In the 1990′s, I was part of a group doing a shared genderswap universe on the X-Men, where the logic was that all mutants, and any humans who had children with mutants, would be genderswapped, but no one else. Logically speaking, the thought was, whether a mutant was male or female should be a fifty-fifty chance; there’s no evidence whatsoever in Marvel of sex-linkage in mutation, and unlike, say, being a physicist who’s exposed to gamma rays in the 1950′s, there are no social factors going into being a mutant... only into what you choose to do with it.
Lilacsigil, who I seem to recall might have been part of the group (or at least a fan of it), has done the same thing to X-Men: First Class in Je vois ma vie en rose (it's in English, only the title's French -- it means "I see my life in pink"). All of the mutants, plus some of the more important humans, have been genderswapped. I’ve seen a good number of X-Men genderswaps, but this one in particular is very, very strong.
“Charlotte” Xavier is, perhaps, overly bubbly -- in the first few chapters, half of her dialogue ends in exclamation points -- but she’s probably entirely accurate, in that the daughter of a wealthy socialite in the 1960′s would probably be expected to act this way to a certain degree, and to a certain degree it’s the same thing as the groovy mutations and Xavier’s trademark optimism. The two real standout characters are Raven (no name change) and Erika Lehnsherr, however. Raven, rather than being straight-up swapped into a guy, becomes genderqueer, with a very, very strong gender identity of being comfortable as either gender but very uncomfortable with being locked into either one. Raven’s gender is genderfluidity, and to attempt to define him (he uses male pronouns because in the time period that was seen as generic -- “they” hadn’t been popularized yet and wouldn’t be for another fifty years or so) as a man or a woman upsets him the same way misgendering a trans person upsets them. The conflict between Raven and “Harriet” McCoy is less over Harriet expressing a desire for “normalcy” as “don’t you wish you weren’t blue?” and more “don’t you wish you could be a normal man?”, to which Raven’s response is still, oh hell no.
Erika, however... you know I’m probably biased because of my great love for Magneto in all forms, but this Erika, this avatar of impacted rage in a female body, is an Erika I love. She clings to her anger as a weapon against the world, and fights against feelings of love and happiness because she fears they’ll make her weak, not because she perceives femininity as weak -- femininity never enters into it. Erika wears earrings and dresses and paints her nails. She has no trouble being feminine. But she can’t let go of her rage, because it’s been all she has defined herself as for so very long.
I found the discussion of her relationship with Sabrina Shaw, and Shaw’s mutant allies, much more nuanced and psychologically realistic than was portrayed in the movies. Erika hates Shaw with all her heart and wants her dead, but admits that it took her a decade to stop wanting to please her. While she does not trust Emory Frost or the others, she fears for them as well because she knows how Shaw works -- Shaw is a predator who goes for the emotionally vulnerable, makes them think she will protect them, and does so while simultaneously destroying them. Erika says that because Shaw murdered her mother, she knew from the beginning that Shaw was evil and not on her side; how much harder would it be for mutants Shaw didn’t make that mistake with to escape?
The other characters - Angelo, Alex (no name change), Darwin (no name change), and Shannon -- seem less well drawn, but are also less interesting to me in canon, so maybe that’s me. Marcus MacTaggert faces entirely different problems as a CIA agent than Moira MacTaggert did, but Harriet McCoy is still there to demonstrate how badly the CIA manages having female staff.
The work is powerful for the degree to which it highlights the misogyny of the time period without, in my opinion, being preachy (of course I have read almost all of Sheri S. Tepper’s works, so my definition of preachy is probably extreme for some people.) Charlotte has still led a life of exceptional privilege even though she is female, and still has her own personal skeletons from her abusive and neglectful parents and step-parents. Raven is more of her equal than in canon, and that’s probably a natural outcome of Charlotte being female, that she’s slightly less patronizing to everyone. Angelo’s decision to change sides makes a lot more sense with the reason Lilacsigil gives him. Darwin doesn’t die. (All by itself that makes a story awesome.)
There is a flashback sequence that may be triggering, dealing with things Shaw inflicted on Erika in the camps because she was trying to breed mutants, but it’s appropriately warned for, and not nearly as graphic as it could be. There is also some really good stuff toward the end dealing with disability and adapting to it. All in all I highly recommend it.
Summary: Magneto's team realises that Darwin might still be alive and attempts to find him. When they are caught in an ambush and half the team is captured, Mystique has to lead the rescue effort. Darwin calls in the kind of help that Mystique doesn't want, but does need.
Mod Comment: This is, I think, one of the best "Darwin's Alive" fics I've ever read.
