‘You have to trust their word’: transmasculine experiences with sex partners and safety during the early COVID-19 outbreak

Abstract

The early months of the SARS-CoV2 pandemic exacerbated health disparities for vulnerable populations, including transgender (trans) communities, creating unique challenges for navigating sex and dating. This paper aims to expand upon the current literature regarding transmasculine populations by capturing their lived experiences during this critical time. We interviewed 20 assigned female sex at birth (AFAB) adults of the transmasculine spectrum - men, nonbinary, and transmasculine individuals - about their social and sexual experiences in the USA in May and June 2020. Transcripts were analysed using an inductive thematic approach. We found that sex drive decreased and uncertainty about health risks increased. Some participants found alternate ways to date and hook-up that reduced their COVID-19 risk, such as engaging in online sex (e.g. sexting, dating apps). Others expressed discomfort using virtual platforms for both personal/work and sexual lives, along with nuanced feelings around being objectified, compared to pornography, and fetishised as trans bodies. COVID-related shutdowns of queer spaces also amplified pre-existing concerns about interpersonal safety and rejection. When seeking new partners, participants sought behavioural characteristics that instilled trust. Future public health communications can take advantage of safety and sexual health strategies already present in trans communities to bolster wellbeing in trans lives.

Keywords:

• transgender
• transmasculine
• LGBTQ
• COVID-19
• sex

Acknowledgements

Special thanks go to Ji-Young Lee and the additional members of the T5K study team: Denis Nash, David Pantalone, Sarit A. Golub, Viraj V. Patel, Gregorio Millett, Don Hoover, Sarah Kulkarni, Drew Westmoreland, Matthew Stief, Chloe Mirzayi, Fatima Zohra and Tova Kruss. Thank you also to Rebecca Ben-David for invaluable support and feedback. We also thank the programme staff at NIH: Gerald Sharp, Sonia Lee, and Michael Stirratt. Finally, we thank the study’s Scientific Advisory Board: Michael Camacho, Demetre Daskalakis, Sabina Hirshfield, Claude Mellins and Milo Santos. While the US National Institutes of Health financially supported this research, the content is the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily reflect official views of the funder.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

The Together 5,000 (T5K) study was funded by the US National Institutes for Health (UH3 AI133675 – PI Grov). Additional support was received from the CUNY Institute for Implementation Science in Population Health and the Einstein-Rockefeller-CUNY Center for AIDS Research (ERC CFAR, P30 AI124414).