Transsexual sexuality
Encyclopedia
Transgender sexuality is the sexuality
of transgender
people.
Transgender people exhibit the full range of possible sexual orientations and interests, including the potential for a lack of interest in sex
.
people as heterosexual
or homosexual
relative to their sex assigned at birth
. Most transsexual people find this offensive, and prefer to define their sexual orientation
relative to their gender identity
. Thus, a trans man attracted to women is likely to identify as a heterosexual man.
To avoid confusion and offense, the terms "gynephilia" and "androphilia" are sometimes used to describe attraction to women and men, respectively.
The terms "homosexual" and "heterosexual" are problematic for transgender people who do not identify as male or female. More broadly, terms defining attraction in terms of men and women are often rejected by people attracted to those outside the gender binary.
Another study published in 1976 found an almost equal distribution of transsexuals between three distinct categories: homosexual, asexual, and heterosexual. However, this study only assessed 42 male-to-female
transsexual people who had undergone gender reassignment surgery
and does not address bisexuality
. Furthermore, these categories have been rejected by many transsexual people as pejorative.
About half of trans women studied have sexual intercourse
with women.
British
comedian
Bethany Black
is one of the more well-known trans women attracted to women.
people, hijra
, mukhannathun
, and kathoey
, all of which are people assigned male at birth who have adopted a more feminine gender role. They have in common early effeminacy, adulthood femininity, and attraction to masculine males.
Green argues that the members of these groups are mentally indistinguishable from modern western transsexual women.
The exact cultural role of two-spirit people varied from tribe to tribe, but in all cases Green writes about they are oriented towards men.
The Hijra of India and Pakistan are phenotypic men who occupy a female sexual and/or gender role, sometimes undergoing castration. As adults they occupy a female role, but traditionally Hijra describe themselves as neither male or female, preferring Hijra as their gender. They are often express their feminity as boys; as adults they are usually sexually oriented towards masculine men.
Mukhannathun were transsexual or transgender individuals of the Muslim faith and Arab extraction who were present in Medina and Mecca during and after the time of Muhammad. Ibn Abd Al-Barh Al-Tabaeen, a companion of Aisha Umm ul-Mu'min'in who knew the same mukhannath as Mohammed, stated that "If he is like this, he would have no desire for women and he would not notice anything about them. This is one of those who have no interest in women who were permitted to enter upon women." That said, one of the Mukhannath of Medina during Muhammad's time had married a woman.
Travesti
are Brazilian trans women who are attracted to men. Travestis' feminine identity includes hormones and/or silicone
body alterations, feminine dress, language, and social and sexual roles, but rarely genital surgery
. However, in contrast to North American transsexual women, they often don't see themselves as real women, and many describe themselves as gay
or homosexual. According to Don Kulick
, they will describe themselves instead as "feeling like a woman".
and sexual orientations among trans men were well-established, with the majority of trans men attracted primarily or exclusively to women.
Foerster reported a 15-year successful relationship between a woman and a trans man who transitioned in the late 1960s.
In the 20th century, trans men attracted to women struggled to demonstrate the existence and legitimacy of their identity. Many trans men attracted to women, such as jazz musician Billy Tipton
, kept their trans status private until their deaths.
In the 20th century, trans men attracted to men struggled to demonstrate the existence and legitimacy of their identity. Author Henry Rubin
, wrote, "It took the substantial efforts of Lou Sullivan
, a gay FTM activist who insisted that female-to-male transsexuals could be attracted to men."
Matt Kailey, author of Just Add Hormones: An Insider’s Guide to the Transsexual Experience, recounts his transition "from 40-something straight woman to the gay man he’d always known himself to be." Researchers eventually acknowledged the existence of this phenomenon, and by the end of the 20th century, psychiatrist Ira Pauly
wrote, "The statement that all female-to-male transsexuals are homosexuals in their sexual preference can no longer be made." Gay
trans men have varying levels of acceptance within other communities.
Writing about Two-Spirit people, Green describes "women who passed for men, dressed like men, and married women."
, and minority reported receiving fellatio
and performing anal sex
.
In a 1990 study of transsexual women attracted to men, those patients who derived erotic pleasure from their penis were more likely to be emotionally unstable, and less likely to have switched to full-time living as women, suggesting that clinicians may be dealing with different disorders that require separate explanations. Psychiatrist Robert Stoller
, arguing for stricter limits on access to medical transition, asserted in 1973 that "true transsexuals" do not experience erotic pleasure in the penis.
first suggested a distinction based on sexual orientation in 1923. A number of two-type taxonomies based on sexuality have subsequently been proposed by clinicians, though some clinicians believe that other factors are more clinically useful categories, or that two types are insufficient. Some researchers have distinguished trans men attracted to women and trans men attracted to men.
