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Community Conversation => Transsexual talk => Male to female transsexual talk (MTF) => Topic started by: Shawn Sunshine on May 28, 2012, 06:31:04 PM

Title: Do Hormones change your sexual orientation? I don't understand how.
Post by: Shawn Sunshine on May 28, 2012, 06:31:04 PM
Ok well after watching Dr. Oz on oprah's program talk about the gay gene being found in mice and that is also in people. I wonder why someone would all of the sudden be sexually attracted to that which they were not attracted to before due to hormones. One person in chat said that they were attracted to women but after all the years of hrt they then found themselves wanting a man. To clarify this person is mtf

I am also attracted to women. I do not see myself wanting to be with a male having relations with them in that way.

So what exactly is going on here? Is there a gay gene then for sure? If so can that gene be altered by hormones? If a person is ftm and then still likes guys doesn't that make them a gay guy also? a mtf likes women and then still dates women doesn't this also say lesbian? Of course i know there's bisexual. You can be bisexual, have a sex change, and then still be bisexual, so orientation doesn't change for them.

Title: Re: Do Hormones change your sexual orientation? I don't understand how.
Post by: Kelly J. P. on May 28, 2012, 06:40:03 PM
 I don't know if there is or isn't a gay gene. However, I have experienced becoming bi where I once found myself repulsed by men... and I have had friends who ended up liking guys, and lost interest in women (or vice versa).

I don't know how, or why, but it does happen. If there is a gay gene, it is not altered by hormones - that is impossible. Perhaps sexual orientation is just (or mostly) a bunch of noodles in your head, and because hormones can play with those noodles, it can affect your orientation.
Title: Re: Do Hormones change your sexual orientation? I don't understand how.
Post by: SourCandy on May 28, 2012, 06:44:28 PM
Quote from: ShawnTOShawnna on May 28, 2012, 06:31:04 PM
Ok well after watching Dr. Oz on oprah's program talk about the gay gene being found in mice and that is also in people. I wonder why someone would all of the sudden be sexually attracted to that which they were not attracted to before due to hormones. One person in chat said that they were attracted to women but after all the years of hrt they then found themselves wanting a man. To clarify this person is mtf

I am also attracted to women. I do not see myself wanting to be with a male having relations with them in that way.

So what exactly is going on here?


It's not really that simple. It's not that there is a "gay gene" in mice, it's that animals aren't as complex to decode and that it's possible to do things such as switch sexual preference of a creature that has to inherently know what they want because they don't actually have complex inner thoughts about themselves and what they want.

Humans are simply more complex than the sum of their parts, so I tend to dismiss the applications of findings like this. It's not even that I'm putting us on a pedestal. What they did was pretty much remove a gene that caused a female mouse to grow up with certain male traits. AKA, They honestly created a ftm mouse >_________>

As for changing due to hormones, it's wishy, Most of it is "Your results may vary" because your brain will interrupt things differently than others. You very well could find your preferences in partners change over time due to the influence of things beyond hrt like the way you view yourself and how others view you. That's you changing as a human, sometimes your born gay/straight, sometimes someone comes along and you love them beyond their gender, and sometimes someone just changes their mind x3

Lest how I see it.
Title: Re: Do Hormones change your sexual orientation? I don't understand how.
Post by: Shawn Sunshine on May 28, 2012, 06:47:14 PM
well if orientation is just in my brain, and people see me now as being heterosexual male and I have up until now seen this as what I was, isn't hormones still changing your orientation still scary? People take pride in their orientation and let the world know. But if hormones can still change it, that sort of blows my mind still.
Title: Re: Do Hormones change your sexual orientation? I don't understand how.
Post by: aleon515 on May 28, 2012, 06:51:50 PM
Genes are more inclinations towards something, except in some clear cut things (hair color or eye color for instance). Otherwise there is environment, opportunity (I don't meant this in some kind of silly way), society, etc. For example, schizophrenia is highly genetically determined, but identical twins will not necessarily both get it, it is more like 60%. This is the case with a lot of other things and must also be true for being gay.

I have also heard that hrt can switch your orientation. Perhaps there is a chemistry component in there.

--Jay Jay
Title: Re: Do Hormones change your sexual orientation? I don't understand how.
Post by: Constance on May 28, 2012, 06:52:22 PM
I am pansexual, and I was so before start HRT last June. Prior to starting HRT, I found women more attractive than androgynous persons, and androgynous persons more attractive than men.

About 2 months into HRT I was dead-center on the Kinsey scale finding many more people attractive than I had previously.

At about 6 months into HRT, I was drifting away from that and was finding women exclusively to be attractive.

Now, and nearly 1 year on HRT I'm finding that I'm pretty much back to my original starting point: pansexual with a preference for women, then androgynous persons, and then men.

So for me, hormones did have an affect on my sexual orientation. Who knows what will happen to me as time goes on.
Title: Re: Do Hormones change your sexual orientation? I don't understand how.
Post by: Constance on May 28, 2012, 06:54:42 PM
Quote from: ShawnTOShawnna on May 28, 2012, 06:47:14 PM
isn't hormones still changing your orientation still scary?
For me it wasn't so much scary as illuminating.

Quote from: ShawnTOShawnna on May 28, 2012, 06:47:14 PM
People take pride in their orientation and let the world know.
I was never one for identity politics, but I'm not ashamed of who and what I am, either.
Title: Re: Do Hormones change your sexual orientation? I don't understand how.
Post by: Kelly J. P. on May 28, 2012, 06:55:00 PM
 I don't think it's very scary.... it is what it is. Sexual orientation doesn't mean something unless you belong to a conservative religious group, or are required to function near people who do; and even then, it is not very common for someone who was gay before transition to have their orientation change on them, and have them end up gay (with the other sex) after transition. It happens, but it's a lot more likely that you'll end up bi or straight - if you're gay already, it seems less likely to change, and if you're bi already... well, I haven't heard of someone who was bi changing their orientation on hormones.
Title: Re: Do Hormones change your sexual orientation? I don't understand how.
Post by: Ms. OBrien CVT on May 28, 2012, 07:18:03 PM
I see it this way.  If we are attracted to one sex or the other, we may stay that way.  If you are attracted to women and you're MtF then you may just be a lesbian.  If you are FtM and attached to men, you may be gay.

However, with the right hormones run our bodies, our earlier sexuality may change.  You may find you are attracted to the opposite sex. 

Ether way if it is right for you, then it is right.  Let no one or no doctrine tell you different.

