Patterns of Genital Sexual Arousal in Transgender Men

Article


Raines, J., Holmes, L., Watts-Overall, T., Slettevold, E., Gruia, D. C., Orbell, S. and Rieger, G. 2021. Patterns of Genital Sexual Arousal in Transgender Men. Psychological Science. 32 (4), pp. 485-495. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797620971654
AuthorsRaines, J., Holmes, L., Watts-Overall, T., Slettevold, E., Gruia, D. C., Orbell, S. and Rieger, G.
Abstract

Most men show genital sexual arousal to one preferred gender. Most women show genital arousal to both genders, regardless of their sexual preferences. There is limited knowledge of whether this difference is driven by biological sex or gender identity. Transgender individuals, whose birth sex and gender identity are incongruent, provide a unique opportunity to address this question. We tested whether the genital responses of 25 (female-to-male) transgender men followed their female birth sex or male gender identity. Depending on their surgical status, arousal was assessed with penile gauges or vaginal plethysmographs. Transgender men’s sexual arousal showed both male-typical and female-typical patterns. Across measures, they responded more strongly to their preferred gender than to the other gender, similar to (but not entirely like) 145 cisgender (nontransgender) men. However, they still responded to both genders, similar to 178 cisgender women. In birth-assigned women, both gender identity and biological sex may influence sexual-arousal patterns.

JournalPsychological Science
Journal citation32 (4), pp. 485-495
ISSN0956-7976
Year2021
PublisherSAGE Publications for Association for Psychological Science
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Supplemental file
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Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797620971654
Publication dates
Online26 Feb 2021
Publication process dates
Accepted17 Sep 2020
Deposited02 Mar 2021
FunderAmerican Institute of Bisexuality
University of Essex
Copyright holder© 2021 The Authors
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