I like to also think I would be open to it, but to be honest, I don’t think I ultimately could be but who knows. That said, I would never treat a transgender person without respect and refer to them as their chosen gender.
Are you suggesting she’d try to go back to the well of some old exes or something? Because I don’t know how this is relevant to women who hadn’t been attracted to / involved with her prior to transition.
And I wouldn’t expect it to be much different than anyone else who has experienced unrequited love, which I believe is nearly everyone. Sometimes you crush on someone who’s not oriented toward your gender. Sometimes you crush on someone who doesn’t share your politics, or life goals, or interests, or values. Sometimes you crush on someone who appears perfect “on paper” but still just isn’t attracted to you.
The ONLY extent to which I find someone’s sexual orientation attractive is whether or not they are attracted to me, because yes, “attracted to me” is also attractive, BUT there are many many reasons – and sometimes no reason – why someone might not be attracted to me, even if they are generally oriented toward women.
I agree there’s some miscommunication going on here, because you seem to be saying:
- Caitlyn Jenner is only attracted to one narrow type of woman (which would make it difficult regardless because there ARE no two women exactly alike)
- “attracted to Bruce” is a primary criteria defining this “type” (why? I dunno)
- virtually no one of this type is lesbian or bisexual (why? still dunno)
- there is no clear definition of this type BEYOND “attracted to Bruce”
…and I just don’t get why you have such a limiting and frankly inaccurate perception of humanity.
FWIW I was acquainted with someone in Jenner’s position some years back (oddly she was also a Kaitlyn). I knew her through her girlfriend (ultimately to be her wife).
I don’t know where you’ve gotten the idea that I’ve said sexual orientation is a source of attraction.
My understanding is that Kinsey and other surveys reported about 10 percent of the population being non-heterosexual and that later, more rigidly controlled surveys found percentages as low as 1%. Whether it’s 1 or 10% doesn’t really bother me so I use the lower percentages out of habit. It is possible that with the rise of tumblr, lgbt safe spaces, and greater focus on bisexuality and trasngenderism the numbers are rising as people who wouldn’t have considered themselves gay 10 or 15 years ago feel more comfortable with some of the other gender- and orientation-variant nomenclature.
Ms. Jenner could just go through the rest of her life without sexual involvement. Once the testicles are removed, her body will probably not naturally produce enough testosterone to drive the kind of sexual appetite that most cisgender people are accustomed to. I suspect this discussion amounts to far more consideration of the subject than she has given it.
Emphasis mine. You said it in your OP – you assume Caitlyn Jenner is attracted to women who are specifically straight, not simply attracted to women, period.
While it may be true that she’s attracted to one or more types of women, e.g. femmes who wear heels and makeup every day and like the beach, there are, in fact, queer women who are like that too. It’s not even that uncommon. So the only reason for Caitlyn to desire straight, specifically is if it in itself was attractive to her. I challenged that because I doubt it’s true for her and in general is not how these things work. I can only assume you carry some stereotypes about what gay and bisexual women are like, such that Caitlyn couldn’t be attracted to them since she’s attracted to straight women. Specifically.
I really don’t know how to make that any clearer.
Again, I never said she specifically desires straight women, I said that the women that she has always been attracted to, as a man, have been straight. The heterosexuality of these women was incidental to that attraction, in and of itself, but the fact is that they all happened to be straight. Why is that? I hold NO stereotypes or preconceived notions of gay people or sexuality. I am discussing what I see before me. I am putting no opinion of my own here.
Upthread I mentioned that maybe you should watch I Am Cait. I assume you’re not going to watch it, but here’s a relevant clip.
This is, honestly, the best answer you’re going to get for the question “who she hopes to attract now”. Any answer that isn’t “I don’t know” is really just putting words in her mouth…at least as of when it was filmed.
In another clip she says that it would be nice to go on a date, with a man, and be treated like a normal woman. But I don’t think she was specifically saying that she was looking to date men, just that it would be nice to go on a ‘normal date’ like a ‘normal [female] person’, that she just wants to be treated like a lady.
But attraction doesn’t really work that way. He may have not been able to act on some attractions but what makes you believe that he wasn’t attracted to women who are lesbians or bisexual? How are you so sure about the women that Bruce was attracted to?
You’re mainly discussing women he was in a relationship with, but that’s not what you are saying. You can’t say who he was attracted to because you really have no idea.
You’re right, I don’t have any idea. I’m just speculating, I’m not sure of anything.
Thanks, actually I’ve been wanting to catch that show for a while now, just haven’t had a chance.
Although everyone’s been focusing on her being attracted to the same type of people that she would have been attracted to pre-transition, in the experience of my friends who’ve transitioned that’s not completely true. Most of them have eventually settled into relationships or dating with the general type of person they were dating before they transitioned, i.e. a transman, born with female bits but identifying as female, who is only or mostly attracted to women pre-transition, is the same post-transition, and vice-versa, if you can work that out.
However, there is definitely a period - like puberty, from I’ve been told - where their hormones go wild and they find themselves attracted to people that would never have appeared on their radar before, and it can manifest in strange ways because hormones are powerful bastards. The transitioning people are also in a state of flux - everything’s new; if they’re single, trying out dating different types of people makes sense - again I suppose that’s like a second teenagehood.
Whether any of this leads to long-term relationships is another matter, but the attraction, at least, seems to be a common theme. So it wouldn’t be at all odd for Caitlin Jenner to be attracted to men for a while at least even if she never was before.