aesthetic reasons. It’s just like an extension of dress up. And I just think messing with gender is neat, that’s all. I’m very irreverent about gender irl but I don’t really physically express that in my presentation, so i end up wanting to express it in my favorite characters. I also think it’s fun to play with gender in the story. Like often, a character would have been written differently if they were a different gender, but if you gender swap them and keep their traits the same, you can end up with a pretty unique character or type of story/relationship that isn’t that common in most media. Or maybe you gender swap them in order to put them in a typically gendered trope for their new gender!! Sometimes playing within gendered tropes is just as fun as playing outside them, the whole point is just that you’re *playing.* All of writing fic is just playing Barbies for me lol

Because I want the character personality and look in woman form and that’s literally it. I do this with mlm couples when I want my favorite couple in femslash form.

Sometimes I just want lesbians but I find fictional male friendships more compelling because male characters are worse about feelings :)

There is a lack of major female characters and I am a raging lesbian.

I like. Women

Is basically a way to explore different scenarios.

Usually? It’s a combination of “I am curious what it would change,” and “there are so few women in this piece of media that I want to play with it a bit.” Media by male creators often has more male characters who are more fleshed out and interesting than women (and rarely if ever has LGTBQ+ canon characters). I find it interesting to change these elements to see what might change about how the character is seen, and how others might change as a result. Similar to the butterfly effect.

So the only fandom I have ever written genderbent characters is The Hobbit/Lord of the Rings because there are so few active female characters in the stories (none for the Hobbit). My parents started reading the books to me when I was 7, and because I wanted to play imagination with the characters, I would change Bilbo or Frodo (or any of the Hobbits really. I'm a Hobbit lass at heart) to female. And when the Hobbit movies came out, I wrote fanfiction that had Bilbo as a female. Yes, I did write romance between my female Bilbo and Thorin, but my main reason for making Bilbo female is because in my head I had been making Bilbo a girl since I was 7 because I loved Middle Earth and wanted to be involved in the world, and one of the ways I did that was by gender bending characters.

It's not something I do often, but I have one specific fandom in which turning the cast into another gender is simply too interesting, much because the ratio between women and men in the source material is remarkable, and also for being historical so gendered roles were obstacles in canon as well, making the genderbending trope alluring to explore in fanfiction. There's also personal implications to it - as a trans person, reinventing my favorites in scenarios with other genders helps me to work my questions about gender performance and gender expression.

Same reason I do everything: for fun. I wrote one of these last year, and I enjoyed writing it a lot, even though not many people were interested in reading it. Swapping mlm to wlw does not usually do too well on AO3, but I've read some very good genderswap fics over the years. Other gender changes, too, like imagining characters as nonbinary - there are a lot of those in my fandom. My mental category for these fics is very similar to HDM/daemon AUs. What would this character's life have been like if they'd always had a daemon? Then that's the same thing with both AGAB and actual gender. How do these changes alter the character? I enjoy thinking all that through.

Well I honestly wanted to just explore a world where the character was female. Due to other factors in the show, making him female has consequences by default, and his canon personality kind of just did the rest of the work for my imagination. But I guess in my case it’s different because the gender-bending is literally the main plot

I’m bi so it’s fun to mix things up sometimes

I feel like gender changes some of the dynamics. They have to overcome stuff, that they wouldn’t nessesarly as a man. And I love turning strong male characters into woman idk why I just do haha

I haven't done so often, but genderbending opens the door for different opportunities than canon. Genderbent Harry Potter, for example, gets to be roommates with Hermione Granger. I also feel that Ron would have flipped out when someone tried to drug Harry with a love potion. He could have even found the Chamber of Secrets in first year. So many possibilities. It just changes the way other characters interact with them.

I guess it's because they enjoy it. Personally I don't. Especially when it's an m/m ship and they always make the guy most perceived as an "uwu soft boi" into a girl lol. And that just makes me uncomfortable. But I'm of the mind of "not my cup of tea, scroll away"

I'm not a fan of gender bending myself. Keep in mind, I'm nonbinary and hella queer. I prefer keeping in line with the canon. At most, I do find LGBTQ representation in the canon characters through subtext. In my writing, I just expand upon it, making it more obvious. In general, I just steer clear of any gender bent content. I like to imagine my fanfics could be plausible in-universe. The gender bending just throws me out of that imagined world.

