I'm wondering if anyone has seen a change in attraction, orientation, etc after starting HRT.
I have historically identified as asexual, and am finding that my emotional attachment, and emotional attraction is much more present for lack of a better term. I feel much more able to connect to other people.
I have a feeling that as time goes by these feelings will only become more common.
I do wonder how much of my ace nature relates to my gender and bottom dysphoria and as these things align more, if that will open the possibility of a more intimate connection.
I don't know to which gender I might be attracted towards, I also don't really care so much, as I'm enjoying the ride.
Anyone else experience in sexual preference or orientation after HRT?
I didn't have a change but I have given myself permission to accept that I actually am pretty sure I have a preference for men...Not 100% sure yet but I haven't changed...all I have done is be honest with myself for the first time in my life. Because now I know I want to have sex with a man but only as a woman. So I remain heterosexual.
If that makes sense
Liz
I was always at least heteroflexible but since starting HRT have become much more fully bisexual, with an equal attraction to both men and women now.
I don't want to go into detail here for fear of being inappropriate, but there was a lot of sexual acts that were hard limits for me before that I will gladly do and even crave now. ;)
Prior to transition, I was asexual. These days, sex is still not very important ... but I do enjoy it on occasion.
I doubt it would change much of anything in that regard; but I betcha it grants permission to your mind to accept parts of your orientation that were there, but unexpressed.
My preferences haven't changed. Women definitely arouse me.
Thank you everyone for the responses.
Can I ask also has HRT affected how much your able to connect to others on an emotional level? I'm finding that I "feel" more connected to others, like from standard definition to hd, allot more detail and variations.
Thinking that might be playing into my own attractions.
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I think HRT is just part of the story — transitioning changes tons of things about how you relate to people based on their gender (or outward gender presentation at least) and your own. I know a gay trans guy who was more into women before he transitioned, so there's that. For me, I'm still really only into women, but men are less of a turnoff, less of a trigger for dysphoria than they used to be.
But HRT itself has some pretty significant side effects on its own. I think it's really testosterone that's the main issue: It focuses your attention on sex and sexual attraction more urgent. So blocking testosterone (or removing the means of production, so to speak) tends to get rid of the "edge", whereas going on T tends to generate those feelings.
Still attracted to men. However, smell plays a big role compared to physical attraction now. God knows why but if his body odor is not compatible with my nose, it's a deal breaker.
I've always been bisexual. I have noticed an increase in attraction to men since starting HRT, for whatever that is worth and a slight decrease in attraction to women, although i am as attracted to my spouse as i have ever been. That attraction and bond is strong.
I do wonder if testosterone loss takes the "edge" and urgency of needing sexual stimulus. Certainly my desire for porn has almost disappeared. That in and of itself i may be interpreting as less attraction to women. I use to definitely but discretely look at women more out in public. Now i am more apt to see a pretty lady and look at her shoes or outfit. My spouse noticed this - " you look at women's shoes a lot " Yeah so sue me ...i love shoes. :)
I will say that I was surprised to say the least at my change in sexual orientation as of late. Pre-hrt I figured that I am pretty much bisexual/pansexual. Now guys turn me off so much and that is an understatement. Who knew.
Sara
Such interesting responses. My takeaway is it's possible but does not happen for everyone.
I do wonder if the estrogen changes how some of us connect or feel enough to change overall daily attraction or orientation (kind of along the lines of how orgasms can be very different)
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Quote from: Brooke on August 25, 2016, 08:10:24 PM
Such interesting responses. My takeaway is it's possible but does not happen for everyone.
I do wonder if the estrogen changes how some of us connect or feel enough to change overall daily attraction or orientation (kind of along the lines of how orgasms can be very different)
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It's not the estrogen.. There is no science that supports the concept.
HRT will not cause a change in sexual preference.
Maybe there's no science now, but the effects of HRT on trans people in general is pretty woefully understudied, and human sexuality might be more studied, but is still a pretty big reach based on the current state of neuroscience and psychology, so maybe it's not right to dismiss the possibility out of hand.
Before I started HRT, I was only sexually attracted to women (although I did think male pro cyclists' legs and butts were quite fine!), but after six weeks I think I might be becoming bi- I'm still as attracted to women as I was before, but the male swimmers at the Olympics seemed to stir up something that wasn't present when I watched the Tour de France!
I'm still a newbie with the HRT (5mo). While I'm primarily attracted to women (always have been anyways) I could see myself dating men at some point in the future. I have a lot of stuff to figure out before then! I can't imagine seeing anyone now. Not with all my insecurities, fears and repression in the way.
Quote from: Alyssa M. on August 26, 2016, 05:10:17 AM
Maybe there's no science now, but the effects of HRT on trans people in general is pretty woefully understudied, and human sexuality might be more studied, but is still a pretty big reach based on the current state of neuroscience and psychology, so maybe it's not right to dismiss the possibility out of hand.
If it doesn't change the sexual preference of a cisgendered homosexual person, why do you think trans people would be any different?
Here's a paper on the topic: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4192544/
They report 33% of MTFs change sexual orientation, but with a sample size of only 70, a 95% confidence interval is 22-44%- rather wide.
Quote from: LucyNewport on August 26, 2016, 09:12:18 AM
I'm still a newbie with the HRT (5mo). While I'm primarily attracted to women (always have been anyways) I could see myself dating men at some point in the future. I have a lot of stuff to figure out before then! I can't imagine seeing anyone now. Not with all my insecurities, fears and repression in the way.
Same here! In fact, one reason I really hope that my attraction to men increases to the point that I do end up dating them is that I'm very interesting in experiencing how it's different from being a man dating women. I'm also interested in how being a woman dating women differs from being a man dating women. So many experiences to look forward to....
