History Main / EasySexChange

* ''WonderShowzen'': Mother Nature cuts off her own lady parts with a knife, then puts them in a bucket. She dies as a result of attempting surgery on herself. Then another puppet has sex with the bucket of bloody lady parts. It's just that kind of show.

It might be worth noting that this trope usually comes up when someone turns into their own HalfIdenticalTwin -- in which case sexual reassignment surgery probably went [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin way]], ''[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin way]]'' [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin too easily]]. Not to be confused with GenderBender, which involves sex changes that (usually) are even ''easier'', and driven by magic or AppliedPhlebotinum. This trope is more about idealized (occasionally ''highly'' idealized) versions of RealLife SRS.

In RealLife, people in the United States who are undergoing gender reassignment need at least three months of therapy or real life experience before getting their hormones, and at least another year of therapy and hormones before undergoing genital surgery, to screen for mental illness or inability to adapt to their new sex (RealLife example [[http://open.salon.com/blog/hear_me_roar/2009/02/21/i_changed_sex_and_died here]]). In other countries the procedure may be even more drawn-out. Not so in fiction. Alice the transwoman can bawl to a surgeon about how she's wasted so much of her life as Adam...and BAM! Instant sex change, no questions asked!

Not to be confused with [[TheProblemWithPenIsland Expert Sex Change]].

It might be worth noting that this trope usually comes up when someone turns into their own HalfIdenticalTwin -- in which case sexual reassignment surgery probably went [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin way]], ''[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin way]]'' [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin too easily]]. Not to be confused with GenderBender, which involves sex changes that (usually) are even ''easier'', and driven by magic or AppliedPhlebotinum. This trope is more about highly idealized versions of RealLife SRS.

* ''{{World of Warcraft}}'' added [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney character appearance resets for $25]] at some point in 2008. This includes the ability to change your character's gender. What's more, this was used as a selling point for this service.
* ''GaiaOnline'' lets you change your avatar's gender three times for free, then begins charging on the fourth. The price increases by 10,000 gold for every change (meaning that the first one you pay for is 40,000 gold, the next is 50,000, etc.). Somehow this relatively-easy system annoys the UnpleasableFanbase.
** The site recently released a "Gender Bender" potion at a constant rate of 50,000 gold per potion, something that was pretty well-received.

* ''City of Heroes'' lets you change your character's gender if you have the Science! costume booster pack. You can choose from male, female, or huge.
* In ''Fable2'' there's a sex change potion hidden somewhere.

* In ''UmlautHouse'', Rick apparently made his GenderBender ray to make life easier for transgenders (good thing it's reversible).

It might be worth noting that this trope usually comes up when someone turns into their own HalfIdenticalTwin -- in which case sexual reassignment surgery probably went [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin way]], ''[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin way]]'' [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin too easily]]. Also, this trope is not for when there is AppliedPhlebotinum that causes {{gender bender}}s -- just for conventional SRS that, in RealLife, would not have been performed.

* In the ''JetDream'' RemixComic, while NATO scientists have re-engineered the bioweapon [[AppliedPhlebotinum Virus-X]], Communist Science has instead perfected the EasySexChange. The Soviet surgical technique is considered quite inferior and much more painful. On the other hand, it is much more widely available (though, some allege, with [[{{Brainwashed}} a little brainwashing]] on the side, and a powerful tool for the Reds in the "Cool War" to win over the world's teens.

That place in TV Land where ThereAreNoTherapists meets the {{Transsexual}}, combined with a hefty dose of DidNotDoTheResearch.

In RealLife, people in the United States who are undergoing gender reassignment need at least three months of therapy or real life experience before getting their hormones, and at least another year of therapy and hormones before undergoing genital surgery, to screen for mental illness or inability to adapt to their new sex. (RealLife example [[http://open.salon.com/blog/hear_me_roar/2009/02/21/i_changed_sex_and_died here.]]) In other countries the procedure may be even more drawn-out. Not so in fiction. Alice the transwoman can bawl to a surgeon about how she's wasted so much of her life as Adam...and BAM! Instant sex change, no questions asked!