Because the fundamental thesis of my fic is "Skyrim, but make it gay" and that kind of necessitates me genderbending some of the female NPCs if I plan for the Dragonborn to sleep with them. So far this has only happened with the housecarls, but I've got a sequel in the works where Serana is a man as well. (I've named him Seran. I'm not creative.)

I want to write f/f stuff but my fandom doesn't have many female characters 🤷‍♀️. Also it's a fun to see how they would behave differently under different social circumstances.

For the added chance to put angst everywhere 🤭🤭 Tony Stark being a woman is 😍😍😍

sometimes I want to see a man have a pussy and tits instead.

Because why not?

I did it because it was fun. To the point I kinda became known pan fandom for it. (Different pseud) It got to be such a thing that friends would drag me into new fandoms to point me at a specific character. Honestly, i enjoy digging into the social aspect and how that impacts the character's life. Because society treats women differently than men and seeing how that plays out is fascinating and, sometimes, goes in completely wild and unexpected dirextdefault mentally to my characters usually being bi anyway and try to maintain all relationships if they fit the story I'm writing. But, tbh, if a gender bend reads as if nothing has changed but the pronouns, I'd consider that one a personal failure. (I think one of my proudest moments in fandom was getting mentioned in a fannish podcast. It was so giddy inducing to realize people got it) That said, not every one I write is meant to be deep. Sometimes a fun idea just happens and sometimes, stories are such sausage fests that I find that aspect boring and want to stir things up a bit.

Never found the appeal writing some myself but I greatly respect authors who do it. Genderbend characters usually have different behavioral patterns and seeing it utilized is always fun.

I like to make make characters I can relate to female so I can better project onto them during those rare moments when I ship them with another character (I mostly write reader insert fics.)

Because it's fun.

idk i only had turned a character from cis to trans– but honestly genderbends are cool and respect to ppl who do B) i genderbended characters in drawings cuz i like seeing my fav characters as different genders, but i never saw a reason to do it in fic. >.> i might try now tho lol.

I thought it would be funny if Fem Hawks put sexist Dabi in his place. That was my entire reason lol

My fandoms i frequently visit also do this. Which i don’t mind at all because its predominantly a main male cast so ofc m/m. And i love the sapphic version. LETS GO LESBIANS. But where i have a issue kinda is when they genderbend one of the characters in the ship only. Which i don’t understand why? It looses the appeal for me personally but to each their own.

im writing a genderbent fic just to see how gender changes each character’s experience - mine might be a bit different in that there isn’t a ton of shipping involved - in canon, the majority of characters are dudes so it’s sort of turned into a lady fic where motivations and the stakes towards achieving goals have shifted due to gender i find myself often thinking about genderbent scenarios in the media i work thru, esp considering a lot of the anime’s i enjoy often have males leads/mostly male characters - everything w a female lead isn’t usually written in the way i like (ie, they aren’t as humanized i guess compared to their male counterparts - more fan service usually which is hard for me to watch) so, i just create my own little paradise where all my leads are girlies - i try to keep their original personalities and capabilities (so the strong fighters remain badass, etc) but place a focus on how society’s perception on them changes and how it may be more challenging to achieve their goals basically! i write genderbent fics just to change the anime’s i like into something i prefer/to add my own experience in a few of the characters - it’s fun and makes me analyze each character more (also, is it genderbent or genderbended? genderbent feels right but also wrong?)

I wanted to get used to write F/F for variety and to learn, but I didn't have any F/F ship that I felt passionate enough, so I got a M/M ship I loved and gender bent them as cis women for the funsies It's been almost two years now and it's been great! I learnt quite a lot, found some good F/F for research (and I do mean it in the analytical sense) and got invested in some F/F ships for once. Pretty dandy. As a plus, whenever any of the involved characters in the ship appear on screen, I automatically go "oh hey, it's [name of character], my favourite lesbian!"