The Benjamin Scale
proposed by endocrinologist Harry Benjamin
in 1966 uses sexual orientation as one of several factors to distinguish between transvestites, "non-surgical" transsexuals, and "true transsexuals".
In 1974, Person and Ovesey proposed dividing transsexual women into "primary" and "secondary" transsexuals. They defined primary transsexuals as asexual persons with little or no interest in partnered sexual activity and with no history of sexual arousal to cross-dressing or cross-gender fantasy. They defined both homosexual and transvestic transsexuals to be secondary transsexuals. Later uses of this terminology often defined primary transsexualism as attracted to males, and secondary transsexualism as attracted to females.
In the DSM-III-R, released in 1987, "transsexualism" was divided into "homosexual" and "heterosexual" subtypes.
has a diagnosis of transvestic fetishism
. Some therapists and activists seek to de-pathologize this category in future revisions.
Following the example of the Benjamin Scale, in 1979 Buhrich and McConaghy proposed three clinically discrete categories of fetishistic transvestism: "nuclear" transvestites who were satisfied with cross-dressing, "marginal" transvestites who also desired feminization by hormones or surgical intervention, and "fetishistic transsexuals," who had shown fetishistic arousal but who identified as transsexuals and sought sex reassignment surgery.
s vary by culture, which has an effect on the place of gender variant
people in that culture. In most cultures, transsexual people are stigmatized, and sexual activity involving transgender people is considered shameful, especially in cultures with rigid sex roles or strictures against non-heterosexual sex.
In African-American and Latino cultures, a distinction is sometimes made between active and passive sexual activity, where the passive or receiving partner is not considered masculine or straight, but the active partner is.
Some observers question the racist assumptions behind clinical literature on transgender sexuality in various ethnic groups.
Asian countries, notably Thailand
, have a more socially tolerant view of transgender sexuality.
Some trans men in the sex work industry are gay for pay. Porn actor Buck Angel
frequently does scenes with males, but he is married to a woman (Elayne Angel
).
Human sexuality
Human sexuality is the awareness of gender differences, and the capacity to have erotic experiences and responses. Human sexuality can also be described as the way someone is sexually attracted to another person whether it is to opposite sexes , to the same sex , to either sexes , or not being...
of transgender
Transgender
Transgender is a general term applied to a variety of individuals, behaviors, and groups involving tendencies to vary from culturally conventional gender roles....
people.
Transgender people exhibit the full range of possible sexual orientations and interests, including the potential for a lack of interest in sex
Asexuality
Asexuality , in its broadest sense, is the lack of sexual attraction and, in some cases, the lack of interest in sex. Sometimes, it is considered a lack of a sexual orientation...
.
Sexual orientation labels
Historically, clinicians labeled transsexualTranssexualism
Transsexualism is an individual's identification with a gender inconsistent or not culturally associated with their biological sex. Simply put, it defines a person whose biological birth sex conflicts with their psychological gender...
people as heterosexual
Heterosexuality
Heterosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the opposite sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, heterosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, physical or romantic attractions to persons of the opposite sex";...
or homosexual
Homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
relative to their sex assigned at birth
Sex assignment
Sex assignment refers to the assigning of the biological sex at the birth of a baby. In the majority of births, a relative, midwife, or physician inspects the genitalia when the baby is delivered, sees ordinary male or female genitalia, and declares, "it's a girl" or "it's a boy" without the...
. Most transsexual people find this offensive, and prefer to define their sexual orientation
Sexual orientation
Sexual orientation describes a pattern of emotional, romantic, or sexual attractions to the opposite sex, the same sex, both, or neither, and the genders that accompany them. By the convention of organized researchers, these attractions are subsumed under heterosexuality, homosexuality,...
relative to their gender identity
Gender identity
A gender identity is the way in which an individual self-identifies with a gender category, for example, as being either a man or a woman, or in some cases being neither, which can be distinct from biological sex. Basic gender identity is usually formed by age three and is extremely difficult to...
. Thus, a trans man attracted to women is likely to identify as a heterosexual man.
To avoid confusion and offense, the terms "gynephilia" and "androphilia" are sometimes used to describe attraction to women and men, respectively.
The terms "homosexual" and "heterosexual" are problematic for transgender people who do not identify as male or female. More broadly, terms defining attraction in terms of men and women are often rejected by people attracted to those outside the gender binary.
