Line #32 Main/SecondLawOfGenderBending


1	->''"Any character, after being gender bent, will come to enjoy their new gender more than their old gender."''
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3	A fictional character that gets his or her gender bent often becomes gradually accustomed to life as a new man or woman. Eventually they likely will experience an epiphany: that they are better off in their new gender than they ever were in their old one. This is the Second Law of Gender Bending, where a gender bent person would, if offered a chance to revert to their former gender, turn it down because they have come to enjoy the benefits of the change.
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5	The epiphany typically takes one of two forms:
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7	* A reluctant admission, either because they've changed too much to return to the way things were or are loath to admit the enjoyment they get from their new lifestyle.
8	* A jovial acceptance, where they quickly discover how much fun life is after the gender flip, and they never want to go back.
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10	A specific variation of IChooseToStay which often results from TheMindIsAPlaythingOfTheBody. May involve BecomingTheMask or GoingNative depending upon surrounding circumstances. Can result in BeneathTheMask when the GenderBender allows a character to reveal a hidden side of their personality. Contrast YouCantGoHomeAgain for characters who'd like to return to their former gender but realize they've changed too much to make that possible. See the ThirdLawOfGenderBending, which frequently (but not always) precedes or overlaps with this trope.
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12	Since the FirstLawOfGenderBending ensures that most of these characters are male-to-female, ManIFeelLikeAWoman is frequently a contributing reason for these characters' choice. Though it would take [[AllMenArePerverts a rather base view of human nature]] to assume this as someone's primary reason for wanting to keep his/her gender change permanent, many "adult" stories often do make use of the common pornographic cliché that sex is inherently more pleasurable for women even if their authors would rather point to more dignified reasons. Even in those works where the above is not the case, the law likely is as prominent as it is at the behest of the first, as from a [[WatsonianVersusDoylist Doylist]] perspective, there are not a lot of other ways of resolving the GenderBender situation that result in both a HappyEnding and don't violate the FirstLawOfGenderBending.
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14	Often used as an EndingTrope since following this law typically resolves the gender-bent character's FishOutOfWater status, though it may not eliminate all DifferentForGirls moments.
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16	The one GenderBender plot that usually ''averts'' this law is when it occurs due to a FreakyFridayFlip, mostly because these usually have other changes beside gender.
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18	Of the three laws of gender-bending, this one is the most prone to carrying UnfortunateImplications relating to transgender people. With increasing awareness that gender identity is strong and inherent for many people, writers are now expected to acknowledge that if a character prefers living as the other sex, they had some form of gender dysphoria already. In particular, the idea that ManIFeelLikeAWoman could be reason enough for a man to enjoy being female is considered a DiscreditedTrope. Instead, being subject to a magic sex change may make a character [[LGBTAwakening realize they were already transgender]], or [[ComingOutStory come out of the closet]] if they were already aware (in which case the trope can have applicability as WishFulfillment). Other authors take a more nuanced approach, where someone finds they appreciate some facets of their new body [[AmbiguousGenderIdentity but without this giving them a clear binary gender identity.]]
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20	See also ItsTheJourneyThatCounts. Contrast GenderBenderAngst, though many works have characters experience a mix of both, at different periods or at once.
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22	----
23	!!Examples:
24	[[foldercontrol]]
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26	[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
27	* ''Manga/AsukaHybrid'':
28	** The titular Asuka [[ZigZaggingTrope dances around this]] -- he does enjoy a lot of the momentary benefits of being turned into a cute girl (especially since [[InTouchWithHisFeminineSide he was already quite feminine to begin with]]), but just as often, this freaks him out as he ultimately really wants to be turned back into a guy, and he doesn't want to be tempted away from this goal.
29	** Played straight with Akira. Even though him being turned from female to male was an accident, he's completely comfortable with staying as a guy because it make him more accepted as a martial artist, with his father wholeheartedly supporting his new son and getting him legally recognized as such. Unlike Asuka, who's searching for the sorceress who accidentally genderbent them in order to reverse the change, Akira's searching for her to make him ''even manlier.''
30	* ''Manga/AyakashiTriangle'':
31	** Matsuri has [[ZigZaggingtrope some very unusual feelings]] about being turned into a girl. He's fine with day-to-day life as a {{tomboy}}, and even acknowledges multiple upsides, but still wants to return to being a boy eventually. His main point of contention is that he loves Suzu, but only wants to be her ''boy''friend--even apart from her burgeoning attraction to his female form, dating her is the one thing Matsuri refuses to do while he's still a girl.
32	** At one point, Reo and Suzu [[DiscussedTrope wonder if Matsuri might eventually identify as female]], and discuss how that would [[TransRelationshipTroubles affect their feelings for him]]. Reo is completely undisturbed, not basing her attraction to Matsuri at all on gender. Suzu initially agrees, even if she clearly finds Matsuri more attractive a guy. But seeing Matsuri dressed up in a very feminine way--[[ClingyJealousGirl and]] Soga [[StupidSexyFlanders awestruck]] at the sight of him--makes Suzu think she has to change Matsuri back before that can happen.
33	** Once, Matsuri muses his GenderBenderFriendship with Lu and Yayo shows he's "better suited" to being a girl. After some prying from Suzu, he admits he's just worried they'll hate him if they know he was ever a guy, which turns out not to be true.