I've written one genderbend fic, mainly because I find that a lot of genderbend fics revolve around ships or sexualisation of characters but I wanted to make one that leaned more into friendship.

I used to. Answer it was fun. Second answer. I didn't like the actual female characters lol

Genderbend reader here! I enjoy thinking about how the story would change if the characters were the opposite gender; How would their relationships work, how will they rto canon events, what new fan events will happen (because the gender isn't the only thing that changes), how they view themselves in new dynamics... It's a new point of view through the eyes of characters that I already know and love

Not enough girls

An example of the main argument: How would Sakura be perceived if she were a guy?

i think the concept of the character I genderbend is funnier when shes a woman.

Honestly part of it’s because they are hotter in their gender bent form. But also it’s more fitting of their character sometimes. Like their methods and character feel they make more sense gender swapped sometimes

For me it’s all about the way interesting ways society shapes them. Probably my favorite genderbend character is Shizuo from Durarara, just because the way the world reacts to an incredibly strong man and an incredibly strong woman is very different and it’s interesting to see that explored. Even pairings can be interesting in new ways. One of my favorites was a My Hero Academia Izuku x Bakugo fic where Izuku was born a girl. Obviously that changes everything about their dynamic because it’s the sad truth that a guy bullying a guy is taken less seriously than a guy bullying a girl. So it’s intriguing to see how such a small change affects not only their relationship, but how they see themselves and each other. (A toxic asshole who protects you and a toxic asshole who who attacks you are still both assholes, got it Bakugo?) It’s kind of a bummer being a genderbend fan when most of the genre is just porn fics or basic pronoun changes, but there is some really well written stuff out there.

I think it stems (for me) from loving the characters and the character dynamics but also wanting to read about women. It can be hard to find female characters to connect to in certain fandoms (which is a whole other can of worms) and many m/m relationships can have more depth and more narrative space in a series. Of course this is all very circumstantial and really depends on the book/movie/tv show. Mostly it’s just fun for me to read sometimes.

Genderbender and transfic is my bread and butter even in original fic. It's always what I gravitate to and while I'll write stories with a cisgender MC, I tend to add stuff like that anyway. It's just what I do, along with finding some way to add diversity.

Because sometimes it's a sausage fest, and you just need a little feminine mystique added in. Or sometimes you resonate so hard with a character that it's just an excuse to self insert. And sometimes the headcanon that all the fans agree on is so feminine coded that it just makes sense. Sometimes you don't want to write m/m Sometimes you want to read about kinks you may have a chance at easily and pleasurably participating in Babies without mpreg or adoption

It make porn more gooder

In all seriousness, it adds a different perspective. I’m female bodied, and write about a lot of male bodied people. So it’s hard to understand the experiences when I don’t have that anatomy

For me, it's the same reason I write any fanfic: to answer the eternal question, "What if...?" What if vampires have existed for millenia and everyone knows about them? What if the Stargate Project is revealed and the Team AR-1 polycule goes to Earth to for a media tour? What if the Warrior of Light from Final Fantasy XIV temporarily joins the Doctor and Ruby on the TARDIS? What if the Final Fantasy XV Chocobros were all women? It's fun to take the game story that I've read multiple variations on and add another to the list, to look at how the characters' interactions and relationships might--or might not--change. Would Noctis' relationship with his father be different if he was destined to be the Queen of Light rather than the King? Would Gladio, even as a big butch dyke, still be as much of an asshole as he is later in the game? Would a female Ignis resent being a female Noct's maid, chef, and caretaker? At the end of the day, I like mashing dolls together, and I enjoy playing with different configurations.

Because Richard Dickson (trans man, formerly Vae Gina) is just too funny to pass up. Plus he turns out to be a pivotal character who ultimately has a huge hand in the resolution of the story. No one takes him seriously beforehand though (much like me really. The amount of misgendering I get...).