This misconception, sadly, is believed by many to be TruthInTelevision. Some people are perfectly fine with calling a transgendered person by their new name and pronouns, but only if they've had "the operation." And stories about gender dysphoric adolescents being given medication to delay puberty have been reported as "[[StrawmanPolitical DOCTORS ARE GIVING CHILDREN SEX CHANGES!]]"

It might be worth noting that this trope usually comes up when someone turns into their own HalfIdenticalTwin- in which case sexual reassignment surgery probably went [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin way]], ''[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin way]]'' [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin too easily]]. Also, this trope is not for when there is AppliedPhlebotinum that causes {{Gender Bender}}s - just for conventional SRS that, in RealLife, would not have been performed.

* FrankenFran has a [[http://www.mangafox.com/manga/franken_fran/c004/17.html double example]]. Oddly enough, it's one of the few "happy" endings. (Though the couple in question is later revealed to have broken up after cheating on each other.)

* Semi-averted in ''TheDayOfRevolution'': Kei/Megumi's gender reassignment goes fairly easily since she's already genetically female and physically intersexed. However, everyone agreed to go through with it far too quickly and for fairly dubious reasons.

* Averted in ''{{Silence of the Lambs}}'', when Hannibal says that the serial killer will probably be found to have been rejected by multiple sex reassignment clinics because he thinks he wants to be a woman when he really just hates himself.
-->'''Lecter''': Our Billy hates his own identity, you see. He always has, and he thinks that makes him a transsexual. But his pathology is a thousand times more savage and more terrifying. He wants to be reborn, you see.
* A subversion of this trope is central to the premise of the off-Broadway play and movie ''{{Hedwig And The Angry Inch}}''. Hedwig's surgery is done with little preparation by a shady East German doctor, leaving Hedwig with the "Angry Inch" of the title.
* Invoked in the AdamSandler version of ''The Longest Yard''. Adam's team, the underdogs of the movie, replace someone on the guards' team's steroids with female hormone pills. Not more than two days later, said guy is bawling and weeping, supposedly acting feminine because of the hormone. (It shouldn't actually work that way, but in the movie, it does.)

[[AC:{{Comic Books}}]]
* Averted in the story "A Game of You" from ''TheSandman'' with Wanda. She appears to be taking hormones, but is clearly no more than halfway through her transition.

* TanithLee's BitingTheSun books describe an ultra-futuristic society with ''very'' easy sex and body changes. Officially, you are only supposed to change bodies once per month, but everybody flouts this rule all the time.

* Within LoisMcMasterBujold's ''VorkosiganSaga'', the saga of Lady Donna’s sex change to Lord Dono shows that sex changes are relatively easy and painless with futuristic genetic technology, although Lord Dono comments that it does take time and his guy parts are still growing in. No mention of therapy is made although the character did go to a planet known for pervasive (sex) therapy.

[[AC: LiveActionTV]]
* Used in an episode of ''TheLoveBoat'' where a woman assumes that a man on the cruise is traveling for a sex change operation because he has a dress in his room (among other misunderstandings) because [[FridgeLogic obviously he would be traveling and living as a man right up until he gets the operation and jumps into womanhood all at once]].

