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Hey everyone! I stumbled across a presentation that seems super relevant to those of us writing sudden-transformation-type stories.
The presentation is "Cyborgs And Super Soldiers: The Psychology of Altered Bodies", given at CONvergence 2016, a sci-fi/fantasy con up in Minnesota. The presenter is a clinical counselor working in trauma and addiction recovery, and she lays out a really well-put-together overview of how people relate to their bodies (sense of self, proprioception, etc.), how that relationship feeds back into mental health and processes, and most relevantly, how changes and traumas can affect those relationships in various ways. She also gives an overview of how different types of traumas can affect someone in different ways.
She presents the subject in the context of superheros, since, surprisingly, a lot of origin stories involve traumas or other sudden changes in their relationship with their bodies (Go figure. ^_~ ). Given how many of the transformation-type stories on here have similar changes or traumas (including the actual gender-swap itself), it gives a lot of things to consider when you're trying to figure how your characters might react to their new situation, both consciously and unconsciously.
It's about 45 minutes with 10 minutes of q&a afterwards, but it's really well put together and doesn't drag at all. Content warning for high-level discussion of traumas and injuries in an academic/educational context. Also spiders, since she uses Spiderman as one of her examples. Minor spoiler warning as well for some of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and X-Men movies, since she draws her examples from them.
Comments
No offense intended but...
Isn't her point something most of the audience of this site already poignantly cognizant of? Not necessarily in the context she puts it in, but being transgender has as one of its many complications dysphoria. Dysphoria is EXACTLY what she's talking about. It's when our image of ourselves and our actual body do not match.
EDIT: And further in, about halfway, she actually does bring us up as an example of people stygmatized for wanting to undergo a voluntary redefining event to improve our introceptive experience. Soooo yeah. Even she knows we're better informed on this than even she is ;)
Abigail Drew.
Not the "point" but the explanation of that point.
The part I thought was really useful was not her saying, "yes, this exists" or "yes, trans people are stigmatized", which, yes, we all know. What I found interesting was the way she broke down all of the different components of that dysphoria and explained them in really straightforward terms. Not just, "yes, your image of yourself and your body don't match", but, "here's all of the different things that can happen when your image and body don't match". Not all of the authors here have dealt with dysphoria as strongly as others, so some might find it a useful overview or reminder of things they might not have considered. Personally, I also wasn't really aware of how large an effect the feedback from a person's body affects their emotions.
I also really enjoyed her breakdown of how the cause of a change (voluntary, coerced, etc.) can affect how that change is accepted both internally and publicly. Sure, I basically knew what she was explaining in an abstract way, but it helped to see it explained in a more organized way -- for example, I hadn't really considered how big a difference it could make whether someone saw a change as an accident without deliberate cause vs. whether they see that same change as being someone's fault.
Thanks for this!
Just finished watching, and it was indeed interesting. Wish she could have gone into a bit more depth, but the time-limit factor is a real constraint on such talks.