Gilda

It differs from person to person. There isn't any one profile or even, as Ray Blanchard and Michael Bailey like to claim, two. There's a large range of degrees of sexualization in the process.

First, let me dismiss with the ridiculous theories of Ray Blanchard and Michael Bailey. They are quacks who manipulate data to fit into a theory proposed first by Blanchard which has been dismissed by the mainstream gender therapeutic community and which stands up to neither common sense nor scientific scrutiny. The basic theory is that MTF's are actually men, either homosexuals who transition so they can have sex with men, or heterosexuals who transition as a result of a fetish with women's clothes and bodies. I could explain what's wrong with this in detail, but it's irrelevant. The key problem is that they classify all into two narrowly defined clasifications and deny the existense of a gender identity that exists separately from sex drive. It's been thoroughly debunked.

For the vast majority, the primary motivating factor is internal gender identity, and an overpowering desire to live in the social role of their internal gender.

I say vast majority, because there is a small number of MTF's who identify young as effeminate gay men and who transition not, they say, because of an internal gender identity, but because of a desire to be accepted socially in a role that allows them to have sex with men. This fits with Blanchard's theory, but only a small subset of younger transsexuals really fit this descritpion. In other words, for this subset, it's easier to be a straight woman than a gay man. They call themselves "homosexual transsexuals" a label invented by Blanchard.

I asked Sissy what she thought of the lable once. She said she's a girl who likes guys. That's heterosexual. My friend Jen likes girls; she's the homosexual transsexual, or, as she prefers to identify, the transsexual lesbian.

Good question. Sissy is into straight guys, and hopes to find a traditionally masculine man to marry and have a family with, though she has no intention to be a homemaker. She just finished her freshman year of college, and plans to either become a psychologist or a doctor.

Most younger transsexuals tend to be heterosexual, that is, attracted to men, and tend to develop relationships with straight men.

For older transsexuals, those who transition as adults, it's a lot less consistent. Most are attracted to women pre-transition, have had relationships with women, sometimes being married with children.

After transition, it's a crap shoot. Many, especially those who are in a long term relationship with a woman, retain their orientation towards women, which is to say they are homosexual. However, as the female hormones start interacting with their female brains, some who've never found men attractive start finding guys to be more sexually stimulating, and end up bisexual. Some even change orientation completely and find themselves attracted solely to guys. Some may have had repressed attraction to men in the first place that then surfaces as it becomes more acceptable in their minds to be attracted to men.

And some are asexual in terms of orientation both before and after transition.

The same effect tends to happen pre and post SRS. Some older transsexuals who begin oriented to women, and stay oriented to women after hormone treatments and a transition to a female social role find themselves suddently wanting to use their new vagina post op, if only to know what sex with a man as a woman is like. Some have the surgery and never engage in sex with man. My friend Jen, who began treatment about a year ago and is out at home but not at work, is still happily married to her wife, whom she married as a man, and still finds the idea of sex with a man repulsive. Despite this, she fully intends to have SRS when she's saved the money and complete her one year RLE.

Some have relationships with their wives/girlfriends, who tend to be otherwise straight, some with men. Some, particularly those who transition late and have difficulty passing, have difficulty finding a partner of either sex who will accept them. Some do end up with other transsexuals.

So it varies, with no one single pattern being evident, except with those who transition in their teens (which are a small minority). Most do intend to use their new vagina sexually, but that doesn' mean it's about sexual desire. For many it's about affirming their identity as women, and for some it's just about having a vagina, about feeling complete as a woman.

For the record, though, many keep their penis and testicles post transition, or sometimes just have the testicles removed. Some lose the desire to have SRS after their testicles are removed because they cease to view their penis as a sexual organ.

There is even a new procedure that has been developed for those who don't desire vaginal sex post op. Basically the labia and clitoris are formed, but no neo-vagina. It creates the appearance of female genitals with female urination, and a sensate clitoris, but no cavity, enabling the woman to have non-penetrative lesbian sex. It's safer, less time consuming, easier to care for (a vagina is a high-maintenance organ, whether natural or man-made) and costs about half as much. Referencing Jen again, she wants the whole thing. She told me once, that being penetrated doesn't have to involve a man, a statement that I am in complete agreement with.

To sum up: Sex usually plays some role in transitioning, and in the desire to have SRS, but the degree varies and is secondary to gender identity.

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I'm against ending blackness. I believe that everyone has a right to be black, it's a choice, and I support that.

~Steven Colbert