Landmark Study

Men With Sexual Interest
in TVs and TSs:

Part I: An Interview with the Author, Dr. Ray Blanchard.

By Leslee Anthony


Transgender Forum recently ran a news service summary of a research article about men who are sexually interested in transvestites and transsexuals. That summary generated considerable interest among our readers and we decided to pursue the subject more thoroughly. The research was conducted by Dr. Ray Blanchard, PhD, Professor at the Department of Sexology at the Toronto, Canada Clarke Institute of Psychiatry. You can read a more detailled A Review of the Blanchard Study elsewhere in this edition of TGForum.

Dr. Blanchard's original research results were published in an article entitled "Men With Sexual Interests in Transvestites, Transsexuals and She-Males." It was co-authored with Dr. Peter I Collins, MD.

Dr. Blanchard most graciously agreed to a phone interview to explore a number of issues raised in the news article, including a contention that the men who have this interest in TV's and TS's wanted to "play the dominant role" with the TV or TS.

What follows is a summary of that conversation . Statements attributed to Dr. Blanchard are actually comments reconstructed from notes based on the phone conversation.

Question: Please give us your definitions of TV and TS as used in the research.

Dr. Blanchard: Before we go on, if you have not read our complete research results, then I highly recommend that you do so. (At this point Dr. Blanchard provided exact study reference details.) Reading it will give you a better idea of the context in which I answer. First, there were no definitions assigned. We listened to recorded voice mail ads in which various males expressed an interest in meeting TV's, TS's or She-males. Since the advertisers did not define their terms we could not assign our own.

Question: Please tell me where and how you got the information.

Dr. Blanchard: There are voice mail advertising services available in which many males advertised looking for a sexual partner who is either a TV, TS or She-male, to use their terms. It appears that the terms TV, TS and She-male were used interchangeably with no specified distinction other than that the person be essentially a pre-op person. That is, appear female but retain male genitalia. Meaning a male with a female appearance. We listened to and analyzed their voice mail ads, not the replies, just the ads.

Question: How can you state that these advertisers were masculine, heterosexual males?

Dr. Blanchard: I can only state what I heard and deduced from the voice ads. Keep in mind, these ads were placed by males seeking sexual encounters with other males who had female tendencies.

Question: What sort of ads were they??

Dr. Blanchard: For example, and this is a purely hypothetical but typical example. "Hi, my name is Ray, I am 6 feet tall ...." And so on, describing himself as, for example, hairy, maybe a body builder, usually stating some physical dimensions, often penis measurement. The advertisers usually stated a preference for TV, TS or She-male, with no indication of what those terms mean. They also requested sex but made no particular reference to the type or longevity of the "encounter".

Question: Were all of the ads from males seeking a transgender partner? Dr. Blanchard: No, the ads we listened to were roughly 50% males seeking TV, TS or She-male. Roughly 30% were TV's, or TS's seeking to meet other TV's or TS's. The balance were from TV's or TS's seeking males. We dealt strictly with the males seeking the TV, TS or She-male. (Note: The actual study gives specific numbers on this breakdown)

Question: Our summary stated that there was some interest in sexually dominating the responder. Were you able to distinguish between a sexual encounter and a Domination/submission encounter?

Dr. Blanchard: Of the ads we reviewed roughly 13% stated a submissive interest, 15% a Dominant interest and all the others gave no such direct or obvious statement. They were for sexual encounters.

Question: Could you detect any trend toward an advertiser projecting his own fantasy, possibly a homosexual need, or bisexual, maybe a transgender interest into finding a transgender partner?

Dr. Blanchard: We could only take the advertisers at his voice mail message content. As stated earlier, if he claimed to be a macho male then we must accept that at face value. Keep in mind that these voice mail messages must be carefully prepared, possibly even rehearsed, and are not spontaneous urges. Therefore we feel that the message reflects the true individual. His reasons for placing the ad are totally unknown. There were a few that we felt might be either gay or bi, but generally that was not true.

Question: How about the inner personal interest in being female?

Dr. Blanchard: Not that we could tell, the ads seemed to be quite genuine and reflected a typical male description of himself. We have no way of determining the accuracy of the description.

Question: Do you plan to continue this study or a related study?

Dr. Blanchard: Not at this time. If I can find a graduate student who would be interested in a dissertation along these lines then perhaps, but I am much too busy right now to even consider a follow-on study. Possibly in a few months, maybe a year or so but I don 't know.

Question: Is there anything you would like to add that we have not covered?

Dr. Blanchard: I contacted several TV groups to get a reaction and found a surprising attitude. They, the TV group members, seemed angered, offended, even contemptuous, of the results. I find it a bit disturbing that a minority group would be so closed minded when they are seeking open mindedness from others. I was looking for a reaction to the study and got a totally unexpected answer. It was as if they hoped that the ads and the replies would go away if ignored.

TGF: Thank you Dr, Blanchard, for your time. If ever in the future you go on with the study, we at TGF would be privileged to offer our assistance and facilities in making the results as objective and fair as possible.






Clearly the study was a brief one but it did show that there exists a core population of males who have a primary interest in the transgender person as a sexual partner. We followed Dr. Blanchard's advice and read the original study results. A review of the basic study is also available.

The study posed an interesting question and of course there is the reverse question: how many in the transgender community are interested in men as sexual partners?

The combinations and permutations become quite complex, and interesting to say the least. Frankly, we at TGF are sincerely and seriously hoping for an opportunity to work with Dr. Blanchard in pursuing this subject.

Transgender Forum invites comments on this subject and will publish them in a follow-up article in November. To submit a comment e-mail it to Cindy Martin, TGF's Publisher


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