Conchis a woman?

[RBFrankenstein]

Fowles says that he would have made Conchis a woman except for "technical difficulties" being so great. What do you think he meant by that? What technical difficulties?
He said this in the article in the Afterwords book where he talks about TFLW.

[Magusbob]

The most obvious "technical difficulties" involved in making Conchis a woman would have to do with his backstory, which is a key part of the novel. Not too many women served in battle in World War I, and I seriously doubt the Nazis would have chosen a woman to be mayor of Phraxos during the World War II occupation. Add to that the fact that you have no relationship with Lily if a young Conchis is a woman (unless they're both lesbians!). I would guess that Fowles may have thought about the character of Conchis as a woman very early in his thought process prior to writing The Magus, but probably never seriously considered it.

[mickmca]

Fowles also mentions that he considered making Conchis a woman in the Foreword to the revised edition. magusBob has identified some of the more "technical" difficulties; I'll just add one more. If Conchis was a woman (presumably Lily the elder), than Nicholas' relationship with her, given his sexual proclivities, would have been fatally compromised.