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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?
Well duh, trans people are a very small minority. I think we could go further and come close to saying all porn across the board is mostly consumed by straight identifying men… With perhap the exception of gay porn, but even there who knows (hence saying straight identifying men).
This is actually a pretty bad reading of this article (which is also outdated, but the results are still consistent with how we measure today more or less). Yes, there is a statistical imbalance of which groups of people consume porn media, but to use that as an explanation exclusively ignores what we can tell from a culture where porn with trans women is produced for straight men.
And, it’s also a problem to ignore that yes, it is straight men, not closeted queer men. Pretty much all porn is misogynistic and produced with the intent to fulfill some sort of sexual fantasy for straight men, but straight men are also socialized to value sex in terms of power and asserting their power. In a culture where trans women (trans and gnc people in general, but the topic here is trans women) are actively victimized by an explicitly genocidal system, why do you think so many straight men enjoy fantasies that involve trans women and consuming inherently dehumanizing and demeaning pornographic content involving trans women?
Additionally, think about how this relates to the rates at which black cis men or east-asian cis women are fetishized, and what the demographics are of the consumption of that pornographic material are. Yes, there are simply more straight, white, cis men who consume porn, but porn is also produced in a culture that happens to privilege cishet white men more than anyone else, and those men think that they deserve to assert power over others through sex.
Edit: I won’t be responding to men who are just pissed and want to spew #notallmen nonsense. If you’re actually invested in gender studies and sociology surrounding this subject, feel free to DM and I can provide a reading list. The response below is no more informed than a Grok result, and I reckon that was in part how it was produced; do not take it as informed.
Always interesting when discussing porn and someone immediately tells on themselves.
Like this isn’t the 1980s, you can can watch the only fans of a trans person masturbating, no one’s forcing you to click “muscle man destroys that bussy” again.
“For straight men sex is about power and dominance” okay, cool we’re just going to generalize about whole demographics now. Go on, say something about asian drivers of some shit. Go biggot it up elsewhere with this stuff.
Also, sorry, if you’re jerking off to trans porn (which is usually people with penises): You’re NOT straight! Like get real, a dude jerking off to a dick is NOT straight it’s like the definition of being gay… And also porn is about fetishizing. That’s just how it is, everyone on earth has something hot about them. That called being human.
We’re all just intelligent animals, at best this conversation is two birds chirping at each other… And most people aren’t even clicking trans categories. This isn’t most “straight” men. It’s a small minority.
What’s more trying to villify them just represses these closetted queers and self-hating Republicans more. Just accept them. It stops them being so evil if we can help them stop self-hating.
…and what about BDSM anyways? Why is that porn okay if you’re so freaked out about some trans person playing sub for their partner whilst some queer guy pretending to be straight sits on the cuck chair hating himself.
It’s a fantasy world. Let people have/do their weird ass porn, don’t pretend that it has some existential crisis of morality attached (so pearl clutching). I love it how sex positivity and being against kink shaming immediately gets thrown at the window when someone starts imposing their morality.
People having their little favourites in quiet desperation - who gives a shit? It’s part of how people fall in love develope empathy for people they claim to see as dirty… Have self realizations about who they are. Who humanity is. It’s happened throughout time.
Humans who can’t accept human patterns are hilarious. Anyways, I’ll let you get back to your morality panic parade or whatever this is. Don’t forget you’re saving the planet! …such a self-worth turn on!
P.S Just remember that thing you like, whatever it is - is dirty and wrong too… And makes you orgasm for some reason. That’s how sex work. You’re just participating in the species culture in your own way. It all comes down to the same thing - engorged overstimulation. But maybe you’re having trouble none of my business.
*The one valid complaint here might be that Capitalism and anti-trans cultures force trans people into porn. But that’s a problem with Capitalism… Which I’ll note: you didn’t mention. Redistributive politics should outrank recognition (identity) politics. Because it’s the true cause of most of what people complain about. In closing: complaining about human nature and historical/sexual/cultural patterns kinda silly, complaining about Capitalism… Is more likely to actually produce something that meaningful changes things.
I went and read the article so much more ridiculous than I thought:
The article its self is so stupid. Saying the dumbest shit:
Okay, so now we’re ignoring bi people as being a little same sex attracted? Wtf do these people think being gay means??? This is lala land stupid shit.
Leading into quotes from consumers of said websites:
Yeah, if you’re jerking off to someone’s male aspects or that “something extra” that’s same sex attracted - aka in common parlance: ghheeeey.
Like the “something extra” is a penis. That’s gay. I can’t believe these ridiculous people who would claim otherwise.
Yeah, sex is a subtle and diverse spectrum and all - but same sex attraction is same sex attraction. If we’re going to stop saying what we mean, or going to pretend things are what they aren’t…then we can’t communicate on any of this, and shouldn’t talk.
Bi is a little gay. Looking at trans porn involving penises, is pretty gay. Pretty same sex attracted. Which means gay.
…and then so much of what you complained about wasn’t even in the article. Like hell dawg, what’s up with that?
Wow, you wrote all of this and then talked about a bunch of pseudoscience in the other comment, and you didn’t even read my fucking comment, I seriously can not with you people anymore. I specifically mentioned in my comment that the article was outdated, and you wrote this.
All of this and it’s obvious you haven’t so much as read Gender Trouble, let alone anything relevant to this topic besides some obviously liberal assimilationist talk that ignores both queer history and queer scholarship that explores the cultural production and reproduction of gender and sex.
Why pretend to care if you don’t? Unreal.
“You people”
I’m not a fan of Judith Butler’s hyper specificity, no, and I don’t pretend Gender Trouble (which is also a bit dated) is the be all and end all of queer studies. Also no one said anything about assimilation - I said communication… Which ultimately everyone has to do.
Anyways, uptight leftist with a quick temper when disagreed with (reproducing a culture much?), I’ll leave you to it.
P.S Do Liberals often complain to you about Capitalism forcing people into porn? Really - try to be a bit more coherent with your insults next time.