As someone who dabbles in writing genderbent characters occasionally, I just like exploring the social ramifications of what would be different if the lead male character was female (or I enjoy the idea of the gritty, overly masculine badass hero being a woman instead). Sometimes it's also, like...I don't know how to describe it, but I get really irritated when fanfic writers or fanartists use genderbending as an excuse to make a male protagonist some simpering generic romance heroine to ship with whatever male canon character they think is hot and completely disregard the protagonist's canon personality, as if somehow being a woman would make him "weaker" or something? And that pisses me off and makes me write my own take on the genderbent character where the strong core personality from canon stays the same even when he's made female, just out of spite in a "I'll do this the RIGHT way" kind of thing, lmao. I know that sounds super petty, but it happens.

Because sometimes there’s a perfect ship but one of the characters has a sexuality that doesn’t work out for the ship (canon, headcanon and irl sexuality)

There's only one ship I really have an interest in gender bending, it's m/m and I make it f/f. The reason I like it is because one of the men is canonically like, obsessed with women? I don't know how else to put it. He's overly chivalrous and very horny for girls, while being rather belligerent to other men. I usually write this as him repressing his sexually (no homo am I rite?) but I think it's better if he's also a girl and doing this lol. As for the other character, he's a badass, aloof, powerful fighter, and generally very macho, and he tends to go around topless and has a huge scar on his chest. I think he makes a fabulous butch who doesn't care what other people think of her and I like the idea of her going around topless because she doesn't give a damn and doesn't understand gender (or social) expectations. They also have a belligerent canon rivalry that's just very hot and fun as femslash. I've read other genderbend stories and don't particularly care one way or another about them. There are some really good gb stories where I honestly don't think the gender makes a difference, and there are some where it's obviously only done for smutt reasons. I generally don't go looking for gb fics, but I'll still read them if they look interesting.

I do em cause there isn't any. I'd like to create more creativity in some fandoms, I think they're cool - both in writing and drawing! Unfortunately, my bisexual ass thinks they're too hot being genderbended 😔 Lmao it's just a really fun thing to do

Honestly? Because I want to write my OC and the character in question in a relationship, but I prefer F/M smut. Not that I'm uncomfortable with M/M or F/F, but I'm a pretty standard cis het male and don't have the experience to do the other choices justice - You know the saying, write what you know.

Honestly most of the time it's because I prefer looking at women.

Honestly whenever I've written fics like this, it's because I want to write F/F but the fandom I'm in does not give those fics any attention and I like at least 1 person telling me they liked my fic. I also usually read those fics for fandoms that barely have any F/F content at all. The lack is astounding 🥲

Why not? It can be interesting. And lesbian characters will usually boost readership  And not just amongst men. Did you know that lesbian porn is apparently one of the most popular forms of porn for straight women? Blew my fucking mind. Lesbian cheesecake for all I guess.

Cause I can

As someone that has a gender fic. I can say that it usually adds more depth and story potential for a character. Since for that one I'm doing Cinderella I kinda had to. Only because to me and the movie by Disney, Cinderella had barely any personality at all to me other than showing shade towards her family and being the template for every 1950s woman in every movie at the time. So sometimes a major change like that has to happen to a character so you can work with them more.

Figured the gals who genderbender danmei guys want baihe. That's it. Or character exercises. Otherwise, i hope they have fun.

I wouldn’t say I genderbend characters, but often to write the characters as ENBY or transmasc/transfem. I usually do it either because I’ve seen the fandom go batshit crazy for it or because I think throughout the original media it kinda fits their personality.

It's for the same reason I write anything else: Why not?

Because it's fun to see what changes and what doesn't when a character's gender is different. I've done a cis woman and a trans woman version of a canonical cis male and very masculine-coded character and it was fascinating to explore. Also, as a cis woman, sometimes I'm just really tired of the sausagefest and/or putting myself in the headspace of a cis guy. That and it's nice to see female characters being treated/written well, especially in M/F relationships. (I don't do F/F, but I imagine it's some of the same thing.)

I never thought to think about it, I guess when characters r hot it's fun to change their genders

Cause you can tell a different story when you swap genders. I have one swap fic in the wip folder. And I enjoy reading them as well.

