Actually, if I may offer a weak counter-position, I think the intended horror was supposed to be derived from two sources:
Well, now, if you're going to out and out say that your counterargument is weak it's not terribly sporting of me to dismantle it, is it?
Still, a couple of notes to you re: where the horror really lies. I'm not going to pretend I know what the author intended. I'm not making any argument that the author is a sexist jackass (nor that Pseudopod's editors are sexist jackasses, btw). The story comes across as pretty damn sexist but I'm not going to infer anything further than what we have recorded in mp3. Whether it's innocently or accidentally sexist, or whether it's supposed to be undermining a sexist horror trope through the use of camp or whatever, I can't really say. I have my suspicions, naturally, and they include the idea of "if this was a joke, it was a really badly executed one." But I'm making no claim as to intent.
One of the things that muddies the waters about where the horror lies is all the other crappy stuff that has happened to him besides being girlified. I see those other crappy things (the suddenness and unexpectedness of the gender switch to the protag, the fact that he's being sent off to be some psychotic madman's bitch, the loss of his mighty supahpowahs, and so forth) as the extra cymbal crashes on the horror of his fate (being made a girl), whereas you and TAD argue one or more of those other things as the primary drumbeat, downplaying the 'Oh noes! Girl!' aspect. Since the gender switch is plot required to make any of the subsequent points, I think you have both been sidetracked from the main point, but there's certainly room for interpretation. As you so rightly point out, even taking one of these other misfortunes as the primary thrust of how horrible his situation is, you can still end up in 'wow, that's pretty sexist' territory.
Arcwise, this story begins with a man who is a hopeless alcoholic and ends with his complete horror at being transformed into a woman. The story says, essentially, 'homeless drunk male' > 'First Lady of the nation'. Which I find bogus.
My argument about the misogyny of the setting is supported by the depiction of the other female of the plot, a secret service woman so powerful she's practically running the country, who has a whole cadre of dark-glasses-wearing lackeys to do her every bidding and can behave as unprofessionally as she likes with no consequences, but who would still prefer to be the boy. You admit there's no way around this, and I accept that (and agree!), but I wanted to reiterate it, because it's the clincher for me. I find it not only bogus but offensive.
There have been stories on PP I liked, and stories I disliked, but this was the first story whose acceptance I felt was an outright editorial misjudgement.
Completely with you there, and this was what I meant when I said I missed Mur.
I have to say that I have read and heard stories that I thought had a sexist angle and still enjoyed them, even loved them. This is not a complete dealbreaker for me, though you'd better do everything else PERFECTLY, if you're going to build such an obviously sexist world and expect me to go there. This story had many other failings. If someone tells me they really, really loved "The Turner Diaries" I'm going to think they're racist assholes, because really, the work has no redeeming quality and is one of the poorest examples of its genre. If someone tells me they love the "Left Behind" series I'm going to know their worldview is a bit looney and PMD skewed because those books are one of the worst examples of their genre and if they aren't pushing your philosophical buttons, there's nothing worthwhile there. I said earlier that I don't think Psuedopod's editors are sexist jackasses, and I don't, but I'm struggling, because this story had lots of other flaws, and if they selected it anyway, what exactly about it were they so in love with? It's hard to believe this is the best thing in their slushpile. I'm leaning, perhaps, toward the interpretation that one of the editors has a gender switch bulletproof kink (
storywise, not sexually) that made the sexist overtones of this story invisible to them because the other gender switch stories we've seen on PP haven't been all that great either. If that's the case, I recommend that editor give any further gender switch stories to another reader to check for quality and rampant sexism before publishing them.
BTW, if anyone has a desire to read a story that uses all these themes and has a far greater squick factor and is, IMO, done well instead of poorly, I recommend Ann Leckie's "
The Snake's Wife". It's unfortunately too long for Pseudopod, but it's good horror.