34	** At the series' very end, [[spoiler:once Shirogane is able to reverse the transformation, Matsuri has decided they're actually ''more'' ready to date Suzu as a girl, though they still want to eventually do so as a boy. Following that, they give a lot more consideration to their life as a girl, again bringing up their friendship with Yayo and Lu as a girl "became a big part of who I am". So Matsuri decides to stay a girl for ''at least'' their entire time in high school.]]
35	* Mai Natsume of ''Manga/BlazblueRemixHeart'' was originally a boy, but got magically transformed into a girl right before the manga started. Mai was at first uncomfortable with her new gender and tried to find a way to change back, but later on she came to enjoy her life as a girl, [[GenderBenderFriendship especially her female friends]], and even fell in love with a male classmate. The manga ends with Mai fully accepting her change in life and seeing herself as a girl.
36	* In the end of ''Manga/CheekyAngel'', Megumi finally realizes/admits that [[spoiler: she'd been a girl all along. Lacking the power to grant her wish to become male, the trickster spirit had given her FakeMemories of being a boy. Since the delusion had helped her foster the tough, fair, forthright, and assertive (i.e., stereotypically "male") aspects of her personality, Megumi considers her wish granted nonetheless.]]
37	** [[spoiler:This is tweaked in the anime where she was legitimately transformed into a girl and comes close to reversing the change in the finale after finding the book containing the spirit responsible. Having fought alongside her fan club to save her best friend Miki, Megumi decides to kiss their leader Genzo as thanks despite often rebuking his advances; the spirit in turn assumes this to be her admitting that she prefers to be female and departs, seemingly for good. Her reaction is a bit mixed in that she clearly wanted to undo her change and is thus disappointed that she's now apparently stuck as a girl forever, but she still seems to enjoy her new circumstances all the same... albeit with the caveat that she still insists that she's a boy all the same.]]
38	* The ''other'' transgender Megumi in ''Manga/TheDayOfRevolution'' goes the "reluctant admission" route when she's menaced by a boy and realizes that she finally knows how it truly feels to be a girl. Fortunately her new-found sense of femininity also empowers her to free herself with the ultimate female defense against male attackers: a GroinAttack so severe it practically paralyzes him.
39	* "[[Manga/KanojoniNaruHi Kanojo ni Naru Hi ]]" is the slice of life romcom of this trope. The manga does not complicate matters too much. Basically the world is a place where a person can spontaneously enter a metamorphosis to completely change gender, like a caterpillar turning into a butterfly, and it is supposedly a natural occurrence to balance the scales of gender numbers in the world and its name is "Emergence". There is never a scene of girls turning into boys though. The story follows the two best friends and rival Miyoshi and Mamiya. Miyoshi being the silent and introverted of the two and Mamiya being the friendly extrovert and "best at everything" best friend/rival. One day Miyoshi comes to school and finds out that Mamiya, who has been missing school because of a health problems, suddenly appears as a girl and reveals that in the last weeks she had gone through "Emergence". What follows is a highschool romcom where Miyoshi and Mamiya have to adjust, rediscover and change their friendship all the while having to go through the social issues of a teenager having their gender changed during school by bullies and students who had previously respected or were charmed by Mamiya. Truly it is a good slice-of-life story because it follows not only Mamiya still being perfect at readjusting to her new life but Miyoshi rediscovering his friendship and his new feelings for his best friend. Although the manga ends in their last year of graduation, the sequel actually has a couple of special chapters that show what happens to them during collage and after.
40	* ''[[Manga/KanojoNiNaruHi Kanojo Ni Naru Hi Another]]'' is the sequel to "[[Manga/KanojoniNaruHi Kanojo ni Naru Hi]]" uses ItsTheJourneyThatCounts to offer an unusual and bittersweet take on this trope. Sagara is ultimately happy about her GenderBender even though she does miss being a boy because the resulting struggle to forge a new identity broke her out of her self-imposed isolation, opened her eyes to the people who cared about her and taught her the true value of love and friendship. It's not the change itself she accepts so much as the personal growth it triggered. The fact that [[JumpingTheGenderBarrier it made her sexually compatible with the love of her life]] is just icing on the cake.
41	* ''Manga/KashimashiGirlMeetsGirl'': Hazumu never expresses any desire to return to her former gender. Of course, the aliens announced from the get-go that she couldn't become a boy again even if she wanted to, but you'd think she'd have missed ''something'' about life as a boy, even if it was only the ability to write her name in the snow. However, since the gender change allows her to get together with the girl(''s'') of her dreams and her parents seem to prefer it she really doesn't have all that much to complain about. (It doesn't hurt that pre-change Hazumu was ''more girly'' than every other girl in the series and may even have been transgender without realizing it.)
42	* Mao of ''Manga/{{Maomarimo}}'' inverts the usual plot arc associated with this trope by accepting her involuntary GenderBender straight off as an act of faith in her village deity. The drama comes from the various ways her family, her best friend, and her village deal with her change. Her three older sisters exhibit the full range of reactions from simple acceptance to flat-out denial.
43	* ''Manga/NyotaiKa'' uses YouCantGoHomeAgain to offer a very "base view of human nature" take on this trope because Manaka finds sex is so much more pleasurable for women (soft sensitive skin! exquisitely delicate genitalia! multiple orgasms! boobies!) that he cannot accept the pale imitation of sexual pleasure that men experience.
