So as a heads up I noticed the discussion thread based on your FB share - if you can ask Alys to chime in directly in the tag discussion thread (just register using the same site name so the merge will be smoth) it would be really helpful, since I can't reply personally in your FB thread and doing a back and forth would be complicated XD
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Re: gender bender vs body swap. Hm, it's true that especially with these new changes, "gender bender" probably isn't the best. That being said it's unlikely we'll change the tag name, because the term is really well known. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender_bender#In_fiction . We do define it, in the description, as they have a *sex change* - the problem is that the well known term is 'gender bender' with gender in it, but that's a tricky thing to solve due to the above.
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Meanwhile, we do already have a body swap tag - it can't be used interchangeably with gender bender because it's not the same definition as we've defined it: https://www.anime-planet.com/anime/tags/body-swapping . This is for two characters whose consciousnesses swap bodies regardless of sex.
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I'd have to look in the mod section to confirm this last bit, but I'm pretty sure we double tag if the swap occurs for each person into the other sex (ie a man and a woman switch bodies). But more often, gender bender is used when it's one person who suddenly is in the body of the opposite sex, or transforms into the opposite sex (re: kampfer, etc)
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As far as changing the name gender bender to accomodate trans characters and such, part of what went into these initial decisions is trying to figure out what's actually applicable in anime versus what nuances exist in the normal world/real life. For example, when discussing if we should have just 'transgender' compared to genderfluid, genderqueer, or any other of the many variants people identify with, the fairly unanimous decision from the community folks I talked to is that over complicating it with all of those terms would not be the best decision, because it's not as if there are a huge amount of anime with trans chars in them.
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If there's actually an anime or manga that has a character who says 'I'm genderfluid' I think there could have been a stronger argument for not just using 'transgender', as an example... but the reality is anime/manga are pretty far behind where society is at the moment. I'd argue the same is true for changing the well known term 'gender bender' for a hypothetical/likely non-existent case where a transgender character is involved in the event. I could be wrong, but I'm guessing this doesn't exist in anime/manga. Though the ideal would be to solve for every possible occurrence of what could happen, it would heavily over complicate things and introduce plenty of guidelines and terms that will frankly never be used or wont ever be applicable (at least not until anime comes a long way). I say this respectfully and am of course up for changing our guidelines if it makes sense to - I also know that no matter what solution we come up with, I don't think it's possible to solve for the 100% perfect use case, either in how happy people are with it or how discoverable or accurate our content is (we're aiming for the 80% use case, if you're familiar with programming concepts :) )
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So as a heads up I noticed the discussion thread based on your FB share - if you can ask Alys to chime in directly in the tag discussion thread (just register using the same site name so the merge will be smoth) it would be really helpful, since I can't reply personally in your FB thread and doing a back and forth would be complicated XD
\r\nRe: gender bender vs body swap. Hm, it's true that especially with these new changes, "gender bender" probably isn't the best. That being said it's unlikely we'll change the tag name, because the term is really well known. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender_bender#In_fiction . We do define it, in the description, as they have a *sex change* - the problem is that the well known term is 'gender bender' with gender in it, but that's a tricky thing to solve due to the above.
\r\nMeanwhile, we do already have a body swap tag - it can't be used interchangeably with gender bender because it's not the same definition as we've defined it: https://www.anime-planet.com/anime/tags/body-swapping . This is for two characters whose consciousnesses swap bodies regardless of sex.
\r\nI'd have to look in the mod section to confirm this last bit, but I'm pretty sure we double tag if the swap occurs for each person into the other sex (ie a man and a woman switch bodies). But more often, gender bender is used when it's one person who suddenly is in the body of the opposite sex, or transforms into the opposite sex (re: kampfer, etc)
\r\nAs far as changing the name gender bender to accomodate trans characters and such, part of what went into these initial decisions is trying to figure out what's actually applicable in anime versus what nuances exist in the normal world/real life. For example, when discussing if we should have just 'transgender' compared to genderfluid, genderqueer, or any other of the many variants people identify with, the fairly unanimous decision from the community folks I talked to is that over complicating it with all of those terms would not be the best decision, because it's not as if there are a huge amount of anime with trans chars in them.
\r\nIf there's actually an anime or manga that has a character who says 'I'm genderfluid' I think there could have been a stronger argument for not just using 'transgender', as an example... but the reality is anime/manga are pretty far behind where society is at the moment. I'd argue the same is true for changing the well known term 'gender bender' for a hypothetical/likely non-existent case where a transgender character is involved in the event. I could be wrong, but I'm guessing this doesn't exist in anime/manga. Though the ideal would be to solve for every possible occurrence of what could happen, it would heavily over complicate things and introduce plenty of guidelines and terms that will frankly never be used or wont ever be applicable (at least not until anime comes a long way). I say this respectfully and am of course up for changing our guidelines if it makes sense to - I also know that no matter what solution we come up with, I don't think it's possible to solve for the 100% perfect use case, either in how happy people are with it or how discoverable or accurate our content is (we're aiming for the 80% use case, if you're familiar with programming concepts :) )
Thanks for the followback! I'm EdwardElric from TSR ^_^
You are INVITED! ^__^
\r\nSpread the word!
you're welcome :)
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