Ms. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde: The Rarely Explored Question...

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Hello there,

I am a recent member, though I have only currently found time to make a first post on these forums. As some may perhaps be able to tell from the title, I am leaning towards a discussion that is far from new, though seemingly lacks expression in this particular respect.

I myself am a writer, over the past years principally concerned with transformative narratives and stories which do find some measure of change in a character's condition; be that physical, mental, spiritual or otherwise relative to the dynamic of the tale. Also, as a fan of the Jekyll & Hyde concept in its various mediums, I have been pondering a few intepretations of the classical dichotomy, though it has been this particular inversion which has caught my eye as being so rare in expression.

Though many are probably familiar with the transgender variant of the tale which finds Jekyll, or his equivalent, transfigured into a woman (Sister Hyde, Ms. Hyde, Sexual Chemistry) there are even fewer inversions of this which find a female Jekyll becoming a male Hyde in our own sub-communities. In my own experience of TG fiction, I have only found a couple of such works and even they were more liberal intepretations of the idea.

Considering this, I would like to present the topic for discussion, as I would be intrigued to consider the views of others in this respect, and their own appreciation of how such a work might unfold.

Thanks again,

AlembicEther.

Another twist...

Pretty much all takes on the genre (both 'straight' and TG) have Jekyll as the 'good' scientist, and the alter-ego Hyde as the 'evil' alternate.

But what if that concept was turned on its head - Jekyll is the evil scientist, perhaps trying out a formula to make himself bigger and badder than ever, but fails spectacularly on both fronts: the ultimate in Bad Boy to Good Girl.

Combine with Alembic's Ms. Jekyll / Mr. Hyde and you've got a case of Bad Girl to Good Boy: perhaps intelligence and scientific aptitude wasn't all that contributed towards her meteoric rise to prominence...


As the right side of the brain controls the left side of the body, then only left-handers are in their right mind!

Two transformations

There is an interesting detail in the original story: in the first transformations, Hyde was small; he was shorter than Jekyll. But as he got stronger, he got bigger and taller. In a TG version of the story, this development could add a lot of depth, seriousness, and even something fairly scary.

Also, remember the purpose of Jekyll's experiment: he wanted to find a way to eliminate evil from criminals. Instead, he ended up facing a part of himself that he didn't know even existed, and then he ended up at war with himself.

I suppose if I were working on a story on the Jekyll/Hyde theme, the person transformed wouldn't be TG, but someone who didn't want to be a different gender. But there would also need to be a fundamentally different approach to life between the two. I suppose, if it were me writing, one of the two people would have a serious issue -- they would be a hoarder -- and they would try the experiment to cure their condition. It works, but also flips their gender, and their alter ego keeps throwing out stuff and cleaning up.

Just thinking out loud.

if you think about it,

maybe a lot of stories here might qualify as being in the spirit of Jekyll and Hyde - a person starting out with innocent goals, only to end up at war with another part of themselves. A guy who cross-dresses say for Halloween and ends up dressing up more and more would be one example.

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Ms. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde: The Rarely Explored Question...

Dr. Jekyll and Sister Hyde http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Jekyll_and_Sister_Hyde Dr. Jekyll and Ms. Hyde http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Jekyll_and_Ms._Hyde are movies based on the concept. Why not an intersexed person who changes gender as well as personalities so that a bad girl becomes a good boy or god girl, depending on situation.

    Stanman
May Your Light Forever Shine

Probably too sexist

I think the reason a female Jekyll / male Hyde scenario is rarely explored is that with a gentle, timid woman turning into a violent, lustful man the gender roles would be too stereotypical.