One woman I know wears pants but always wears a top that comes to mid thigh as in the Indian or Muslim tradition. I know women who never seem to wear skirts. A final interesting point is that this 'message' is being 'endorsed' by what is for the most part transgender authors themselves. Which is a 'message' that seems to contradict the general transgender condition. Yet, in these stories, the apparent overall 'message' is that the protagonist resolves his/her inner conflict by adapting and learning to accept his/her life. Advice, of which, of course, many transgenders reject for their own personal reasons. Society 'telling' transgenders to 'adapt' to the body they are 'born' with. I have found this type of plotline to be similar in manner to the general condition of transgenders.

The protagonist winds up a 'transgender' and the general societal reaction to this situation is to 'tell' the protagonist to 'adapt.' To state this simply, the protagonist is of one sex(at least mentally) that through plot devices winds up with the physical body of the other sex. I have found the 'forced feminization' or 'adaptation' type of story to be a statement of the transgender condition in general. Mistress of the Guild of Evil Blonde Proofreaders Click Like, Love or Thank to appropriately show your appreciation for this post: Not sure if there is an answer, but the comments ought to be interesting. I hope that this invites discussion of the involuntary transformation genre. Now, one could say that the transformation allows the person to adapt, but does that not change the character in a fundamental way? They really aren't the same person if that happens, are they? As much as I love it, is it promoting some sort of lie? It makes me wonder about the whole transformation genre. This person is changed against their will and never really adjusts or accepts the changes, no matter how long and hard they tried. Take for example, the character of Jerome in O2bxx's 'For a Girl.' My experience and those of so many of my friends indicates that real adaptation and acceptance is really not possible over a long term. So, if the premise of these stories, that it is possible to adapt and be comfortable in a 'wrong' role, then it is possible to adapt and be comfortable with the way we are born? I struggled, dissembled, argued with God, lied to myself and others, all to no avail. I tried for over half a century to cope with and adapt to living in a body and role that just did not fit. This is a wonderful thing, but it leaves me with a problem. One thing that bothers me about this sort of story is that usually the changed character comes to terms with their changes. Seeing how people cope and adapt in unusual or changing situations is very interesting. I tend to like stories that have some sort of transformation in them.

Transformation story archive