Gender changer

Encyclopedia : G : GE : GEN : Gender changer

This article is about the hardware device and is not to be confused with sexual reassignment surgery.

A gender changer is a hardware device placed between two cable connectors of the same type and gender. An example is a cable connector shell with either two female or two male connectors on it (male-to-male or female-to-female), used to correct the mismatches that result when interconnecting two devices or cables with the same gender of connector.

It is used especially for RS-232C ports in either the original DB-25 or the IBM AT DE-9 format. They are also used when extending any sort of cable that has normally plugs on both ends (rather than a socket on one and plug on the other), however in this case it is usually called just an "extender", such as with F connectors, BNC connectors, and various RJ connectors used in telephony and computer networking.

Alternative names for a gender changer are "gender bender", "gender blender", "gender mender" and "sex changer". It is sometimes called "homosexuality adapter", however, there appears to be some confusion as to whether a 'male homosexual adapter' has pins on both sides (is doubly male) or sockets on both sides (connecting two males, thereby allowing a "male-male relationship"). Therefore, there seems to be good reason, even aside from professionalism, to avoid this particular term.

Technically speaking a gender changer is a small device or adaptor that changes the "sex" of computer cables. It has two sides with holes or two sides with pins, making any connection between port and computer cable a possibility. The holes are female and the pins are male.

References

["gender mender" from The Jargon File]

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