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Sex Question Friday: Why Are So Many Straight Men Into Transsexual Porn? - Sex and Psychology
www.sexandpsychology.comEvery Friday on the blog, I answer people’s questions about sex, love, and relationships. This week’s question comes from a reader of the blog who was curious about why so many heterosexual men are pleasuring themselves to pornography featuring transgender and transsexual performers.I run a porn blog and I keep getting messages from men wanting to see tranny / shemale porn. I'm assuming these men are all straight-identifying, but maybe that's just my gay-identifying bias. I'm wondering what, if any studies or knowledge is out there about men who are attracted to and watch this kind of material or even look for them in real life? It does absolutely nothing for me, but this particular fetish is unavoidable if you frequent any kind of porn social network and it seems a lot of people are into this. What are your thoughts? Why might this be a turn-on for some, and what does it imply, if anything, about their sexuality?
Hijacking top comment to also add that there are words for men who are attracted to femininity outside of the bounds of cisgender women: gynesexual (older term, less inclusive due to implication of a vagina) and finsexual (newer term, more inclusive and drops implication of a vagina).
It is quite likely that many of those men actually fall into these categories even if they have not accepted that about themselves as of yet. Others are bisexual, and even others are pansexual, and haven’t “come out” as it were.
Especially if this is relying on self-reporting and how often men want to appear straight, the number of men who are wrestling with such feelings but still put down “straight” is probably quite high.
They also may not even know. The whole thing is a political minefield and trying to join in any conversation without knowing all the words tends to trigger a massive overreaction from allies and bigots alike.
I mean it’s why I hate people who self apply the term “ally” because a lot of “allies” do more harm than help.
Allyship is to be determined by those who need allies, not the people who talk big and claim to be allies while doing fuck-all.
If someone from a minority community decides I am an ally to their cause and calls me an “ally” then I am an ally, not because I self applied a bullshit label to make myself feel better about cisgender white guilt or something.
I would argue that one can be a self professed ally and still be an ally, even if you did it wrong.
Sometimes, just being willing to stand up and say “those people there? Those are my people, and I stand with them” is a powerful thing, even if the person saying it ends up being a fuckwit overall.
So, even folks that claim alliance to an oppressed group can end up a net positive just by inflating numbers, even when their specific views and actions aren’t well considered otherwise.
I get where you’re coming from though!
You make a pretty solid case yourself, pardner.
My workplace has a corporate-sponsored advocacy network. Basically, they organize little fundraisers and events throughout the year, and march in the pride parade while wearing the company logo. It’s… fine, I guess. Certainly the most inclusive gesture of any company I’ve ever worked for. But the entire network is straight, white women who identify as allies.
I tried going to a few events when I first joined the company, but it’s real weird being the only queer person at the Lunchtime Dance Party Charity Fundraiser. Like, they didn’t even play any Kylie Minogue. WTF?
Cuz I’m a motherfuckin’ gay fish.
Might be attracted to financial services, though…
Hijacking your thread to ask a linguistics question: what is the source and meaning of the fin prefix here?
Coined in July of 2014 on tumblr:
https://web.archive.org/web/20150324190159/pride-flags-for-us.tumblr.com/tagged/androsexual
The “fin” prefix means “feminine in nature” and so the opposite where you’re attracted to people “masculine in nature” is minsexual. This confuses a lot of people because normally a prefix isn’t also an acronym, it’s usually from a root word.
So, I think it’s a good replacement for gynesexual/androsexual, despite the slightly confusing nature of its origin.
Thank you! Not gonna lie, that was underwhelming. Also, I really hope the double f and double m variants don’t stick, because that is a hot mess. While the new terms clarify language and improve communication, the doubles just make communication hard and imprecise.
Yeah I agree on that, the doubles make it way more confusing, and its confusing enough to people since the prefix is an acronym while people are scanning dictionaries trying to figure out a root word that doesn’t exist.
I consider myself straight, but ‘finsexual’ seems to be the most accurate. I’ve never heard the term before, but isn’t straight still accurate here?
I feel like straight applies. I’m a straight dude. Trans women are women, so I don’t need a special term to point out that I don’t care if a woman is trans or not. Hot women are hot. Cis, trans, whatever. Pre-op, post-op, doesn’t matter. Women are pretty.
Thank you! I actually learned about those two terms recently, I appreciate you putting those out here!
My husband is finsexual and it’s nice to have a more accurate word for it :)