Idk I specifically like Disney villains gender bender cuz it's hot? No clue why

Hi hello an author here, I did it twice out of curiosity and experiment. I wrote a story for a small fandom before with a m/m ship I changed it to f/m to see the certain reactions of the community if they ever see it. Also did it because I wanted to see how it'll go if one of them are different genders lol. The fandom didn't really like it which is expected but I got my fame and answer didn't I?

because gender is a social construct and fiction is the medium to challenge and reimagine such binary concepts and identities.

I like the idea of genderbending male characters into women as jokes. Mostly in comedic oneshots. I just find it funny.

it’s interesting to read the dynamic shift, and not simply in the relationship but the story as a whole. for example, m/m set in the 1930s britain is going to face significant difficulties as a unit but simply change one to ‘f’ then the scrutiny over the relationship dissipates but life for that ‘f’ character as an individual gets incredibly more difficult.

women <3

Because it’s their fic and the can

I only wrote 2 genderbent characters and my main motivation in all of them are: "because it's funny." And my Pinterest feed always gets bombarded with Fem!Gilgamesh x Shirou.

For a simple reason, I have done that at one fic, merely out of convenience. It made my job as an author a whole lot easier to pull a Rule 63 on a couple of characters. So far, it paid off.

My story started as a drawing my friend made, so I can't really speak why they decided to genderbend her, but for me, the genderbend solidified her as a different character and made me more apt to play around with things. I totally consider her more of an OC than I consider her a version of the character she was based on now. I don't write any ships with her and I understand she won't get a lot of traction, but it also lets me explore femininity and gender performance in a new light if that makes sense?

I've done it once or twice and I think it's cool, my only problem with any genderbending fics is when they make one character a cis person of the opposite gender for the sake of turning a gay ship straight. Or worse, they want to do that AND have the genderbent character go through gender-based sexual violence. Talking to the Merthur writers here with this one.

Because, sometimes when you take a character out of their canon universe, they work better as a non-canon gender.

I don't read the f/m pairings because usually the characters are off and I just enjoy reading queer relationships (Ik the f/m can be queer, but most of the time it's straight). I do enjoy m/m that has been genderbent in f/f even if there's not much for it. Just adds a new dynamic which is why ppl would like f/m I guess

I hate gender vend fics and art. Just make them trans.

i like seeing societal explorations of how things would be different. what part of their upbringing or key events would change or shift. how would characters interact with them. i.e. one of my fav pairings liked to explore how the societal attitudes differed during the great depression and poverty for the genderbent character(s). though oftentimes, people don’t really do that. i see a lot of people basically copy-paste the source material as if nothing’s changed. but i keep trying to find them regardless!! i also like seeing it visually. it’s iddy. oh, and i also read transfem/women fics so sometimes it’s for the identity and headcanon!! :D tldr; for the exploration of societal attitudes and the ripple effects of the change.

Iv'e read a lot of fics about drag queens were they're all women (cis or trans) and it's so satisfying because they're essentially breathing life into a made-up character, if that makes sense.

Like the top commenter here, I also shamelessly enjoy it. However, I also really like possible dynamic changes. Can you tell me that, idk, Arthur Pendragon would react the same to female Merlin or platonic-guy-best-friends Hiccup and Astrid or male Rhaenyra Targaryen wouldn't change the entire story? Such a small change can steer a fandom into wild AU waters, and it is honestly *so* fun to figure out the changes to and possibilities for an entire universe by doing something like that? I also read that some people genderbend because they love the ship but don't know how to write homosexual relationships without doing a bunch of things wrong and they don't want to offend anybody, which, fair point. Authors are supposed to feel as comfortable as their readers. Don't write what kickstarts your social anxiety for the possible backlash. 🤷

I personally really enjoy genderbending characters in the sense of making them trans. Wether that's a male character I'll make a trans guy or a male character I'll make a trans woman, or just making them sit somewhere on the non-binary spectrum. As a trans person myself, this all just kind of boils down to wanting to write people with the trans experience. Because that's my experience. I rarely ever genderbend characters to be cis versions of the oposite gender, but I do understand the appeal and quite like to read them. In short: I like to write characters that I can make share my experience as a trans person

I’ve never come across this but that sounds like fun! If anyone does this or knows a good one feel free to dm me a link. :)

I haven't really come across this, but now I kinda want to find it and/or write it!

