Oh. My. God.

[permetaform]

So I meant to meta about Ford today and post my drabble from bascon on him, but like, see...

I'm remembering lierdumoa's Genderbending meta, specifically how:

If John were a woman, fandom would make assumptions about him that we don't make because he is not a woman. Or rather, the fandom would conclude that the writers were making assumptions about "women in general" in writing John. Offensive assumptions. The fact that John is a man is, well, interesting. I honestly believe John is the product of a bunch of male geeks getting in a room and trying to envision the perfect man and, being heterosexual, instead envisioning the perfect woman and then giving her a cock. I'd call it subversive if I weren't so sure the writers were doing it completely on accident.

I mean, think about it. If it were on purpose? So subversive.

_{Which, incidentally, is why Girl!John makes me (on a personal level) cringe because it's like taking an empowered woman and then just stripping all of it away again to corset her or to bind her feet or to snip off her clit and just...I can take most darkfic, but this type of darkfic just brings up so much rage that I just don't go near it to remain zen.}

MEANWHILE.

Rodney. And Cadman.

Season 2; Episode 4: Duet. (and I'm leaving this un-cut 'cause there's no way to truly spoil you for this episode, it has to be SEEN to be truly appreciated)

Tomboy girl in the guy's body. ::FLAILS::...dude, it's like what lierdumoa was saying about John Sheppard made literal. Cadman even played Capt. Kirk for Katie Brown! XD _{(and did the flirty thing and did the hip-cocking...)}

I don't even know if they're doing this on purpose but...are they seeing what they're writing? That's just so *cool*, and it only escaped my notice because I was so used to seeing this from fic.


[edit] On hindsight, my babble wasn't very clear. (wah, happens often. ::headdesks::)

Elaboration--

Summary of lierdumoa's point: John Sheppard, if the writers *meant* to write him as a girl with a cock (read her post for the reasoning and elaboration), is subversive because he's a male action-hero with female characteristics. Usually that would be labeled gay and thus prevented from being produced as an action-adventure show, but they've managed it in SGA. Also, it's sort of like giving a female character the male lead, but removing all the social knee-jerk reactions to the visual *image* of a female as a leading character.

_{My aside to lierdumoa's point:} it disturbes me (in regards to my own issues and etc) to think of Sheppard as a girl because it's like finally finding feminine equality only to lose it again, because I find Sheppard as a point of identification. Through him, as a girl, there's is a vicarious sense of, well...equality, of being able to flirt and whatever and have it be socially sanctioned. So John-as-a-girl fics seem temporally-regressive to me (ie. as if he was from some future, more progressive era, moving back to when women had less independance/control), and it removes some of the nuances that drew me into the character. (ie. the fact that it is easier for him to be just 'one of the guys' than it is for, say, Teyla)

My Main Point: Cadman in 'Duet', being in Rodney's body, made literal the idea of the tomboy in a man's body (which in the character of John Sheppard is made subtext); basically a girl with male priviledges. Perhaps the writers wrote John Sheppard as an idealized-female-with-a-cock on *purpose*; then the Cadman/Rodney dynamic in 'Duet' only is a further indication of the show's writers' awareness of SGA's genderplay.

[edit2] Upon thought: what do ya'll think of SGA's flipping of roles with Teyla and Ronon? Not that they're not both eye-candy, but for some reason I'm getting the eye-candy warrior-chick vibe more from Ronon than Teyla. And Teyla projects the stoic, strong village leader that you usually see with a male character.

Ordinarily the archetypes would call for a male tragic hero with a plucky side-kick girl who might or might not be the source of brute force (magical!girl) who wears skimpy outfits and gets one-liners...

...This makes me want to see Ronon in a leather skirt.

'Cause ya'll know that would be hawt.

[edit3] This post brought to you by mental wanderings caused by cereta's Fandom and Male Privilege post

[edit4] FYI, my personal fannish background: my first (het) fandom was Ranma 1/2, where a guy changes into a girl whenever splashed with cold water. I returned to this fandom later after I've discovered the joys of m/m. =)

Comments

[out-there.livejournal.com]

Hmmm. I came across this randomly -- as following LJ links will do -- and now I'm thinking about the girl!John thing. I read both of those linked posts (John being coded as female, and male priveledge in fandom) a while ago, and agreed at the time.

I don't know if I'd see John as a girl as necessarily regressive, but I can't deny that John would learn some hard lessons about interracting in an overwhelmingly male-dominated arena (ie. the military) as a female. And he'd learn pretty quickly that his favourite defense of playing the ditz (when asked to explain the concept of the Virgin Mary "Did I mention I like ferris wheels?") won't work the same way. Oh, it'll work in teh way of distracting people and being underestimated, but there'll be no respect underlying that.

Hmmm. Meanwhile, it also shows why I love Elizabeth's lack of bedside manner. I almost cheered the fact that while she is the Female Leader, meant to Negotiate Peace and leave the fighting to the boys (which she didn't in the Seige, and I loved that too), she's not automatically touchy-feely.

As for the sleeping with a boss thing... hmmm. I don't know. I mean, I come from SOrkin fandoms (The West Wing, Sports Night) where the sexism is subtle but somewhat ingrained into certain characters. And I don't know. The whole idea of Donna-dating-her-male-boss comes with a pile of "but it would be inappropriate" noises from fandom (regardless of the chemistry between the characters). When it comes to Casey-dating-his-female-boss, those issues are never raised. I don't know how much dating someone under her command would be seen as a bad thing...

...and I don't know if that's because, as a female civilian requiring information/advice from the male scientist and the male military guys, she isn't seen as having a lot of objective power (possibly even objective *thought*, according to some fannish discussions I've had) in the first place. Hence, her dating one of them wouldn't make much of a difference.

I'd rather believe it's because Elizabeth has always had far, far more professionalism than John or Rodney (possibly not Caldwell -- which could be why the idea of Weir/Caldwell is interesting) and could keep professional concerns seperated from personal desires.

[permetaform]

but I can't deny that John would learn some hard lessons about interracting in an overwhelmingly male-dominated arena (ie. the military) as a female.

::nods:: and it's like I explained in an earlier comment to naewinter that, "part of my joy in Sheppard is almost female perspective while still being 'one of the boys'. A female!John fic would necessarily, by definition, undercut part of why I liked him so much as a character in the first place."


...and I don't know if that's because, as a female civilian requiring information/advice from the male scientist and the male military guys, she isn't seen as having a lot of objective power (possibly even objective *thought*, according to some fannish discussions I've had) in the first place. Hence, her dating one of them wouldn't make much of a difference.

::blinks:: huh. I would've thought that it'd make *more* difference. I must chew on this idea for awhile...


I'd rather believe it's because Elizabeth has always had far, far more professionalism than John or Rodney (possibly not Caldwell -- which could be why the idea of Weir/Caldwell is interesting) and could keep professional concerns seperated from personal desires.

::nods:: hear hear!