# What If Everyone Could Swap Bodies **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [February 7, 2015, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-everyone-could-swap-bodies/712062 "2015-02-07T18:42:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Lewis47](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e274bd/32.png) [@Lewis47](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lewis47)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2015, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-everyone-could-swap-bodies/712062/1 "2015-02-07T18:42:21Z")
What if everyone could swap bodies? Imagine the possibilities and experiences you could have. If you’re a guy, you could see what it feels like to be an attractive woman and vice versa. Who would you swap bodies with and why? ---
**Author:** ![Aquadementia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aquadementia/32/555_2.png) [@Aquadementia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aquadementia)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2015, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-everyone-could-swap-bodies/712062/2 "2015-02-07T19:46:25Z")
It would be useful to give paralyzed people a chance to get about. They did that on Stargate Universe. I wonder if you put a “mind” into a different body if thinking with the new brain would be like running it on a souped-up computer. Or, conversely, on an underpowered computer. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2015, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-everyone-could-swap-bodies/712062/3 "2015-02-07T20:45:19Z")
I’d be up for a swap into a female body, for all sorts of reasons of curiosity. What happens if you swap bodies with someone and they are accidentally killed (in your body)? What happens if they decide they don’t want to swap back (but you do)? ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2015, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-everyone-could-swap-bodies/712062/4 "2015-02-07T21:07:54Z")
> [@Lewis47](#): > > […] If you’re a guy, you could see what it feels like to be an attractive woman and vice versa. > […] I dunno… what’s my guarantee I’m not going to see what it feels like to be a fat old woman with a limp? I mean, are you guaranteeing I’m also going to get an upgrade at the same time? I’d definitely do it to see what it’s like being female. I’m curious like Mangetout. I think I’d even do it if it had to be permanent. I’ve been male long enough already. The upper body strength came in handy before my back went, I guess, but all things considered it’s not all that great. Let’s see what else there is. ---
**Author:** ![dracoi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90db22/32.png) [@dracoi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dracoi)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2015, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-everyone-could-swap-bodies/712062/5 "2015-02-07T21:52:35Z")
My first swap would definitely be to a woman. My second swap would be back to a kid. Remember the days when you had three speeds: jumping up and down in place, skipping and running? Standing still and walking were things you simply hadn’t learned yet because you had so much energy? When people had to make you take naps and you resented it? By the time I tried to remember what that was like, it was already too late. After that, I’d probably still be very interested in trying out different bodies. Even with another man - how do I know that his body actually feels like my body does? We assume that these things are equivalent, but we have only limited ways to tell. How about animals? I’m not a dog person, but I am fascinated by the idea of experiencing the world primarily through scent for a while. ---
**Author:** ![yawuntz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/a5b964/32.png) [@yawuntz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yawuntz)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2015, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-everyone-could-swap-bodies/712062/6 "2015-02-07T22:11:15Z")
If I swapped bodies with an attractive woman I’d never get out of the house. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2015, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-everyone-could-swap-bodies/712062/7 "2015-02-07T22:54:33Z")
For all of you wanting to swap with an attractive woman, would it be voluntary on her part, how much would you be willing to pay (and thus would it be prostitution?), and what happens if a child is conceived? ---
**Author:** ![Loch\_Raven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/779978/32.png) [@Loch\_Raven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loch_Raven)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2015, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-everyone-could-swap-bodies/712062/8 "2015-02-07T23:20:10Z")
All men should be required to be women for at least six months. Let them spend five days each month with rotting blood and clots dripping from their genitals, and abdominal cramps, and they’d _know_ why we’re bitchy at “that time of the month.” If we’re lucky, they’d come to understand what it’s like to be treated as a second-order being and/or an object, and stop doing it. But I’d never want to switch bodies with a man. It can’t be comfortable having all that junk hanging in your crotch. ---
**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:** [February 7, 2015, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-everyone-could-swap-bodies/712062/9 "2015-02-07T23:26:17Z")
> [@dracoi](#): > > How about animals? I’m not a dog person, but I am fascinated by the idea of experiencing the world primarily through scent for a while. John Varley wrote a story, _Overdrawn at the Memory Bank_, about this. It was about a man who took a vacation by having his mind transferred into the body of a lioness in a wilderness park. (He could have been a lion but they costed more.) The plot of the story was that it was time to send him back, they had accidentally misplaced his body. ---
