Gender Swapped Fairy Tales
by Karie Fransman & Jonathan Plackett
Faber
When Jonathan Plackett was young, his father would read him and his sister bedtime stories … but he would secretly swap the genders of all the characters. Thirty years later, he wants his own daughter to grow up in a world where little girls can be powerful and little boys can be vulnerable.
Married to comic writer and artist Karie Fransman, Plackett created a computer algorithm that can swap the genders in any text. Fairy tales, which teach children about ‘good’ and ‘evil’ and the moral codes of society, are ideal for gender-swapping and illustrating.
Fortunately the dichotomised beliefs about ‘femininity’ and ‘masculinity’ have changed since the time when many of the stories were written down at the end of the nineteenth century. But, thanks largely to Disney, children still have these tales in their lives. The swap allows these stories to take in a new dimension that highlights the gender biases in the original texts.
What a joy! There are plenty of pretty boys and handsome women who have queendoms. Princesses in shining armour rescue sleeping princes, kings sit by windows sewing and longing for a child and kind-hearted young men see past beastly flaws in monstrous women. Of course, all the fairies are male and fairy godfathers are there to sprinkle some magic.
Plackett acknowledges that he needs to find a different algorithm to disrupt the heteronormativity and looks forward to a non-binary world where labels cease to exist. It is also a bit problematic when cisgender kings give birth – but roll with it … they are fairy tales where pumpkins become coaches.
Karie Fransman & Jonathan Plackett have dedicated the book to their daughter – who they hope will feel free to be a dragon, a queen, a big bad wolf or whatever she pleases to reach her happily ever after.
Lezly Herbert
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