If Ash was "Ashley" and more

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Blackjack Gabbiani

Blackjack Gabbiani

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How would your favorite ships be treated differently if the genders were messed around? Like if Ash was Ashley, would people still pair "her" with Gary? Would *more* people pair "her" with Gary? What about with Misty? Or even Brock?

If Drew were a girl, would people view Contestshipping as "perverted wish fulfilment" (like some do with Dawn/Nozomi, which baffles me)?

And what if Bashou really *was* a woman? Would Steelshipping take off?

How about if Sammy were "Samantha"? Would the scene in the tree with Ash be viewed differently?

And moreover, if Brock was "Brooke", would her flirting be seen differently?
 
The answer to that last one, the one about Brock, is an absolute no. You can't change a person's personality, not even if they happen to be of a different gender thatn normal. Brock would still be an extreme flirter, even if he were "Brooke". She would just flirt with guys instead of girls. Now, as for the rest of that, we can't know because that's not the case.
 
But a flirtatious girl is viewed differently than a flirtatious guy. So if Brooke acted the same way as Brock, people would still see them differently, wouldn't they?
 
My favorite of these...what if Harley was a girl?

The May/Drew/Harley trio was some of the better character dynamics the writers have ever done, but what if Harley was a girl who hated May instead of a flamboyant guy?

He may not have been that much different now that I think about it, admittedly, the long hair works both ways and he's already rather feminine, so who knows. Hell, Harley is even a feminine name! (Think Batman)
 
Scott85 said:
My favorite of these...what if Harley was a girl?

The May/Drew/Harley trio was some of the better character dynamics the writers have ever done, but what if Harley was a girl who hated May instead of a flamboyant guy?

He may not have been that much different now that I think about it, admittedly, the long hair works both ways and he's already rather feminine, so who knows. Hell, Harley is even a feminine name! (Think Batman)
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True, when I first heard Harely's name I thought "Why is Harely Quinn hiding out as a boy who acts like a girl in an entirely different series as a coordinator" Then I realized "Oh wait, that's a different person". They wouldn't even have to change his name. Seriously, I think Harely wanted to be a girl from the start, just look at the way he talks. "girlfriend", "hon", although those terms of affection you would never hear spouting from a guy's lips unless in sincerity, which he has none of. Yeah, they could turn Harely into a girl right now, bring him back in Sinnoh from some wierd reason, and no one would even notice. So, I think that one is moot.
 
But a flirtatious girl is viewed differently than a flirtatious guy. So if Brooke acted the same way as Brock, people would still see them differently, wouldn't they?
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Well, if we had Brooke instead of Brock, I think what's viewed as a funny quirk of Brock's character would be changed to a slutty behavior. When a guy tries to hit on a bunch of girls, it's funny. When a girl tries to hit on a bunch of guys, she's viewed as a slut. Yay for society's double standards. 9_9

If Ash had been Ashley, Palletshipping would no doubt be the largest 'ship in Pokémon, with half a million fanfics posted everyday, and Pokeshipping would just be considered a yuri fantasy for a small group of fans.

If Dawn had been Don, Appealshipping probably would have been declared to be Don's canon 'ship by now, and Ikari would have a considerably smaller fanbase.

The same interaction between characters will have completely different interpretations depending on the genders of the characters involved. If Ash had been a girl, could you imagine how differently the Morrison/Ash hammock scene would've been viewed?
 
If Drew were a girl, would people view Contestshipping as "perverted wish fulfilment" (like some do with Dawn/Nozomi, which baffles me)?
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Hawt.

I would have liked to see Yuri!Contestshipping. Well, I liked to see regular Contestshipping, too, obviously. But wouldn't Drew make the prettiest girl?

If Ash were a girl, Palletshipping would definitely be more popular, but I don't think Pokeshipping's fanbase would change. It's not like Misty's feelings would become possible to rationalise away just because she's crushing on a girl, so the ship would be just as 'canon' as it was beforehand, although more people might argue that Ashley prefers Gary to Misty. So the canon-whores would stay; the slash-phobics would leave; and a bunch of yuri-fanboys would join. It'd work out as about the same. In fact, it'd probably be less looked-down-on in the fanbase, because the fanbase is predominently male. I don't think as many people would be annoyed with yuri-fanboys than they are with het-fangirls.
 
You know, if it were Jesse and James rather than Jessie and James (don't argue with me about the spelling, please, am not in the mood)... most of the Dodgers at Pokemopolis would've been so rabid about Rocketshipping it would've been frightening.