Sexual orientation distribution
One study published in 1977 suggests that transgender people have more heterosexual than homosexual experiences.Another study published in 1976 found an almost equal distribution of transsexuals between three distinct categories: homosexual, asexual, and heterosexual. However, this study only assessed 42 male-to-female
Trans woman
A trans woman is a male-to-female transsexual or transgender person and the term trans woman is preferred by some individuals over various medical terms. Other non-medical terms include t-girl, tg-girl and ts-girl...
transsexual people who had undergone gender reassignment surgery
Sex reassignment surgery
Sex reassignment surgery is a term for the surgical procedures by which a person's physical appearance and function of their existing sexual characteristics are altered to resemble...
and does not address bisexuality
Bisexuality
Bisexuality is sexual behavior or an orientation involving physical or romantic attraction to both males and females, especially with regard to men and women. It is one of the three main classifications of sexual orientation, along with a heterosexual and a homosexual orientation, all a part of the...
. Furthermore, these categories have been rejected by many transsexual people as pejorative.
Transsexual women
Research, such as that done by Walter Bockting at the University of Minnesota, suggests that the breakdown of sexualities among transsexual women is 38% bisexual, 35% attracted to women, and 27% attracted to men. (Star Tribune May 25 2008 "Myths and Facts about Transgender Issues"). Older research had suggested that the majority of transsexual women seeking sex reassignment were attracted to men.About half of trans women studied have sexual intercourse
Sexual intercourse
Sexual intercourse, also known as copulation or coitus, commonly refers to the act in which a male's penis enters a female's vagina for the purposes of sexual pleasure or reproduction. The entities may be of opposite sexes, or they may be hermaphroditic, as is the case with snails...
with women.
British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
comedian
Comedian
A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience, primarily by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting a fool, as in slapstick, or employing prop comedy...
Bethany Black
Bethany Black
Bethany Black is a stand up comedian from Chorley, Lancashire, England. Described as "Britain's only goth, lesbian, transsexual comedian", Black is known for performing black comedy, dealing with controversial subjects.-History:...
is one of the more well-known trans women attracted to women.
Trans-feminine mixed gender roles
R. Green compares two-spiritTwo-Spirit
Two-Spirit People , is an English term that emerged in 1990 out of the third annual inter-tribal Native American/First Nations gay/lesbian American conference in Winnipeg. It describes Indigenous North Americans who fulfill one of many mixed gender roles found traditionally among many Native...
people, hijra
Hijra (South Asia)
In the culture of South Asia, hijras or chakka in Kannada, khusra in Punjabi and kojja in Telugu are physiological males who have feminine gender identity, women's clothing and other feminine gender roles. Hijras have a long recorded history in the Indian subcontinent, from the antiquity, as...
, mukhannathun
Mukhannathun
Mukhannathun is classical Arabic for people who would now be called transgender women, perhaps poorly distinguished from eunuchs. Various "mukhannathun" appear in several hadith. In one hadith the prophet Muhammad banishes a mukhannath to a region near Medina, but prohibits people from killing...
, and kathoey
Kathoey
Kathoey or katoey is a male-to-female transgender person or an effeminate gay male in Thailand. Related phrases include sao praphet song , or phet thi sam . The word kathoey is thought to be of Khmer origin...
, all of which are people assigned male at birth who have adopted a more feminine gender role. They have in common early effeminacy, adulthood femininity, and attraction to masculine males.
Green argues that the members of these groups are mentally indistinguishable from modern western transsexual women.
The exact cultural role of two-spirit people varied from tribe to tribe, but in all cases Green writes about they are oriented towards men.
The Hijra of India and Pakistan are phenotypic men who occupy a female sexual and/or gender role, sometimes undergoing castration. As adults they occupy a female role, but traditionally Hijra describe themselves as neither male or female, preferring Hijra as their gender. They are often express their feminity as boys; as adults they are usually sexually oriented towards masculine men.
Mukhannathun were transsexual or transgender individuals of the Muslim faith and Arab extraction who were present in Medina and Mecca during and after the time of Muhammad. Ibn Abd Al-Barh Al-Tabaeen, a companion of Aisha Umm ul-Mu'min'in who knew the same mukhannath as Mohammed, stated that "If he is like this, he would have no desire for women and he would not notice anything about them. This is one of those who have no interest in women who were permitted to enter upon women." That said, one of the Mukhannath of Medina during Muhammad's time had married a woman.
