At 02:09 PM 7/24/98 -0400, arromdee@inetnow.net wrote:

On Fri, 24 Jul 1998, Gary Kleppe wrote:

Now this I don't get *at all.* Why does Ranma have to learn *anything,*
apart from basic biological necessities like how to handle menstruation?
Why should he need to change his taste in friends or what he does for
fun? He's still the same person underneath his feminine body that he
always was. He is still going to have the same likes and dislikes.

I think this is a big problem with treating Ranma like a real-life
transsexual.  A transsexual is mentally the opposite sex; Ranma is physically
but _not_ mentally the opposite sex.

If you assume that Ranma has to "adjust to acting feminine" because a
real-life transsexual would, you're ignoring the difference.

Well said.  In many ways, Ranma's situation would be more comparable to if
he had been castrated in a fight or accident, i.e. an unwanted change.  He
wouldn't be able to have a standard heterosexual sexual relationship with
Akane under that circumstance either.  Would Akane still have broken off
the relationship if Ranma had been castrated?  

                                                    dml