I'd like to be this kind of trans.
Zerophilia explores the (kinda) trans world through magic. Ok, well, through genetics, but this kind of genetics just doesn't exist (not yet). Imagine every time you had an orgasm, your body switched male to female, except without the surgery. No top surgery, no removal of the penis/balls and replacement with a vagina, no recreation and attachment of a penis and no breast implants. Most of all, no hormone therapy. It was all naturally there in the correct proportions. Such is the world of the Zerophiliac.
Luke gets laid for the first time and is sent down a path of self-discovery, on which he must come to terms with his gender(s), his own inhibitions over accepting any kind of femininity for himself and his machismo that continues exalting the male gender above all others.
When I read the description, I wasn't immediately pulled in. "In this sexually ambiguous romantic comedy, Luke, a naive college student, struggles with issues of masculinity while he comes to terms with a rare genetic discorder that causes the afflicted to switch gender at will"--namely through masturbation. Still, on a lazy Saturday morning, I gave it a shot. In fact, I really loved it. Aside from decent production quality (which is always a turn on/turn off for me though it shouldn't be), the film evokes some good questions. How would you deal being forced into a different gender? If you could switch back, would you? What's wrong with being the opposite gender, and why does one cling to one's gender role? Does love have a gender (cliché)? There were also some pretty hot guys (Kyle Schmid here, here and here--I know, I'm not normally into guys with long hair, but trust me on this one) in the film. =P I highly recommend Zeorphilia to anyone interested in gender identity.
If I were trans, I'd like to be this kind of trans. Yes, because I'm so attached to my male body that I would not really want to give it up, but there are certainly times when I've felt not quite male. Also, I think it'd be kinda fun/interesting to be a woman for a day...or more. I probably need to start prancing around at home in women's clothing. Or maybe not...See? Machismo (do I even have a claim to that?) getting in the way of gender exploration. In any case, in the privacy of my own mind, in theory and not in practice, the ideas in this film touched on a lot of thoughts that I've had about gender identity. Can I be a cisman with some minor trans tendencies? Or perhaps this is just called being more in touch with one's feminine side...I dunno, but I don't want to sully the name of those who actually are transgender.
Interesting movie... There is a genre of fanfic called genderswap that deals with a lot of these questions too -- it's often crackfic, but there are a lot of really well-thought out stories that actively explore these kind of issues through fiction. There's a lot of discussion about how whether genderswap fic is inherently anti-female, because it's generally done to "teach the man a life lesson" (using women for the benefit of men again; men get to return to their own bodies at the end and are relieved) or to "liberate the woman" (woman gets a chance as a man and because of the exposure to maleness grows in new and useful ways). There's also a lot of discussion of whether it's anti-gay, because you might have a slash couple where the author feels the need to turn one of the characters into the opposite gender so they can have sex. Fascinating stuff, especially the meta on it (http://delicious.com/tag/genderswap+meta). Your movie sounds interesting.
ReplyDeleteHere is a shortish discussion of genderswap and trans issues -- this is the sort of stuff I thought about when I saw your post: http://www.kristinabusse.com/cv/research/writercon09gender.html
>>I don't want to sully the name of those who actually are transgender
ReplyDeleteAlso, I haven't decided yet how I feel about the dampening effect on conversation of the desire to be PC or to avoid oppressive tropes in an attempt to understand other people.... On the one hand, yeah, it's a problem when people display their ignorance so baldly, especially when it's done in a way that other people will tend to be equally ignorant (like by a leader)... On the other, you are GOING to make "mistakes" in any journey to understand anyone else, and if you are too afraid of making mistakes, you won't learn much because you won't do much. So, might as well embrace it.
Actually, it's kinda similar to a beginning language class. Huh. There are people who argue that being in those classes is awful for learners, because most of the language that they hear is really badly formed (grammar, pronunciation). At the same time, everyone has to talk in order to learn, and if you're in a non-talky class, then you aren't hearing crappy inputs, but can you really learn much? Is there an answer? What's the right balance?