| Cross-dressing |
|---|
| History of cross-dressing |
| Breeches role · Breeching Travesti · In film and television In wartime · Pantomime dame |
| Key elements |
| As a transgender identity Passing · Transvestism |
| Modern drag culture |
| Ball culture · Drag Drag king · Drag pageantry Drag queen · Faux queen List of drag queens |
| Sexual aspects |
| Autoandrophilia · Autogynephilia Feminization · Pinafore eroticism Transvestic fetishism Sissy · Transgender sexuality |
| Sexual attraction to cross-dressers |
| Andromimetophilia Gynemimetophilia |
| Other aspects |
| Bacha posh · Crossplay En femme Female masking Girlfag and guydyke Gender disguise |
| Passing as male |
| Breast binding · Packing |
| Passing as female |
| Cleavage enhancement Hip and buttock padding |
| Organizations |
| Tri-Ess |
| Books |
| My Husband Betty She's Not The Man I Married |
Transgender sexuality is the sexuality of transgender people. Transgender people exhibit the full range of possible sexual orientations and interests,[1] including the potential for a lack of interest in sex.[2]
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Historically, clinicians labeled transsexual people as heterosexual or homosexual relative to their sex assigned at birth.[3] Most transsexual people find this offensive, and prefer to define their sexual orientation relative to their gender identity.[4] 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.
One study published in 1977 suggests that transgender people have more heterosexual than homosexual experiences.[5] Another study published in 1976 found an almost equal distribution of transsexuals between three distinct categories: homosexual, asexual, and heterosexual.[6] However, this study only assessed 42 male-to-female transsexual people who had undergone gender reassignment surgery and does not address bisexuality.[6] Furthermore, these categories have been rejected by many transsexual people as pejorative. [7]
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").[7] 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 with women.[8][9]
British comedian Bethany Black is one of the more well-known trans women attracted to women.
R. Green compares two-spirit people, hijra, mukhannathun, and kathoey, all of which are people assigned male at birth who have adopted a more feminine gender role.[10] They have in common early effeminacy, adulthood femininity, and attraction to masculine males.[11] Green argues that the members of these groups are mentally indistinguishable from modern western transsexual women.[10]
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.[10]
The Hijra of India and Pakistan are phenotypic men who occupy a female sexual and/or gender role, sometimes undergoing castration.[12] As adults they occupy a female role, but traditionally Hijra describe themselves as neither male or female, preferring Hijra as their gender.[12] They are often express their feminity as boys; as adults they are usually sexually oriented towards masculine men.[12]
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.[13] 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."[14] That said, one of the Mukhannath of Medina during Muhammad's time had married a woman.[13]
Travesti are Brazilian trans women who are attracted to men.[15] Travestis' feminine identity includes hormones and/or silicone body alterations, feminine dress, language, and social and sexual roles, but rarely genital surgery.[15] 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.[15] According to Don Kulick, they will describe themselves instead as "feeling like a woman".[15]
By the mid-1990s, the range of gender identities and sexual orientations among trans men were well-established,[16] with the majority of trans men attracted primarily or exclusively to women.[17][18][19][20] Foerster reported a 15-year successful relationship between a woman and a trans man who transitioned in the late 1960s.[21][22]
In the 20th century, trans men attracted to women struggled to demonstrate the existence and legitimacy of their identity.[23] 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."[23] Matt Kailey, author of Just Add Hormones: An Insider’s Guide to the Transsexual Experience,[24] recounts his transition "from 40-something straight woman to the gay man he’d always known himself to be."[25] 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."[19] Gay trans men have varying levels of acceptance within other communities.[26]
Writing about Two-Spirit people, Green describes "women who passed for men, dressed like men, and married women."[10]
In a 1977 study, a large majority of transsexual women reported allowing a male partner to touch their penis, and minority reported receiving fellatio and performing anal sex.[27] 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.[7] 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.[28]
Some transsexual people maintain a consistent orientation throughout their lives,[29][30] in some cases even remaining with the same partner through transition.[31] In other cases, their choices in sexual partners may change after transition.[32]
Sexologist Magnus Hirschfeld first suggested a distinction based on sexual orientation in 1923.[33] 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.[34] Some researchers have distinguished trans men attracted to women and trans men attracted to men.[35][36]
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".[37]
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.[38] They defined both homosexual and transvestic transsexuals to be secondary transsexuals.[39] 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.[40]
The DSM has a diagnosis of transvestic fetishism.[41] 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.[42]
Sexual behavior and gender roles 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.[43]
Some observers question the racist assumptions behind clinical literature on transgender sexuality in various ethnic groups.[44]
Asian countries, notably Thailand, have a more socially tolerant view of transgender sexuality.
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 frequently does scenes with males, but he is married to a woman (Elayne Angel).[45]
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