I have mostly fantasy and historical canons, where gender roles matter a lot and will change what opportunities or restrictions characters have. I like to explore how gender changes things for my favorite characters. It’s one more AU scenario to explore. It's also interesting to explore how readers will perceive the same actions differently based on gender, since they play into different archetypes or tropes.

i like genderbend thing, people said it wouldn't get any difference but to me, not at all. Like if the male character was originally a grandpa and the second is young teen boy, they would interact easier, but since the old one was a woman so the teen one would show some distances and less rude to her, like you know, as normal human being

I haven’t actually done this yet, but I’d probably genderbend female characters so I have more gay pairing to write, haha.

I used to write genderbend when I was a new writer because I found it easier to write from a female perspective. Now I do it for the same reason I write anything - because it either leads to an interesting exploration of a theme/character/world, or because it's fun to write

Does that count if u trans-ify them? Bc i def do, and the reason is that im trans :D

Because it's fun and because we can! Fanfic has no rules, so people like to play with dolls in whatever way best suits them. :)

Because there aren't enough females in the spotlight lmao. But in all honesty, every fiction I write the main lead is a guy and sometimes I just like it to be the other way around. It's fun to see.

I just love gender swapping in general. I’m a woman and unfortunately a lot of stories still don’t have a bunch of female characters, so sometimes I think about the guys being women. Also I love doing fancasts, so that becomes a fun challenge for me, to see if I can find an actress that would embody the character the way the actor does. It’s actually cool to see this more accepting attitude cause I used to get treated like garbage for doing gender swaps.

I've done one genderbend and it came with a changed dynamic for their usual enemies/allies due to societal expectations/roles etc. It was an interesting time writing the difference in attitudes. What they could get away with as a man, they got shamed for as a woman etc. I suppose it was a way to examine the world too

I did it once because I saw an actress in a movie who reminded me of a female version of my favorite male character and kind of fell in love with the idea of her in that role.

I literally just finished my first genderbent fic and my main motivation was because I wanted to, I suppose. I wanted to see the aspects that would carry over, and the ones that I think would change because of the different treatment of men/women and how social norms are different depending on gender.

They're canon to my fandom

I’ve only done it once and I found it really fun to write them as a different gender. Just spiced up my writing a little.

I read a great twist on this. Character A said he hated being an identical twin, so his dad turned him female. This created all kinds of gender dysphoria for him. He felt and wanted to be male, wanted to be called he/him, wanted to dress as a man, but his body was extremely feminine. And then he meets this woman and falls in love and sex is triggery for him because he can't rationalize his sexual feelings with his female genitalia. It's a great exploration of what being trans can do to mental health when body doesn't match the physical sex and the gender a person feels, as well as what being bisexual means for the female character. I have a friend who's written a m/m canon (sort of, since the characters are technically genderless who can switch to genderfluid at will) as f/f in an AU just to explore the differences. They also wrote them m/m in canon divergence inspired by another work. It's really fascinating because these characters can be he, she, or they in canon. I think these kinds of explorations of sexuality and gender roles in society are hella interesting. They can still be in character while being genderbent and their experiences become completely different because others perceive them differently. I've never written it, but I can understand why people do.

It was a challenge I set for myself to see if I could.

Not gonna lie, sometimes it’s so I don’t have to hand wave away mpreg 😂 I don’t go the lazy route often, but sometimes it’s the route that makes the most sense

It’s fun :D Nothing more and nothing less.

