"9 Strangers Get Turned Into What They’ve Always Wanted To Be But Never Had The Courage"

[ShotsFired]

The article starts harmlessly enough, I want to be a Trekkie, I want to be a Goth. Cool pictures etc.

Then this. Fuck you Melanie, 32.

“My name is Melanie and I’m 32. I’m being turned from a woman into a man. I’m doing this because I feel like men represent power and strength, and I’d really like women to feel powerful and strong, which is why I’m becoming a man for a day.”

www.boredpanda.com/strangers-makeover-dream-transformations-falconer-griffiths/

Melanie should look into being transformed into someome with some intellect.

Does she really think she looks stronger in that second photo?
Look again, Melanie.

DJBaggySmalls

Does she really think she looks stronger in that second photo?
Look again, Melanie

She looks like a very camp young man.

The rest are fine and funny (although Faye, the business woman, could probably just benefit from a bit more self confidence to achieve her aim). Eloise, the tattooed lady and Helen the Goth in particular looked fantastic.

Comment on the woman who got turned into a drag queen (?!?):
John, 34: She’s not limiting herself. I think it’s important to express your sexuality, and she’s obviously doing that, so it’s cool.
That doesn't actually mean anything, does it? Pure virtue signalling statement, of the type that go us into the trans mess.

She’s not limiting herself. I think it’s important to express your sexuality, and she’s obviously doing that, so it’s cool

I think she is just someone who wanted to dress up and didn't have the nerve or the resources or the make-up skills to do it.

Mind you John, 34 sounds a bit of a self- important prat given his comment on Eloise:-

John, 34: Tattoos – yeah, I love that. She’s expressing herself. I offer spiritual consultancy – I work with energy – and I think that’s important.

Commentor about the woman who wanted to be turned into a 'serious' business woman:

Business woman totally. She looks like a bitch

Sigh.

I looked back hoping that comment was another pearl from John, 34 , he's already said 2 stupid things but it is Ellie, 26

How does it make women feel stronger if Melanie dresses up as man and says that to her men represent power and strength?

I hope I met someone who offers such a transformation one day. I want to be turned into an awesome shieldmaiden.
That's make me feel strong and powerful as woman.

Aside from the notion of power and strength being the preserve of men, the comment Datun quoted is also pretty awful. That a woman being represented as potentially a powerful, strong figure is deemed to "look like a bitch" by someone says a lot about how women are viewed.

Look like a man - power and strength.
Look like a businesswoman - bitch.

Exactly.

Look like a man - power and strength.
Look like a businesswoman - bitch.

That is why men are rewarded for certain characteristics which women are criticised for. And then they are told the reason they don't get on is because they don't have those characteristics.

Very much so, shown yet again by comments with regards to this project. A woman showing potential power and strength is described so unthinkingly in such misogynistic language whilst men naturally symbolise these traits to some, all feeds into a culture in which women and girls are derided for showing such traits thus in my opinion helping to suggest they're the preserve of men.

The comment about being a bitch was made by Ellie, 26. Of course I suppose Ellie might be trans but "bitch" is no stranger on MN.

The comment about being a bitch was made by Ellie, 26. Of course I suppose Ellie might be trans but "bitch" is no stranger on MN.

I'm not sure of your point here? I'm well aware it was made by a woman and have myself challenged it on here many times. Misogynist language is tossed around by many people. This was beyond the word itself, not only using such a slur but saying a woman dressed as a "businesswoman" looked "like a bitch".

Hm, I read the comment, and is it possible the commenter meant "bitch" as a compliment? Like, "strong woman who takes no shit"?

Because I read the comment as her preferring the business woman look.

The woman disguised as man was done really good, or she has a naturally masculine face? I don't know, but she does look quite like an average dude. (Not very strong and powerful - the business woman looks stronger)

I suppose that could have been the case Vestal but I see "bitch" as a misogynist slur; not all women do so she could have meant it in such a way. I think it's a shame such a word is so accepted as a way to describe women and girls though, however intended.

Well, it is just the word for a female dog. The fact it is a misogynist slur is derived mostly from the context in which it is used. Not sure, but for a man, something similar could even be a compliment. I don't know, something like "Haha, what a mad dog you are" could be a compliment on recklessness.

So the fact the word "bitch" is so massively insulting is mostly due to societal misogyny.

There might be a movement to reclaim it? Use it to describe a woman who takes no shit, as men would call her a bitch anyway? The way we use "terf" to describe ourselves, flippantly?
I think that miiiight possibly be a good thing.
More empowering than becoming a stripper, in any case.

I'm not sure of your point here? I'm well aware it was made by a woman and have myself challenged it on here many times

I was wondering if you were being critical of the individual who used it or if it was another example of patriarchical oppression (and consequently Ellie can't be blamed)

Like Vestal, I think it may have been meant as a compliment.

I was wondering if you were being critical of the individual who used it or if it was another example of patriarchical oppression (and consequently Ellie can't be blamed)

Are you attempting to be patronising/belittling? This further response makes it seem you just wanted to antagonise. I was pretty clear about what I was saying.

No it was a serious question. Is Ellie to take responsibility for her choice of language?

There was an attempt back in the late 90s/ early 00s to reclaim 'bitch' it didn't really work. It's dehumanising - literally calling a woman a dog. A lot of female slurs are animal words - 'dog' to mean ugly, ditto 'moose', 'bossy cow', 'stroppy mare' 'vixen' 'minx'(which apparently originated meaning pet dog), we can't reclaim them all.

And it doesn't even make much sense when reclaimed: dogs, even female ones, are not particularly known for being cool, competent and in charge.

Plus its just such a harsh, awful sounding word. Its an insult, we should reject it as such, not twist the word so it means something completely different to the way most people use it (that's what transactivists do )

I agree pretzels and that "bitch" is so often used towards women and girls shows to me how endemic misogyny is in language. The number of slurs regularly used for women, words for animals and beyond, also shows this. Many do use "bitch" in the sense of "reclaiming" it which possibly the woman describing the "businesswoman" in this piece was (although I'm not certain - still seems to me she could have been using it to mean the image of a "businesswoman" was as such) but I don't think it's a word which can be and is regularly used to be rather derogatory towards women and girls.