In my case, I am Bi.  I was what would be called "straight" in my past life.  And my thinking now is about the same.  A song come to mine, for me right now.

Weather Girls - Its Raining Men (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGLZqDXau98#)
Title: Re: Do Hormones change your sexual orientation? I don't understand how.
Post by: JoanneB on May 28, 2012, 07:49:38 PM
I can readily see hormones having an affect on your sexual orientation just as much as HRT changes how you view the world, yourself and your place within it. Many of us start our journeys in denial. We strive to be "normal", which of course means being straight. Any attraction towards a person of the same sex is immediately rejected and put out of mind. I suspect that many besides myself had gone through a phase of fantasizing about being a woman with a man. The reality of it is far different.

Once you actively begin transitioning there is a lot more than just hormones going to work on your brain, life itself is. A life far different than the one you are putting behind you. All sorts of burdens to be "Normal" no longer apply. You begin to feel more at ease just being you and start to actually enjoy being in your own skin. You start learning not to fight or reject these new feeling but to go with them as they will bring you even more joy. Part of these new feelings may just be how you begin to look at men (MTF case). Suddenly some become cute, attractive, intriguing, etc.. Perhaps you also start to realize that a percentage of your attraction to women was really envy and not lust. Sure you still look at women, admire some, maybe even attracted to their beauty, and then think "I wish I could pull that off" or to be like that.

I suspect transition has a lot more to do with changing your sexual orientation. HRT is just one small part of it. In fact many non-transitioning TSs are on a low dose HRT regime for the psychological benefits. While I am no expert on the numbers, I have never read or heard of accounts of these people's orientation changing. Sure, statistically it happens but I am sure at a much lower rate that those of who decide to fully transition.
Title: Re: Do Hormones change your sexual orientation? I don't understand how.
Post by: peky on May 28, 2012, 08:17:10 PM
Quote from: ShawnTOShawnna on May 28, 2012, 06:47:14 PM
well if orientation is just in my brain, and people see me now as being heterosexual male and I have up until now seen this as what I was, isn't hormones still changing your orientation still scary? People take pride in their orientation and let the world know. But if hormones can still change it, that sort of blows my mind still.

It is like the lottery, some of us change our orientation, other suffer no change, and yet other become bisexual. The Lord works in mysterious ways!
Title: Re: Do Hormones change your sexual orientation? I don't understand how.
Post by: V M on May 28, 2012, 08:43:40 PM
Everyone is different and there are several factors involved depending on a person's age and perception

I don't believe that hormones themselves can change a person's sexual orientation, but rather the use of hormones could possibly lead to a person opening new doors of perception that will help them to define within themselves what their sexual orientation is

Title: Re: Do Hormones change your sexual orientation? I don't understand how.
Post by: Brooke777 on May 28, 2012, 08:45:01 PM
One thing that can change your orientation is your sensitivity to pheromones.  I have read that quite a few women are more sensitive to male pheromones after they start hrt. 
Title: Re: Do Hormones change your sexual orientation? I don't understand how.
Post by: CryssL on May 28, 2012, 10:05:44 PM
FWIW...

Prior to hormones/transitioning, I did not [knowingly] find men attractive; women on the other hand, much so.  Gradually throughout hormones/transitioning, the opposite seems to have occurred.  Strange and confusing it may be -- but I certainly do not mind.

Title: Re: Do Hormones change your sexual orientation? I don't understand how.
Post by: Siobhan on May 29, 2012, 01:07:32 AM
Ive always found both attractive, but was envious of girls, and not interested in having physical relations with a man as a man. then I went on aa's and lost all interest in sex but still admired pretty people, now im on hrt I think im getting a bit more interested in men than before.
Im guessing that if I wind up looking acceptably female then I might actually want something more physical too.
Title: Re: Do Hormones change your sexual orientation? I don't understand how.
Post by: Jamie D on May 29, 2012, 01:51:59 AM
Okay, I don't want to upset anybody, but there is no good scientific evidence that non-heterosexual orientation is controlled by a gene.  I do not preclude a complex interaction between genes, but it has not been demonstrated.

It seems to me that sexual orientation is much more likely controlled by brain chemistry and environmental factors.

Separated identical twins studies more or less demolish the "gay gene" theory.

So, ask yourself, does the onset of HR effect brain chemistry?
Title: Re: Do Hormones change your sexual orientation? I don't understand how.
Post by: Annah on May 29, 2012, 01:55:36 AM
Think about this:

If hormones could change your sexual orientation, then I would assume Christian and other "pray the gay away camps" as well as similar Therapy would have long utilized hormone treatment "to ungay" someone.

I believe when you start HRT (as well as transitioning period), you become more comfortable with who you are or explore new things you once never considered doing.

People try too hard to explain their sexual orientation or their transgender disposition over a gene. It's almost as if people are trying to find "a legitimate excuse" to explain who they are and also to come up with a medical standard that is less taboo as a medical issue.

It's one of the reasons why I find "For the Bible Tells me so" to be mildly irritating. Many people see the video as a pro gay video to present to a questioning church. In my opinion, the video tries to create "excuses" to get the church to love LGBT rather than just loving and accepting who they are period.
Title: Re: Do Hormones change your sexual orientation? I don't understand how.
Post by: Alainaluvsu on May 29, 2012, 09:12:44 AM
Quote from: Jamie D on May 29, 2012, 01:51:59 AM
Okay, I don't want to upset anybody, but there is no good scientific evidence that non-heterosexual orientation is controlled by a gene.  I do not preclude a complex interaction between genes, but it has not been demonstrated.

It seems to me that sexual orientation is much more likely controlled by brain chemistry and environmental factors.

Separated identical twins studies more or less demolish the "gay gene" theory.

So, ask yourself, does the onset of HR effect brain chemistry?

I agree with this.

I have always been interested in guys, never in girls. However pre-HRT I was borderline asexual. After about a week of HRT I started getting some sort of urge to stare at guys  and actually want in pursuing them. It's also pertinent to say that my goals in sexuality changed. I went from focusing on the physical aspect as being the primary stimulant for my sex drive, to having an emotional necessity to stimulate it. As we pretty much all know, estrogen does have an effect on the brain that spurs along a stronger emotional response.

