Bodyswitching

[Shendude]

I'm not sure this is the right place for this, but here goes...

Lately, another board I frequent has been swamped with "bodyswitch" threads. More specifically, Superheroine male-to-female bodyswitch threads. That is to say, some guy, often a "horny teen", finds himself transported into a superheroine's body.

Usually, I find that I can get into all manner of things, even those that thoroughly disgust me, for the duration of a story, but I can't get into these at ALL.

What is the appeal of these or any other "bodyswitch" threads?

 

[cantdog]

You got me. The concept has a vogue once in a while. Feature films even. Prelude to a kiss. Big.

I think it's a vehicle for satire on the one hand (the outsider's POV, you follow) and a vehicle for exploration of age/gender identity issues, on the other.

 

[BlackShanglan]

Fetishization of power/powerlessness might be another. Many sexual fetishes do come down to power. I've read a number of stories of that sort, and it seems to me that the male-to-female switch often depicts the female figure as either thoroughly powerless or remarkably - usually sexually - powerful. Possibly also a manifestation of desire to possess? No more intimate way to utterly possess and control a female body than to be in it. Interesting, really, that you mention male-to-female transformation, because now that I think of it, I can't remember ever reading a female-to-male story of that nature, or ever seeing one.

It's odd. As one officially (here at least) ungendered, I quite enjoy stories written from either perspective. However, I rarely enjoy gender transformation stories. I can only think of one really good one, at the moment.

Shanglan

 

[Stella_Omega]

I doubt I would care at all about these superheroine fantasies- because, as BlackShaglan suggests, it's power transfer that turns me on, and superpowers are boring to me.
As a teen and young adult, my characters often switched genders, by various fantasy or sci-fi methods, often in the middle of sex- forcing their partners, in some cases, to confront homophobia... or hunt for a new orifice... I wish I still had those journals, which all were destroyed in a cellar flood! I've tried writing them again, and I just don't find the humorous touch I used to have.

 

[flawed_ethics]

Interesting, really, that you mention male-to-female transformation, because now that I think of it, I can't remember ever reading a female-to-male story of that nature, or ever seeing one.

Call me a fool, but when it comes to pleasure during sex, why be a dude if you're already a chick?

Sure I'm shallow, but when they're an active participant, they almost always seem to be having more fun. Just my two cents, mind you.

 

[Svenskaflicka]

Call me a fool, but when it comes to pleasure during sex, why be a dude if you're already a chick?

Sure I'm shallow, but when they're an active participant, they almost always seem to be having more fun. Just my two cents, mind you.

We DO have more nerves down there to feel the pelasure with.

I've not read many gender-switching stories, only those where someone pretends to be of the opposite sex, and that's not quite the same. I did see one movie about it though, which was VERY funny! An English film... "Virtual Love" or "Virtual Boyfriend" or something like that. It's about a girl who turns into her own ideal man.

Rent it - if you can decipher the title, that is.

 

[Colleen Thomas]

A lot of TG/Ts stories are predicated on such a premise. In general terms, it allows a writer to transpose a male POV onto a perfectly feminine body, without reams of backstory about drugs, voice training, surgery etc.

In erotic works, the drive is usually to appeal to Ts/tg readers and crossdressing/gender fetishists. In main stream works, the vehicle is usually used for satire or comidic situational and "sight" gags. On occasion it is used in horror stories to provide an immdiate tension to the work.

The appeal is going to be heavily dependant on the reader, his expectations and the skill of the writer. As Shang pointed out, there are power issues as well as sexual inssues, either of which can be played up or played down to get the effect the writer wishes for.

 

[Belegon]

This has been an idea I have played with from a theoretical/fantasy point of view...just because I would love to know how a woman really feels...The idea as it has existed in my mind has always been that of switching with a woman I am already in love with, so many of the other things that could come up simply are null. Even if it were something that was truly possible, be it through magic or science, for me to willingly do something like this would involve such a major level of trust...