- 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 an engineer overlooked the distinction in the RS-232C specification between DTE and DCE.
It is used especially for RS-232C parts in either the original DB-25 or the IBM PC's DB-9 format.
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 (connects two males, thereby allowing a "male-male relationship"). Therefore, there seems to be good reason, even aside from professionalism, to avoid this particular term.
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