I'm no physiologist or anything, but if I had to guess the brain has receptors in it that are linked to sexuality. Hormones may cause them to react and become interested in whatever sex, according to how your brain is wired to receive these hormones. An explanation as to why twins have different sexualities (in some cases) may have something to do with the different environmental factors (diet, exposure to toxins, etc) they live in, which may disturb any hormonal "balance" in the body.
Title: Re: Do Hormones change your sexual orientation? I don't understand how.
Post by: A on May 29, 2012, 09:28:59 AM
Hormones do seem to change sexual orientation by very varying degrees. From zero change to a complete reversal, from what I've read. I'm not an expert at all, but it seems logical to me. After all, some studies do indicate that sexual orientation is related to hormones.

I'm not sure how widely accepted that was, but I remember reading about a study that said that whilst transgendered individuals seemed to be made more likely to appear by a surplus of cross-sex hormones in the womb at some stages of development, homosexuals seemed to be made more likely to appear by a surplus of same sex hormones at that time. In a very unscientific way, I could interpret it as (for born men) "transsexuals were made addicted to female hormones and thus strive for them; homosexuals were made addicted to a lot of male hormones and thus want more and more".

In the light of this apparent link between hormones and sexual orientation, no matter how good and widely accepted that precise hypothesis is, I think it's definitely not irrational to think that a change in sex hormone levels would affect sexual orientation.

Part of it could be a story of pheromones. I'm not an expert, but reproductively-wise, I find it evolutionarily advantageous that females would be more affected by male pheromones and vice versa. After all, there are more females than males who are attracted to males, and it's commonly regarded as normal, since sex is primarily for reproduction to begin with.

And hormones are the only way I see for the body to vehiculate this "react to X pheromone" message. So by taking estradiol, we would make ourselves more receptive to male pheromones, and less to female pheromones, which could, if there is a psychological predisposition of some sort, turn into a change in sexual orientation.

This raises a question: why does it change a lot in some, a little in others and not at all in the rest? Well, attraction, sexual as well as emotional, is only partly affected by pheromones. Even purely physical attraction is probably affected more by looks and behaviour than pheromones. So if someone already had a definite attraction for one gender or the other driven by another factor, a change in the perception of pheromones might be hardly noticeable.

It could also be a "side effect" of the psychological effects experienced on HRT (which also vary a lot). Quite a few report that the way they experience their emotions changed, that they don't interact with others the same way as before. An example might be someone who used to feel more aggressive with things, who would be a leader, and who began feeling more delicate, and who began to feel the need to be protected rather than the urge to protect. Well, that person might be more attracted to men due to the commonly spread idea we have of them as being strong, reliable, protective, etc. which is not all true but not all false either.

However, we can't put it all on the back of hormones. There might be people who were always attracted to men but, consciously or not, repressed this attraction, either through some sort of internalised homophobia or just because they weren't interested in seeing men as men (men-men relationships differ a lot from men-women relationships, right?) And then, when they got closer to living as women, and accepted their real self, "allowed themselves" or "rediscovered" that attraction... Or something.
Title: Re: Do Hormones change your sexual orientation? I don't understand how.
Post by: Brooke777 on May 29, 2012, 10:43:36 AM
Very well put A. Pheromones are only part of attraction. Some people are more affected by pheromones than others. Attraction is very much controlled by the neural pathways in the brain. Essentially, how the brain is "wired". From the research I have done, they have not found a link to any one, or two parts of the brain. I personally am not very affected by pheromones. My wife, very much so.
Title: Re: Do Hormones change your sexual orientation? I don't understand how.
Post by: Adrasteia on May 29, 2012, 11:14:15 AM
For what it may be worth, there's not a very good scientific consensus on the effects of pheromones in humans. Smell, on the other hands, has seen a good deal of controlled scrutiny and is an incredibly powerful sense.

Personally, changes in sexual orientation worry me a bit. My girlfriend/partner is dealing with a lot already, and I'd rather not throw sexuality on the top of the pile. I'm generally attracted to females or to individuals who present as female, but time will tell.
Title: Re: Do Hormones change your sexual orientation? I don't understand how.
Post by: vlmitchell on May 29, 2012, 11:55:00 AM
Hm.

Well, I'm at about 2.5 years on HRT and here's what I noticed:

- The 'eyes snap to boobs and butts on girls' reflex went away.
- Most of the floral smell from my GG partner went away.
- Guys now smell spicy in a good way.
- Guys are also now drool inducingly preeeeeeety at times where as before they were just attractive or handsome.
- I can't tell as easily if a woman is supposed to be normatively sexually attractive.

Overall, there's certainly been a drift in what I feel towards people I'm attracted to. I'm guessing that this is mostly hormonal though I suppose I was always bi so, ymmv?

On the topic of Gene/Not gene... that's silly. Chemistry doesn't work like that (DNA is chemistry gone wild, folks). A hormone is a genetic manipulator, binding to and telling certain genes to become active (breasts, anyone?) and others to go dormant by their absence (muscle mass, etc etc etc). Soooo... the results of HRT on the individual are largely dependent on the genetic makeup of that person (which is why your boobs are more or less the same size as your moms even years after puberty has completed). Turning on all the female sex parts of your genetic code will more or less make you susceptible to whatever you would have been susceptible to as a GG. Your sexual orientation is likely that combined with your social makeup... sheesh people make this conversation overly complex. Being full on homosexual probably just means that those parts of your code are wired for the particular chemistry you've got at the time. What you do with it is up to you.
Title: Re: Do Hormones change your sexual orientation? I don't understand how.
Post by: Adrasteia on May 29, 2012, 01:01:48 PM
All of that, plus the fact that the presence of a gene doesn't mean that you are a thing or you behave a certain way.  I wish I remembered the guy's name, but not too long ago someone got their full DNA test done and wrote a short book(?) about it, drawing particular attention to tendencies that his genes would indicate that he didn't see expressed in himself.  For example, iirc he had the 'baldness' gene but still carried a full head of hair late into life.
Title: Re: Do Hormones change your sexual orientation? I don't understand how.
Post by: peky on May 29, 2012, 01:23:42 PM
Quote from: Jamie D on May 29, 2012, 01:51:59 AM
Okay, I don't want to upset anybody, but there is no good scientific evidence that non-heterosexual orientation is controlled by a gene.  I do not preclude a complex interaction between genes, but it has not been demonstrated.

It seems to me that sexual orientation is much more likely controlled by brain chemistry and environmental factors.

Separated identical twins studies more or less demolish the "gay gene" theory.

So, ask yourself, does the onset of HR effect brain chemistry?

Some neuronal networks seem to be fixed in early embryonic development (before 6 weeks of gestation), other seems to be fixed during fetal development, and some perinatal. Some are fix for good, soem change soemhow, some are continuosly changing. Brain imaging of pre and post HTR TS folks seems to indicate that some neuronal process are changed by HRT, while others remain fix. Don't you love mother nature?

