Transgender sexuality

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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 sexual attraction.[2]

Sexual orientation labels

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] Such a scheme is also illogical viewed from the perspective of describing the orientation of those attracted to transsexual women as women. Thus, a trans man attracted to women is likely to identify as a heterosexual man. Similarly, a heterosexual man who is attracted to women becomes no less heterosexual if one of the women he is attracted to has a transsexual history.

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.[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]

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").[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.

Trans-feminine mixed gender roles

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 femininity 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] In his book Travesti: Sex, Gender and Culture among Brazilian Transgendered Prostitutes, he writes that no travesti in Salvador ever claims to be mulher (a woman) except as a joke, and travestis reading or hearing about transsexuals who say they feel like women regard them as disturbed.[16]

Transsexual men

By the mid-1990s, the range of gender identities and sexual orientations among trans men were well-established,[17] with the majority of trans men attracted primarily or exclusively to women.[18][19][20][21] Foerster reported a 15-year successful relationship between a woman and a trans man who transitioned in the late 1960s.[22][23]

In the 20th century, trans men attracted to women struggled to demonstrate the existence and legitimacy of their identity.[24] Many trans men attracted to women, such as jazz musician Billy Tipton, kept their trans status private until their deaths.

Author Henry Rubin wrote that "[i]t took the substantial efforts of Lou Sullivan, a gay FTM activist who insisted that female-to-male transsexuals could be attracted to men."[24] Matt Kailey, author of Just Add Hormones: An Insider’s Guide to the Transsexual Experience,[25] recounts his transition "from 40-something straight woman to the gay man he’d always known himself to be."[26] 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 [Pauly means attracted to women] in their sexual preference can no longer be made."[20] Gay trans men have varying levels of acceptance within other communities.[27] For some gay trans men, they find having sex with cisgender gay men to be a powerful validation of their identity as gay men. Upon beginning testosterone treatments, some trans men report an increase in both their libido and their desire for sex with non-trans men.[28] The FTM author Jamison Green has written that cisgender gay men can and often do enjoy sexual relations with trans men, even if their trans man partners don't have a penis. Green writes, "Plenty of penis-less transmen manage to engage in sex with penis-equipped gay men...and these non-trans partners are often surprised to find that a penis is not what defines a man, that the lack of a penis does not mean a lack of masculinity, manliness, or male sexuality."[29]

Writing about Two-Spirit people, Green describes "women who passed for men, dressed like men, and married women."[10]

Sexual practices

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.[30] 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.[31]

Tobi Hill-Meyer, self-described 'Queer Trans Multiracial Sex-Positive Activist Writer and Porn Maker', is currently making a documentary called Doing it Again: In Depth about transgender people's sexualities.

Sexual orientation and transitioning

Some transsexual people maintain a consistent orientation throughout their lives,[32][33] in some cases even remaining with the same partner through transition.[34] In other cases, their choices in sexual partners may change after transition.[35]

Classifying transsexual people by sexual orientation

Sexologist Magnus Hirschfeld first suggested a distinction based on sexual orientation in 1923.[36] 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.[37] Some researchers have distinguished trans men attracted to women and trans men attracted to men.[38][39]

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".[40]

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.[41] They defined both homosexual and transvestic transsexuals to be secondary transsexuals.[42] 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.[43]

Transvestic fetishism

The DSM has a diagnosis of transvestic fetishism.[44] Some therapists and activists seek to de-pathologize this category in future revisions. DSM 5, which will be released in May, replaces the transvestic fetishism category with 'transvestic disorder'.[citation needed]

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.[45]

Cultural status

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.[46] [citation needed]

Some observers question the racist assumptions behind clinical literature on transgender sexuality in various ethnic groups.

Some Asian countries, notably Thailand, have a more socially tolerant view of transgender sexuality.[citation needed]

Sex work

In many cultures, transgender people (especially trans women) are frequently involved in sex work such as transsexual pornography.[citation needed] This is correlated with employment discrimination. In the National Trans Discrimination Survey, 11% of respondents reported having done sex work for income, compared to 1% of women in the US.[47] According to the same survey, 13% of transgender Americans are unemployed, almost double the national average.[48] 26% had lost their jobs due to their gender identity/expression. Transgender sex workers have high rates of HIV. In a review of studies on HIV prevalence in trans women working in the sex industry, over 27% were HIV positive. However, the review found that trans women engaged in sex work were not more likely than trans women not engaged in sex work to be HIV positive.[49] Studies have found that in the United States HIV is especially prevalent amongst transgender sex workers of color, particularly black trans women, a problem that has been identified by academics[50] and members of the transgender community.

