Never seen anyone talk about a genderbend au in the yangchen novels, and lowkey I want to yap so..,
Gender takes a very important role in the novels, a role that is highlighted even more once you switch the characters genders. So what would a male version of Yangchen be like? I would say that pretty much the same, in the airnomad culture there aren’t really any gender norms so I believe that as a guy Yangchens personality remains fairly the same. However that just applies to Yangchens personality, people would definitely treat her differently. Though in the novels we see that Yangchen is treated as a naive little girl by the Shangs and dare I say other important political figures (Northern Watertribe chief/Earth King). She has to learn to adapt and use this to her advantages. As a man I do think Yangchen would inherently be treated with more respect, however that naive little girl stereotype would become the naive airnomad stereotype. Which is why I do not think this gender change wouldnt affect very deeply Yangchens approach to how she deals with political issues, I think it would just make things easier since as “man” he might be trusted more to take charge or make decisions, all the while using the naive airnomad act to get the upper hand.
Kavik’s narrative as a girl becomes very interesting. I mainly say this because he is literally me, and I’m a girl so. Let’s begin at the core, Kaviks relationship with Ksylaan, one that as women becomes far more complex. Kaylaan is the perfect girl, expected to become the perfect woman, Kavik could barely compare to her. Infact she owed her sister her life, after all she saved her. That remains pretty much the same, Kaylaan would manipulate Kavik into thinking she was less than her, less smart, less mindful, less athletic, less beautiful. In the books we see that Kavik and Kaylaan are very often referred to as handsome. Beauty can play an important role in Kaylaan and Kaviks stories as woman. For kaylaan it would be one of her weapons, she knows what men think about beautiful girls and she knows exactly how to exploit it. Kavik on the other hand keeping things faithful to the books is very very painfully insecure. I think she would pay no mind to her looks and the few times she does she is just reminded that she would never be as good as her sister, so she needs to be good in other aspects. However I do think it would be a problem in her street runner life style, Kavik wouldn’t use beauty as a weapon, becuase she wouldn’t know how, that’s just something her sister does. As a handsome man Kaviks street runner life is like any others, as a beautiful girl, danger is much more evident. I also believe Kaylaans and Kaviks reunion would be much more shocking. Imaging finding your sister again after risking your life to locate her and she not only remains as condescending to you as she was before, but she is also pregnant? The speech the Kaylaan give to Kavik about Chaisee, “Why not trust the man I love?” Would hit so much harder in many different levels.
The novels would have a different take on woman’s struggles, it would go from women in power proving they are right for their position. To woman struggling in a world that is inherently harder on them.
