Canadian undergraduate men\u2019s visual attention to cisgender women, cisgender men, and feminine trans individuals

Lanna J Petterson,Paul L Vasey

doi:10.1038/s41598-020-79870-2

Abstract

Some heterosexual men express sexual interest in feminine trans individuals with penises. It is possible that this interest arises from a tendency for heterosexual men to be sexually responsive to gender in addition to sex. We compared the self-reported sexual attraction and visual attention patterns of Canadian undergraduate heterosexual men (N = 51) and gay men (N = 20) to nude images of feminine trans individuals with penises, cisgender men, and cisgender women. Heterosexual men were most attracted to cisgender women and fixated on them the longest. However, they were more attracted to feminine trans individuals with penises than to cisgender men. They also biased their attention to feminine trans individuals with penises over cisgender men. This pattern was unique to heterosexual men. Gay men were most attracted to cisgender men and allocated the most visual attention to them. They responded to feminine trans individuals and cisgender women in a relatively similar manner. As such, heterosexual men appear to be responsive to sex and gender, which may account for sexual interest in feminine trans individuals among some heterosexual men.

Highlights

Some heterosexual men express sexual interest in feminine trans individuals with penises
We examined Canadian undergraduate heterosexual and gay men’s selfreported sexual attraction and visual attention to trans individuals who were feminine and who had surgically augmented their breasts in a female-typical manner as well as trans individuals who were feminine but who did not have augmented breasts
Heterosexual men were more sexually attracted to cisgender women than to individuals with penises, Z = 6.21, p < 0.001, r = 0.87. They were less sexually attracted to cisgender men than to feminine trans individuals, Z = 4.58, p < 0.001, r = 0.64. They were less sexually attracted to feminine trans individuals without breast than to feminine trans individuals with breasts, Z = 5.11, p < 0.001, r = 0.72

Summary

Introduction

Some heterosexual men express sexual interest in feminine trans individuals with penises. We predicted that heterosexual men would report greater sexual attraction and allocate greater visual attention to cisgender women than to individuals with penises and other aspects of male-typical morphology (i.e., cisgender men and feminine trans individuals). Heterosexual men were predicted to report greater sexual attraction and allocate greater visual attention to feminine trans individuals than to cisgender men and non-sexual stimuli.

Results

Conclusion