So, a friend posed an interesting query in one of my Facebook groups:
“So here’s the question. If you there was a button that you could push that would give you superpowers but would also permanently change you to the opposite gender – would you push it? Would it be a hard decision, whether your answer was yes or no? Or is it an obvious choice?”
My initial response was heartfelt No! I enjoy being female in this modern-day and age. For all the roads we have yet to travel equality wise etcetera, so many more have opened up for women just in the past hundred plus years alone it is a great time to be female.
But then I stopped thinking about me, and me being me, went and did what I always do and over thought the hell out of it in a generic sense.
In a transgender scenario, the flip to the opposite sex is obvious, having a superpower to boot is a bonus. This sex switch mostly becomes of interest for the cisgendered.
What of the woman who now has all the physical characteristics of a male, but her heart and soul would remain feminine? If the new body build is proportionate to the original (a tall, fat male becomes a tall, fat female etc.), I’d say that is going to make the desire to wear a dainty dress interesting. Is she in drag now?
Let’s go down to another level, sexuality. A hetero male is now in a woman’s body. His sexual preference is still for females – you just know someone is going to ask if this now makes him a lesbian. Yes, he can now teleport, but can he handle the perception of being gay?
And speaking of perceptions….
This is looking at it from the view of the person who chooses to push the button. What of the married hetero female, who did not choose to switch and power up, who now has to deal with having a wife? What if they live somewhere that does not recognize gay marriage? Hell, what if the husband, in his new bodacious female body, is even prettier than she? Trust me – some women are going to go there.
Oh, that rabbit hole is getting pretty damn deep there isn’t it, Alice?
Now let us swing that spot light from the generic back to specific -aka me- again.
Would I be willing to trade being a female to have the ability of flight, telepathy or telekinesis, shape-shifting or a myriad of other self-serving powers? Absolutely not.
However, what if with a push of that magical button I have the ability to heal?
- With just a simple touch – the mangled body from a car crash – restored.
- The baby born with a deformed heart – now whole.
- Make that virulent cancer not just go into remission, but disappear as though it never existed.
I’m not a girly-girl. Never having to wear a dress (or bra), again would not hurt me in the least. I think I have strong masculine features in my face anyway, so other than a change of hair and not bothering with make-up would also be a bonus. My friends who know me well already say I think like a male in so many ways, personality-wise I do not think it be much different. And to top it all off, I do love my men and my women, so even sexually I’m still in a good place. At this stage in my life, I may very well be one of the best candidates for that particular button pushing.
Were I still married and raising my children, I know I would likely turn it down without a second’s thought or regret. However, I am not married and my children are very much adults.
So if I can heal others, would the adjustments to my new body, both physiologically and psychologically, outweigh the greater good of all I can eventually help?
In all honesty, once again, I have to answer Absolutely not.
As the TV show would ask – What Would You Do?
Raivenne-lations 
I would personally prefer to remain a male, although the superpowers might enable me to help both others and myself greatly. However, the word “superpowers” can be interpreted in many ways. It might include the ability to change myself back to a male, even if God did tell Noah (aka Bill Cosby) “You know I don’t work like that!”. In that case it might be worth it. Otherwise, I might find it just too much of an adjustment.
That’s like asking a genie for more wishes, Cosby’s right – it doesn’t work like that. Once you’re Roberta, you stay Roberta – lol.
Having been trained as a mathematician, that’s exactly the way to maximize the opportunity. If offiered three wishes, at least one of them should be a wish for – you guessed it – three wishes. This would eventually drive any genie back into his bottle.
My instinct says “in a heartbeat,” Even though I squarely self-identify as hetero woman, the move to male doesn’t give me pause, even if I still preferred men. And regardless what the superpower was. In fact, even without that inducement. I think I’ve just had too many issues with my femininity, starting with early puberty, resulting early breast reduction (and all the factors leading to it), PCOS, DUB for months on end, even dealing with my cycle when it was”normal.” Add to that the number of times I have been molested, attacked, stalked. And so on. I don’t enjoy -being- a girl, even though my affect, and the effect, is a “girly girl.”
In your case I fully understand why you’d switch “in a heartbeat”. You were among the four or five friends I knew would switch without reservation, even without the incentive of a superpower.
The gender switch would not be too much of a problem for me as the human form fascinates me (although my partner would probably have something to say about the new position they would find themselves in). I’d probably spend the first two weeks locked in the house admiring my new body from every angle and learning how it works. But I’d need clarification on WHAT the superpower was before making my decision.