Srsly. Dodgers that dig Rocketshipping. Sounds like a sign of the Potterdämmerung.
 
More Ash/Gary shippers, definitely. I think the Misty/Ash pairers would be less, but it would still be more popular.
I know a lot of people who paired Hun and Atilla before finding out he was a man originally. xD

Brock would be called a s---t. A lot. ^^; I'd feel sorry for her.

Female Jiri? Oh my.

Dodgers that dig Rocketshipping? Well, there is one, but... it would be even more popular with the dodgers if both were male, definitely!
 
I think Brock would be viewed as a fangirl more than a slut. ^^
 
If Sammy had been Samantha, Professor Oak's backstory would be a whole lot more... interesting. :p
 
Well, if Ash were Ashley, then I don't think Pearlshipping would exist anymore, because Ash and Dawn would clearly be the best friends in the history of the show. People ship them because of their incredibly similar personalities that are very much unique in Pokemon except to a small group consisting mainly of Ash's rivals and now Dawn. However, while between a boy and a girl this similarity would be shippy, with two girls it would be best-frienditude.
 
However, while between a boy and a girl this similarity would be shippy, with two girls it would be best-frienditude.
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Correction: while between a boy and a girl, this similarity would be taken as shippy by a group of people who have difficulty thinking outside both the heterocentric box and the males-and-females-can-indeed-be-platonic-friends box. Between two girls, the same people would of course think nothing of it, because you'd have to be a shipper to see something like that as romantic in the first place. Yuri fans would probably attach some significance to it, of course.
 
Jo-Jo said:
Correction: while between a boy and a girl, this similarity would be taken as shippy by a group of people who have difficulty thinking outside both the heterocentric box and the males-and-females-can-indeed-be-platonic-friends box. Between two girls, the same people would of course think nothing of it, because you'd have to be a shipper to see something like that as romantic in the first place. Yuri fans would probably attach some significance to it, of course.
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Quite true. I do agree that guys and girls can be just friends. But, what I'm saying is that in this instance, it's the sort of similarity that many people might percieve to be the kind that sparks romantic interest. Likewise, the same with Yuri fans if Ash were Ashley, but it would most likely be less as from a psychological standpoint those kinds of similarities may create lesss romantic interest and more friendly interest, in the sense of, ell, let's take me for an example. I tend to make friends who tend to think the same way as I do, who are on the same wavelength, and I usually tend to become friends with those people right away. The one exception to that rule is my friend Amy, whom I actually have a crush on. That's how my mind works, I get along really well with people who are alot like me, and I like girls who think the same way as me. If you've noticed, excluding Paul, Ash is always friends with his Rivals because he seems to be on the same wavelength as him. I know I'm not exactly Ash Ketchum with 3 Ds and no hat, but still, they are human, and the writers made them all incredibly human, which I an't say for all cartoon characters.
 
Well, in reality about 90% of the population is estimated as straight, 7% bisexual, and 2% homosexual. That box thus holds up pretty well, and the shipper assumption that all characters are bi unless noted otherwise is actually quite curious, especially given the fact that bisexuals are extraordinarily rare in fiction (yeah, I have two or three TV Tropes pages on that, but not this time and I'm sure you've all seen them).
 
All the same, it's completely screwy to think that two characters of the opposite sex having a bond is automatically more shippy than two characters of the same sex interacting in the exact same way.

especially given the fact that bisexuals are extraordinarily rare in fiction
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God bless Captain Jack.
 
And what's the remaining 1%? Pan? A?

I actually have an original story where the male lead is bi, but we don't find that out until he's seperated from his (female) love interest for many years and carries on a relationship with another man. But that's neither here nor there, is it?
 
Shooting Ristar said:
I'm pretty sure it was some kind of quirk of rounding.
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Um, I'm afraid Blackjack's right, unfortunately there is no rounding in percentages, you can not have more than or less than 100% total, so rework your calculations and then get back to us.
 
You seem to think they're mine! I didn't calculate them, I didn't do the original survey, or anything of the sort. It's from a book, which I read about two months ago and returned to the library. My memory might be shaky, but I'll bet anything the percents are pretty close. If they're off, it's not by enough to mess up the point.

The book is about human evolution, and the title is "Human Natures," since you seem so willing to doubt me. That, and in the book the percentages went to two more decimal points - it looked more like 7.28% or something.
 
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