Hello AJ Butler,

I listen to the broadcast about T-. The first two segments were pretty good. It is interesting how the individual who had no T, how is that even possible?, sounded like he was without emotions.

Trans people switch over and a different hormone govern. The women’s experience on E- isn’t like the person who reported no T. Women have lots of emotions as attested to by the second guest, a transman who found he could no longer cry like he once did.

Switching from E- to T- or from T- to E- is something the generation raised with GnRH blockers do not experience, but which trans people certainly of a generation ago dealt with. One of the first things that many people who think they are trans face is a question from the shrink, “Now that you are on the ‘opposite’ hormones, how do you feel?” In a surprising number of cases, the person does not like it and often the transition stops dead in its tracks. “If this is how I am going to feel, I don’t want any part of it.”

There is strong anecdotal evidence that not only libido, but sexual orientation changes though there are several variables changing in concert so that it is hard to parse out what exactly happens. Some people speculate there are receptors in the brain and since trans brains are like the “opposite” sex, these receptors might be triggered, but again, this is highly speculative. However, the first person who was interviewed said he had flat emotions and no ambition is different from us “emotional” women.

For women it is not just testosterone (albeit in much lower amounts) that kicks sex drive into gear, but progesterone which is part of a lot of hormones ebbing and flowing over the menstrual cycle or in pregnancy. Some trans women have gone through an HRT pregnancy (no baby involved) and they report some very interesting experiences that differ from plain vanilla HRT.

As you already suggested, T- is but one factor though an interesting one.