Last year I made up a short list of characters in myth and fiction who changed sex, and shared it online in support of the trans community. Now I have gone looking much more seriously for ammo against the idea of Culture Wars. These are not cases of gender dysphoria, such as we are fussing about today, but they highlight the hypocritical bigotry of those who are determined to be our enemies, as we saw recently with drag in popular culture.
For example—Oh, Noez, Disney went woke again! In 1985! For those who were not total Oz nerds as children, Ozma, born Princess of Oz, was kidnapped as a baby and enchanted into a boy named Pip. He was kept that way until his early teen years, when he escaped from the evil witch Mombi, found out his true identity, and had to confront the need for transitioning back.
Dorothy releasing Princess Ozma [from a mirror] in Disney's Return to Oz
The most popular gender-bending character in Japan is Ranma, a martial artist who changes between girl and boy forms just by getting into hot or cold water, respectively. Adventure and, of course, hilarity ensue. Just keep in mind that whichever form he is in, he thinks of himself as male.
List of fictional trans characters
LGBT themes in mythology
Ovid, Metamorphoses
Devdutt Pattanaik, The Man who was a Woman and other Queer Tales of Hindu Lore
- Achilles, sent by his mother to hide among women, to keep him from going to the Trojan war and getting killed
- The great HIndu sage Narada, put to live an entire life as a woman by Vishnu
- The Seven Harry Potters
- Guanyin,[58][59] Avalokiteśvara,[60] and Tara are known to have different gender representations.[60]
- In Suludnon mythology, there are accounts of female binukots (well-kept maidens) who had powers to transition into male warriors.
- Arabian mythology also contains magical sex-changing springs or fountains, such as Al-Zahra. Upon bathing in or drinking from Al-Zahra, a person will change sex.
- In the Fourth Branch of the Mabinogion of Welsh mythology, Gwydion helps his brother Gilfaethwy rape Goewin, Math's female servant. When Math hears of this, he turns his nephews into a series of mated pairs of animals; Gwydion becomes a stag for a year, then a sow and finally a wolf. Gilfaethwy becomes a hind deer, a boar and a she-wolf. Each year they must mate and produce an offspring which is sent to Math: Hyddwn, Hychddwn and Bleiddwn; after three years Math releases his nephews from their punishment.[101]
- Loki, the trickster god, frequently disguised himself as a woman. In one myth, he turned himself into a mare and, after having sex with the stallion Svaðilfari, he gave birth to Sleipnir, an eight-legged foal.
6 Transgender Myths From Ancient Greece - And Are They Really Trans?
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Hermaphroditus
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Tiresias
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Leucippus of Crete
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Iphis and Ianthe
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Caeneus
The Left Hand of Darkness, by Ursula LeGuin, in which the normally genderless aliens can turn male or female in mating season, and the biggest news is when the King has a child of “his” own body.
Uranian Worlds, by Eric Garber and Lyn Paleo, was compiled in 1983 and is an authoritative guide to science fiction literature featuring gay, lesbian, transgender, and related themes. The book covers science fiction literature published before 1990 (2nd edition, 1990), providing a short review and commentary on each piece.[72][73]
All You Zombies, by Robert A. Heinlein, one of the classics of time travel, in which the narrator turns out to be his own father and mother.
David Gerrold is an openly gay science fiction writer with a number of LGBT-themed works. The Man Who Folded Himself (1973) examines the narcissistic love of a time traveler who has gay orgies with alternate versions of himself, including female and lesbian versions.
TV Tropes: Gender Bender
Far too many instances in far too many genres to list here. Happy hunting!
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