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Transgender Possibilities

I was curious to read the story behind the headline, "Bring back the ambivalently sexualized She-Hulk," when I saw it linked at When Fangirls Attack. Written by Charlie Anders, a transsexual woman, the article identifies a shift in writing in the most recent incarnation of Marvel's She-Hulk comic book:

Over time, Slott has downplayed the issue of people desiring She-Hulk for her huge, imposing body. I can’t think of too many instances, since the first couple of issues, where we saw men throwing themselves at her when she was in green giant mode.

I liked the points Anders made about desiring the "wrong" body. However much the issue may be downplayed in current storylines, the wrong body is an unavoidable aspect of the She-Hulk story. As a lesbian, I've always liked the angry, musclebound image of She-Hulk, but I can also see how Anders could identify with the She-Hulk as a symbol of transsexual transformation.
Although Anders is speaking metaphorically about She-Hulk, I've wondered over the past few issues of Runaways, another Marvel title, if the alien character Xavin might be transgendered or transsexual. The character of Xavin has come in for a fair amount of criticism because s/he is the lover (albeit through a pre-arranged marriage) of the lesbian main character in the comic, Karolina Dean. When the ambiguously gendered Xavin is told by Karolina that she prefers women, Xavin obliges by taking a human female form, but has a tendency to shift back and forth between genders.
Some readers have criticized the Xavin character, saying the writing of the character undermines the lesbian storyline. And that may be what's happening, but I've also wondered if Xavin's gender might turn out to be more complex than simply male or female.

Comments (2)

Hey, thanks for reading my blog post. I've blogged about the Xavin thing too -- the people who were complaining most vociferously about Xavin changing hir sex seemed to be straight male bloggers, at least at first. They were sort of complaining on behalf of lesbians, it seemed. But yeah, I do think Xavin has a more complex gender than simply "male pretending to be female" or whatever. Good point!

I'll have to look at what you've said about Xavin.
Thanks for dropping in!

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