Transmen and the Smell of T in the Morning

In May 2005 an article about pheromonal attraction and repulsion in relation to sexual orientation appeared in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science USA. Jonathan Silver neatly summed up the findings of Ivanka Savic and her research team from Stockholm, Sweden in Journal Watch Psychiatry July 21, 2005

"The activated areas [of the brain] demonstrate a common pathway of sexual hypothalamic response for HoM [homosexual men] and HeW [heterosexual women], but this may not indicate differential hypothalamic development in HoM and HeM [heterosexual men]. The authors note other possible interpretations — e.g., an association that has developed between sex and AND [4,16-androstadien-3-one] in HeW and HoM, and between sex and EST [estra-1,3,5(10),16-tetraen-3-ol] in HeM."

So, it appears that whether the cause of the attraction for gay men and straight women to the smell of what some believe to be male human sex pheromone is a socio-cultural or biological affinity, the correspondence seems to have been demonstrated.

One year later in May 2006, Savic and her team are back publishing their findings about the response of HoW [homosexual women] and HeW to EST and AND. What they found is that these two groups of women respond differently, HeW seem to have a hypothalamic response to AND, but the HoW found the smell downright irritating.

I don’t take these findings to be conclusive about AND, EST or T, for several reasons. First, the sample size was tiny, tiny, tiny – only a few dozen people were tested in either study. Also, the researchers did not use T in the study they used AND and EST. There are also real potential problems with the interpretation of PET (Positron Emission Tomography) scans that map the use of glucose as an indicator of brain activity; the significance of any findings is always limited by the original rigor of the study and the ability of the researchers to refrain from over or under working the raw data.

Those reservations aside, the results fit nicely with my personal experience and the anecdotal evidence of friends. Despite my personal distaste for the odor of T, it seems reasonable that verifying the autonomic brain response to human sex pheromones (if we can agree what those are) may take us a long way in understanding if and how sexual orientation is demonstrated in the human brain.

Apparently our sense of smell registers how people perform gender, as well. This would explain why Transmen, I mean those who are using hormones for therapy, so often report that their favorite hangout no longer feels so welcoming to them. They say they just slowly start to feel like outsiders, even though the HoW patrons at the bar or coffee shop know the history of the Transman involved and they are still good friends.

If the results of the study are correct and lesbians are repelled by the smell of T in the morning, then Transmen have, without their knowing it, internalized a barrier between themselves and the community that supported their effort to end their cognitive dissonance caused by gender dysphoria.

Transmen as a group are some of the sweetest people I have ever met, the souls of human compassion and warmth. Many, I know, though they are post-op, still remember their lesbian history and will always be queer.

If indeed these male hormones do irritate HoW, then we are in for a rude awakening in this community…and everyone is going to suffer, especially the Transmen who felt so very strongly that their course of action (hormone and operative therapies) is the one that will make this life tolerable for them.

I wonder if the doctors tell Transmen that there is evidence that after treatment with T, people will relate to them differently, that their smell will begin to irritate their former friends and lovers…and not to be perplexed when that happens. Will HoW not want to date or engage in relationships with them? Will they have to go to HeW, who respond more favorably to AND, to find love?

Stay tuned for more…