OK, in a succinct way: there is evidence of some gender specific chemistry in the brain, there is also gender specific centers (which are anatomically and biochemically gender specific; to our interst, it seems there is a master center for gender identity, and a master center for sexual orientation. Whether this centers develop in concordance with your genotype seems to depend on the interaction of specific genes, receptors, and presence or absence of testosterone and Estradiol (for the females the presence of alpha feto protein 1. Ok, lets add also, that  there is evidence that environmental factors such stress and xenoestrogens and other drugs exposures seems to be involved in their expression. There is even the documented case of a dude who smoked a vick-vaporub inhaler, and reported to the emergency room demanding SRS :), three days later when the effects subside, he returned to be your normal cis block, he had never had an history of CD or TG/TS. I am sure his family would never let him forget LOL

The main point is that we have but just begun to scratch the surface of how the brain works. Yet, the take home lesson so far is that gender identity and sexual orientation are interconnected and mostly determined by biology.
Title: Re: Do Hormones change your sexual orientation? I don't understand how.
Post by: Constance on May 29, 2012, 01:52:50 PM
/* I'm NOT a medical professional. */

I've heard it said that one of the most important sexual organs in the human body is the brain.

I can attest to the fact that HRT causes physical changes in one's body: I'm growing breasts. So, if hormones can cause such physical changes, why would they not affect the brain as well? And if the brain is an important sexual organ, it doesn't seem so surprising that HRT can affect sexual orientation.

But, if I understood Annah's reply properly, correlation of what's observed is not necessarily the same as describing a cause-and-effect chain. There could factors other than just a change of my body/brain chemistry as a result of HRT.
Title: Re: Do Hormones change your sexual orientation? I don't understand how.
Post by: chrishoney on May 29, 2012, 03:13:43 PM
Quote from: Kelly J. P. on May 28, 2012, 06:40:03 PM
If there is a gay gene, it is not altered by hormones - that is impossible.

Actually a burgeoning new field of biological investigation called epigenetics is proving this statement to be patently false. The idea that the genome controls it's own expression in an individual organism is the central dogma of biology. The problem is, it was NEVER established by scientific study. Expression of the genome IS modifiable by the environment. This is an established experimental phenomenon. An individual cell interacts with it's environment through its cell membrane, NOT the nucleus. An organism interacts with it's environment through the mind. We know that estrogen mediates its effects on particular cells via the cell membrane which signals the genetic material of any particular cell to behave in very specific ways (depending on the cell  of course.) If there is a "gay gene" it seems highly likely that it would be sensitive to the presence, absence or both, of sex hormones. Genes obviously ARE affected by hormones as that is how estrogen feminizes male bodied individuals; in fact that is how estrogen affects everybody's cells

For a better explanation of Epigenetics, see Bruce Lipton's  "The Biology of Belief" in which he proposes the theory that the mind controls the genome, and therefore you can affect the expression of your personal genome by your thoughts.
Title: Re: Do Hormones change your sexual orientation? I don't understand how.
Post by: Jamie D on May 29, 2012, 05:29:02 PM
Quote from: peky on May 29, 2012, 01:23:42 PM
Some neuronal networks seem to be fixed in early embryonic development (before 6 weeks of gestation), other seems to be fixed during fetal development, and some perinatal. Some are fix for good, soem change soemhow, some are continuosly changing. Brain imaging of pre and post HTR TS folks seems to indicate that some neuronal process are changed by HRT, while others remain fix. Don't you love mother nature?

OK, in a succinct way: there is evidence of some gender specific chemistry in the brain, there is also gender specific centers (which are anatomically and biochemically gender specific; to our interst, it seems there is a master center for gender identity, and a master center for sexual orientation. Whether this centers develop in concordance with your genotype seems to depend on the interaction of specific genes, receptors, and presence or absence of testosterone and Estradiol (for the females the presence of alpha feto protein 1. Ok, lets add also, that  there is evidence that environmental factors such stress and xenoestrogens and other drugs exposures seems to be involved in their expression. There is even the documented case of a dude who smoked a vick-vaporub inhaler, and reported to the emergency room demanding SRS :), three days later when the effects subside, he returned to be your normal cis block, he had never had an history of CD or TG/TS. I am sure his family would never let him forget LOL

The main point is that we have but just begun to scratch the surface of how the brain works. Yet, the take home lesson so far is that gender identity and sexual orientation are interconnected and mostly determined by biology.

Nice post, Peky.

I believe, from somewhere in the cobweb addled recesses of my memory, that I read where experience can change and shape brain chemistry.  That was particularly true with addictions, such as gambling.

If so, might that be a mechanism for reinforcing sexual choices?
Title: Re: Do Hormones change your sexual orientation? I don't understand how.
Post by: pretty pauline on May 29, 2012, 05:37:51 PM
Do Hormones change your sexual orientation. Yes they can and they do, it happen to me, I posted about it before in old threads, it comes up again and again https://www.susans.org/forums/index.php/topic,113081.msg861115.html#msg861115 (https://www.susans.org/forums/index.php/topic,113081.msg861115.html#msg861115)  https://www.susans.org/forums/index.php/topic,103902.msg779292.html#msg779292 (https://www.susans.org/forums/index.php/topic,103902.msg779292.html#msg779292)
https://www.susans.org/forums/index.php/topic,86615.msg617179.html#msg617179 (https://www.susans.org/forums/index.php/topic,86615.msg617179.html#msg617179)

Title: Re: Do Hormones change your sexual orientation? I don't understand how.
Post by: Shawn Sunshine on May 31, 2012, 04:47:24 PM
Ok well I am not going to let hormones dictate who I am and what I am attracted to, I see its a mixed bag for all of you, but no matter what I take whether it be drug or hormone, It will not change the core of who I am as a person
Title: Re: Do Hormones change your sexual orientation? I don't understand how.
Post by: Constance on May 31, 2012, 05:00:33 PM
Quote from: ShawnTOShawnna on May 31, 2012, 04:47:24 PM
Ok well I am not going to let hormones dictate who I am and what I am attracted to, I see its a mixed bag for all of you, but no matter what I take whether it be drug or hormone, It will not change the core of who I am as a person
But if we are the sum of our chemicals, the core could change.
Title: Re: Do Hormones change your sexual orientation? I don't understand how.
Post by: envie on May 31, 2012, 05:28:05 PM
This is really not a matter of your decision! If it happens, it just happens gradually and without you noticing it at first. And when you notice it you might actually enjoy it.
At least this is what happened to me.

