What if we could swap sexes at will?

[Tyndmyr]

So, since the "What if we were hermaphrodites?" thread was kind of popular there's a related question I've been asking myself:

What if every person could choose their gender? Yeah, I guess it kid of comes down to the specifics of how this would work but let's imagine the biologically least plausibly case of everyone having a male and a female identity and just being able to transform into the other at any point in time. (Though, we should probably exclude all kind of kinky ideas this scenario might give rise to )

Obviously, this is all based on speculation but I'm just curious what you people think and what you personally would do if you were able to just become (fe)male whenever you want.

Read the Culture novels. It explores this in some detail(though some time and what not is required for transformation, it isn't quite instant). Some people stick with one gender, some flip back and forth, and some avoid gender altogether. In this admittedly hypothetical society, it is fairly egalitarian, as discrimination is naturally held in check by people experiencing both sides of the coin and being able to switch if one side has an advantage.

*shrug* May happen eventually, with enough tech, who knows? Me, I have no particular urge to swap, but no doubt some would wish to at least experiment to see how the other half live.

[SiuiS]

It seems you have mainly experienced evil cats. Have you thought about trying stupid cats? It's all the fun of a kitten, but you don't have to worry about how they'll be when they're grown up.

This is somewhat true. I have a "stupid cat", in that his response to, say, being blindsided by fast movement (he's got a bad left eye) is to exclaim, look at you, then purr and sit down. I'm afraid to ever let him outside, really. But he was able to teach his petsitter how to take care of the cats while we were on vacation, meowing and doing that "follow me" motion that only really happens in movies, leading the person to the kitchen, to the water purifier, and then to the empty water bowl over and over until they figured it out.

And that was, like, a Zelda puzzle. You had to take the water in the jar, to the purifier, back into the jar, then the water bowl. I think the guy earned a piece of heart.

Now you've got me thinking, if there's no clear distinction between genders, how would soldiers disguise themselves as washerwomen to sneak into castles? Not to mention we wouldn't have Mulan (or if we did, a certain song would be significantly shorter)

"Be a maaa~aaan"
"Okay!"
"Swift as a— wait, what? Damn!"

Although we would probably get a movie that parents would freak out about those mk bisexuals and convince their kids that that's not what happened.

It mostly requires a willingness to put up with some dried skin, a few maggots, and some really remarkable stinks.

I always had janitors or other children steal my hidden corpses :(

Mind, I don't think I have quite the fortitude to start carving the heads off my recently deceased pets. Decapitating animals isn't exactly the world's most pleasant task, even when I've specifically raised them to kill and eat them. When it comes to my faithful companion of the last decade, I'm pretty sure it's not in me to reach for the boning knife. I'll stick with a nice grave out under the willow, thanks.

That's probably why I haven't done it yet! It'll be weird when I consider them people.

[dehro]

You know, I used to have a cat skull. It was the pride of my skull collection, because my sister didn't have one. My sister at this time would decapitate the corpses of various woodland creatures she found, put the head in a container, and tape that to a tree for the insects to work over.

We had unusual childhoods. My parents try to deny it, I point out I'm the only person I have ever met who had a literal dead rat and a string to swing it with.

and now you've gone full texas chainsaw massacre...
I shouldn't talk though.. where I grew up there were stuffed foxes and martens, live/caged rare pheasants and a few other remnants of the previous owners.

[SiuiS]

Oh, I'm sure we all had traumatic childhoods. It is all in how you deal with things.

[Kato]

I'm somewhat afraid to trace back the way how this topic arrived at the matter of cats and collecting animal corpses


I guess I'll have to admit it's pretty hard/impossible to actually retrace the cultural evolution of society if this would have applied from the beginning... I guess the idea of every human waking up with this power all of a sudden is somewhat easier to discuss. And the first result (after mass panic, search for a culprit and similar events) would be to come up with new reasons to discriminate people who change too often or too rarely with their new found ability... Yay, humans

[Razanir]

I'm somewhat afraid to trace back the way how this topic arrived at the matter of cats and collecting animal corpses


I guess I'll have to admit it's pretty hard/impossible to actually retrace the cultural evolution of society if this would have applied from the beginning... I guess the idea of every human waking up with this power all of a sudden is somewhat easier to discuss. And the first result (after mass panic, search for a culprit and similar events) would be to come up with new reasons to discriminate people who change too often or too rarely with their new found ability... Yay, humans

Again, one interesting side effect (once we got used to the ability) would be that it could show up on job descriptions. "Waitress needed. Must be willing to be female for all shifts."

[Proud Tortoise]

I'm somewhat afraid to trace back the way how this topic arrived at the matter of cats and collecting animal corpses

It was a totally random mention of the cats v. dogs argument.

[Coidzor]

It was a totally random mention of the cats v. dogs argument.

Which came up because a certain someone said they'd rather have every cat and dog and ferret in a loving home instead of humanity having any sexes whatsoever.

So it's all been one non sequitur after another. Somehow sequituring.

[SiuiS]

Again, one interesting side effect (once we got used to the ability) would be that it could show up on job descriptions. "Waitress needed. Must be willing to be female for all shifts."

Man, that's hella sexist! They can't do that now (except for strip clubs), why would it be cool for then?

Which came up because a certain someone said they'd rather have every cat and dog and ferret in a loving home instead of humanity having any sexes whatsoever.

