Gender switching in fan fiction

From Fan History Wiki

In the Sherlock Holmes community on January 31, 1941, there was a dinner meeting of the Baker Street Irregulars. According to the article, What is Slash?, the discussion involved "What if Watson were actually female?" The article says that some serious fiction actually resulted from this discussion. This conversation is thought to be one of the first gender switching discussions in modern fandom.

Rex Stout wrote an article called "Watson was a Woman", which made the argument that Watson was really female and "proved" its contention with an anagram of story titles that spelled out "her" name. It was responded to by another article and another anagram which spelled out "Nuts to Rex Stout".

It is noteworthy to mention that gender switching in fanfiction today very rarely, if ever, seriously addresses transgender, transsexual, or genderqueer issues. [1]

By 2007, gender switching had become a cliche in saffic fandoms.

see also Genderswap