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Is It Gay To Be Attracted To Trans Women?

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The discussion centers on a specific sexual orientation term, gynandromorphophilia, which describes attraction to trans women who possess both breasts and a penis. The transcript notes that this preference is not uncommon in pornography and can even be found among straight men; however, there is a distinction between those with this occasional interest and individuals for whom it is an exclusive or primary requirement. An example provided involves the speaker's former girlfriend whose ex-husband required viewing images of trans women on a computer screen to become aroused, creating significant complications in their relationship. The conversation also references historical contexts from the 1990s, such as Alan Partridge and "ladyboys" in Thailand, noting that while these figures often tour internationally, they do not typically operate within the US market in the same way. Furthermore, the speaker mentions research conducted for his 2003 book, *The Man Who Would Be Queen*, which involved interviewing transsexual prostitutes who transitioned from working as male escorts to female ones after surgery, thereby accessing a broader range of clients. A central debate addressed is whether individuals with this preference constitute a new category of sexual orientation and how they align on the spectrum between gay and straight identities. The speaker argues that men attracted to shemales are very close to being straight rather than gay, as evidenced by their arousal patterns in laboratory settings. When exposed to erotic stimuli featuring two women having sex versus two men having sex, these individuals show a clear preference for female-female interactions but remain indifferent or less aroused by male-male content compared to typical straight men who might have some level of genital response to both categories. This distinction highlights that gynandromorphophilia does not equate to homosexuality in the traditional sense, as neither those with this specific attraction nor regular straight men are typically aroused by videos of two men engaging sexually. The dialogue then shifts to contrasting male arousal patterns with female responses, introducing the concept that heterosexual women may be genitally indifferent to erotica. In laboratory experiments where straight women view stimuli involving either same-sex couples (two men or two women), they often display a flat pattern of genital arousal, responding equally regardless of the gender composition of the partners on screen. This physiological response contradicts their subjective self-reports, as these women claim to be psychologically aroused by both types of content but do not experience the intensity of arousal seen in straight men or gay men. In contrast, lesbians demonstrate a distinct preference for female stimuli both genitally and subjectively, showing significantly less interest in male-male pornography than heterosexual women do. The conversation concludes with an exploration of residual arousal patterns among lesbian populations regarding male stimuli. While lesbians show strong preferences for female-female content, they still exhibit some level of genital response to images of men having sex compared to neutral nature scenes, suggesting a vestigial biological component that persists despite their psychological orientation toward women. However, the transcript acknowledges difficulties in answering specific questions about whether lesbians are more aroused by gay male pornography than straight lesbian viewers or even gay men themselves; these queries remain hard to answer definitively due to methodological differences between measuring genital arousal in males versus females. Consequently, researchers have increasingly turned to functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans of the brain as a superior alternative for studying erotic responses when physical measurement tools differ significantly by gender. The segment ends with an invitation for listeners to access the full unedited episode and subscribe, leaving some complex questions regarding these nuanced arousal patterns open for further investigation.
Read the full video transcript
the other word that I learned when looking at some of your work is gynandro morphophilia one of the longest words I think I've ever said in my life what's gynandro morphophilia gynandromorphophilia so I'm gonna say a word that I I think is fine but um some people are touchy about it gyneamorphophilia is sexual attraction to females what I mean by a is a NATO male trans woman who has both breasts and a penis still um you know I I assume I can say I can I can see it in my mind's eye yep well it's not hard to find it online that that is a kind of pornography I have come across uh and it actually is uh quite a common form of pornography and even I think just plain old normal straight men get into that sometimes but they're they're different than the kind of men who need that and prefer it and for example I had a I had a girlfriend at one time whose ex-husband uh had that preference and in order for them to have sex they needed to bring a picture of a on the computer screen so he could look at it and become aroused that became a problem for her I can imagine I can imagine that that would create complications yes yeah but that's you know some other just plain old I think mostly just plain old straight men they just I think don't have the hang up about the penis being there too this is what you know back in the 90s you know on Alan Partridge which is a famous British comedy show one of his friends it turns out was going to Thailand and he comes back and all he wants to hear about is the ladyboys he did all he wants to hear about is ladyboys tell me about the lady boys he keeps on saying yeah that's right the lady boys that's that's what they are yeah they still tour as ladyboys of Bangkok in the UK I don't know if that's the same in the US but I mean there's posters everywhere for ladyboys of Bangkok to my knowledge they don't come here but um you know there there are um escorts that you can find online um I I knew in writing my book uh the 2003 book called The Man Who Would Be Queen I actually at that time knew some transsexual uh prostitutes some of whom had worked as she male prostitutes and then they got surgery and continued to work as female prostitutes opening opening up to as many markets as possible yeah yeah well the one that I'm thinking of preferred the um the men who liked women to the men who like females I I think she thought that the ones who liked females I don't know that they treated her differently as as a very interesting so this is this is a an obvious uh follow-up which is this a new category of sexual orientation are these people closer to gay people are they closer to straight people great question and so I can answer the second part of that question they are very close to straight people they're not at all gay guys guys who get into shemales so if we bring these guys in the lab and we show them pornography featuring just women and the the kind that we use in this situation is two women having sex with each other female female porn and male male male porn uh those are the kind best kind of uh stimuli because if somebody gets aroused there's no ambiguity about who they're getting aroused by um guys who are into shemales get aroused to the females but not the males but they get slightly more aroused to videos of two shemales getting it on and that's a little different than typical straight men who get more aroused by two females and two shemales but neither gynamorphophiles nor regular straight men get aroused to two men getting it on right next next obvious follow-up question to that is I've heard you say that heterosexual women are genitally indifferent what does that mean I I would say not just genitally indifferent they're I think that they're conscious feelings are indifferent in the laboratory to erotica so if we bring women into the lab and we show them the cane same kinds of stimuli two men having sex two women having sex straight women show an indifferent pattern of genital arousal they get equally aroused to both by both and they get and they say they get equally aroused by both now they don't get that aroused psychologically they don't straight women do not get as aroused to watching either kinds of erotic stimuli that I just mentioned as either straight men do or gay men do but it is interesting that they seem to show this flat pattern lesbians in contrast do show both a genital preference and a subjective preference for female stimuli is the a vestigial arousal among lesbians for men lesbians do get more aroused by male stimuli than they do to nature scenes but what about do they get more aroused to gay men than gay men do to lesbians dude these questions are hard to answer uh and the studies that we need Michael these are the these are the hard charging questions that we need well they're hard to answer because the kinds of apparatus that you must use to measure genital arousal in men differs from that that you must use to measured in women and the best evidence that we have uh we've taken it out of the genitals into the brain we've done uh fmri scanning of people who looking at erotic stimuli and it pretty much shows the same patterns as the genital stuff does and your excellent question I I think I'm gonna have to hold off answering because I don't remember if you enjoyed that then press here for the full unedited episode and don't forget to subscribe face