I was married to a woman, I had no interest in changing my sexual orientation and hoped with all my being to not to be left by my wife.
It turned out she is not into me anymore and I am very sad but also relieved because I prefer now to be together with a man.

In my own experience I believe my attraction to men was there all along but I wasn't a gay man so I couldn't act upon my feelings. After I "unlocked" my attraction to men with my transition, only then I realized my past crashes on some of my best boy-friends and the resulting jealousy at their girlfriends.

Several people here have described what is happening very nicely!
Title: Re: Do Hormones change your sexual orientation? I don't understand how.
Post by: vlmitchell on May 31, 2012, 05:29:21 PM
Quote from: ShawnTOShawnna on May 31, 2012, 04:47:24 PM
Ok well I am not going to let hormones dictate who I am and what I am attracted to, I see its a mixed bag for all of you, but no matter what I take whether it be drug or hormone, It will not change the core of who I am as a person

Hmmm... I wouldn't say that this changed the core of 'who I am' per se but it did provide me with new perspectives on the world. (literally, my visual acuity toward narrow or broad field vision changed one day... caused a couple of auto accidents before I got used to it over a period of a couple of months) I thought a million things that I'm sure that I was sure of but things will work out like they want to and you don't have much of a say about it. This caused me no end of grief when I realized that I was having to cope with things that I was never thinking were 'part of the bargain' but that's life on HRT... you get some curve balls. Just don't be scared, don't make rash decisions, and don't overtly fight it either.
Title: Re: Do Hormones change your sexual orientation? I don't understand how.
Post by: dalebert on May 31, 2012, 06:28:33 PM
My running theory on this is that everyone is a little bit bisexual on a scale (like the Kinsey Scale). I suspect we're much more in the middle of the scale than people think on average, but that we tend to develop blocks against attraction to one gender or the other due to social conditioning, so that's usually whichever gender "society" tells us we're not supposed to be attracted to.

I think as someone transitions, they start getting much more comfortable with themselves and their own identity which more reflects how they perceive themselves. That kind of journey can go a long way toward dissolving whatever blocks they may have had to their natural attractions. Also, I think self-identifying as heterosexual for your naturally-inclined gender is a key part of your identity with that gender. Once someone starts passing most of the time and starts seeing their body more in alignment with how they feel, and they don't have to work at passing or convincing anyone (including themselves) of their gender, then I think they feel less pressure to conform to whatever pressures they may have felt before, even self-imposed pressures.

Quote from: ShawnTOShawnna on May 28, 2012, 06:31:04 PM
Of course i know there's bisexual. You can be bisexual, have a sex change, and then still be bisexual, so orientation doesn't change for them.

Even bisexuals often have preferences and I've heard people say their preferences shifted in one direction or the other after transition.
Title: Re: Do Hormones change your sexual orientation? I don't understand how.
Post by: ZDR on May 31, 2012, 07:09:28 PM
I never used to be interested in sex in the slightest, the only thing which mattered to me were serious relationships. I wouldn't have minded having them with either men or women, but I truly could see myself having sex. I was essentially bi-romantic and asexual.

With the input of hormones things changed though. I still want a solid bedrock of a relationship but sex started to matter, a lot. I gained an intense sexual and romantic attraction to men and lost any thought that I could have a relationship with a woman - it just sounds ridiculous now.

I'm not sure what this could come down to but that's what happened, bizarrely.
Title: Re: Do Hormones change your sexual orientation? I don't understand how.
Post by: peky on May 31, 2012, 07:32:19 PM
Quote from: ShawnTOShawnna on May 31, 2012, 04:47:24 PM
Ok well I am not going to let hormones dictate who I am and what I am attracted to, I see its a mixed bag for all of you, but no matter what I take whether it be drug or hormone, It will not change the core of who I am as a person

Will see how you feel in a couple of years. Make no mistake HRT will change your brain. Like my Papi used to say "you can run but you cannot hide."
Title: Re: Do Hormones change your sexual orientation? I don't understand how.
Post by: Jamie D on May 31, 2012, 09:58:32 PM
Quote from: dalebert on May 31, 2012, 06:28:33 PM
My running theory on this is that everyone is a little bit bisexual on a scale (like the Kinsey Scale). I suspect we're much more in the middle of the scale than people think on average, but that we tend to develop blocks against attraction to one gender or the other due to social conditioning, so that's usually whichever gender "society" tells us we're not supposed to be attracted to.

I think as someone transitions, they start getting much more comfortable with themselves and their own identity which more reflects how they perceive themselves. That kind of journey can go a long way toward dissolving whatever blocks they may have had to their natural attractions. Also, I think self-identifying as heterosexual for your naturally-inclined gender is a key part of your identity with that gender. Once someone starts passing most of the time and starts seeing their body more in alignment with how they feel, and they don't have to work at passing or convincing anyone (including themselves) of their gender, then I think they feel less pressure to conform to whatever pressures they may have felt before, even self-imposed pressures.

Even bisexuals often have preferences and I've heard people say their preferences shifted in one direction or the other after transition.

Dalebert, I agree with you on this.  I believe that almost everybody has the capacity for bisexual behavior.  We need only look at our primate cousins to see that.

"Behavior" may be completely separate from "orientation."
Title: Re: Do Hormones change your sexual orientation? I don't understand how.
Post by: Julie Wilson on May 31, 2012, 11:50:30 PM
Quote from: ShawnTOShawnna on May 28, 2012, 06:31:04 PM
Ok well after watching Dr. Oz on oprah's program talk about the gay gene being found in mice and that is also in people. I wonder why someone would all of the sudden be sexually attracted to that which they were not attracted to before due to hormones.



First I have to say it is creepy talking about sexual orientation when the poster looks to be about five or six years old in her avatar photo.  However I did look at your profile and saw your age so I realize you are older than that ^_^ .

Like another poster commented it's complicated. 

Women tend to be more fluid than non-trans men when it comes to sexual orientation.  I think it's because non-trans men operate more on ego and being manly is scary and complicated in the United States of America.  A woman can be with another woman and it's not very likely that someone dangerous will get all hostile.  However men were taught to get dangerous and hostile and to be repulsed by men who have relations with other men and we (in lower North America) are still working on getting past that.  Men tend to be more concerned about what other men think of them and typically try to please other men, this is especially true when dealing with situations where one might be judged as homosexual.  It's ironic to me because these men care so much about what other men think and being manly that it screams of homosexuality.  I would think a heterosexual would be more concerned with what women thought of him but apparently with groups of non-trans men it's all about some sort of male competition thing, hence all the Harley Davidson's, guns and monster trucks, high-fives and "no-homo".

