Transgender admirers are often dismissed as “tranny chasers,” a term that seems hateful both towards guys and transgender women.
Trans women sometimes use this term when discussing negative aspects of guys pursuing them.
It’s a paradox for both men who experience sexual attraction to transexuals and to trans women who want to date men. If men aren’t attracted to you, who will you date or have sex with? But at the same time, no woman wants to be objectified. A trans woman wants to be seen as a whole person, and as woman, not as a specific amalgam of body parts for your kink.
Is your attraction to trans women a kink? Or is it a sexual orientation?
That all depends who you ask.
Research into the subject of trans attraction is new and limited.
Transgender attraction was first noted by scholars in the 1950s, in response to Christine Jorgenson’s rise to public attention. Christine was one of the first transgender women known in America.
Since then, there have been a few studies that have touched on male attraction to trans women, crossdressers, or nonbinary folks. A penile plethysmograph study was done in 2016, measuring sexual response by monitoring blood flow and erections. But all of the studies have been small, with varied results.
Some men are exclusively attracted to transgender women and consider it a sexual orientation.
Some guys keep their attraction on the down low and don’t want friends and family to know. These guys are more likely to meet trans women just for sex, and not be willing to date trans women publicly.
But lots of guys are vocal that there is nothing wrong with being attracted to trans women, and they don’t want to hide their lovers. Their interest is not just sexual, but romantic. By identifying with an orientation, they feel they are contributing to trans-positive politics and social change.
Poll: Are You Open about Your TS Attraction?
Some studies show trans-attracted guys have a form of autogynephilia.
The whole “autogynephilia” thing is controversial today, perceived as erasing transgender women’s existence or pathologizing trans women or trans-attracted men.
But there is a history of autogynephilia among transvestites or cross-dressing men, which used to be distinct from transgenderism. It’s a fancy word for men who are aroused sexually at the idea of becoming a woman, or dressing as a woman—the difference between a trans woman and a transvestite, if you will.
There are some transgender women today, or men who were formerly transgender women, who say their autogynephilia was so strong that they transitioned or believed they were trans. One is James Shupe, the first out nonbinary person in America, now living as a man again and confessing his kink was so overwhelming it led him on a strange journey. He is criticized for endangering the rights and public perception of transgender women.
Some guys with this kind of kink don’t dress up themselves but are attracted to trans women, “shemales” or gender benders who embody the idea of male biology becoming female.
The majority of trans-attracted men are heterosexual men who love women.
Kinks, controversies, and orientation aside, the vast majority of guys who are attracted to transgender women are simply attracted to women in general.
Guys into women can be into very specific women—Asian women, big beautiful women, blonde women, Latina women, athletic women, dominant women, transgender women.
Or they can be attracted to a variety of women, all of the above.
What do you say about your trans attraction? Leave us a comment!
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