I don't get the whole "only girs eat sweets" thing at all though. I mean really where did that even come from?

Sweets are perceived as "feminine" while savoury foods are "masculine". Just comes down to cultural ideas of what women and men are "supposed" to be like. No different than perceiving certain types of clothes or hobbies or what have you as feminine or masculine

My impression with gender bending fiction (especially the "pop culture" type) is that those almost always try to heighten everything the author can think of they can associate with either gender. So this changing room thing I'd take as a further exaggeration of how these manga always love to portray girls as way more clingy and touchy than boys.

I kinda get the urge: what's the point of writing gender bender when the protagonist afterwards goes "hey what the hell, I can actually continue as before!?" - because not like they ever care internally that they switched gender, particularly, it's got to be external stuff. But at the same time, yeah. It leads to all those weird situations - oh yeah sure you absolutely have to wear a skirt now that you are a girl, it's the law, there couldn't possibly be another option; ab-solute-ly definitely it's your first time now being allowed to enjoy fancy sweets in a trendy café, you couldn't possibly have done so as boy ...

I try to read these as just genre convention. Not so much anything beyond ^^#

I could see that turning into an interesting concept. MC gets genderbent then promptly realizes "Wait, no one else knows this happened to me and I don't look that different. I can probably just keep passing as my original gender." And then it pretends to go on to a completely unrelated slice of life story, but you have all sorts of opportunities for the gender-bending to sneak back in, in interesting ways.

I get you. It makes sense. I don't get the whole "only girs eat sweets" thing at all though. I mean really where did that even come from?

Have you never seen the conservative stereotype of manly men eating meat? It's the same concept, but in reverse. Though, in this case, I think there's a bit more to it. It seems like the specific deserts and cafes in question are marketed as more girly and frilly, which still doesn't mean a boy couldn't go in and order one. However, we are talking about teenage boys here and I could easily see one finding the idea too embarrassing, even if they really want to try one, especially if they're subconsciously a little unsure of their gender and overcompensating.

Alternatively, it could just be a matter of not wanting to order and eat a meal alone and the rest of their normal friend group not being interested in that type of thing. That scenario comes up often enough even without genderbending.

https://dynasty-scans.com/chapters/sugar_meets_girl_ch01 is all about stereotypes of who "can" eat sweets or meat.

I kinda want to advocate for the manga to just continue and after 6 months or something having a "didn't I forget something? Oh well can't be that important" scene instead.

I also want this.

I kinda want to advocate for the manga to just continue and after 6 months or something having a "didn't I forget something? Oh well can't be that important" scene instead.

I also want this.

Same, but I kinda also want there to be the whole trope of something is happening at the same time and Yuuri has to pick, and she forces herself to actually realize she's actually happier in her new body.

My impression with gender bending fiction (especially the "pop culture" type) is that those almost always try to heighten everything the author can think of they can associate with either gender. So this changing room thing I'd take as a further exaggeration of how these manga always love to portray girls as way more clingy and touchy than boys.

I kinda get the urge: what's the point of writing gender bender when the protagonist afterwards goes "hey what the hell, I can actually continue as before!?" - because not like they ever care internally that they switched gender, particularly, it's got to be external stuff. But at the same time, yeah. It leads to all those weird situations - oh yeah sure you absolutely have to wear a skirt now that you are a girl, it's the law, there couldn't possibly be another option; ab-solute-ly definitely it's your first time now being allowed to enjoy fancy sweets in a trendy café, you couldn't possibly have done so as boy ...

I try to read these as just genre convention. Not so much anything beyond ^^#

Highly gendered experiences, scenarios that would play out very differently for a female than a male protagonist, are really good for creating narrative tension, and it's also one of the most intuitive ways to take advantage of a gender-bender premise. The dissonance between the protagonist's old and new life can make for great comedy and drama material.

Lack of nuance and curiosity ("if you're a girl, you must wear a skirt, don't ask why lol") is not required for gender-bender fiction, these values just get sacrificed when the given work is more concerned with covering as many classic scenarios as possible in a short time, or with other priorities such as fanservice and keeping the tone light. As mentioned by others, 'Ore ga Watashi ni Naru made' is a great example of a gender-bender manga series that writes these scenarios with nuance and care.

Serious question here. Can anyone think of any traits typically associated with one gender that you have never seen someone of the opposite gender exhibit? For instance are there no men that are interested in clothes and fashion.

I feel like rejecting the premise a little. There's no feminine essence that cis or trans women/men embody, so there aren't gonna be any traits that only women/men can have.

That was kind of the point I was trying to make. The story seems to be suggesting that liking clothes and fashion was "girly" and because Yuuri is now a girl she needs to take interest in it. My point that is wrong. I known guys into fashion and I've known plenty of women that weren't. I also thought it was a little uncool that Kyouko assumed that because they're both girls it was okay just come into the dressing room with Yuuri without asking.

EDIT: My explanation is a bit convoluted there. The bottom line is, no trait is exclusively one gender or the other. But the point of asking that question is to get people to reach that conclusion themselves. I guess it's my philosophy minor coming out LOL.

Yes, gender roles are bad. It's wrong to force anyone to wear only certain kind of clothes. It's wrong to force people to do stuff. So why does society do it? Why is the world obsessed with gender roles?

The fellow user that you partially quoted mentioned 'The Sisters of Dorley', and I second that recommendation. It's a novel that attempts to seriously answer the question: what if it was actually possible to turn boys into women? Yes, really, actually turn them, without magic or sci-fi technology. The perfect challenge for those who can handle a more ambitious gender-bender story, and one that does not shy away from the uncomfortable questions at the heart of gender.

interesting choice to say yuuri needs to reverse her original "wish" to turn back into a man... it sets up the real possibility that yuuri chooses to stay as a woman. also she doesn't reject the feminine clothing ("i didn't expect this to be fun / is this really me?" ... egg alert...) and is even wearing womens underwear already lol... idk man... i'm starting to huff some hopium

I'm curious if this lack of boundaries is fully fictional, or is something kinda common in Japan. I never dealt with that kind of thing in HS, but instead in college, but I was a college athlete and just assumed the lack of boundaries was more an athlete thing.

it's definitely not fictional, but it can also be true that this is done more for the set up. not japan, but my girl friends in both middleschool and highschool would casually change around each other in the locker room for swimming practice. changing is just a practical thing, and if you really didn't want to do it around others we would respect it of course, but it's not by default an embarrassing thing unless you grew up pretty conservatively i guess.

last edited at Jan 29, 2026 11:21AM

Just be gae