Women tend to be more fluid in their sexual orientation and they don't risk the same kind of disapproval that men might suffer. 

Some times a M2F will seek out sexual relationships with men in order to get validation or approval.  Some feel that by having sex with men they will be more feminine or more authentic.  However often times the sexual acting out after SRS is embarrassing (to others) and deviates from the norm compared to average women born with all the right equipment.

My own personal observation is that typically, for men sex is about sex but for women sex tends to be about relationships.  Women who have very close female friends may engage in what would be considered "sex" by most males, even if those males are mostly fantasizing.  I know that as a basically heterosexual woman sex for me is about bonding and relationships, more-so that it is about sex itself.  Honestly after being on hormones for over a decade and after having srs over eight years ago I have changed to the point where an orgasm every nine days or so is plenty for me and I could really care less if I ever have sex with another human being ever again.  However I would love to be in love with someone, I would love to be very close, to share a great relationship and to have intimacy.  That does not mean that I crave sex.  Sex for me might be a side-effect of a relationship.  But I will not seek anyone out for sex because it's just not part of me to do that.  Typically I would tend to have sex with a man who was very into me because I would desire a strong relationship and the sex is something the man would tend to want from me.  Also I have only ever had an orgasm with another person one time after SRS and I am not driven to have them.  I crave intimacy, not sex, something my male friends don't, can't or won't understand.

Finally I have found that as the kind of woman that I am, I am interested in a protector/provider.  My experience so far has been that men tend to fulfill that role better than women do.  I have noticed that when I have been with women it has been all about splitting things down the middle and my experience has been that other than a friend and maybe some intimacy, there are no real benefits to being with a woman for me.  In order to have a protector/provider I need a man.  So that aspect of relationships would cause me to choose a male for a partner and that is something that goes beyond "sexual orientation".

I think a lot of women are like me in this regard and they don't even think about it consciously because most women never lived in the wrong life previously or had to transition.  So those women tend to take things for granted without really contemplating the dynamics of it.

So as you can see it isn't all about "sexual orientation" and as far as I am concerned "sexual orientation" tends to be more of a non-trans male thing than a woman thing.  This whole preoccupation with with sexual orientation and what turns someone one, what someone is drawn to visually etc.  That is mostly a testosterone experience (in my humble opinion and experience).

And I think that is why women tend to be more accepting and more fluid, because they aren't looking at it purely as an "attraction" thing.  They look at it more as a practicality issue.  My experience having gone "m2f" is that men are driven by their testosterone hormone whereas women are not driven.  That is why typically in the past women had the power in relationships, the man would chase after the woman and the women (not driven to have sex) would pick and choose her suitor and she didn't have trouble holding out on the sex till after marriage (typically).  Now days we are being told more and more that women and men are exactly the same animal and want all the same things.  And I have seen women trying to live up to that expectation having unhappy lives and relationships that fall apart quickly.  Women are getting used collectively and have less and less to show for it.  And often times m2fs hear about the whole men and women are exactly the same and run with it because they feel like accepting that as being true brings them closer to their goals when really all it does is make the world an unhappier place full of chaos.

There are exceptions to the rule but exceptions aren't the rule.  And many of the people who are convinced are wrong because that is how life is.  My experience is that my body was a lot different when it was dominated by testosterone and it affected me and made me different than being on estrogen and not having male genitals.  It isn't just about bodies but our bodies affect us and make us who we are because we aren't gods and goddesses, we are human animals and a bird is different from a monkey, a tree is different from a flower and a man is different from a woman and that is why I transitioned.  If men and women were exactly the same I would have had no reason to transition, I could have instead said, "presto chango" and been a girl.  Also this is why most non-trans people have such a hard time accepting people who transitioned because in their world your body makes you who you are.  Well it is true in our world too but we have Science on our side and that is what transition is all about.  Sorry I got rolling there and had trouble stopping myself.

Title: Re: Do Hormones change your sexual orientation? I don't understand how.
Post by: dalebert on June 01, 2012, 12:44:52 PM
I should add that societal taboos aren't the only thing that create blocks. I feel like I've always been pretty far over on the gay side of the Kinsey Scale but that I had some attraction to women at one point. I do recall a couple of attractions to girls when I was young but they seemed to stop altogether from the point when I started identifying as gay never to return. It's very complicated and I'm not sure what that's all about, but obviously those blocks don't come from societal pressures because societal pressure has always been for me to act on attraction to women and deny attraction to men. We can get weird hangups from all sorts of experiences, I suppose. Sometimes I wonder if there were a few key women in my life who left impressions on me and that got pushed down to some subconscious level that kept me from viewing them sexually or romantically, but I'm really just speculating. I can't put my finger on anything in particular. I've always gotten along well with women, so it's not a negative view in general; only something that suppresses seeing them sexually or romantically. In fact, sometimes I wonder if I subconsciously put women up on a pedestal and that seems degrading to them, below them. In any case, on a conscious level, thinking about that doesn't help that I just can't feel any attraction. The block is really solid.
Title: Re: Do Hormones change your sexual orientation? I don't understand how.
Post by: peky on June 01, 2012, 12:53:53 PM
Front Neuroendocrinol. 2011 Apr;32(2):214-26. Epub 2011 Feb 18.
Sexual differentiation of the human brain: relation to gender identity, sexual orientation and neuropsychiatric disorders.
Bao AM, Swaab DF.
SourceDepartment of Neurobiology, Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology of Ministry of Health of China, Zhejiang Province Key Laboratory of Neurobiology, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China. baoaimin@zju.edu.cn

Abstract
During the intrauterine period a testosterone surge masculinizes the fetal brain, whereas the absence of such a surge results in a feminine brain. As sexual differentiation of the brain takes place at a much later stage in development than sexual differentiation of the genitals, these two processes can be influenced independently of each other. Sex differences in cognition, gender identity (an individual's perception of their own sexual identity), sexual orientation (heterosexuality, homosexuality or bisexuality), and the risks of developing neuropsychiatric disorders are programmed into our brain during early development. There is no evidence that one's postnatal social environment plays a crucial role in gender identity or sexual orientation. We discuss the relationships between structural and functional sex differences of various brain areas and the way they change along with any changes in the supply of sex hormones on the one hand and sex differences in behavior in health and disease on the other.
Title: Re: Do Hormones change your sexual orientation? I don't understand how.
Post by: GhostTown11 on June 01, 2012, 01:30:01 PM
Quote from: ShawnTOShawnna on May 31, 2012, 04:47:24 PM
Ok well I am not going to let hormones dictate who I am and what I am attracted to, I see its a mixed bag for all of you, but no matter what I take whether it be drug or hormone, It will not change the core of who I am as a person