44	* WholesomeCrossdresser Tao Nozomu from ''Manga/NozomuNozomi'' accepts that her GenderBender gives her ready access to the cuteness she craves but still hides her new gender for an entire year (gradually transforming into a SweetPollyOliver in the process) largely because she's not sure she won't change back and can't figure out how to break the news to her family and friends. Unlike most examples here Nozomu's GenderBender occurs in early puberty and he was barely past the point of noticing girls before he became one.
45	* ''Manga/OsananajimiwaOnnanokoniNaare'':
46	** Iori is generally [[GenderBenderAngst very unhappy]] constantly being turned into a girl by Sylphie, but [[DownplayedTrope there's rare occasions]] where "Shiori" [[ThrowTheDogABone is pleased by it]]. Most obviously, after trying to stay a boy for swim class, Shiori enjoys free swimming with the girls when the boys' swim coach has a much harsher exercised routine planned.
47	** Since Sylphie [[FirstLawOfGenderBending wants Shiori to stay a girl]], she'll sometimes [[InvokedTrope invoke]] this trope to argue Iori should stop resisting. She's astoundingly myopic and unconvincing, especially when she [[ShipperOnDeck thinks Shiori should hook up with]] [[JumpingTheGenderBarrier her male friend Shuichi]]. [[spoiler:Seraphie has an [[BlueAndOrangeMorality even more deranged view]]: that it's fine to [[{{Gaslighting}} trick]] or [[FakeMemories force]] Shiori into believing she was ''always'' a girl because she'll be "happy" with it that way.]]
48	** Iori's classmates likewise think he should be fine living as Shiori--the guys just want another cute girl around, but the girls genuinely feel like advocating for the quality of their own sex. The "upsides" they lists are pretty ridiculous trivial (women-only promotional events, a slight increase in life expentency) or just make Shiori more disturbed (getting gifts from guys, wearing cute clothes).
49	** One WhatIf omake shows if Shuichi became a girl instead of Iori, and the latter is shocked how eager Shuichi looks. Another shows if Iori and Miyu, the girl who has a crush on him, ''both'' changed genders; the former seems fine with it because it "balances out".
50	* Heavily downplayed in ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'': Even though Ranma [[SexShifter can easily make himself male again whenever made female]], he still wants to make it so he'll be male full-time. That said, Ranma starts to bring his macho approach to acting girly and cute. Ranma's competitive streak is so hardwired that he even refuses to lose in a contest of femininity, which is a plot point in at least two stories. He also becomes increasingly willing to use his girl form's good looks to his advantage, either to manipulate and trick his enemies, or simply to acquire FavorsForTheSexy. The very last chapter of the manga addresses this in a comically mean-spirited fashion: Ranma discovers that he inadvertently flooded the Jusenkyo Springs whilst saving Akane's life from the arc's BigBad, and makes a noble speech about how he forgot all about changing back into a guy permanently and just wanted to save Akane... with Akane suggesting that he is, essentially, lying through his teeth and trying to sound like a stoic badass when in reality he's very upset. She's proven right in the next and final story, where Ranma essentially ''abandons her at the altar'' to get his hands on a cask of the Spring of Drowned Man water that would cure him. Then, when [[DirtyOldMan Happosai]] drinks it, he tries to force him to throw it back up so he can use it, [[FridgeHorror meaning]] that Ranma would ''[[{{Squick}} bathe in puke]]'' if he legitimately thought it would cure him.
51	* {{Downplayed\|Trope}} in ''Manga/{{Sekirei}}'': Falling in love with Minato causes Homura's body to start becoming female. He initially [[GenderBenderAngst hates this so much]], he's willing to die from SuperpowerMeltdown after a failed attempt to kill the one responsible. After Minato saves him, Homura accepts his feelings for him and that his body will continue to change, though unlike most examples Homura's gender-identity ultimately remains the same as before.
52	[[/folder]]
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54	[[folder:Fan Works]]
55	* ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11946465/1/Genderbent Genderbent]]'': A concoction of dust released by Nora causes some of the main ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'' cast to change genders. By the end of the story, Ren, Nora, and Weiss choose to remain in their new bodies, even taking new names. Initially Jaune and Pyrrha decide to stay as a girl and boy respectively, though the final chapter revealed they turned back.
56	* ''Harry Potter and the Mists of Avalon'': Harry is [[GenderBender turned into a girl]] by a potion gone wrong. Much later, an antidote to the potion is developed, but by then she has spent so much time as a girl that she chooses not to change back.
57	* ''Fanfic/IrreversibleDamage'': Following some initial panic attacks, most characters take their transformations very much in stride. In particular, Greg/Greta mainly just cares about how she can use her new situation to gain popularity at school, and eventually decides that she likes being a girl and that she probably wouldn't bother using an antidote even if it existed. Among other characters, "Rowlette" quickly accepts being a girl and promptly starts dating Bryce, Tyson happily starts having sex with the other guys, and Greg's Uncle Gary is elated at the opportunity for advancement at his job as an adult entertainer.
58	* ''Fanfic/VoyagesOfTheWildSeaHorse'':
59	** Invoked and Averted ''hard''. Ranma notes that he has been confronted by people who either told him that he was ''lucky'' for his SexShifter curse or that he would be "better off" just staying a girl permanently. [[BerserkButton His reaction makes it very clear that anyone so unwise ended up in a world of hurt.]]