* Averted in CSI Las Vegas in one episode, where they investigate the death of a woman and discover that she is a transwoman in the midst of transitioning to female, and has not yet had any genital surgery.
* The sitcom {{Soap}} had almost the perfect example of this trope. In an early story arc, Jodie (BillyCrystal) decides to have a sex change to please his boyfriend. Despite no real life experience (aside from a bit of crossdressing), no hormonal therapy, no psych evaluation, still looking like what he is (a man), he gets admitted to a hospital to have his outie turned into an innie, and they're apparently quite willing to do it. [[spoiler: Of course, he does not go through with it.]]
* In the "Nobody's Perfect" episode of KarenSisco, Karen is looking for fugitive Louis [=DiNardo=]. It turns out that Louis has had surgery to become "Lois." The timeline is a little vague, but certainly not enough time has elapsed for the requirements of an ethical SRS medical treatment. The surgery, while easy, was also thorough (Lois specifically mentions that she no longer has a penis, and that she "doesn't miss it") and quite effective (While Louis was played by a male actor, Lois is played by an [[AttractiveBentGender attractive]] female actress.)
* ''{{Degrassi}}'' has set themselves up to sidestep this whole part of the issue by putting Adam in [[TeenGenius Grade 11 at age fifteen]], meaning he's on schedule to graduate from HighSchool and therefore the show before he turns 18 and can begin physical transitioning. They do have a history of {{Ret Con}}s to keep popular characters around longer, however...

* Adventure in The Sleazy Back Alley of ''KingdomOfLoathing'', and you may run into a clinic where you can get a sex change for 500 Meat and 1 Adventure, and be on your way the same day. Do it often enough, and you become eligible for a trophy. What's the meat for? You don't want to know. [[hottip:* :[[DontExplainTheJoke Meat is the currency of KoL. It's not used for anything in particular.]]]]

* ''[[WorldOfWarcraft World of Warcraft]]'' added [[ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney character appearance resets for $25]] at some point in 2008. This includes the ability to change your character's gender. What's more, this was used as a selling point for this service.

** The site recently released a "Gender Bender" potion at a constant rate of 50,000 gold per potion, something that was pretty well-recieved.

* In Fable2 there's a sex change potion hidden somewhere.
* In {{Bioshock}} it is stated in an audio log by Dr. Steinman that [[AppliedPhlebotinum Adam]] makes this easy, among other such things as ''race.''

* A RunningGag in ''CollegeRoomiesFromHell!!!'' is the horrifying side businesses of the Hot Dog Man, which include "quick and effective sex-change surgery."

* In UmlautHouse Rick apparently made his GenderBender ray to make life easier for transgenders (good thing it's reversible).

[[AC: WebOriginal]]

* Averted in, of all things, TheSalvationWar series. The character 'kitten' (small K not a typo; it's complicated) is partly inspired by someone known to the author who went through the same process herself.

** On the other hand, while easy, Garrison's sex change seems pretty much limited to the genitalia, and even those are implied to be a mess. The [[HeavyHanded moral]] of the episode is that sex reassignments as people generally imagine them are still impossible; all that current technology can do is sculpt a crude and non-functional approximation of what the client wants, [[FamilyUnfriendlyAesop so you should just learn to live with the body you have.]]

* In ''AquaTeenHungerForce [[ColonCancer Colon]] [[TheMovie Movie Film For Theaters]]'', this happened with Frylock. The fact that [[AssPull he clearly identified]] [[RuleOfFunny as a guy before the movie.]]
** Frylock also performed a sex-change operation on Carl (against his will) to prevent him from getting his dick cut off. {{It Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time}}. Or rather, it didn't. The exact line was something like, "I have an idea, but it's not very good."

*** On the flip side though, they didn't even feign any kind of medical recuperation. Quagmire's dad goes in for the surgery, and comes out a few (onscreen) minutes later looking like a mannish woman. No time to heal or anything! He/She's ready to have sex with a unknowing Brian right away!

<<|TransgenderTropes|>>
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* In the ''{{Futurama}}'' episode "Bend Her", Bender becomes a woman to cheat at the Olympics. The procedure involves changing out his male oil for female oil and [[FreudWasRight snipping off his antenna]]. The operation also involves hitting his body with a hammer until it looks vaguely feminine. To be fair, Professor Farnsworth ''does'' give Bender some disclosure, about the danger of Bender's being "trapped forever between the ''already'' ill-defined robot sexes."

