change in preference due to hormones

[gantz]

im sorry im just super tired, super stressed and just... but ill try to ask the question as simple as i can

does anyone know if taking hormones can change your sexual preference?

my doctor told me, the gender theraphist that i may be so solid that im not interested in guys but somewhere down the road if i go on with this i might, coz it will cause some changes in my brain. upto the point before i took these, it was like that, my stand i mean... im not into men, im into women exclusively. now im on it for a few months now like4 months? ONLY. im just on estro and spiro come on. and i just dont understand. as the days go by im losing more and more interest in women and im just getting more interested in men, which just started pretty recently.

im just so confused on what is going on in me. and for some reason i dont know why too but emotions seem to hit me significantly harder now so thats making it worse for me. im in a relationship and... its not with a guy. and i dont know what to think and say. im just getting any advice any info just anything from anyone. i just ... i dont know, i dont want to want men but im having hard time controlling myself.

thanks in advance. sorry if that was a bit messy

[wheat thins are delicious]

Here is a post that was posted on the FTM board yesterday talking about this subject.  https://www.susans.org/forums/index.php/topic,104459.0.html

[gantz]

alright i read the post though im not sure if i should post/reply there it seems to be on the FtM section and we do take different kinds right? I mean last i heard all you take there is testosterone. on our end we take testosterone blockers, you know ive always wondered why theres no such things as estrogen blockers or if there is why you dont take em there.

but ok ill tell my story there too in case it helps

[mechakitty]

Well, I'll tell you what...a lot of our sexual preferences is based on how we perceive ourselves. As we go through a huge transition where a lot of things about our physical appearance and mental self-image change, our sexual preferences can evolve with us, in a way.

Sometimes our orientation is so permanently etched into our neurons, that it pretty much remains the same in spite of transitioning. A lot of people that I've talked to, though, find that sexual orientation becomes more nebulous as time goes on. Most of the people in my local support group have described themselves post-transition as pansexual or bisexual, at the least.

But sometimes these things remain the same. We're all constantly evolving as people, whether we're transitioning or not. Transitioning just gives us a new perspective on things, and you can find out a lot about yourself that you might have hidden otherwise.

[Ann Onymous]

does anyone know if taking hormones can change your sexual preference?

I am of teh opinion that any changes in orientation are not because of HRT but rather that the individual chooses to explore that which they previously did not, whether due to internal or societal pressures. 

I can tell you that mine did NOT change...I have ALWAYS identified (as long as identification of a choice of prospective partner has existed) as a lesbian.  That goes back to middle school when one first begins to recognize sexual attractions.  And being in Houston during that era, I had a broad exposure in the media to many things gay and lesbian...so I definitely knew the difference between straight and gay/lesbian back then.  Straight girls were never really the objects of my desire and I usually had a pretty good read on who was and was not lesbian...although that was likely honed by beginning to hit the lesbian bars by the time I was 14 or 15. 

Now 30 years later and a good chunk of that post-operative, nothing has changed...I still have no romantic interest in guys and, quite frankly, don't care to socialize around many of them.  I've just run into too many close to the house who get a little too touchy-feely once they have a few adult beverages in them...it is as if the alcohol makes them forget that lesbian means they have no shot at getting me in bed.   

[mechakitty]

I am of teh opinion that any changes in orientation are not because of HRT but rather that the individual chooses to explore that which they previously did not, whether due to internal or societal pressures. 

Quoted for truth. I totally agree.

Transitioning is such a powerfully introspective way to understand more about yourself.

[gantz]

so from what you two have been like saying its not the hormones per se that its just me...

i dont know if im in some denial. but it is a fact as well that my appearance HAS changed and the attention and the kind of attention that i get has ALSO changed. like earlier this neighbor here has been like asking me if he can help me like 4 freakin times. that would never have happened in my past. sometimes i wonder if its the guys that im getting attracted to or the treatment. its possible right? i mean i willl admit, ive never ever had gotten this KIND of attention before. i mean girls dont run to you and act nice and... well atleast not tome its always me running to them and kissing their ass etc...

but last night... i kissed a guy for the first time in my freakin life. i dont know what to think right now anymore. it cant be attention coz i already got the attention i think at that point it was just freakin lust. but then that would mean i do ... actually uhm... want guys now really???

im almost 30 ok. this just started a couple of months ago. til then i never even had any thoughts about men. if it was like a deeply seeded desire or thought, shouldnt i have i dont know... it wouldve peeked at atleast one occasion right but it never did. now im wondering if im jsut going flat out nuts. hahahahahahahah

but maybe... it is true. that it might be me taht simply changed howi dont know. i wish i can find out uhm...

