I’ve been wanting to talk about this for a while, but let me speak on why and how I genderbend characters the way that I do.
When I originally started doing this, I knew my genderswapping content would be a regular thing I posted about. I knew because no matter what fandom I was obsessed with at the time, I would always be dissatisfied with the Rule 63 content in it.
Anyone who asks will know that I love designing genderbends because it gives me room to speculate on: “If this character was biologically male/female, how would they conduct themselves within this heteronormative society?”. (Also, as a nonbinary individual, it fulfills my fantasy of being able to just mess with sex whenever I want). It forces me to think as I draw or write: “Would it be characteristically accurate for them to do x, y, and z as the opposite sex?” And it honestly motivates me to create more.
However, it became clear to me near the beginning that not everyone saw genderbending that way.
If I may use the Haikyuu fandom for a second, I’ve seen a lot of Rule 63 content for the characters. But, hardly any of it scratched that particular itch I had. No hate to the creators, of course! But, something told me that some design choices were made without much thought towards the canon characters’ physical appearance and personality.
It didn’t make sense to me that fem!Hinata OR fem!Kenma would have super long hair. That fem!Oikawa (ESPECIALLY in the peak of the Flattykawa jokes) would suddenly be super curvaceous. That fem!Iwaizumi would be reduced to an unthreatening, cutesy, tsundere type.
It really did feel like boobs, super long hair, and a flat, hyper-feminine personality trope were slapped on and left at that. It felt…fanservice-y…almost depthless. The swapped versions didn’t give me the same energy as the canon versions, just in the opposite sex.
And in that, was my mission.
I wanted to show how fem!Hinata wouldn’t know what a brush is, thinking that throwing her messy hair into a ponytail would suffice. How fem!Kenma probably would have long hair before dying it, but would quickly cut it to chin-length after realizing her mistake. How fem!Oikawa might have thighs with no ass, but compensates just fine with her style. How fem!Iwaizumi would catch wind of not being taken seriously because of her gender, and learning to become more intimidating to own her space.
I wanted to show how fem!Kuroo and fem!Bokuto would be given a bit of flack for their bulky/lanky body types, but learned to be unapologetic about it in spite of that. That fem!Kageyama might subconsciously style her hair like Oikawa’s because of how she looked up to her in middle school. That fem!Ushijima would likely not have many friends or romantic prospects because of how intimidating she looks, and how fem!Tendou would stick close to her because of their shared outcast status.
I wanted something more than the surface level “Oh look, that character has traditionally feminine/masculine traits!”. And I haven’t posted enough to say I’ve fulfilled my goal.
But, I’ll try. And it’ll be fun for me. And, hopefully, you guys will enjoy it too!
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