Travesti
Travesti
In cultures of South America, a is a person who was born male, has a feminine gender identity and is primarily sexually attracted to non-feminine men . In South America the distinction between gender identity and sexual orientation isn't usually made.In french countries, Travesti means anyone who...
are Brazilian trans women who are attracted to men. Travestis' feminine identity includes hormones and/or silicone
Silicone
Silicones are inert, synthetic compounds with a variety of forms and uses. Typically heat-resistant and rubber-like, they are used in sealants, adhesives, lubricants, medical applications , cookware, and insulation....
body alterations, feminine dress, language, and social and sexual roles, but rarely genital surgery
Sex reassignment surgery
Sex reassignment surgery is a term for the surgical procedures by which a person's physical appearance and function of their existing sexual characteristics are altered to resemble...
. However, in contrast to North American transsexual women, they often don't see themselves as real women, and many describe themselves as gay
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
or homosexual. According to Don Kulick
Don Kulick
Don Kulick is professor of Anthropology at the University of Chicago. Kulick received his B.A. in Anthropology and Linguistics from Lund University in Sweden in 1983 and his Ph.D. in Anthropology from Stockholm University in 1990. Previous academic positions include both Stockholm and Linköping...
, they will describe themselves instead as "feeling like a woman".
Transsexual men
By the mid-1990s, the range of gender identitiesGender identity
A gender identity is the way in which an individual self-identifies with a gender category, for example, as being either a man or a woman, or in some cases being neither, which can be distinct from biological sex. Basic gender identity is usually formed by age three and is extremely difficult to...
and sexual orientations among trans men were well-established, with the majority of trans men attracted primarily or exclusively to women.
Foerster reported a 15-year successful relationship between a woman and a trans man who transitioned in the late 1960s.
In the 20th century, trans men attracted to women struggled to demonstrate the existence and legitimacy of their identity. Many trans men attracted to women, such as jazz musician Billy Tipton
Billy Tipton
Billy Lee Tipton was an American jazz musician and bandleader. Born Dorothy Tipton, he also notable for the discovery, after his death, that he was female assigned at birth.- Early life :...
, kept their trans status private until their deaths.
In the 20th century, trans men attracted to men struggled to demonstrate the existence and legitimacy of their identity. Author Henry Rubin
Henry Rubin
Henry S. Rubin is an American sociologist known for work on transsexualism.-Life and career:Rubin earned a bachelor of arts degree in 1988 from University of California, Santa Cruz and a master's degree and Ph.D. in sociology from Brandeis University in 1996...
, wrote, "It took the substantial efforts of Lou Sullivan
Lou Sullivan
Louis Graydon Sullivan , born Sheila Jean Sullivan, was an American author and activist known for his work on behalf of trans men...
, a gay FTM activist who insisted that female-to-male transsexuals could be attracted to men."
Matt Kailey, author of Just Add Hormones: An Insider’s Guide to the Transsexual Experience, recounts his transition "from 40-something straight woman to the gay man he’d always known himself to be." Researchers eventually acknowledged the existence of this phenomenon, and by the end of the 20th century, psychiatrist Ira Pauly
Ira Pauly
Ira Basil Pauly is an American psychiatrist best known for his influential work on transsexualism.-Education and career:...
wrote, "The statement that all female-to-male transsexuals are homosexuals in their sexual preference can no longer be made." Gay
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
trans men have varying levels of acceptance within other communities.
Writing about Two-Spirit people, Green describes "women who passed for men, dressed like men, and married women."
Sexual practices
In a 1977 study, a large majority of transsexual women reported allowing a male partner to touch their penisPenis
The penis is a biological feature of male animals including both vertebrates and invertebrates...
, and minority reported receiving fellatio
Fellatio
Fellatio is an act of oral stimulation of a male's penis by a sexual partner. It involves the stimulation of the penis by the use of the mouth, tongue, or throat. The person who performs fellatio can be referred to as the giving partner, and the other person is the receiving partner...
and performing anal sex
Anal sex
Anal sex is the sex act in which the penis is inserted into the anus of a sexual partner. The term can also include other sexual acts involving the anus, including pegging, anilingus , fingering, and object insertion.Common misconception describes anal sex as practiced almost exclusively by gay men...
.
In a 1990 study of transsexual women attracted to men, those patients who derived erotic pleasure from their penis were more likely to be emotionally unstable, and less likely to have switched to full-time living as women, suggesting that clinicians may be dealing with different disorders that require separate explanations. Psychiatrist Robert Stoller
Robert Stoller
Robert Jesse Stoller , was an American psychoanalyst.-Life and works:Stoller graduated with an M.D. from the University of California at San Francisco in 1948, and proceeded to join the psychiatry faculty at UCLA following his initial medical practice.Stoller was a Professor of Psychiatry at UCLA...