[n00bsWithBoobs]

I'm going to have to wholeheartedly disagree with those people who have said HRT has nothing to do with sexual preference. I think it's a "Your Mileage May Vary" type of thing. For me, I've never been attracted to men. I've tried to keep an open mind, but the idea just... filled me with revulsion. I took hormones when I was 22 (illegally; very much the wrong way), and after being on them for about a month, I noticed that I was finding men a lot more attractive. I thought to myself, "Okay, I must be bisexual." When I stopped taking the hormones, that just went away. I never even thought about it until years later when I was on hormones again (this time the right way), and about a month into hormones, I started getting really boy-crazy. I've always been attracted to women. I enjoyed having sex with women. Hell, I miss having sex with women. However, now, I just don't find them attractive at all. Like, there's just nothing there. Oh, but men? Mrawr! God, makes me flustered just thinking about it!

[Jillieann Rose]

Gantz, I do not agree totality agree with the posters above.
Hrt does help to rewire your brain.
Before hrt I wanted sex with my wife all the time.
Now that I am on it I'm not intrested in sex and am so happy to just have a deep friendship with her.
Many mtfs who start hrt loose there sex drive at least for awhile.
I am glad that mine is gone. Now I am so much calmer and can enter into real relationships without having the sex thing get in the way.
But I am also noticing that some guy are cute.
So who know how I will feel in the future?
Gantz, I would be careful if I were you and not get in any serious relationship just yet.
But there is nothing wrong with exploring the changes.

[gantz]

well my doc has told me something about your brain being rewired or something.

so OK its not jsut me then. then im not going crazy here.

i wonder if itll be the same thing too for me if i stop taking it. i dont intend to though but thats useful info for people out there. i mean lets assume it is true that preference has some direct tie to the hormones we take... lets say one person gets into a relationship with someone and get really dead serious (maybe even to the point of leaving their wife or husband) then one day stops taking it and everything just changes thats... that sounds like a really big deal i guess, youd like wake up again wanting something completely different. I think that can drive some people nuts you know

but yeah jill, youre right. me in this state, im not in good form to get into something serious. ill just hurt myself and others. i dont know. well thats wht seems to be what i ought to do. i just hope i can control myself and do what i ought to do and not lose into well... whatever this is.

[mechakitty]

I think, definitely, it depends on the person more than anything. That I do agree with.

I think that's pretty much a constant when it comes to anything HRT-related.

[n00bsWithBoobs]

I think, definitely, it depends on the person more than anything. That I do agree with.

I think that's pretty much a constant when it comes to anything HRT-related.

In other words... YMMV 

[mechakitty]

Yepyep.

[justmeinoz]

I think it is a combination of becoming comfortable with your identity and untangling the unconscious confusion of sexuality with gender, and HRT affecting the brain. 

Hormones are powerful but all the anecdoial evidence on here seems to indicate it definitely is one of those YMMV things. 

I had a lot of trouble working out what my true orientation was prior to starting to transition, but am now comfortable with the fact that I am totally uninterested in men, and although I did enjoy the experiences I did have, cannot visualise doing such again.  The idea just will not form in my brain, unlike when I was first questioning my sexuality. I was able to imagine sex with a man or a woman then, but not now.

Karen.

[Padma]

I think some people's orientation wanders anyway. So I have months at a time where I'm more into women, or more into men, or more into celibacy... just fancying who you fancy at the time without making a career out of it feels quite nice, once you get used to it . It may be a stable thing, and it may not - and it may be affected by hormones, and it may not. Fun watching it, whatever.

[justmeinoz]

Padma, I just flapped in the wind, went around in a circle and ended up where I started. Seem to be a lot more set in direction now.
Karen.

[Padma]

Cool - I like to think of myself as gently oscillating these days rather than flapping - but there were years of running away in all directions at once before it settled down.

[kelly_aus]

I think it's entirely possible for hormones to 'change' your orientation, but I think it's one of those things that varies from person to person..  My orientation didn't change at all.. Men before, Men after.. What kind of man has changed though..

[Padma]

Yeah, I haven't even started on hormones yet, and alongside my awakening femaleness, I've reoriented from emo boys towards plumbers (when it comes to men...) - I still fall for wiry lesbians, but then I always have .

[justmeinoz]

most straight girls here have a tradie high on their list of things to look for in a bloke, so fancying a plumber makes sense to me Padma.
The wiry lesbians are probably all carpenters too!