An Interesting Take On Gender

This is both a review and an article on writing, although not in equal measure. “Wriggle and Sparkle” is a collection of several shorter stories about a kraken (who can turn human) and a unicorn (who can also turn human). At first glance, it’s a nice take on male/male erotica (and there’s a lot of erotica in it) and the two main characters, Lynn and Anderson, snark as much as they smooch, if not more.

Of the main characters, though, only one has really a defined gender: unicorn Anderson. Kraken, as the reader learns early in the stories, can shift gender - although most of them do it only once in their life. Lynn and his twin Leslie are an exception from that rule, as they shift between male and female whenever they want. In the end, it’s the way the story handles the topic of male pregnancy (Lynn can give birth to a kraken egg in his female shape), but it’s not the only time the topic is raised. During the third story, Lynn and Leslie trade identities, each of them shifting to the opposite gender (since Leslie is female most of the time), so Leslie can pretend to be Lynn and Lynn can leave his place while he’s supposedly under house arrest. At that point, the reader learns that they’ve been doing it for ages.

Anderson, on the other hand, is clearly not only very sex-positive, but also pansexual, having had past relationships both with men and women.

In “Wriggle and Sparkle,” the paranormal/supernatural element serves as an explanation for why it is possible for one of them to shift gender at will. It’s simply stated that kraken can shift gender and left at that. More of an explanation isn’t necessary in this case.

There are other ways to handle it in a fantasy setting, specifically magic, of course, no matter the shape it comes in. Spells, potions, curses - they’ll all work as an explanation for why a character suddenly is the opposite gender or something in between. That is not the problem, though.

A problem which “Wriggle and Sparkle” avoids through making Lynn essentially gender-fluid by birth and from a species where that’s considered acceptable (if not fully the norm). Nobody ever tries to confront him (the same pronoun is used while he’s in his female shape, since he prefers being male, just as Leslie is always referred to as ‘she,’ even when she’s male in shape) - although that might have to do with the pure size of a kraken not in his human shape… Nobody even seems to think much about it, because it’s known that kraken are fluid that way (as a matter of fact, Lynn was born female and Leslie was born male - they flipped to their preferred gender during adolescence).

The problem, of course, is to explain the motivation for the change. One thing to avoid is the ‘for fun’ change - like men in drag, if it’s played for laughs, it usually hurts more than it helps. Forced change is also pretty icky - like a powerful wizard turning a prince into a princess, so he can force them into a marriage. There are other ways to handle it, too, of course.

Some people just are gender-fluid. They don’t consider themselves strictly male or strictly female, but mix and match as it suits them. Or they don’t consider having a gender at all and see themselves as neutral - not male, not female, they just are.

Some people will decide on a reversible or irreversible gender switch for their own reasons. Perhaps a princess wants to be a prince, because only the prince can inherit the throne. Or the prince has always felt more like a princess and wants to go through with it and become one with all that includes.

Or you have, as with the stories mentioned, just a character who is switching between male and female (and, perhaps, stopping off in between whenever they like) as they wish. Loki from Norse Mythology is an example of that. The Jötun, of whom he is a member, are all gender-neutral by birth, able to both father and birth children. Loki chooses the male gender most of the time, but he (in this case, one would assume that he always referred to himself by male pronoun, even in female shape) can shift into a woman whenever he wants (or into a mare, which is how we got Sleipnir). Shape shifters in general are show capable of that kind of shift (which must be easier than shifting into a completely different being). With such a being, there usually is no forced gender switch, because they can shift whenever they like. It’s usually also not played for laughs, but part of the character (and often part of the plot).

It would be nice to find more gender-fluid or gender-neutral characters, especially in fantasy or sci-fi settings (where different species, alien or fantasy, make the explanation a lot easier). They’re harder to put into a regular or realistic setting, of course, but even there, why should all characters adhere to classic ‘masculine’ or ‘feminine’ gender traits?