60	** Ryoga Hibiki makes it clear that he hates his new SexShifter curse just as much as Ranma does, if not more, since he isn't ''quite'' as [[NobodyCallsMeChicken hyper-competitive]] as Ranma. He only made the change because his original [[{{Animorphism}} Spring of Drowned Pig]] curse was a death sentence whilst exploring the [[DeathWorld Grand Line]].
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63	[[folder:Film]]
64	* {{Averted\|Trope}} in the ''Franchise/StarTrek'' porn parody ''Charly XXX''. The female {{Body Surf}}ing alien uses her powers to take over Captain Quirk and the starship Intercourse, but quickly discovers a drawback in that men get tired after BoldlyComing. She body-surfs back into a BridgeBunny so she can have more sex, enabling Quirk to take back his ship.
65	* In ''Film/LeComiche2'', a male individual accidentally undergoes an undesired breast augmentation first and a sexual reassignment surgery later. She becomes the favourite odalisque in a harem and reveals she is very happy about it.
66	* ''Film/TheHotChick'': Though initially horrified, Clive uses Jessica's body to become a successful crook, and when Jessica tracks him down, [[spoiler: Jessica has to trick Clive into getting her body back]].
67	* Played with in ''Film/SomeLikeItHot.'' At first, Gerald doesn't like being Daphne. Dresses are too drafty, he can't hit on women, etc. Eventually, though, he enjoys being female immensely, to the point where the HoYay with Osgood is so great that Joe makes him say "I'm a boy," over and over. But hey -- ''Nobody's perfect.''
68	* Played with in ''Film/Switch1991'' as the protagonist can't decide whether to be a male or female [[spoiler:angel while in Heaven]].
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71	[[folder:Literature]]
72	* As one might suspect from the title, the entire plot of Justin Lieber's ''Beyond Rejection'' revolves around getting an involuntary GenderBender to this point. Unlike other examples this is treated as a potentially deadly situation requiring intensive medical intervention to prevent dysphoria and death.
73	* Played with in ''Literature/ABrothersPrice'' when a male character disguises as a (female) whore. Due to male's GenderRarityValue, the whores in this world are women who disguise as men. He quite enjoys the ability to walk around without being noticed.
74	* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'': In ''Literature/{{Jingo}}'', although he's only crossdressing and not actually a woman, Corporal Nobbs is reluctant to get back into his male uniform/role after he's spent half of the book wandering around Klatch as Beti.
75	* Variation 2 shows up in Sean [=McMullan's=] ''Eyes of the Calculor'': John Glasken's distress at being reincarnated in the beautiful body of young Valesti Disore initially manifests in a lot of psychopathic behavior (such as amputating the hand of a man who dared to pinch her butt) but in the end she claims she finds being a woman (albeit one with a "baleful and malevolent" reputation) "rather liberating."
76	* ''Literature/VorkosiganSaga'': In ''A Civil Campaign'', Lady Donna Vorrutyer goes off-world for gender reassignment surgery so she can contest her vile cousin's ascension to her late brother's Countship. Lord Dono soon admits that while she primarily did it out of a sense of duty, he'd discovered there were some advantages to being a man (especially in Barrayar's highly sexist society) so even if he lost, he would remain a man in order to explore them.
77	* The protagonist of David Thomas's novel ''Girl'' is a macho, laddish twenty something bloke who is mistaken for another patient while in hospital and mistakenly given gender reassignment surgery. Though initially horrified, when the news that reversing the procedure is unviable is broken to him he ends up deciding to commit fully to his new identity, and after cosmetic surgery, hormone replacement and therapy adapts to the life as an attractive, well-adjusted young woman. When towards the end of the book he/she is asked whether he was angry at the doctor responsible (she is suing the hospital) the protagonist admits that, given the chance, she would not want to give up her new life and female identity.
78	* So typical of most of Creator/JackChalker's GenderBender works (given his tendency to subordinate DifferentForGirls to TheMindIsAPlaythingOfTheBody) that only the exceptions are notable, like Joe de Oro from the ''Literature/RiverOfDancingGods'' series, who never accepts being changed from a barbarian hero into a tree nymph.
79	** An interesting variation occurs in Creator/JackChalker's ''Literature/WellWorld'' series: All new arrivals on the titular Well World are transformed into one of the native species (and frequently [[GenderBender Gender Bent]] as well.) This is usually followed by a SenseFreak and/or ShowingOffTheNewBody when they wake up in their new forms and eventually leads to an epiphany that they now regard their new body as their natural form.
80	** Played straight in Chalker's ''Literature/TheIdentityMatrix'': The protagonist embraces becoming a woman partially because it gets her the attention she's always craved and partially because the GovernmentConspiracy knowingly played upon that desire when they [[FalseMemories messed with her head.]]
81	** Averted in Chalker's ''The Four Lords of the Diamond'' series. In each of the books, the main character has his brain pattern imprinted on four prisoners, each being sent to a different planet in the Warden Diamond PenalColony. One of the bodies is that of a female. Fortunately for the protagonist, he is going to a planet that has the strange property of switching the minds of two people when they sleep with each other (in the literal sense). He jumps at the first opportunity to get himself back into a male body, and never looks back --even though this inevitably ''blows his cover''.