Writing the above actually made me be glad I'm transgendered for the very first time! I've always regarded being TG as a curse, and never thought that there might be positives to it.
Quote from: JenSCDC on August 26, 2016, 09:40:06 AM
Here's a paper on the topic: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4192544/
They report 33% of MTFs change sexual orientation, but with a sample size of only 70, a 95% confidence interval is 22-44%- rather wide.
But they don't show any evidence about causation between sexual orientation change and HRT, do they ?
I'm wondering if there's really a change in orientation, or just a realization of true self?
Hugs, Devlyn
Quote from: Lucie on August 26, 2016, 11:40:38 AM
But they don't show any evidence about causation between sexual orientation change and HRT, do they ?
No, they admit in one place that the evidence is pretty much non-existent. Actually they found that no single "variable of transition" was statistically significant in predicting change in orientation.
Basically, I posted the link because it was the only paper that I could find that addressed change in sexual orientation and I hoped that by providing some rigorous data it would stimulate conversation. Posts here are subject to selection bias, so we can't really draw any firm conclusions from them.
Hopefully there's someone here whose Google-fu is better than mine and can find a paper that will shed more light on the issue.
As for me I'd rather agree with Devlyn Marie that transitioning just reveals our true inclinations which supersede the old pre-transition ones. The latter were false inclinations because they were induced by the role that had been assigned to us at birth and that we have had to play until we did the step towards our true self.
Quote from: kelly_aus on August 26, 2016, 09:24:37 AM
If it doesn't change the sexual preference of a cisgendered homosexual person, why do you think trans people would be any different?
Can you clarify what you are referring to here?
Also, there's quite a bit of overlap between "doesn't change sexual orientation (most of the time)" and "might change sexual orientation (but rarely does)".
Please forgive me if I seem contrary here, I'm just a die-hard "Perceiver" — I have a habit of questioning hard and fast distinctions.
Quote from: Alyssa M. on August 26, 2016, 11:50:56 PM
Can you clarify what you are referring to here?
Also, there's quite a bit of overlap between "doesn't change sexual orientation (most of the time)" and "might change sexual orientation (but rarely does)".
Please forgive me if I seem contrary here, I'm just a die-hard "Perceiver" — I have a habit of questioning hard and fast distinctions.
In the past, hormones were used in attempt to "cure" homosexuality. It didn't work - all it seems to have achieved was to cause a kind of dysphoria.
Also, there are those that transition without hormones who also report a change in sexual preference. Between these 2 facts and some research into neurobiology, there is a strong suggestion that hormones do not change sexual preference.
Okay, I thought that might be what you were talking about. I'm not sure it that sort of coercive "therapy" quite reflects HRT used by trans people.
The argument that people shift their orientation during transition even without HRT is more powerful to me -- and also of course people experience changes in sexual orientation to some extent without either transition or HRT.
Thank you for the response. :)
Quote from: kelly_aus on August 27, 2016, 12:09:12 AM
In the past, hormones were used in attempt to "cure" homosexuality. It didn't work - all it seems to have achieved was to cause a kind of dysphoria.
Also, there are those that transition without hormones who also report a change in sexual preference. Between these 2 facts and some research into neurobiology, there is a strong suggestion that hormones do not change sexual preference.
Could you elaborate on the neurobiology?
Quote from: JenSCDC on August 27, 2016, 05:07:23 AM
Could you elaborate on the neurobiology?
This is one of those times, I'm going to suggest you do your own research.. Look for articles on the effects of hormones on the brain..
I think there is Definitely a change.
Prior I was bi at least sexually but not "attracted" to men and no desire to kiss at ALL. I thought I would transition from an emotionally straight man to an emotionally gay woman. Wow was I wrong.
Subtle enough I didn't even notice it at first the first thing I noticed was a slow change in porn tastes and types. I've always been highly attracted to women but now it's more of a comparison view and I feel more disconnected emotionally from them since it seems we crave the same thing now.
Then I started seeing a man after 2 years on HRT... First time making out and such (never would have before transition) my attraction has changed completely and it just seems normal to me.
From what I hear the chemical rewiring of the brain is a permanent part of transition but to be honest it will just seem normal as it happens so accept whoever you are
Someone needs to do more extensive research into this from a transgender population standpoint. My feeling is that sexual preference is both innate in some instances and learned/adapted in others. I realize that the latter presents a big problem at times, because it sets up the idea that it could be unlearned or changed.
One of the reasons that Iran is transgender friendly and has some of the highest rates of medical transition treatment in the world, is that some religious body there decided that it was a preferable to transition someone that expresses that they are gay, rather than actually accept gay people.. Not so good of an idea in many of those cases I'm sure. In parts of Asia gender variance and being gay are treated as the same thing. They assume that every man that crossdresses or every Mtf transgender woman likes men and there are stories of doctors being very confused when they learn that is not the case.
The reason i bring these up, is these are ways that the "change" idea is dangerous, but so is the assumption that everyone is immovably whatever their DNA programed them to be.
Was i programed in the womb to like men and women? Maybe, but i can definitely see the sliding dial of attraction to men and women, move up and down in my lifetime and it has moved since i have been on hormones. I have seen too much anecdotal evidence in others to not believe the same is true elsewhere.
I had one experience when I was 16 that told me I was attracted to men and my previous porn tastes confirm that. I was not attracted in a male body though. For that and other reasons I got married and was also attracted to my wife. So maybe I was bi. Or maybe I was pretending? I'm not sure.
What HRT did to me was simply make pretending during sex unenjoyable. But it didn't really change my orientation.