Help with Writing a Female to Male Gender Bender

So a few situations in my story involve both male and female characters going through temporary Gender Bender s due to magical means. Some minor plot arcs deal with with the characters having to get the hang of being the other sex. I'm already aware of the problems a male to female Gender Bender might face (not being used to menstruating, breasts getting in the way sometimes, etc.)

• but due to the fact I don't have 'man parts' I'm not exactly sure what problems a female to male Gender Bender might face (there's the fact that they probably wouldn't be used to erections, and Groin Attack s, but that's all I have)
• Keep in mind, that sociological problems (not being socially acceptable to be feminine, The Unfair Sex , etc.) wouldn't apply in this setting, only biological ones.

edited 17th Oct '13 12:47:01 PM by TheMuse

Well let's see;

• Groin attacks can happen to both genders, sure, but s/he would still have to be more carful around zippers.

• Peeing while standing would take some getting use to.

• A wet dream or nocturnal ejaculation could also work for even more awkwardness.

• Not sure how much an absence of breasts/new dangly bits would affect posture, but it could.

• On something not related to the crotch: facial hair. More body hair in general

Also, be aware that such a bent gender would logically be uncircumcised.

I wasn't really planning on mentioning the last point directly at all, refering to in Gender Bending and general, but the rest is quite helpful

Don't forget: In order to avoid suspicion, have her act as obnoxiously stereotypically male and obnoxious as possible

Well, because the setting pretty much doesn't give a fuck about gender expression, so that really wouldn't be a problem for her.

Physicality is one. For instance, because most guys are taller than girls, they have a different center of gravity, and tend to stand with legs farther apart. Also, weight is distributed a little differently—a lot of women walk with a slight sway because of it while most guys do not.

It would still be physically possible for her to pee while sitting, especially if she believes it to be a short-term thing and doesn't think there's a reason to learn. It's not necessarily that she'd find it especially difficult, but initially she'd risk making a mess and might just never decide it's a good time to deal with that.

How much the magic changes her body is a good thing to take into consideration, though. Because yeah, it'll change the distribution of mass on her body, including bone structure and muscle, and she could expect to be rather clumsy because everything about how her body moves is just slightly off.

How does the magic decide how much of her to change? "As if she was the same, but grew up with having XY chromosomes instead of XX"? "Keep the body as similar as possible but with primary and a handful of secondary sex characteristics of a male"? And if the magic makes assumptions about androgen sensitivity, then. Well.

She'll have different hormones in her system, but I can't speak as to how that'll affect her mood and such.

That's all stuff you could google about though - sexual dimorphism in humans, primary/secondary sex characteristics, etc. If you're hoping to get details about what males have to deal with regarding masculine characteristics, I guess that's not as google-able. My first impulse is to say "post it somewhere like r/Ask Men" but I can't vouch for how respectful the community would be or anything.

I've head things from a female to male trans* man once, that I'm pretty sure are accurate, correct me if I'm wrong, that the main things that a hormone change would cause would be some degree of an increased sex drive and increased aggression. Obviously this situation is different than being transsexuality, but it can be applicable in this situation.

edited 20th Oct '13 6:30:30 AM by TheMuse

It's basically transitioning magic, so looking up the process for real life transitioning methods and anecdata from people who went through it is probably useful. Keep in mind that real life has limitations your magic does not (genital surgery is the most obvious, but real life also has more limitations on how much height and skeletal structure and etc will be affected) so not everything's perfect, but it's a good bet for hormones. Might want to investigate the difference between the effect of hormones during the puberty-like phase and the stable aftermath, if your magic is instantaneous.

Well, the body they are transported into is fully grown and all of the instances are more 'Freaky Friday Flip-like' rather than 'gradual magical transformation'

Something minor: Sometimes, dicks can be just plain uncomfortable. Seriously. You'll be out in public and it'll shift around so that it feels just vaguely uncomfortable, but you can't just reach down and shift it around, because that's not appropriate in public and makes you look like a creep, so you start fidgeting your legs a bit to try to move your dick, but it never works, and the longer it lasts the more you notice it and the more it bothers you until you just find some excuse to get out of sight so you can just reach into your pants and get your dick to a more comfortable position.

And then sometimes, even in private, no matter what you do, it just somehow feels out of place. You shift it around, but you can't get it comfortable.

It's not a big thing. It's not something affects your personality, or messes with your mood, or anything like that. It's just a very minor issue that's just a normal, unavoidable part of being a guy. It's the sort of thing that can really sell the gender-bending, and also add some humour.

Her body language, postures and gestures will be confusing a lot of people. Little things, like fixing her hair or clothing, how she sits, talks, walks, runs, holds things, emotes. All of these combine into a powerful gender message and depending on who sees her and how dainty and feminine she has been moving this far (and how conscious she is of this and how good she is at motorically passing for a male), she can appear as a dancer, a flamer, a wimp, or "so obviously in drag".

She will have trouble assuming a male role socially, most obviously when dealing with a relaxed setting with only similar status males present...

She will have to attire herself in a male manner. Her taste in colours and clothing may have some effect on her passing. Depending on where, how, and how quick the change occurs, she might have to face the choice of using little to no basic hygiene products or smelling like a girl for a first morning.