when they were writing the episode, the writers did not intend it to be a trans metaphor. the higher ups decided to market it as one though (and i mean, they explicitly advertised it as an episode that "examines gender" and trans issues) to try and cash in on the steven universe crowd, and the result was predictably a total trainwreck.
Re: http://jitterbugjive.tumblr.com/post/142485553459/jitterbugjive-jitterbugjive-jitterbugjive
when they were writing the episode, the writers did not intend it to be a trans metaphor. the higher ups decided to market it as one though (and i mean, they explicitly advertised it as an episode that "examines gender" and trans issues) to try and cash in on the steven universe crowd, and the result was predictably a total trainwreck.