The Grass Is Greener On The Other Side

When I do training I sometimes bring up the fact that for some trans people their sexual orientation changes when they transition and I joke that this would probably be a good research study to get a grant.

Research Shows Many Trans Folks' Sexual Attractions Change After Transition
Toby was exclusively attracted to women before he transitioned. Now he’s attracted to men, too.
Them
By Zhana Vrangalova
June 25, 2018

Toby was assigned female at birth. While living as a woman, he was attracted almost exclusively to women. But when he started taking testosterone at age 22, that began to change. “It was like a switch got flipped inside my brain,” he says. “I’d never really thought of men in a sexual way, and then all of a sudden, I’d look at some guys and have all these sexual fantasies about them.”

Toby’s story is far from unique.

Several studies suggest that changes in sexual orientation among trans people are quite common. Among 115 Dutch participants, for example, 33% of trans women and 22% of trans men reported experiencing changes in their sexual attractions. This was true of 49% of trans masculine and 64% of trans feminine individuals in a 2015 study of 452 participants from Massachusetts, with the majority of these changes occurring after social transition. In another 2013 study of 507 U.S. trans men who’ve started transitioning (including hormones and/or surgery), 40% reported some shift in sexual attractions. Almost identical results were found in a 2005 study of 232 U.S. trans women who had undergone surgical and hormonal transition, where 43% reported significant shifts in their sexual orientation (of 2+ points along the 7-point Kinsey scale).

What are the causes for the switch?

Why these changes happen is less clear, and like many things in psychology, this may be a question with several correct answers.

Although we tend to think of sexual orientation as something fixed at birth (determined by our genes and prenatal hormone exposure) and usually unchangeable thereafter, it is undoubtedly fluid to some extent, so shifts in attraction could be no different from those that happen to many cisgender folks as well. Research with cisgender populations finds that almost 20% of young adult women and 5% of men report changes in their attractions over a 5-year period. But these general population numbers are much lower than those found in trans populations, suggesting there are likely other factors at play among trans folks.

Is it that opposites attract?

Is it because of suppressed sexual desires?

“Imagine you’re in a female body and you identify on the masculine spectrum. You don’t want to be sexual with men, because those men would treat you as a female-bodied person, and that kind of sexual interaction is not of interest to you. So even if you did have attractions for men, you might not engage with men or even indulge in fantasies about men until you can be witnessed as and interacted with in your affirmed gender.”
[…]
Having a body that matches your gender identity and that you feel comfortable in allows you to expand the genders that you feel comfortable interacting with.

So do you need a research topic for a term paper? Here is a ready made topic.

If you have transitioned... take the poll!

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