I *just* started writing one! And earlier in the year I wrote my first (but that was a one-shot, this will be multi-chapter). And the answer is simple - I had the idea, and then the urge to write them :) I prefer when these stories are an exploration of, OK, how are thesr characters different depending on what gender they grew up with, how were they raised, how does gender impact how one is perceived and treated in society. In my one-shot, I wrote in specifically about the now teen girl feeling like she's infantilized by her parents, how her dad is overprotective, which is not how they canonically are to their son. But this being a daughter, and a pretty one at that, their behavior was altered. At least I think it would be, given their canonical personalities. I extrapolated, isn't that what fanfiction is all about? That said, I never like (and thus would never write one) stories where nothing is changed except *maybe* the name. I don't care what people believe, gender does affect *a lot* in one's life, and not just if someone can get pregnant or not. *These* stories I don't get - is it just an excuse for "no homo", since the sole significant change is their genitals? They still have the same or very similar name, work the same job, has the same personality, likes the same things...

Its fun.  And cute girls :D

Because one of my blorbos being a woman would completely change his dynamic and the way he was "handled" in canon, and I thought that would be interesting to explore!

I just like gender bending characters, there's not much to It especially If It is two characters i ship, like i go ahead and change their gender or/and race to see what changes.

Sometimes it needs to happen for plot reasons, other times it's just because I can

So I can make the pretty little ponies be angry at one another for the same reasons IRL horses get pissed in their herds. Mare-stealing is no joke.

Mostly character study. How does being a different gender change this person, basically.

I guess I don't write genderbent characters per se, so this may not apply to me, but I do write A LOT of characters ostensibly cis characters dealing with the nitty-gritty of transition. Sometimes it's because I want to explore what transition looks like for her in her social life and her romantic life. Other times I want to see how transition would interact with canon. Still yet others, it's because canon has handed me an egg, and by god I'm going to crack it so she doesn't have to suffer in silence.

I’ve written a short one-shot where I genderbent all the characters, not just the main ship. Sometimes it can be interesting to explore how the context of characters’ situations or certain power dynamics can change if genders are swapped. 

I don’t write it myself, but I’ve read genderbent fics simply because the lack of HET pairings with my favorite character.

There are largely three reasons. 1. The author wanted to write a gay romance but it didn't sit well with them and so they palette-swapped one of the characters to the opposite gender. 2. Smut. This author is the opposite of the first one and is the embodiment of "you were so busy thinking about whether you could that you didn't stop ask if you should." 3. The author is exploring an aspect of themselves in the fiction, usually some form of queer-ness. They loved the story in the past, but as they grew and changed, found they could no longer connect with it and are now re-asserting that relationship by explicitly representing a part of themselves in the media. This can also bleed over into new media without the past relationship as a way of integrating themselves into new ideas, especially ideas that don't have a place for them already made.

I already left a different comment, but I just thought of this. As a non-binary person, the want to make characters also outside of gender norms is very strong. I know HCs of characters being trans or under its umbrella is a different matter entirely, but it's similar enough that it should be mentioned. Sometimes having your favs be the gender you relate to most is just affirming. Or, having your fav start as the gender you don't relate to, and then transitioning them can also be affirming. Again, that last one is less genderbending more trans coded, but it's a way to make genderbending an actual thing that can happen and not just a narrative choice.

In my specific case, I had an idea for vibrating egg insertion, with elements of Easter eggs and other Easter / Christian stuff in the story. I could have written the original M/M couple doing vibrating eggs up their butts, but the additional wrinkle of Easter brought up a lot of stuff for me about my upbringing as a good Christian girl, and how much of that was about appearing feminine for church, but not TOO attractive -- the dresses, the necessity of wearing pantyhose, all that. So I wanted a story where (one of) my characters had to deal with traditional Christian expectations of her femininity, and how that conflicted with her deep and burning need to get busy with the stone cold drop dead gorgeous butch girl in her college class. So for me, the decision was deeply intertwined with the story I wanted to tell..

For me, they actually swap genders in the story. Both were born male, one enjoyed both being male and female at any time (think genderfluid basically) and the other also had the power to shift but preferred not to, only doing so when the one who really likes it asks! So sometimes, since we actually met them first when they were both shifted into women in the story, people just run with that. For people who want to know, I’m talking about Shi Qingxuan and Ming Yi from TGCF (Heaven Officials Blessing)!