# If a Man was put into a Woman's body.. **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 7, 2005, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-man-was-put-into-a-womans-body/283638 "2005-01-07T20:44:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ninetypercent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/9de0a6/32.png) [@ninetypercent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ninetypercent)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2005, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-man-was-put-into-a-womans-body/283638/1 "2005-01-07T20:44:31Z")
… ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2005, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-man-was-put-into-a-womans-body/283638/2 "2005-01-07T20:51:44Z")
Happened to me twice last week. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2005, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-man-was-put-into-a-womans-body/283638/3 "2005-01-07T20:53:07Z")
_high five to lieu_😃 ---
**Author:** ![ninetypercent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/9de0a6/32.png) [@ninetypercent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ninetypercent)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2005, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-man-was-put-into-a-womans-body/283638/4 "2005-01-07T20:53:50Z")
Well… I had a post, but my keyboard is fucked up. if a man was was magically given a woman’s body, would he eventually become entirely female? Same question applies to women, rephrased. I wonder how much distinction there is between a man and a woman in the first place. How much is is determined purely by what we physically? ---
**Author:** ![Greenback](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/2bfe46/32.png) [@Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greenback)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2005, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-man-was-put-into-a-womans-body/283638/5 "2005-01-07T21:29:38Z")
> [@ninetypercent](#): > > … … he would never leave the house. ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2005, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-man-was-put-into-a-womans-body/283638/6 "2005-01-07T21:32:34Z")
> [@ninetypercent](#): > > if a man was was magically given a woman’s body, would he eventually become entirely female? Nope. This is basically what’s happened to transsexuals, and look at how many of them get sex reassignment surgery. ---
**Author:** ![kelly5078](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6f9a4e/32.png) [@kelly5078](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kelly5078)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2005, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-man-was-put-into-a-womans-body/283638/7 "2005-01-07T21:48:37Z")
He couldn’t reach anything. ---
**Author:** ![LifeOnWry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/96bed5/32.png) [@LifeOnWry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LifeOnWry)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2005, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-man-was-put-into-a-womans-body/283638/8 "2005-01-07T21:52:04Z")
> [@kelly5078](#): > > He couldn’t reach anything. Hey! Do we have to go down the short people route?? For whatever it’s worth, nobody is as good at retrieving ping-pong balls from under the sofa as we shorties. So there. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/74df32/32.png) [@The\_Devil\_s\_Grandmother](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Devil_s_Grandmother)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2005, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-man-was-put-into-a-womans-body/283638/9 "2005-01-07T21:53:58Z")
I think the OP is trying to ask something closer to “if the memories and consciousness of a normal man/woman who had no particular desire to be a woman/man was suddenly placed into a body of the opposite sex, what would happen? Would the brain structure and chemistry make that person in to a real man/woman? Or would that person remain forever like a financially-challenged pre-op transsexual, trapped in the wrong body?” If he didn’t suck so much when it comes to writing female characters, I’d advise you to read Robert Heinlein’s _I Will fear No Evil_. The plot of that book is the question I think you are posing. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2005, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-man-was-put-into-a-womans-body/283638/10 "2005-01-07T22:32:05Z")
> [@Greenback](#): > > … he would never leave the house. Forget the house, he’d never leave the _bedroom!_😃 ---
**Author:** ![foxymoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d26b3c/32.png) [@foxymoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foxymoron)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2005, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-man-was-put-into-a-womans-body/283638/11 "2005-01-07T22:35:20Z")
Hilarity would ensue, wouldn’t it? ---
**Author:** ![KellyM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/57b2e6/32.png) [@KellyM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KellyM)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2005, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-man-was-put-into-a-womans-body/283638/12 "2005-01-07T23:08:19Z")
> [@foxymoron](#): > > Hilarity would ensue, wouldn’t it? No penis would ensue, at the very least. ---
**Author:** ![Strinka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/strinka/32/512_2.png) [@Strinka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Strinka)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2005, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-man-was-put-into-a-womans-body/283638/13 "2005-01-08T03:45:20Z")
We are nothing more than our physical selves. If the man’s brain was changed into a female brain (minor differences, bigger corpus callosum and the like) then he would be in every respect female. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2005, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-man-was-put-into-a-womans-body/283638/14 "2005-01-08T03:54:37Z")
> [@](#): > > We are nothing more than our physical selves. This is only true for people in comas. ---
**Author:** ![Tentacle\_Monster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba9def/32.png) [@Tentacle\_Monster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tentacle_Monster)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2005, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-man-was-put-into-a-womans-body/283638/15 "2005-01-08T05:26:32Z")
Interesting question… In my case, I’d first take about a week of leave just to test-drive the naughty bits. And since it’s my mind in a female body, I’d have to become a lesbian and would therefore lose my job. ---
**Author:** ![umop\_ap\_sdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/dbc845/32.png) [@umop\_ap\_sdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/umop_ap_sdn)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2005, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-man-was-put-into-a-womans-body/283638/16 "2005-01-08T05:47:09Z")
If you could rewire a man’s brain to be female, the result would not be the same person you started with. ---
**Author:** ![Regallag\_The\_Axe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/regallag_the_axe/32/445_2.png) [@Regallag\_The\_Axe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Regallag_The_Axe)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2005, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-man-was-put-into-a-womans-body/283638/17 "2005-01-08T05:55:11Z")
Well, let me tell you what I would do. I’d start by going “HOLY FUCK, I’M A CHICK!” Next, I would say, “awesome, I’ve boobs… and a vagina! Awesome!” I would then experiment by putting things into the aformentioned vagina. After that, I’d just do what I normally do: pick up chicks, drink whisky\*, go on the SDMB. \*I’m not sure how’d I’d like the decreased ability to hold my liquor, though. ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2005, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-man-was-put-into-a-womans-body/283638/18 "2005-01-08T14:37:23Z")
IIRC there’s a stage during pregnancy where fetal brain development is strongly influenced by the hormones in the fetus, which are dictated by its gender. During the 70’s this was not appreciated and there were a few sex-reassignment surgeries performed on very small children who had injuries or birth defects damaging their original genitals. A fairly popular book called something like “The Boy Who Grew Up as a Girl” describes one of these cases, in which a circumcision accident destroyed the penis of one of two male twins, who was then raised as a female - including hormone shots at the appropriate age. The reassignment was a failure. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2005, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-man-was-put-into-a-womans-body/283638/19 "2005-01-08T17:52:38Z")
Before the changeover, be sure to loosen all the lids on the pickle jars. ---
**Author:** ![KellyM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/57b2e6/32.png) [@KellyM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KellyM)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2005, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-man-was-put-into-a-womans-body/283638/20 "2005-01-08T18:05:55Z")
> [@Ukulele Ike](#): > > Before the changeover, be sure to loosen all the lids on the pickle jars. Tell me about it. I had to ask a man at work to open a bottle of Stewart’s Key Lime for me. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-a-man-was-put-into-a-womans-body/283638.md?page=2)