, arguing for stricter limits on access to medical transition, asserted in 1973 that "true transsexuals" do not experience erotic pleasure in the penis.
Sexual orientation and transitioning
Some transsexual people maintain a consistent orientation throughout their lives, in some cases even remaining with the same partner through transition. In other cases, their choices in sexual partners may change after transition.Classifying transsexual people by sexual orientation
Sexologist Magnus HirschfeldMagnus Hirschfeld
Magnus Hirschfeld was a German physician and sexologist. An outspoken advocate for sexual minorities, Hirschfeld founded the Scientific Humanitarian Committee, which Dustin Goltz called "the first advocacy for homosexual and transgender rights."-Early life:Hirschfeld was born in Kolberg in a...
first suggested a distinction based on sexual orientation in 1923. A number of two-type taxonomies based on sexuality have subsequently been proposed by clinicians, though some clinicians believe that other factors are more clinically useful categories, or that two types are insufficient. Some researchers have distinguished trans men attracted to women and trans men attracted to men.
The Benjamin Scale
Benjamin scale
Harry Benjamin's Sex Orientation Scale was an attempt to classify and understand various forms and subtypes of transvestism and transsexualism in biological males...
proposed by endocrinologist Harry Benjamin
Harry Benjamin
Harry Benjamin was a German endocrinologist, widely known for his clinical work with transsexualism. He was raised in an observant Ashkenazy Jewish home.- Early life and career :...
in 1966 uses sexual orientation as one of several factors to distinguish between transvestites, "non-surgical" transsexuals, and "true transsexuals".
In 1974, Person and Ovesey proposed dividing transsexual women into "primary" and "secondary" transsexuals. They defined primary transsexuals as asexual persons with little or no interest in partnered sexual activity and with no history of sexual arousal to cross-dressing or cross-gender fantasy. They defined both homosexual and transvestic transsexuals to be secondary transsexuals. Later uses of this terminology often defined primary transsexualism as attracted to males, and secondary transsexualism as attracted to females.
In the DSM-III-R, released in 1987, "transsexualism" was divided into "homosexual" and "heterosexual" subtypes.
Transvestic fetishism
The DSMDSM
-Business:* DSM , an international life science and performance materials company from the Netherlands* Delhi school of music, a music school in India...
has a diagnosis of transvestic fetishism
Transvestic fetishism
Transvestic fetishism is having a sexual or erotic interest in cross-dressing. It differs from cross-dressing for entertainment or other purposes that do not involve sexual arousal and is categorized as a paraphilia in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association...
. Some therapists and activists seek to de-pathologize this category in future revisions.
Following the example of the Benjamin Scale, in 1979 Buhrich and McConaghy proposed three clinically discrete categories of fetishistic transvestism: "nuclear" transvestites who were satisfied with cross-dressing, "marginal" transvestites who also desired feminization by hormones or surgical intervention, and "fetishistic transsexuals," who had shown fetishistic arousal but who identified as transsexuals and sought sex reassignment surgery.
Cultural status
Sexual behavior and gender roleGender role
Gender roles refer to the set of social and behavioral norms that are considered to be socially appropriate for individuals of a specific sex in the context of a specific culture, which differ widely between cultures and over time...
s vary by culture, which has an effect on the place of gender variant
Gender variance
Gender variance, or gender nonconformity, is behaviour or gender expression that does not conform to dominant gender norms of male and female...
people in that culture. In most cultures, transsexual people are stigmatized, and sexual activity involving transgender people is considered shameful, especially in cultures with rigid sex roles or strictures against non-heterosexual sex.
In African-American and Latino cultures, a distinction is sometimes made between active and passive sexual activity, where the passive or receiving partner is not considered masculine or straight, but the active partner is.
Some observers question the racist assumptions behind clinical literature on transgender sexuality in various ethnic groups.
Asian countries, notably Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
, have a more socially tolerant view of transgender sexuality.
Sex work
In many cultures, transgender people (especially trans women) are frequently involved in sex work.Some trans men in the sex work industry are gay for pay. Porn actor Buck Angel
Buck Angel
Buck Angel is a female-to-male transsexual and adult film maker and an LGBT icon of popular culture. He is also founder of Buck Angel Entertainment, as a vehicle to produce media projects...
frequently does scenes with males, but he is married to a woman (Elayne Angel
Elayne Angel
Elayne Angel is a professional body piercer and body modification enthusiast. She was the first person to register a tattoo with the United States Patent and Trademark Office and has angel wings tattooed on her back.-Career:...
).