What if "he" were a "she"?

Sometimes tropes are tropes for a reason. They work. Who doesn’t love an ugly duckling story? A damsel in distressed saved by prince charming? They’re some of the most classic stories out there (and haven’t we heard that there’s “nothing new under the sun”?) 

But sometimes they’re just stale. Done before. 

That’s when tropes become stereotypes. 

Sometimes the way to come up with a cool new story is just twisting around a trope and making it new. How about switching he for she? (or the other way around.)

Why does the prince always have to save the princess? Why is it always a girl getting the makeover to win over the cute boy? Why is it always the boy who’s from the “wrong side of the tracks”. What would happen to these classic stories if we switched them around?

Normal girl who loves a “monster”

                                 

What if Bella had been the vampire? Would she have been the same? Awkward, shy, somehow still standout beautiful? Would Edward still be mysterious and protective? Their power position affects their character.

Bella as a vampire would be strong and beautiful. She’d be the one hiding. Edward would be shy, and… well I’m not sure what else. Could he still be mysterious? Over protective?

Ugly-Duckling-girl becomes beautiful

What if the loser boy had a makeover to make him cooler and win over the girl? 

Again, it would likely change the personality of the characters. The girl would have to be confident, not shy. The boy would have to be insecure. The girl would have the power.

There is one example I thought of as I was writing this post, of a story that swapped this trope and made it work: Can’t Buy Me love. I'd love to see more of it.

Lady’s man

This is the guy who snaps his fingers and has a line of girls waiting. Occasionally unhappy, but is still looked up to by other men. So what would happen if you switched him out with a beautiful women who had men wrapped around her fingers? Does she become a slut? A mean girl? Or respected like her male counterpart?

Innocent girl

This is the girl next door that does everything right. Probably a church girl, follows all the rules and guys either think they can’t get her or they think she’s too boring.

What if it were the guy who was shy and innocent? Too good for his own good? Unattainable?

Evil Step Sisters/Mom

Why is it always the step sisters and mother that are evil? Step fathers can be just as ruthless and what about brothers? How would this change the story? Well, I guess that depends. A lot of open room for this one. First, the evil step sisters/mother always seemed to be jealous of Cinderella’s beauty making them very vain. With men, it would likely be something else that makes them hate the child. Would they still be jealous? Of what? Or is there another reason for their evilness?

Damsel in Distress

 Actually, there are quite a few strong women characters out there now a days which is very refreshing. Some female heroes are quite nice. But I still don’t recall them having to save a boy very often. They might fight alongside a boy, but the boy isn’t usually the one thing they have to go out and save. How would this change things? Would the boy be embarrassed to be saved by a girl?

There are many ways you can change classic stories, these are only a few examples. Have you ever written any gender flipping stories? Read any recently?

What stereotype would you like to see flipped and how?