Impact of gender transition on sexuality and diversity of practices
Résumé
Objectives
Transgender people are a heterogeneous and growing population in visibility and numbers. There is little
research on their sexuality, especially outside of a heterosexual binary approach. The physical,
psychological, and social changes associated with transition make knowledge developed about cisgender
people difficult to apply. Internet remains the preferred source to access information. In addition,
transgender people face documented difficulties in accessing health care systems, including lack of
knowledge among professionals and discrimination. The objective of this study is to report on the diversity
of practices and issues related to the impact of transition on sexuality. It is conducted in a participatory
manner, under the direction of a transgender person and in connection with the community.
Methods
A quantitative content analysis was performed on a pool of most relevant threads and comments about
the topic "asktransgender" on Reddit. In accordance with the participatory approach, the relevant threads
have been selected by two researchers, one of whom is transgender. Corpus analysis techniques were
used to highlight the potential impacts of transition on sexuality and the diversity of practices. Secondly,
the results were analyzed by gender and experience of transition.
Results
Reddit is mostly used by transgender people asking for advice to other users about behavioral and
hormonal impact of gender transition, as well as sexual practices outside of gender binarity. The results
show a significant gap between research evidence and the needs of those involved. Social exclusion and
fear of violence appear as central aspects of actual or anticipated sexual experiences.
Conclusions
There is an important need to develop research and clinical approaches to support transgender people in
maintaining and developing positive sexuality. This field largely questions the established boundaries
between normal and pathological and raises epistemic questions about the sexological approach and more
broadly about the Western social conception of gender and its impact on sexuality.
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