At 09:50 AM 10/28/96 -0600, Richard Lawson wrote:

WARNING!  Spoiler about my recent story, "Thy Outward Part".  If you
haven't read it, you may want to before responding to this survery.

Caroline Ann Seawright wrote:

Well... hrm ... that's very shoujo to say the least.

What's "shoujo"?

I didn't think it was that shoujo - isn't shoujo more like the magical girls 
genre?

Well written and everything, but you wanted to talk about issues, ne?

:)  Yup... like I said, it's a reactionary fanfic.

Which stories are you reacting to, apart from "Thy Inward Love"?

Somehow, I don't think it's possible for a person to change preferences
just like that ... I would *never* go for a girl, even if I had the

I thought she was dating a guy for appearances' sake instead of actually 
changing her orientation.

body of a guy ... It's not a thing you learn, nor a thing that someone
can teach you ... It's just something that is ... Although some people
change preferances, I don't think that it would happen like that.

Personally, I think Ranma has more of a preference for his female form
than you give him credit for... witness his/her speech at the pools of
Jusenkyo in the very last story.

Personally, I'd be turned off by a girl, however good a friend she was,
or however close she was to me ... It just seems really wrong for Ranma,
too ... He HATES being thought of as a homosexual - and now he's just
thrown himself into BEING one ...

But innocent bystanders would think of her as straight.

Well, that's the thing.  Is a somebody who was a guy until he turned 16,
then became half guy/half girl, then full time girl, homosexual if
he/she goes out with a guy?  The definition of "homosexuality" was never
meant to take this kind of situation into account.  :)

I think that would count as transsexual (like in real life when a guy says 
he should have been born a girl or vice versa).  In fact, I know a guy who
likes girls and claimed a few years ago that he was really a lesbian or 
something.

Outside looks don't change the inside person. Someone of the same sex
liking you/lusting after you won't make you change, either, however
nice they are towards you ... It's just not something that happens,
in anything that I've encountered or heard of.

Well, how many people do you know have gone through an involuntary sex
reassignment?  :)  This is all hypothetical, of course, since this just
won't ever happen in the real world.  Ranma's change just isn't

It already did!  A while ago the Boston Globe newspaper had a short article 
about a boy in Central or South America (Mexico or Peru, I think) who was 
forced to turn female.

See, when he was seven a dog mauled him and severely damaged his genitals.  
Then, when his parents took him to the hospital they asked the doctors to 
turn him into a girl instead of trying to fix the damage.  Several years 
later (I think he's fifteen now) he took them to court and sued them for 
mental abuse, and he's getting more surgery to turn back into a guy.

physical, it's biochemical, right down to the ability to give birth. 
It's something we can't even begin to imagine.

Really?  I thought we imagined it a lot.  Where did you think all these 
fanfics came from?

So, basically, I think that the whole story is OOC... for the reactions

Speaking of OOC, shouldn't Nightelf be waving that flag sooner or later?

of Akane and Genma, too ... It's just not something that they'd do,
just as turning gay, just because he's locked into a girl body, isn't
something that Ranma'd do ...

I've always thought of Genma as being quite sexist (Ranma is, too).  If
the heir to the Saotome School were to become a woman full time, I could
imagine it affecting Genma quite strongly.  

On the other hand, Soun has a female heir, and he and Genma seem to agree on 
this kind of stuff, so maybe Genma wouldn't be so harsh.

Akane would *not* be able to marry a woman.  Your points above, about
changing sexual preferences, apply to Akane.  She just wouldn't be able
to do it, I think, and their relationship would change.

I got the impression that maybe Akane didn't want to inflict a celibate 
marriage on Ranma since she couldn't turn lesbian.

Just my opinion, of course, which is why I wrote the story.  :)

That's cool.

And you forgot the last option that Ranma could have - have a sex change
operation.

What if Ranma got a sex change operation and then found that kettle and 
turned back to his uncursed form?  Would effect like scars still be on his 
male form?

It's easier to change your body than to change your preferences.

But changing your body is a lot more expensive!  Maybe Nabiki could get 
involved....

Maybe we need to take a poll.

ATTENTION FFML'ers:  If you suddenly found yourself turned into the
opposite sex, down to the level of your chromosones, and such a change
was IRREVERSIBLE, would you:

A)  Keep your body AND your sexual preference;

B)  Keep your body and CHANGE your sexual preference;

C)  Have surgery to return your body to its former gender;

If the first change was surgical, definitely (C)!  Otherwise, I don't know.

D)  Other (please state);

E)  Bap Lawson for asking you such a stupid question?

@Bap!

Mutliple answers are allowed.  :)  If you want to make comments, I'll

publish them along with the results.

I'll wait until after AWA and post the results.

Kun-chan...

Thanks for the feedback, Kun-chan.  Definitely food for thought.

-- 
-Richard
sterman@sprynet.com

Come see my Fanfic Web Page:   
http://home.sprynet.com/sprynet/sterman/fanfic.htm

p.s. this is for some other threads on the topic.  "Homophobic" doesn't just 
mean you don't want to be gay.  It means you also hate other people who are 
gay.  There's a big difference.  Just thought I'd make that clear.