So it's all been one non sequitur after another. Somehow sequituring.

Because the question of what should you give up sex for came up, and succi took it to mean "for what would you relinquish the concepts and existence of sex". Because he's nice like that.

Man, looking up the definition of nonsequitur? It's the definition of my thought patterns.

[Asta Kask]

Man, that's hella sexist! They can't do that now (except for strip clubs), why would it be cool for then?

It would be like "waitresses must agree to dye their hair red". The whole "sexism" angle wouldn't exist.

[warty goblin]

and now you've gone full texas chainsaw massacre...
I shouldn't talk though.. where I grew up there were stuffed foxes and martens, live/caged rare pheasants and a few other remnants of the previous owners.

Nah, that was learning anatomy by slaughtering hogs. It gives a person a bit of perspective when one of their earliest memories involves a length of disembodied small intestine, a hose, and the promise of sausage on the morrow.

Oh, I'm sure we all had traumatic childhoods. It is all in how you deal with things.

I don't think there was anything at all traumatic about mine, quite the contrary. It was a mite unusual though, and seems to have involved somewhat more viscera than most people in my age cohort.

[Coidzor]

Dangit. Now I want sausage. All I've got is some bacon that's been in the fridge for long enough it's starting to seem dodgy.

Hm. BLTs it is. Now just to find the T.

Man, that's hella sexist! They can't do that now (except for strip clubs), why would it be cool for then?

Because it's a minor inconvenience during one's shift, presumably. Though, really, if I were to envision that sort of thing, I'd just think that it'd be like Hooters, I'd imagine, where it's implied but not stated overtly.

Granted, that's going under the assumption that such a concept even fit with the resultant societal configuration. I'm not sure that it would necessarily, and I'm not comfortable with assigning a probability to it.

Because the question of what should you give up sex for came up, and succi took it to mean "for what would you relinquish the concepts and existence of sex". Because he's nice like that.

I'm not sure damning humanity to extinction is really all that "nice."

Nor did I even begin to parse anything as reading along those lines. Guess I just missed it.

[Winthur]

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I'd stick with my prod. Prod with my prod. Just in case, though, I am police.

[SiuiS]

It would be like "waitresses must agree to dye their hair red". The whole "sexism" angle wouldn't exist.

No, if on Monday everyone woke up, and on Tuesday, Jim's boss said "sorry Jim, we only allow employees with titties now, shift or leave" that's still sexist.

I don't think there was anything at all traumatic about mine, quite the contrary. It was a mite unusual though, and seems to have involved somewhat more viscera than most people in my age cohort.

I meant in the general sense. "Everyone goes through experiences they are fine with that others would find literally tragic".

[QUOTE=Coidzor;16882434]
Because it's a minor inconvenience during one's shift, presumably. Though, really, if I were to envision that sort of thing, I'd just think that it'd be like Hooters, I'd imagine, where it's implied but not stated overtly.[/wuote]

Yeah. As a thing like strip clubs, where you could go in as a sweaty hairy dude and apply but probably not get the job, it fits.

Denny's? Not so much. XD

I'm not sure damning humanity to extinction is really all that "nice."

Oh pishposh. We can magically switch physical sex without massive colors depletion, exquisite pain and rampant radiation from the molecular reconfiguring, but we can't give up sex entirely and still reproduce somehow?

Nor did I even begin to parse anything as reading along those lines. Guess I just missed it.

I read it, went "huh?" And read it again, and went "oh, clever."

Spoiler

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I'd stick with my prod. Prod with my prod. Just in case, though, I am police.

I don't get it.

[Winthur]

I don't get it.

I have contamination and mutants in my brain.

[Coidzor]

Oh pishposh. We can magically switch physical sex without massive colors depletion, exquisite pain and rampant radiation from the molecular reconfiguring, but we can't give up sex entirely and still reproduce somehow?

Not without ceasing to discuss human-analogs. More like, sapient amoebas.

[The Succubus]

I think the idea of Asari reproduction would be a fairly good analogue for "sexless" reproduction. Each member of the species is capable of giving birth but only after a very specific form of interaction with another member of said species. The shared nervous system holds fascinating biological possibilities. Plus the sex reproductive interactions(?) would be really amazing <3

[Jaycemonde]

As long as being able to settle for both bits and an otherwise female form's on the table, hell yeah. If not, I guess I could live with it somehow.
I'm always surprised when threads like these don't turn completely violent and/or stupid.

[warty goblin]

I think the idea of Asari reproduction would be a fairly good analogue for "sexless" reproduction. Each member of the species is capable of giving birth but only after a very specific form of interaction with another member of said species. The shared nervous system holds fascinating biological possibilities. Plus the sex reproductive interactions(?) would be really amazing <3

I donno. Having to have an infodump cutscene every time anybody wanted to get their freak on could get pretty old.

"Hey honey, wanna mess around?"
"Not tonight dear, I'm just not in the mood for a blurry rendition of you going to the grocery store."

[Coidzor]

I think the idea of Asari reproduction would be a fairly good analogue for "sexless" reproduction. Each member of the species is capable of giving birth but only after a very specific form of interaction with another member of said species. The shared nervous system holds fascinating biological possibilities. Plus the sex reproductive interactions(?) would be really amazing <3

No, then you just would have a female-only species that's really into getting jiggy with other species.