To quote a friend "bitch, please." you're going to have put your big girl pants on and realize something's are out of your control.
Title: Re: Do Hormones change your sexual orientation? I don't understand how.
Post by: Shawn Sunshine on June 02, 2012, 01:29:42 AM
QuoteFirst I have to say it is creepy talking about sexual orientation when the poster looks to be about five or six years old in her avatar photo.  However I did look at your profile and saw your age so I realize you are older than that ^_^ .




LOL That is me at age 5 1/2 , i see myself as that child still, so i prefer to show that for now, but I have posted other pictures in the introduction forum :)



One thing I am still trying to understand here, I have seen time and time again gays and lesbians in the media, on a forum or in a blog, yell it out loud to anyone who will listen "I am a lesbian, I like women" "I am gay, I like men"  or "I am bisexual and I like both"

So you all say Hormones HRT can alter a persons orientation to some degree and also can do a 180 on a person. This seems scary to me, does that not sound like a fundamentalist Christians answer to cure the gay out of someone? "Here take this hormone combination for 2 years, and you will be attracted to women forever and ever" or "here you go mam, after 2 years of this treatment of hormones, you will now go crazy for a guy again"

How far does this go here? It has been said to me that we are all bisexuals to some extent, and yet I have met people that are 100% adamant about being heterosexual or lesbian or gay, would never change, no ifs and's or buts. Does not the mere fact that hormones alter you in at least some way, not suggest that the statement "I was born this way" loses some impact?
Title: Re: Do Hormones change your sexual orientation? I don't understand how.
Post by: Tammy Hope on June 02, 2012, 03:07:38 AM
Self analysis ahead:

As i understand myself, my sexual fixation or orientation or whatever was always as a female wanting the attention of males.

but living as a male, i had no hint of interest in male-male contact.

that is, my inner identity was a heterosexual woman but that did not bleed through into my interests while I was repressing her. during repression, I interacted with women because (a) I had no interest in male/male contact and (b) it was the "normal" thing to do and my mask was built out of "do the normal thing"

I have been fascinated to watch myself, as I became more confident in my female personality, to see that the interest in the female form was still there, but as an appreciation of natural beauty and not as a sexual desire. Meanwhile my interest in men grew not so much in the appreciation of the appearance of the male form, but in a desire to interact with one who confidently assumed the male role in my life.

that is, I'm attracted to people who reinforce my own feminine role, which i do not sense can ever be done by another woman. i do not analyze others through the lens of my own experience, but it's how my own life makes sense to me.


and for the record, i've had almost no HRT - i am very anxious to see where things go when I am on full HRT, in regards to emotions and pheromones and so forth.
Title: Re: Do Hormones change your sexual orientation? I don't understand how.
Post by: Tammy Hope on June 02, 2012, 03:15:51 AM
Quote from: ShawnTOShawnna on June 02, 2012, 01:29:42 AM
So you all say Hormones HRT can alter a persons orientation to some degree and also can do a 180 on a person. This seems scary to me, does that not sound like a fundamentalist Christians answer to cure the gay out of someone? "Here take this hormone combination for 2 years, and you will be attracted to women forever and ever" or "here you go mam, after 2 years of this treatment of hormones, you will now go crazy for a guy again"

that's simply too simplistic. it's sixth grade biology thinking.

there's a TON of different things going on in the transsexual, from biology (not all genetic) to socialization, to internal struggles to reconcile with cultural expectations.

One thing is for certain - hormone treatments to cure homosexuality were tried and failed on a massive scale.

hormones by themselves do not change orientation, but they do changes things like emotional processes, and pheromone sensitivity, and probably some "sense-of-self" feelings that are very hard to quantify.

All these thing play into "orientation"

As I described above, my whole life up until 3 years ago was a matter of duality.

There was the inner, repressed, REAL me, and the carefully constructed, instinctively maintained, rigorously defended persona that i showed to the world. Sexually, the two were quite independent of each other.

some would call that being gay and repressing it, but I disagree - because there was never one moment in life when a male/male thought or scene was remotely sexually appealing to me.

Tammy was, always, a hetero-woman. I remember having fantasies in high school about sex and they always involved me as a girl having lots of sex with lots of guys...but never me as a male with a female or a male with a male.

Nevertheless, the mask was that of a "normal" male and while masked, i behaved as such.

so it's not so much having changed orientation - after all, I'm not on hrt yet - but rather of the authentic me emerging.

YMMV.
Title: Re: Do Hormones change your sexual orientation? I don't understand how.
Post by: Shawn Sunshine on June 02, 2012, 08:17:35 AM
Ok Tammy , are you referring to tests and treatments like these? Or do you have another example?


http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/01/02/sheep_research/ (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/01/02/sheep_research/)


ok also how much of this information on this website is true?

http://www.psychologyhelp.com/sexu156.htm (http://www.psychologyhelp.com/sexu156.htm)




QuoteThere are widespread misconceptions among heterosexuals about those who are not 100% heterosexual. The question that each heterosexual needs to ask is, "Did I choose to be turned on by the opposite sex, or did it just happen?"
For almost all of us, sexual arousal happens completely outside the control of our conscious minds. Consciously we do not choose to be aroused by one sex or another.

Gay men and lesbians never chose to be aroused by members of the same sex. Few would choose to receive the ostracism and the hatred of others that so often come with not being heterosexual. Gay men and lesbians do choose to act or not act on that sexual arousal. Most gay men and lesbians go through a period where they try to become "normal" with attempts at (1)heterosexual acts (with more or less success) and/or (2)heterosexual relationships, often including marriage and children. Most have tried to become straight, and therefore they know by experience the absurdity of those who say that the goal ought to be to make them straight.


Sexual arousal tends to follow emotional loving feelings. Consider a stereotypical 24-year-old male who for many years had sexual fantasies and dreams of sex goddess bodies. He falls in love with a homely, overweight or flat-chested woman who then "magically" becomes highly attractive sexually to him.