82	* The ''Literature/LandOfOz'' books have Tip. ''Literature/TheMarvelousLandOfOz'' stars a boy named Tip who works for an evil witch named Mombi. Near the end, it's revealed that Tip is [[ReallyRoyaltyReveal actually the lost Princess Ozma]]. She was RaisedAsTheOppositeGender in order to prevent people from finding her. Tip is very against the idea of being turned into a girl and wants to stay a boy, but once he's transformed back into Ozma he shows no discomfort at being a girl. Ozma is completely content with being female and develops a PseudoRomanticFriendship with Dorothy.
83	* In ''Literature/OrlandoABiography'', the title character sums it up: "Praise God, I'm a woman!"
84	* In ''Literature/PrincessHolyAura'', after Steve becomes acclimated to being a girl, Holly finds changing back into Steve gives her severe body dysphoria, so only does so at times of the most urgent need (such as explaining the whole thing to the other Maidens' parents, or [[spoiler:when she picks up a creepy male stalker on a walk home]]). She also takes great pains to explain to people that, though she started out as Steve, she now considers herself to ''be'' Holly in every way that matters. (This is at least in part to try to defang some of the creepiness inherent in a story concept that involves a 35-year-old man hanging out with a bunch of teenaged girls.)
85	** It nearly gives Holly a HeroicBSOD when [[spoiler:an adversary offers to let her go back to her old male self if she'll join his side, and]] she explicitly admits for the first time, even to herself, that she ''doesn't want to go back to being Steve.''
86	* Andrew Jackson Libby, a character from several of Creator/RobertAHeinlein's works, had his gender changed to female when he was resurrected, when it's discovered that he had both male and female sex chromosomes. He changes his name to Elizabeth Andrew Jackson Libby Long, and tells anyone and everyone that he's much happier as a woman.
87	* Ultimately averted in ''Literature/TheWarlockOfStrathearn''. The main character turns himself into a woman because [[spoiler:he falls in love with a lesbian.]] This works out very well for awhile, and he enjoys many aspects of being a woman. Eventually, though, [[spoiler:after his lover dies, he begins to experience the not-so-good parts of being a woman, and begins to want to be a man again. However, his powers aren't working anymore, and he has to make a deal with someone to change him back into a man.]] He turns out to like different qualities of being either gender.
88	* In ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'' after Balthamel is resurrected in the body of a Borderland woman he comes to accept his new life as a woman. His/her appetite for sex and women is not lessened in the slightest, the gender change does however broaden his interests and provide him a wealth of new assets.
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91	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
92	* In ''Series/DoctorWho'', it's a bit strange. Time Lords can routinely change genders via regeneration, but they also change personalities, which means their feelings towards their old and current selves can change quite dramatically from one incarnation to the next. When a Time Lord only known as "The General" regenerated from man to woman, they didn't seem uncomfortable in their male form but instantly remarked that they much preferred being female once the shift was done. The Doctor too, instantly felt quite pleased when they discovered that they had regenerated from Creator/PeterCapaldi to Creator/JodieWhittaker. The Master, whose attitude towards women has always been somewhat disdainful, embraces their new persona Missy with gusto.
93	* ''Series/StarTrekVoyager''. In "Warlord", would-be planetary dictator Tiernan does a GrandTheftMe on InnocentFlowerGirl Kes as he's dying. His followers aren't happy that their fearsome leader is now a cute alien female, but Tiernan finds the change quite useful, and not only because of Kes' psychic powers. He even announces a political marriage to his PuppetKing, then strongly implies to his squicked-out wife that he'd be quite interested in a threesome.
94	[[/folder]]
95	%% [[folder:Music]]
96	%% [[/folder]]
97	[[folder:Mythology]]
98	* Downplayed by Tiresias from Myth/ClassicalMythology, who angered Hera after hitting a pair of copulating snakes with a stick, killing the female, so she transformed him into a woman for seven years during which time he had children. Reasons vary on why he was changed back depending on the source (ranging from leaving the next pair of mating snakes he encounters alone to ''killing a male snake''), but he returns to being a man (averting the FirstLawOfGenderBending in the process). Later, when Zeus and Hera are having an argument about whether men or women enjoy sex more (each taking the opposite sex stance), they go to Tiresias for his unique perspective of experiencing it from both sides. Tiresias claims "of ten parts a man enjoys one only" (in other words, saying a woman enjoys it ten times as much), supporting Zeus' AllWomenAreLustful argument. This [[JerkassGods angers Hera who blinds him]], while Zeus consoles him by giving him the gift of prophecy, turning him into the TropeMaker for BlindSeer. Downplayed because he never says whether he prefers being a man or a woman, but does admit that he liked the sex better.
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101	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
102	* Downplayed in ''Magazine/{{Dragon}}'' magazine's "The Ecology of the Sheet Ghoul". The story's VillainProtagonist is a greedy miser who becomes a sheet phantom upon dying, and like any, seeks a human host to transform into a Sheet Ghoul. Eventually, he succeeds by slaying a female thief who tries to rob his house. He's a little irked at first upon finding himself in a woman's body, but then he figures, "Eh, better than nothing" and goes about his business. Being, by that point, an undead monstrosity that no longer had any biological functions (such as a sex drive) probably meant that it didn't make a lot of difference.
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105	[[folder:Theatre]]
106	* Played with in John Lyly's ''Gallathea''. After presenting as males for the bulk of the play and falling in love, both Gallathea and Phillida are revealed to each other, and the rest of the characters at the end of the play. Still in love, Venus pities them and declares that one of the maidens (which one is not revealed) will become a man for real so that they can be together.
