[meta] the appeal of genderswap

[escritoireazul]

I've been thinking about this for awhile, because so much genderswap coming across my flist in SPN fandom, specifically Winsister. I really don't understand why, though in some ways, it makes more sense to me that it would happen in SPN, where there is a distinct lack of female characters. (Though there are some awesome ones, but that's for another discussion.) Then there was this post looking for femslash perspectives on genderswap.

Now I'm curious. What do you like about genderswap? What don't you like? Do you have an opinion on it?

I'm not being flip, I'm really curious about this. So far, I've just not seen the appeal, but I want to understand it.

Comments

[alixtii.livejournal.com]

I've most often heard it explained as predominately-female fandom taking the objects of fascination which aren't like them (and may fascinate them regardless of the writer's sexual preference precisely because they aren't like them) and working with them by turning them into something they do understand (which doesn't quite defeat the purpose, because then all the interesting stuff which genderswap makes possible can then happen). Alternately, I've heard it described as a vindictive attempt to inflict male characters with the troubles of womanhood, but that's often seen as misogynistic. (Although, right now, as I sit and think about it, I'm not sure how fair that is.)