The Crossroads Tour: Karen Kincy

Karen Kincy tackles a question that has been on my mind. Anyone up for her challenge? ;)

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Shapeshifting is more of a tool/talent in fantasy rather than an actual being. The most famous transitions are between human and animals. I get the allure, but why do you think it is that given the power to shapeshift into anything, the subject of changing into another gender is not touched?

When a character suddenly changes gender in a story, it’s supposed to be funny. Of course, we also have realistic stories involving transgendered characters, but they certainly aren’t presented as fantasy. Why? As a writer, I think the idea of someone with the same memories and personality shapeshifting into the “opposite” gender (because we love to think in binaries) intrigues but scares us, and so we try to laugh at it instead of digging deeper. If you were raised as a boy for eighteen years, and suddenly inhabited a woman’ s body, who would you be? Your upbringing and culture have undoubtedly taught you what it means to be male, beyond biological reality, but do you know what female is now? Or what “ feminine” and “ masculine” really mean?

Actually, this could make a fascinating fantasy novel. If a writer feels comfortable enough blurring the line between different species—no one bats an eye at the idea of a human mind in a wolf body—then gender should be fair game as well. I would love to see a story about a girl who doesn’t agree with “feminine” and shapeshifts into a guy in her spare time, or vice versa. Surely there would be some interesting disconnects
between the character’s preconceptions and the reality of being in a new body. And what if there was a society where everybody could shapeshift into different genders, and choose who they wanted to be at any given moment?

Excellent question! I could go on about this for pages…

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