Men’s Sexual Interest in Feminine Trans Individuals across Cultures

ABSTRACT

Feminine trans individuals (i.e., individuals who were assigned male at birth but who have a feminine gender presentation and identity) are present in many cultures. In some cultures, these individuals identify as (trans) women. Many of these individuals undergo medical treatments to feminize their bodies (e.g., breast augmentation), but most do not undergo vaginoplasties and therefore have penises. In many non-Western cultures, feminine trans individuals identify as a non-binary gender (i.e., neither man, nor woman). Many of these individuals do not surgically augment their bodies. Across cultures, some men express sexual interest in feminine trans individuals. Are manifestations of sexual interest in feminine trans individuals consistent across Western and non-Western cultural settings? Our review suggests that, across cultures, most of these men are also sexually attracted to cisgender individuals. Many are sexually attracted to cisgender women or to cisgender members of both sexes. A small subset is sexually attracted to cisgender men. Men who are sexually interested in feminine trans individuals commonly report being primarily insertive during anal sex. Additionally, they tend to report that their sexual interest in these individuals is motivated by attraction to femininity or to the combination female- and male-typical characteristics.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

¹ Hereafter, the term man refers to cisgender adult males. Unless otherwise specified, the term woman refers to cisgender adult females.

² For some feminine trans individuals, the cost of genital reconstructive surgery may be prohibitive; others may feel that the surgical outcomes are sub-optimal; still others may elect not to undergo these procedures because they do not feel that having a penis is inconsistent with a feminine gender identity.

³ Another possibility is that a greater number of men with sexual interest in feminine trans individuals in India are relatively androphilic when compared those in the USA. Consequently, when averaged with men with sexual interest in feminine trans individuals across the sexual orientation spectrum, Indian men with sexual interest in feminine trans individuals appear to be ambiphilic, whereas their American counterparts are shifted more toward the gynephilic end of the scale.

⁴ The images used in this study did not feature Samoan individuals (the majority appeared to be of European descent).

⁵ Whether autogynephilia exists in women has been the subject of debate (Lawrence, 2009; Moser, 2009).

⁶ Sexual interactions between feminine trans individuals were also said to occur when gynephilic feminine trans individuals were unable to have sex with cisgender women. Others were, supposedly, not sexually motivated but were intended to teach new cross-dressers how to have sex with cisgender men.

⁷ The original author used masculine pronouns when referring to the quari performer. However, the performer in question was feminine presenting, at least at the time of the event.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada [Discovery Grant]; Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada [CGS Doctoral].