The subject of transgender sex workers has attracted attention in the media. Paris Lees, a British trans woman and journalist, wrote an article in June 2012 for the Independent defending criticism of Ria, star of Channel 4 documentary Ria: Teen Transsexual, who was seventeen at the time and depicted as working as a prostitute at a massage parlor, saying that the choice to engage in sex work is a matter of bodily autonomy and pointing out reasons that young trans women often turn to sex work such as low self-esteem and severe employment discrimination.[51] A review by GLAAD of its archives of transgender-inclusive television episodes from 2002 to 2012 found that 20% of transgender characters were depicted as sex workers.[52]

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).[53]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Tobin HJ (2003). Sexuality in Transsexual and Transgender Individuals Part I: A Review of the Literature.
  2. ↑ Devor H (1997). FTM: Female-to-Male Transsexuals in Society. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. ISBN 0-253-21259-6
  3. ↑ Chivers, Meredith L.; Bailey, J. Michael. Sexual Orientation of Female-to-Male Transsexuals: A Comparison of Homosexual and Nonhomosexual Types. Archives of Sexual Behavior
  4. ↑ Bagemihl B. Surrogate phonology and transsexual faggotry: A linguistic analogy for uncoupling sexual orientation from gender identity. In Queerly Phrased: Language, Gender, and Sexuality. Anna Livia, Kira Hall (eds.) pp. 380 ff. Oxford University Press ISBN 0-19-510471-4
  5. ↑ McConahay SA, McConahay JB (1977). Sexual permissiveness, sexrole rigidity and violence across cultures. ‘’Journal of Social Issues’’ 33: 134–143.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Bentler PM (1976). A typology of transsexualism: Gender identity theory and data. Arch. Sex. Behav. 5: 567–583.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Leavitt F, Berger JC (1990). Clinical patterns among male transsexual candidates with erotic interest in males. Archives of Sexual Behavior Volume 19, Number 5 / October, 1990
  8. ↑ Randell JB (1959). Transvestism and transsexualism. A study of 50 cases. ‘’British Medical Journal’’ 2:1448.
  9. ↑ Roth M, Ball JRB (1964). Psychiatric aspects of intersexuality. ‘’Intersexuality In Vertebrates Including Man’’, Armstrong CN, Marschall AJ (eds.), New York, p. 395. ISBN 0-12-063150-4
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 Green R (1966) Transsexualism: Mythological, Historical, and Cross-Cultural Aspects. in Benjamin H, The Transsexual Phenomenon. Julian Press ASIN B0007HXA76
  11. ↑ Barrett, Jackson (2007). Transsexual and Other Disorders of Gender Identity: A Practical Guide to Management. Google books: Radcliffe Publishing. p. 298. ISBN 1-85775-719-X. 
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 See, for example, In Their Own Words: The Formulation of Sexual and Reproductive Health Behaviour Among Young Men in Bangladesh, Shivananda Khan, Sharful Islam Khan and Paula E. Hollerbach, for the Catalyst Consortium.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Rowson, Everett K. (October 1991). "The Effeminates of Early Medina". Journal of the American Oriental Society (American Oriental Society) 111 (4): 671–693. doi:10.2307/603399. JSTOR 603399. 
  14. ↑ Al Muqni, Matan. al Sharh al Kabeer (in Arabic) 7. pp. 347–348. 
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 15.3 Kulick, Don (1998). Travesti: Sex, Gender, and Culture Among Brazilian Transgendered Prostitutes. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. p. 269. ISBN 0-226-46100-9. 
  16. ↑ Kulick, Don (1998). Travesti: Sex, Gender, and Culture among Brazilian Transgendered Prostitutes. University of Chicago Press. p. 248. 
  17. ↑ Linnea Due (October 25, 1995). Genderation X. San Francisco Weekly
  18. ↑ Devor H (1993). Sexual Orientation Identities, Attractions, and Practices of Female-to-Male Transsexuals. The Journal of Sex Research, Vol. 30, No. 4 (Nov., 1993), pp. 303–315
  19. ↑ Devor H (1997). FTM: Female-to-male transsexuals in society. Indiana University Press, ISBN 978-0-253-33631-6
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 Ira B. Pauly (1998). Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation. In Dallas Denny, ed. Current Concepts in Transgender Identity. Routledge, ISBN 978-0-8153-1793-7
  21. ↑ Virginia A. Sadock, Harold I. Kaplan (2008). Kaplan and Sadock's Concise Textbook of Clinical Psychiatry, p. 329. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, ISBN 978-0-7817-8746-8
  22. ↑ Foerster, DW (1983). "Female to Male Transsexual Conversion: A 15-Year Follow-Up". Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery 72 (2): 237. doi:10.1097/00006534-198308000-00024. 
  23. ↑ G. Kockott, E. -M. Fahrner (1988). Male-to-female and Female-to-male transsexuals: A comparison. Archives of Sexual Behavior, Volume 17, Number 6 / December, 1988
