...> To me, it's just as big a cop-out to automatically assume that the 
id

*would* switch. In most of the written SF/Fantasy I've read, this is a
very open question in gender-switching stories -- heck, in just about any
transformation/possession/etc. story. Does the form shape the
personality, or does the personality remain the same? I've seen it
treated both ways, and as long as it's treated with some thought either
way, I don't particularly care which way the author pics. And honestly,
since some of the worst examples I've seen (like Heinlein's _I Will Fear
No Evil_) blithely assume that when person x's personality is placed in
body y, person x will automatically assume the nature of body y, I tend
to view that as the biggest 'cop-out' position.

I think Takahashi did at least an above-average treatment: Ranma thinks
of himself as a man, but over time we see some ways in which the female
body has changed him (like the scene at the beginning of the Kodachi
introduction in the manga, where he notes that the girl body is 'the way
to go' when shopping for sweets.)

Travis Butler...

Y'know, there is a section of the comic I wrote that conserns a gender 
bender like you described.  In "NInja Troop", the loud mouth jerk of a 
boy trooper gets turned into a girl (its a long story).  I wrote it as 
him having all the characteristics of a girl, including an atraction to 
guys.  He naturaully denies any atraction to guys around his Boy trooper 
friends and denies any attraction to women when he's around his 
girlfriends ( he winds up in a girls' school).  He even winds up falling 
in love with a boy (who has Tsubasa-like tenacity), but he/she can't come 
to actually date him because, deep down, he's not a real girl.  
	The whole point of the substory was to show ( in my opinion) the 
gender gap: girls are nicer.  If we all could walk in the moccassins of 
your average young maden the world would be a nicer.  "Lucas/Luca", as 
his/her character is called, developes from a assmunch to a generally 
open-minded, nice guy(girl?)
	How does his story end?  Well, you'll all find out when I get 
published!  
	I was thinking about developing this theme for a Ranma fic, but I 
don't have the time.  Comic book inking takes alot of time.

--HAYES