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109	[[folder:Video Games]]
110	* In the UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch port of ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'', Mad Dummy gains a new form as Mad Mew Mew upon possessing a discarded ''Mew Mew Kissy Cutie'' doll, which is portrayed analogously to a gender transition (even switching from "they/them" pronouns to "she/her"). After doing so, she readily accepts this as her ideal and fulfilling self, with later dialogue (both in this port and in her minor appearance in the later UsefulNotes/XBoxOne port) emphasizing how much better she feels in this explicitly female form compared to her prior androgynous one.
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112
113	[[folder:Visual Novels]]
114	* Shouko Aihara from ''VisualNovel/GakuenSaiminReido''. He is originally a male bully and playboy known as Akira Aihara. As a revenge by the protagonist whom he used to bully, he is hypnotized into crossdressing and receiving breast implants. Though he tries to resist, Akira is then hypnotized again to act more feminine and gets his sexual orientation twisted. Afterwards, he falls in love with the protagonist, changes his name to Shouko, voluntarily takes female hormones offered by the protagonist, and eventually chooses to undergo sex change surgery.
115	* Almost every playable character in ''VisualNovel/GenderBenderDNATwisterExtreme'' ends up feeling this way (the one exception is Stephenie/Stephan, who was also the first female to male transformation in the game- canonically, she goes back to being a woman after the end of her arc and is seen in both her male and female forms in subsequent arcs), and it's even pointed out by the characters responsible in certain paths. Good thing too, since [[FirstLawOfGenderBending the gender-flipping turns out to be irreversible]]. A cure is discovered eventually, but by that time none of the characters who were affected by the initial accident are interested in going back to being male.
116	* ''VisualNovel/MiceTea'' has Felicia, a trans woman very deeply and firmly in the closet at the outset of the story who still goes by Felix in her public and private lives, but after drinking the titular transformative beverage she undergoes a shift in her body that more closely aligns with her actual gender, in addition to animal characteristics. While shocked and greatly unsettled at first, she quickly comes to grips with the reality of her situation and gradually grows to accept it, ultimately realizing it's what she's always wanted. Notably, regardless of what path and story the player choses to pursue, Felicia still comes out one way or another by the end of all of them.
117	** Zig-zagged with Gavin, who ends up drinking a "sugar & spice" altered tea on Felicia's route and undergoing a gender change of his own. He's quite upset at first and is desperate for his old body back, but once he figures out how to reverse the changes he ends up switching back and forth occasionally as he realizes he quite enjoys the experience. He still identifies as male and uses both he/him pronouns and his same name regardless of which gender he's presenting as, except when presenting femme at work whereupon he goes by Gabby. He's also highly apologetic when he accidentally bumps into Felicia in public when he's in "Gabby" mode, saying that he feels guilty about doing something like it for fun when there are people who do it for more legitimate reasons.
118	[[/folder]]
119
120	[[folder:Webcomics]]
121	* The emperor from ''Webcomic/BeyondTheVeil'' embraces this trope mere minutes after changing genders. It's implied issues with a new body were never a big concern and she takes her second-in-command as [[http://beyondtheveilcomic.com/?p=251 her new lover]] (having never found a worthy one as a man) before going back to trying to conquer the universe.
122	* Played straight in ''Webcomic/{{Cheer}}'' (the spinoff comic of ''Webcomic/TheWotch'') when Jo, the only one of the the transformed cheerleaders who knows she used to be a boy, freely admits that she and her friends were all troubled as boys and are all much happier as girls, though she still cries when she discovers that no one remembers her former male self's SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome. The other three jocks-turned-cheerleaders have so far averted this trope, since they don't appear to remember the past.
123	* Played with a great deal in ''Webcomic/TheDragonDoctors'', since there are a great deal of gender benders in it. It's all over the map, ranging from genuine gender dysphoria to total acceptance and everything in between.
124	* Used sparingly in ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'' despite all of the constant {{Gender Bender}}s:
125	** Justin specifically rejects the idea even though it would make him sexually compatible with the object of his unrequited affection.
126	** It's touching in Vlad/Vladia's case. There's nothing kinky about her accepting the change. The transformation humanized them, instead of just giving a GenderBender to their original monstrous form. For the first time in her whole life normal people aren't terrified by the sight of her, so she's willing to accept ''any'' form provided it's human, which her old, male form decidedly was not. And given that her one attempt to use her supposed shapeshifting powers was a painful, near-death experience she's not about to experiment even given the chance.
127	** Elliot initially had no interest in remaining female for long and considered his gender-bending PowerIncontinence distasteful. However, upon finding aspects of his magic he liked ([[spoiler:flying around as a [[ChronicHeroSyndrome superhero]]''ine'']] and [[spoiler:ogling his {{Goth}} form in a mirror]]) he's grown to accept the female forms [[spoiler: to the point of being worried that he might lose them if magic changes]]. Tedd at one point theorizes that Elliot would partly have to fulfil this trope to ''stop'' getting spells that involve or interact with turning into a woman (not enjoying being a female more than being a male, but finding things to enjoy about being a female). [[spoiler:As it turns out, what he disliked wasn't the turning-into-a-woman aspect of things, but, rather, the changing-involuntarily aspect; as of more recent installments, he describes himself as "gender casual".]]
