UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones 12-2011 Visual attention to erotic stimuli in androphilic male-to-female transsexuals Sarah A. Akhter University of Nevada, Las Vegas Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/thesesdissertations Part of the Cognition and Perception Commons, and the Gender and Sexuality Commons Repository Citation Akhter, Sarah A., "Visual attention to erotic stimuli in androphilic male-to-female transsexuals" (2011). UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones. 1399. http://dx.doi.org/10.34917/3310703 This Dissertation is protected by copyright and/or related rights. It has been brought to you by Digital Scholarship@UNLV with permission from the rights-holder(s). You are free to use this Dissertation in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s) directly, unless additional rights are indicated by a Creative Commons license in the record and/or on the work itself. This Dissertation has been accepted for inclusion in UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones by an authorized administrator of Digital Scholarship@UNLV. For more information, please contact [email protected]. VISUAL ATTENTION TO EROTIC STIMULI IN ANDROPHILIC MALE-TO-FEMALE TRANSSEXUALS by Sarah A. Akhter Bachelor of Arts in Psychology Prescott College 1998 Master of Arts in Psychology University of Nevada, Las Vegas 2008 A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology Department of Psychology College of Liberal Arts Graduate College University of Nevada, Las Vegas December 2011 Copyright by Sarah A. Akhter 2011 All Rights Reserved THE GRADUATE COLLEGE We recommend the dissertation prepared under our supervision by Sarah Akhter entitled Visual Attention to Erotic Stimuli in Androphilic Male-to-Female Transsexuals be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology Department of Psychology Marta Meana, Committee Chair Christopher Heavey, Committee Member Jeff Kern, Committee Member Douglas Unger, Graduate College Representative Ronald Smith, Ph.D., Vice President for Research and Graduate Studies and Dean of the Graduate College December 2011 ii ABSTRACT Visual Attention to Erotic Stimuli in Androphilic Male-to-Female Transsexuals by Sarah A. Akhter Dr. Marta Meana, Examination Committee Chair Professor of Psychology University of Nevada, Las Vegas The present study investigated sex differences in visual attention to erotic stimuli by comparing three groups of individuals: heterosexual men, heterosexual women, and androphilic MtF transsexuals. Twenty men, 20 women and 13 MtF transsexuals were shown 10 split-screen slides, each featuring one nude erotic photo of a man shown on half of the screen and one nude erotic photo of a woman shown on the other half of the screen. Eye movements were tracked as participants viewed the slides. All participants were heterosexual (Kinsey 0-1) relative to gender identity, thus erotic targets for natal men were nude women in the photos, and erotic targets for women and MtF transsexuals were nude men. With regard to erotic targets, men and MtF transsexuals differed marginally from each other in how long they looked at them (p = .050), but both groups looked longer at erotic targets than did women (p < .001, p = .015, respectively). With regard to non-erotic targets, women looked longer at them than did men (p < .001) or MtF transsexuals (p < .001), and men and MtF transsexuals did not differ in non-erotic target looking times (p = .084). Results replicated Lykins, Meana and Strauss (2008) in that heterosexual men evidenced a category-specific visual preference for their erotic targets whereas women did not. Moreover, androphilic MtF transsexuals, like men, were found to visually attend significantly more to their erotic targets (men) than to their non- iii erotic targets (women), revealing a category-specific visual attention pattern to sexual stimuli. This finding suggests that cognitive processing in response to sexual stimuli, at least at the level of visual attention, may be rooted in natal sex. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for different theories of MtF transsexuality. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am deeply grateful to my advisor and dissertation chair, Dr. Marta Meana, for her kindness, wisdom, guidance, and steadfastness during this project and throughout my graduate career. Thank you for believing in me, inspiring me, and challenging me across these past seven years. I also thank my esteemed committee members, Drs. Chris Heavey, Jeff Kern, Douglas Unger, and honorary member Dr. Kim Barchard, whose warm support, earnest investment, and insightful contributions significantly enriched this project. I owe a debt of gratitude to the folks at Community Counseling Center for their heartfelt support and generosity of spirit and space, to Dr. Amy Lykins for her original vision and excellent guidance at critical points, and to Jillian Minimi for her time and patience in teaching me the technical skills necessary to conduct this study. My sincerest appreciation goes out to the Las Vegas transwomen who shared their experiences with me; I will forever treasure our conversations and time spent together. And finally, this project would not have been possible without the unconditional love of my beloved and visionary parents, Jeanette and Mohammad, the fierce love of my dear friends, Rosie, Sharon, Arva, Jackie, Caitlin, and Paula, and the boundless love of my guardian angels, King and Choo Choo. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Even after all this time the sun never says to the earth, "You owe me." Look what happens with a love like that, It lights the whole sky. --Kabir v TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................................... iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................ v LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................................... viii LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................... ix CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................ 1 CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW ..................................................................... 4 What is Transsexualism? .............................................................................................. 4 Blanchard‘s MtF Transsexual Typology .................................................................... 17 The Impact of Blanchard‘s Transsexualism Typology ............................................... 29 CHAPTER 3 AIMS OF THE PRESENT STUDY ................................................... 49 Discussion of Competing Theories ............................................................................. 49 Eye-tracking Methodology ......................................................................................... 52 Aims ............................................................................................................................ 55 CHAPTER 4 METHOD ........................................................................................... 57 Participants .................................................................................................................. 57 Measures ..................................................................................................................... 60 Stimuli ......................................................................................................................... 63 Apparatus .................................................................................................................... 64 Procedure .................................................................................................................... 64 Data Analyses ............................................................................................................. 66 CHAPTER 5 RESULTS ........................................................................................... 67 Overview ..................................................................................................................... 67 Descriptive Data on MtF Transsexuals ....................................................................... 67 Covariation Issues for the Entire Sample.................................................................... 68 Main Analyses ............................................................................................................ 69 CHAPTER 6 DISCUSSION ..................................................................................... 74 Visual Attention Differences Between Men and Women........................................... 75 Visual Attention Differences Among Men, Women and MtF Transsexuals .............. 85 Theoretical Implications ............................................................................................. 90 Limitations .................................................................................................................. 95 Future Research .........................................................................................................