* In ''AquaTeenHungerForce [[TheMovie Colon Movie Film For Theaters]]'', this happened with Frylock. The fact that [[AssPull he clearly identified]] [[RuleOfFunny as a guy before the movie.]]

* ''HourouMusuko'', which treats these types of issue more seriously in general, possibly averts this. At one point, {{Transsexual}} CoolBigSis Yuki confides to [[{{Bifauxnen}} Yoshino]] that her mother can't forgive her because she wanted to be a girl, "wanted it ''so'' bad." Which can imply that Yuki went through all the proper processes.

* In ''SaintsRow 2'', you can get a sex change for just five hundred dollars at the plastic surgeon. And not only is is cheap, it's instantaneous! (You can also go from white to black, or black to hispanic, or white to asian, skinny as a nail to morbidly obese, or just about anything else you can think of.)

* Comes up a lot, sometimes subverted, sometimes played straight, in ''UnicornJelly'' and other works by Jennifer Diane Reitz. Interesting to note that the author, a transexual herself, might actually qualify to an extent. She admits to having dealt with emotional and psychological problems her whole life and had to be somewhat less than truthful about this during the pre-treatment screening in order to avoid being turned down, though incorrect use of reassignment surgery due to deliberate subterfuge on the patient's part may be beyond the scope of this trope.

* In the ''{{Futurama}}'' episode "Bend Her", Bender becomes a woman to cheat at the Olympics. The procedure involves changing out his male oil for female oil and [[FreudWasRight snipping off his antenna]]. The operation also involves hitting his body with a hammer until it looks vaguely feminine. To be fair, Professor Farnsworth ''does'' give Bender some disclosure, about the danger of Bender's being "trapped forever between the ''already'' ill-defined robot sexes."''robot''.
** Plus, y'know he's a

* The ''SouthPark'' episode "Mr. Garrison's Fancy New Vagina". She even transitions ''back'' to male just as easily, by saying [[UnfortunateImplications she was on drugs during the SRS]]. **On the other hand, while easy, Garrison's sex change seems pretty much limited to the genitalia, and even those are implied to be a mess. The [[HeavyHanded moral]] of the episode is that sex reassignments as people generally imagine them are still impossible; all that current technology can do is sculpt a crude and non-functional approximation of what the client wants, [[FamilyUnfriendlyAesop so you should just learn to live with the body you have.]]

* The ''SouthPark'' episode "Mr. Garrison's Fancy New Vagina". She even transitions ''back'' to male just as easily, by saying [[UnfortunateImplications she was on drugs during the SRS]]. (On the other hand, while easy, Garrison's sex change seems pretty much limited to the genitalia.)

* In ''TheVentureBrothers'', Colonel Hunter Gathers' operation is remarkably superficial - he gains large breasts and (apparently) a vagina, but remains the same in every other way. The ''easiness'' of sex changes on this show is primarily demonstrated by the fact that [[spoiler:Hunter gets a ''second'' one]].

* Plus, y'know he's a

* In the ''{{Futurama}}'' episode "Bend Her", Bender becomes a woman to cheat at the Olympics. The procedure involves changing out his male oil for female oil and [[FreudWasRight snipping off his antenna]]. The operation also involves hitting his body with a hammer until it looks vaguely feminine. To be fair, Professor Farnsworth ''does'' give Bender some disclosure, about the danger of Bender's being "trapped forever between the ''already'' ill-defined robot sexes."

*** On the flip side though, they didn't even feign any kind of medical recuperation. Quagmire's dad goes in for the surgery, and comes out a few (onscreen) minutes later looking like a mannish woman. No time to heal or anything!

** Of course, Quagmire's dad did say in the episode that he had been thinking about it and planning to do it for years. He didn't just wake up and decide to get a sex change one morning.

* Averted in CSI Las Vegas in one episode, where they investigate the death of someone who appeared to be female, but was really a male in the middle of getting a sex change to female.