128	** Tedd is a straight example. He likes this form of shapeshifting because his androgynous face becomes an advantage while close enough to Tedd's own form and he likes to feel attractive. Once this problem became moot [[FirstLawOfGenderBending it was revealed]] that FreakyFridayFlip is [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2006-08-07 #37 on his fetish list]]. Later strips established he's actually genderfluid, he just didn't know the term.
129	** Ellen states she doesn't suffer gender dysphoria and wouldn't want to be male (though there are hints that the LossOfIdentity associated with [[OppositeSexClone Opposite Sex]] CloningAngst was a sore point until she got a new set of memories).
130	* Played with in ''Webcomic/TheGoodWitch'': Angel is fond of using magic spells to force these sorts of second law declarations out of her brother as a form of torment. Played straight with Angel herself, though.
131	* The older T-Girls of ''Webcomic/JetDream'' all come to the first form of acceptance at varying rates. However, teen T-Girl Cookie Jarr was an awkward young lad transformed into [[AttractiveBentGender a knockout of a girl]]. She is quickly excited by the possibilities of being an extremely attractive and enthusiastically bisexual girl, even voicing a desire to remain female instead of taking a hypothetical antidote to Virus-X. ([[TotallyRadical "It's the Love-In Generation, Harmony! And I was being Left-Out! But a chick can play with Jacks AND Jills! Double the Hills, Dig!"]])
132	* Apparently played straight, then averted with Julius of ''Webcomic/KeyToHerHeart'', mainly because being female allows him to have a relationship with Nadia, who is a lesbian. However, after a talk on the subject matter, and how they love each other regardless, he asks if they might have straight sex from time to time, which in addition to other moments, suggest that he's doesn't prefer either gender over the other, and only really stays female because Nadia prefers it.
133	** [[spoiler:Also played straight with his mom (who took to her mode-locking to female with gusto) but averted with his dad, who is very much a manly badass-type who does ''not'' take well to his gender-changing. He has come to enjoy it for sex, but he's always male apart from that.]]
134	* Subverted in ''Webcomic/{{Misfile}}'': Several aspects of Ash's life are better in the reality where he's a girl (most obviously girl Ash reconnected with her MissingMom) and the alteration lead him to meet his love interest Emily. Yet Ash still vehemently tries to go back to being a boy, even if it means that all the good things achieved in the meantime disappear. Keeping a firm grasp of "his" male identity remains top priority over all else.
135	* In ''Webcomic/MSFHigh'', Keiri sees that people enjoy it after she changes them so that they'll be less likely to change back when the nightly reset button hits.
136	* Mocked in one strip of ''Webcomic/MurryPurryFreshAndFurry''; the parody TF comic boils down to "Boys are hideous and live bleak, miserable lives; girls (and boys turned girls) are pretty and have perfect lives with no problems".
137	* Averted in ''WebComic/TheOrderOfTheStick'' when [[https://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0249.html Durkon helps Roy to break the curse of the Belt of Masculinity/Femininity]] he was forced to equip to save himself and Elan from assassins. Durkon asks Roy if he's sure he wants to go back to being a man, and, while Roy does admit that the experience of being a woman ultimately wasn't as bad as he was expecting it to be, he still identifies as a man and, thus, wants to go back to having the body of a man as soon as possible.
138	* ''Webcomic/OutOfPlacers'' leaves it ambiguous: while Kass says she accepts her change (which came with an accompanying change of species) fairly quickly Matriarch Vislet believes Kass actually hasn't even ''begun'' to deal with it and her premature "acceptance" is just another way of ''avoiding'' dealing with it.
139	* Variation 1 shows up in ''Webcomic/SailorSun'', though it seems less like grudging acceptance than flat-out surrender to hear Bay describe it. (Naturally, it's immediately followed by a SnapBack due to amnesia, proving the first law takes precedence.)
140	** This may also be a case of the author wanting to take the comic back to its original premise (at least for a while), and a possible jab at those who think Bay should remain a girl. 'Brad' is quickly seen to be a [[AllMenArePerverts perverted]] {{Jerkass}} though, so this could in fact be a TakeThat at ''both'' sides [[FridgeBrilliance to not think too much and take everything so seriously]], as evidenced by its WMG page.
141	* ''Webcomic/TheWotch'' positively loves this trope, with four jocks-turned-cheerleaders (who later got a spinoff comic), a male teacher turned Asian girl student and an InnocentBystander-turned-PerkyFemaleMinion, amongst others. There's even a variation where a woman turned centaur decides she prefers that form as well. Special mention goes to a couple who keeps swapping bodies and gender as a RunningGag, and it's the girl, not the boy, who expresses an interest in trying the other gender again recreationally.
142	[[/folder]]
143
144	[[folder:Web Original]]
145	* This is pretty much the second staple of amateur GenderBender fiction after DifferentForGirls. Case in point: Literotica. About the only stories that avoid this are the ones that use a male-to-female GenderBender for BreakTheHaughty, and even ''those'' sometimes go for a HappyEnding by way of this.
146	* This, but for species rather than gender, is essentially the 54th law of [[ForcedTransformation 'Morphic Transformation]]. ([[http://doc.tf-media.net/Stories/Topaz172/99laws.html Yeah, there are a lot of them]].