  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 Henry Rubin (2003). Self-made Men: Identity and Embodiment Among Transsexual Men. Vanderbilt University Press, ISBN 978-0-8265-1435-6
  25. ↑ Kailey, Matt (2006). Just Add Hormones: An Insider’s Guide to the Transsexual Experience, Beacon Press, ISBN 978-0-8070-7959-1
  26. ↑ Jacob Anderson-Minshall (January 19, 2006) Invisible Man. San Francisco Bay Times
  27. ↑ Szymanski, Zak (January 19, 2006). Leather community debates trans exclusion at upcoming contest. Bay Area Reporter
  28. ↑ "What are transgender men’s HIV prevention needs?". Center for AIDS Prevention Studies. Retrieved 2012-10-02. 
  29. ↑ Green, Jamison (2004). Becoming a Visible Man. Nashville, Tennessee: Vanderbilt University Press. p. 121. ISBN 0-826-51456-1. 
  30. ↑ Langevin, R.; Paitich, D.; Steiner, B. (1977). "The clinical profile of male transsexuals living as females vs. those living as males". Archives of Sexual Behavior 6 (2): 143–153. doi:10.1007/BF01541706. 
  31. ↑ Stoller, RJ (1973). "Male transsexualism: Uneasiness". American Journal of Psychiatry 130 (5): 536–539. PMID 4699916. 
  32. ↑ Ashley A, Thompson D (1986). The First Lady. John Blake Publishing, ISBN 1-84454-231-9
  33. ↑ Cossey C (1992). My Story. Faber & Faber, ISBN 0-571-16251-7
  34. ↑ Boylan JF (2003). She's Not There: A Life in Two Genders. Broadway ISBN 0-7679-1404-X
  35. ↑ Daskalos, CD (1998). "Changes in the Sexual Orientation of Six Heterosexual Male-to-Female Transsexuals". Archives of Sexual Behavior 6 (6): 605–614. doi:10.1023/A:1018725201811. 
  36. ↑ Hirschfeld, M (1923). "Die intersexuelle Konstitution". Jarhbuch fuer sexuelle Zwischenstufen 1923: 3–27. 
  37. ↑ Doctor RF, Fleming JS (2001). Measures of Transgender Behavior. Archives of Sexual Behavior Volume 30, Number 3 / June, 2001
  38. ↑ Rachlin, Katherine (1999) Factors Which Influence Individual’s Decisions When Considering Female-To-Male Genital Reconstructive Surgery. IJT 3,3, http://www.symposion.com/ijt/ijt990302.htm
  39. ↑ Deana F. Morrow, Lori Messinger (2006). Sexual Orientation and Gender Expression in Social Work Practice, p. 265. Columbia University Press, ISBN 978-0-231-12728-8
  40. ↑ Benjamin (1966). " Benjamin Scale
  41. ↑ Person, E; Ovesey, L (1974). "The transsexual syndrome in males. I. Primary transsexualism". American Journal of Psychotherapy 28 (1): 4–20. PMID 4812111. 
  42. ↑ Person, E; Ovesey, L (1974b). "The transsexual syndrome in males. II. Secondary transsexualism". American Journal of Psychotherapy 28 (2): 174–193. PMID 4829699. 
  43. ↑ Wahng SJ (2004). Double Cross: Transamasculinity Asian American Gendering in Trappings of Transhood. in Aldama AJ (ed.) Violence and the Body: Race, Gender, and the State. Indiana University Press. ISBN 0-253-34171-X "Thus the institutionalized recognition of the queer-identified, or homosexual, transsexual, is historically groundbreaking. Rosario scrutinized how transgenderism has been described in relation to homosexuality and heterosexuality in both the revised third edition and the fourth edition of the [DSM]. In the DSM-III-R, the classification of "transsexualism" was divided into "homosexual" and "heterosexual" subtypes. However, sexual orientation was based on one's birth sex, so that an FTM who was attracted to women would be deemed a female homosexual transsexual, whereas an FTM attracted to men would be considered a female heterosexual transsexual. These diagnoses were especially confusing since a female homosexual transsexual – that is, an FTM who desires women – would actually identify himself as a heterosexual trans man. And an FTM who desires men, a female heterosexual transsexual, would self-identify as either a gay man or a queer-identified FTM."
  44. ↑ American Psychological Association (APA)(2000)" Gender Identity Disorder in DSM IV TR.
  45. ↑ Buhrish N, McConaghy N (1979). Three clinically discrete categories of fetishistic transvestism. Archives of Sexual Behavior Volume 8, Number 2 / March, 1979.
  46. ↑ Southern Arizona Gender Alliance Gender Identity 101: A Transgender Primer.
  47. ↑ http://transequality.org/PDFs/NTDS_Report.pdf.  Missing or empty |title= (help)
  48. ↑ http://transequality.org/Resources/Trans_Discrim_Survey.pdf.  Missing or empty |title= (help)
  49. ↑ Sex Work and HIV Status Among Transgender Women: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. 
  50. ↑ HIV Prevalence, Risk Behaviors, Health Care Use, and Mental Health Status of Transgender Persons: Implications for Public Health Intervention. 2001. 
  51. ↑ Lees, Paris. The Independent http://blogs.independent.co.uk/2012/06/18/bodily-autonomy-confessions-of-a-transsexual-sex-worker/.  Missing or empty |title= (help)
  52. ↑ Kane, Matt. "GLAAD EXAMINES TEN YEARS OF TRANSGENDER IMAGES ON TELEVISION; MORE THAN HALF WERE NEGATIVE OR DEFAMATORY". 
  53. ↑ Wilkinson, Peter (January 12, 2006). The Mystery of Larry Wachowski. Rolling Stone
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