Tip for Men (Straight/ Gay/ In-Between). If you are looking for that great body first, you may never find your life-mate. If you love first, you will probably find the body you are with to be highly arousing.*

Title: Re: Do Hormones change your sexual orientation? I don't understand how.
Post by: justmeinoz on June 02, 2012, 08:34:39 AM
I tend to think that it is a matter of being able to acknowledge your true orientation, once you realise your true inner gender.   
If I felt feminine I tended to think that it must be because I was gay, and therefore obviously had to be attracted to males.  The problem was I was feeling a strong attraction to females.  This was very confusing, especially when others made the same assumptions.   High School was not a happy time. 
From the moment I realised I was a woman, I knew that I had no interest in men at all.  I can  feel attraction to women, whether cisgendered or in any stage of transition, androgyne transpeople who have a Queer identity, or intersex people but  absolutely no interest in men, cis or trans.

Karen.
Title: Re: Do Hormones change your sexual orientation? I don't understand how.
Post by: A on June 02, 2012, 08:43:02 AM
Treatments -intented- to change sexual orientation have been found to mostly fail. However, in very varying degrees, from nothing to 180 °, cross-sex hormone replacement threapy in people for whom it was truly the right thing to do, changes have been seen. Maybe there's actually absolutely no way of knowing what will happen. But if does, it does. Maybe it depends on how deeply rooted (both psychologically and physically) and how natural or "forced" the original sexual orientation was to begin with.

Like it's been said, you just don't know what will happen to you. Just go with it. There's nothing to fear. Whatever happens, it should just feel good, because it would just (in theory) be getting closer to the real you.
Title: Re: Do Hormones change your sexual orientation? I don't understand how.
Post by: Brooke777 on June 02, 2012, 09:29:44 AM
If "Fundamentalist Christians" tried to use hormones to "cure" homosexuality, then they would be giving female hormones to males, and male hormones to females.  Essentially, they would be forcing someone to take the hormones necessary to be the opposite gender/sex they are.  That would not "solve" the "problem".  That would create a whole new world of issues.

As for sexual attraction.  In humans, it is extremely complex.  It is biological, physiological, ans psychological.  I think many of the posts here nailed it by saying that by taking hormones, you are working on becoming your true self.  By becoming ones true self they are most likely going to start to be attracted to whomever they were originally attracted to whether they were suppressed or not.

As you become more comfortable with yourself, and who you really are, you may change your outlook as to what you consider attractive...you may not.  Try not to use social "norms" control how you feel.  Just be yourself.  Listen to the advice of others on her, and be yourself.
Title: Re: Do Hormones change your sexual orientation? I don't understand how.
Post by: envie on June 02, 2012, 07:55:09 PM
You are not taking hormones to achieve the desired sexual orientation. You are on HRT to achieve harmony within your gender identity, your physical appearance, social role etc.
If you were hoping to control your sexual orientation by taking one or the other set of hormones you are bound to fail as it has been stated in many previous posts.
If you were hoping to simply decided what orientation you will have, you are also bound to fail as we know this is not a matter of a rational decision.
Would it be nice to be able to control your sexual orientation? Maybe, but since it's impossible it's not worth breaking your head about it. You have to just let it happen and live with it.
Title: Re: Do Hormones change your sexual orientation? I don't understand how.
Post by: Natkat on June 03, 2012, 11:32:57 AM
I belive homones might change alittle in your sexdrive and the action you feel for sex, but not in your sexual orientation.
I belive if your sexual orientation change during homones then its because you as yourself change alot, and I belive its pretty normal our sexual orientation is alittle wide, and even if we are strickly gay or straight then we can have "exaptions" for a time.

Once in a while, we get in new aventures by opening new doors, and transition as in taking homones would be a big step for most people. Some people have been holding back on there sexual felling before transition
or had it only in a way who would please others more than themself, cause of what was expected either for being there biological sex, or for what they should feel or not for being "a real man/a real woman".

it can be kind of hard being into something and admitting it if your holding yourself back. Have you ever tried felling attractive to someone/something who was "wrong" and convinced yourself it was nothing but then got told it was "okay" and out of sudden see posibilatys in it?.

like, being raised and belive gay is a sin, and when someone tell you its not, you fell more relaxed in the attraction.
or if your in a country where the age of contest is 18 and your attracted to one at 17, and you reject that atraction,
then you move place to somewhere where the age of contest is 16, and you find someon who is 17 and dont mind the age.
--

thats just how I imaginate it in my head.

I been pretty worried whatever my sexual orientation would change or not during, T, But I started not to care so mu

Title: Re: Do Hormones change your sexual orientation? I don't understand how.
Post by: AbraCadabra on June 03, 2012, 01:35:29 PM
Just about 2 years on HRT now...
I was, what I felt, solidly hetero before transitioning.
One thing that made things somewhat, somehow, pretty dang confusing, and NOT only for me! A 'male-lesbian' in 'pseudo-lesbian' relationships... and PLENTY of those to boot. At one time.

Now close to 9 month post-op, things KEEP on 'shifting' - towards hetero cis-female. Hum.
I keep holding my breath - still explaining my now being BI... for how long?

That 'power attraction' to most things female is changing, still some is there, yet it becomes different. It shifted into the 'intimate female friendship' area - I now have some difficulty to imagine to be into vagina and breasts of someone else.
Having my own might have to do with it? Has it? Somehow I think it has, apart from HRT influences.

Imagining sex with a male along the lines that male-brain-sex works? No way! There is now one BIG something that has to be passed before sex would seem an acceptable, thinkable thing to happen.

That person would have to make me feel special, show some caring, really be IN TO ME!
So very different that feels, as I recall it was in male-guise and on T.
I guess it feels like the flip side of the (sex) coin.

And as far as 'insisting' to maintain that former 'outlook' (orientation)?

This shift takes place whilst you sleep, so to speak... go try stop it.
Be my guest :) It just happens – if, and when it happens.

And as always... YMMV,
Axélle
Title: Re: Do Hormones change your sexual orientation? I don't understand how.
Post by: Julie Wilson on June 03, 2012, 11:42:47 PM
I was into men from the beginning and had lots of sexual experiences with boys until the fear of god was put into me and I began trying to live up to other people's expectations instead of being my own person.  Transition reintroduced me to my true self.  I suppose I might be bi except sex is less and less appealing.

Hormones didn't change my "sexual orientation" however about the same time I was willing to live for myself instead of living for other people and transition, sexual orientation got revisited and reexamined and repaired.