147	** Laws 76 and 77 from the [[http://www.fictionmania.tv/stories/readtextstory.html?storyID=323447979643500181 list that inspired the above]] will cause the Second Law to go into effect.
148	* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vErJFmUF7DM Geraldine]] is about a young man who's turned into a woman against his will in some unexplained way. After a decade of assimilating to the point of dating, becoming a famous model, and becoming the leader of France, the man turns back on his wedding day. He then ends up with his best (girl) friend instead.
149	* Artist [[http://kdingo.net/champ/pics/main.php Ian Samson]] does a lot of gender-bending work, much of which plays with this trope. Link of Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda succumbs to the Second Law a few times in his work, whether [[http://kdingo.net/champ/pics/main.php?g2_itemId=2001 becoming a fairy]] or [[http://kdingo.net/champ/pics/main.php?g2_itemId=5285 forced to stay in the form of a Gerudo.]]
150	* In the ''WebOriginal/{{Paradise}}'' setting, humans are randomly, permanently changed into {{Funny Animal}}s (with some experiencing a gender-change at the same time). A number of stories follow the journey of gender-changed characters as they come to accept and then enjoy their new (usually female) gender. Some stories take this a notch further into ThirdLawOfGenderBending territory.
151	* In the Website/SCPFoundation, Agent Diogenes has had their sex changed so many times by magical artifacts that, in addition to appearing very androgynous, they have comfortably taken on an agender identity. Diogenes refuses to pick either, state what their biological sex even is at this point and also goes for an entirely unsexed presentation.
152	* ''Take A Lemon'': Pretty much inevitable once Marsh realizes she'd received the memories of her alternate universe [[DistaffCounterpart Spear Counterpart]] instead of an actual GenderBender.
153	* The main characters in ''[[Literature/WhateleyUniverse Whateley Academy]]'' play this trope across the entire spectrum. It doesn't hurt that for most of them being turned female was a side effect to gaining the superpowers which make them some of the most attractive and powerful people ''on the planet.'' (It's also completely and utterly '''[[FirstLawOfGenderBending impossible]]''' for them to change back, period.) Still, the degree of acceptance tends to be directly contingent upon the degree to which each character was (knowingly or unknowingly) transgender in the first place.[[/folder]]
154
155	[[folder:Western Animation]]
156	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'':
157	** In "[[Recap/FuturamaS4E13BendHer Bend Her]]", Bender pretends to be "Coilette", a fembot from Robonia[[note]]whose national anthem is, according to Bender/Coilette, "Hail, hail, Robonia, a land I didn't make up!"[[/note]] in order to compete in fembots' events in the Robolympics. After winning five gold medals, he finds that sex testing is mandatory, so he has the Professor switch his "testosteroil" with "femmzoil", intending to switch back after the test. Instead, Bender [[AttentionWhore enjoys the ensuing fame]] far too much to care if it's as a fembot sex symbol. He only changes back because [[LovesMyAlterEgo "Coilette" started a relationship with Calculon]], and faking "her" death was seen as necessary to break it off.
158	** In "[[Recap/FuturamaS6E20Neutopia Neutopia]]", a sexless alien first [[NoBiologicalSex takes away everyone's gender]], then when asked to restore them gets everyone backwards. The now-male Leela, Amy, and [=LaBarbara=] struggle to save the sinking Planet Express business, while the feminized men have fun being girls and goofing off. When the "guys" force the "girls" to make a swimsuit calendar, they go along with it a lot more happily than the real women did earlier. Despite all this, the men go back to their original sex with zero protests when the opportunity comes up ([[spoiler:except for Scruffy, who came in late]]).
159	* In ''WesternAnimation/MaryShelleysFrankenhole'', Victor gives himself female genitalia but is extremely hesitant when Elizabeth tries to treat him to stereotypically feminine things. He later acts traditionally feminine to date Dracula, but that was only so he could [[GoldDigger screw him over.]]
160	[[/folder]]
161
162	[[folder:Real Life]]
163	* Two rare conditions ([[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/5-alpha-reductase_deficiency 5ARD]] or [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/17-beta-hydroxysteroid_dehydrogenase_deficiency 17BHDD]]) can cause chromosomal males to develop around puberty rather than before birth. Some people with these conditions come to identify with their "new" gender.
164	* Gender-affirming care is care meant to help transgender people live as themselves in age-appropriate ways. Children socially transition (with no chemical or surgical interventions), younger teenagers take puberty blockers to buy time for a decision, older teenagers and adults take hormone replacement therapy ([=HRT=]) for their desired puberty, and adults who aren’t satisfied with the effects of hormones can then take surgical or therapeutic procedures to further edit the body. Justified in that nearly everyone who’d be remotely interested in gender-affirming care is transgender already—they tend to appreciate their bodies and minds aligning.
165	* Common restriction in regards to those who seek sex reassignment surgery (also known as “bottom surgery”) is to obtain a psychiatrist's approval (or ''several'' psychiatrists' approvals) following a lengthy evaluation period before the surgery can be performed. This is nominally intended as a means of enforcing this trope, making sure that the person is likely to be happy after the procedure, rather than come to regret it. In practice, this is often regarded as an institutional method to make them occur as little as possible. In an inversion of this trope, the difficulties in getting surgical interventions are a not insignificant cause of suicide among trans people.
166
167	[[/folder]]

Context Main / SecondLawOfGenderBending