**Author:** ![Becky2844](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@Becky2844](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Becky2844)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2015, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-everyone-could-swap-bodies/712062/10 "2015-02-08T01:16:03Z")
First I’d have to talk someone into taking my body. So, I guess I’d swap with whoever I could find to do that. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2015, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-everyone-could-swap-bodies/712062/11 "2015-02-09T01:45:36Z")
Ursula Le Guin wrote The Left Hand of Darkness about a human species which changed genders periodically; any individual could sire or bear children depending on the situation. It is in my opinion her best novel, and one of the best sci fi novels ever written. ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2015, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-everyone-could-swap-bodies/712062/12 "2015-02-09T03:01:39Z")
> [@Loch\_Raven](#): > > All men should be required to be women for at least six months. … > But I’d never want to switch bodies with a man. It can’t be comfortable having all that junk hanging in your crotch. Uh, doesn’t this seem to negate your original argument? ---
**Author:** ![MacTech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MacTech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MacTech)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2015, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-everyone-could-swap-bodies/712062/13 "2015-02-09T03:26:07Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > John Varley wrote a story, _Overdrawn at the Memory Bank_, about this. It was about a man who took a vacation by having his mind transferred into the body of a lioness in a wilderness park. (He could have been a lion but they costed more.) The plot of the story was that it was time to send him back, they had accidentally misplaced his body. It was also a very funny episode of MST3K, with Raul Julia playing Aaron Fingle… ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2015, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-everyone-could-swap-bodies/712062/14 "2015-02-09T03:47:24Z")
money to be made. if short term. find people who didn’t like to going to the dentist. swap for their appointments. ---
**Author:** ![Loch\_Raven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/779978/32.png) [@Loch\_Raven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loch_Raven)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2015, 4:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-everyone-could-swap-bodies/712062/15 "2015-02-09T04:07:26Z")
> [@OldGuy](#): > > Uh, doesn’t this seem to negate your original argument? Not really. The guys could be switched with whatever other women wanted to switch; I personally just wouldn’t want to switch myself. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2015, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-everyone-could-swap-bodies/712062/16 "2015-02-09T04:13:47Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > Ursula Le Guin wrote The Left Hand of Darkness about a human species which changed genders periodically; any individual could sire or bear children depending on the situation. It is in my opinion her best novel, and one of the best sci fi novels ever written. Thanks, I added it to my reading list, but one detail: gender is a social concept, sex is the name for the biological one. I wouldn’t want to be a man, but I would like to be taller, specially when I’m in a DYI or hyper-cleaning mood (there’s corners I just can’t reach without giving myself back cramps, even from the top of the ladder). I’ve known several tall women who didn’t like being so tall - maybe one of them would be interested in a swap. ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2015, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-everyone-could-swap-bodies/712062/17 "2015-02-09T04:52:01Z")
> [@Loch\_Raven](#): > > Not really. The guys could be switched with whatever other women wanted to switch; I personally just wouldn’t want to switch myself. You claim men should be **required** to switch because of how unpleasant it would be to be a woman, then say you’d never want to switch to being a man because you’d find that unpleasant. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2015, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-everyone-could-swap-bodies/712062/18 "2015-02-09T06:09:59Z")
We would all be Kiera Knightly with carpel tunnel syndrome. Except those of us who are Natalie Portman with carpel tunnel syndrome. ---
**Author:** ![BubbaDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bubbadog/32/333_2.png) [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2015, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-everyone-could-swap-bodies/712062/19 "2015-02-09T13:38:24Z")
A new health industry would pop up. Fitness coaches would go out of business or become fitness body-sitters. Imagine turning your body over to somebody who will work it out and diet it for a month while you enjoy their physically fit body. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2015, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-everyone-could-swap-bodies/712062/20 "2015-02-09T15:10:11Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > We would all be Kiera Knightly with carpel tunnel syndrome. Except those of us who are Natalie Portman with carpel tunnel syndrome. Some of us just might be Scarlett Johansson with carpel tunnel syndrome, thankyouverymuch. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-everyone-could-swap-bodies/712062.md?page=2)