Abstract
This experimental study examined the effects of biological attributions on individuals’ beliefs and attitudes toward transgender people and the moderating role of right-wing authoritarianism (RWA). We randomly assigned 183 Chinese university students (men: n = 85, women: n = 98) to read one of three fictitious articles. The first article suggested that transgender identity was causally linked to biology (biological determinist condition), the second one highlighted the interplay between biological and environmental factors (epigenetic condition), whereas the third article did not mention the origins of transgender identity (control condition). Consistent with the biased assimilation hypothesis, the effects of biological attributions depended on individual differences in RWA. Low-RWA participants showed higher levels of naturalness and discreteness/homogeneity beliefs about transgender identity in the biological determinist condition than those in the control condition. By contrast, high-RWA participants displayed higher levels of discreteness/homogeneity beliefs but similar levels of naturalness beliefs when they read the biological determinist message compared with the control group. Low-RWA participants showed higher levels of naturalness but similar levels of discreteness/homogeneity beliefs in the epigenetic condition compared with the control, whereas high-RWA participants exhibited lower levels of naturalness and higher levels of discreteness/homogeneity beliefs when they read the epigenetic message compared with the control group. This study also suggests that, contrary to attribution theory, presenting information regarding the biological basis of transgender identity does not necessarily lead to more positive attitudes because (a) it triggers essentialist thinking and (b) the effects of biological attributions depend on recipients’ authoritarian dispositions.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Data Availability
The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
References
Agadullina, E. R., Lavakov, A. V., & Malysheva, N. G. (2018). Essentialist beliefs and social distance towards gay men and lesbian women: A latent profile analysis. Psychology & Sexuality, 9, 288–304. https://doi.org/10.1080/19419899.2018.1488764
Aguero, J. E., Bloch, L., & Byrne, D. (1984). The relationship among sexual beliefs, attitudes, experience, and homophobia. Journal of Homosexuality, 10(3), 95–107.
Altemeyer, B. (1998). The other authoritarian personality. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 30, 47–92. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0065-2601(08)60382-2
Arseneau, J. R., Grzanka, P. R., Miles, J. R., & Fassinger, R. E. (2013). Development and initial validation of the Sexual Orientation Beliefs Scale (SOBS). Journal of Counselling Psychology, 60(3), 407–420. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0032799
Bastian, B., & Haslam, N. (2006). Psychological essentialism and stereotype endorsement. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 42, 228–235. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2005.03.003
Beijing LGBT Center. (2017, November 20). Chinese Transgender Population General Survey Report. Retrieved from http://www.chinadevelopmentbrief.cn/publications/2017-chinese-transgender-population-general-survey-report/
Bohan, J. S. (1996). Psychology and sexual orientation: Coming to terms. Routledge.
Bower, M. M., & Whitley, C. T. (2020). What drives support for transgender rights? Assessing the effects of biological attribution on U.S. public opinion of transgender rights. Sex Roles, 83, 399–411. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-019-01118-9
Boysen, G. A., & Vogel, D. L. (2007). Biased assimilation and attitude polarization in response to learning about biological explanations of homosexuality. Sex Roles, 57, 755–762. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-007-9256-7
Brescoll, V., & LaFrance, M. (2004). The correlates and consequences of newspaper reports of research on sex differences. Psychological Science, 15, 515–520. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0956-7976.2004.00712.x
Ching, B.H.-H. (2021). The effect of masculinity threat on transprejudice: Influence of different aspects of masculinity contingent self-worth. Psychology & Sexuality. https://doi.org/10.1080/19419899.2021.1883724
Ching, B.H.-H., & Ma, T. C. (2021). Effects of biological determinist and interactionist causal explanations on undergraduate students’ stigma of children with attention deficits hyperactivity disorders: An experimental investigation. International Journal of Psychology, 56, 772–782. https://doi.org/10.1002/ijop.12738
Ching, B.H.-H., & Xu, J. T. (2018). The effects of gender neuroessentialism on transprejudice: An experimental study. Sex Roles, 78, 228–241. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-017-0786-3
Ching, B.H.-H., Xu, J. T., Chen, T. T., & Kong, K. H. C. (2020). Gender essentialism, authoritarianism, social dominance orientation, and filial piety as predictors for transprejudice in Chinese people. Sex Roles, 83, 426–441. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-020-01123-3
Chow, P. K., & Cheng, S. (2010). Shame, internalized heterosexism, lesbian identity, and coming out to others: A comparative study of lesbians in mainland China and Hong Kong. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 57(1), 92–104. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0017930
Cole, E. R. (2009). Intersectionality and research in psychology. American Psychologist, 64, 170–180. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0014564
Connors, M. H., & Halligan, P. W. (2015). A cognitive account of belief: A tentative roadmap. Frontiers in Psychology, 5(1588). https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01588
Corrigan, P. W. (2000). Mental health stigma as social attribution: Implications for research methods and attitude change. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 7, 48–67.
Diamond, L. M., & Rosky, C. J. (2016). Scrutinizing immutability: Research on sexual orientation and US legal advocacy for sexual minorities. Journal of Sex Research, 53(4–5), 363–391. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224499.2016.1139665
Duckitt, J., Bizumic, B., Krauss, S. W., & Heled, E. (2010). A tripartite approach to right-wing authoritarianism: The Authoritarianism–Conservatism–Traditionalism model. Political Psychology, 31, 685–715. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9221.2010.00781.x
Duncan, L. E., & Peterson, B. E. (2014). Authoritarianism, cognitive rigidity, and the processing of ambiguous visual information. Journal of Social Psychology, 154, 480–490. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224545.2014.933764
Eldridge, V. L., Mack, L., & Swank, E. (2006). Explaining comfort with homosexuality in rural America. Journal of Homosexuality, 51, 39–56.
Elischberger, H. B., Glazier, J. J., Hill, E. D., & Verduzco-Baker, L. (2016). “Boys don't cry”—or do they? Adult attitudes toward and beliefs about transgender youth. Sex Roles, 75(5–6), 197–214. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-016-0609-y
Elischberger, H. B., Glazier, J. G., Hill, E. D., & Verduzco-Baker, L. (2018). Attitudes toward and beliefs about transgender youth: A cross-cultural comparison between the United States and India. Sex Roles, 78, 142–160. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-017-0778-3
Ernulf, K. E., Innala, S. M., & Whitman, F. L. (1989). Biological explanation, psychological explanation, and tolerance of homosexuals: A cross-national analysis of beliefs and attitudes. Psychological Reports, 65, 1003–1010.
Falomir-Pichastor, J. M., & Mugny, G. (2009). ‘I’m not gay …. I’m a real man!’: Heterosexual men’s gender self-esteem and sexual prejudice. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 35, 1233–1243.
Fry, K. M., Grzanka, P. R., Miles, J. R., & DeVore, E. N. (2020). Is essentialism essential? Reducing homonegative prejudice by targeting diverse sexual orientation beliefs. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 49, 1725–1739. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-020-01706-x
Gazzola, S. B., & Morrison, M. A. (2014). Cultural and personally endorsed stereotypes of transgender men and transgender women: Notable correspondence or disjunction? International Journal of Transgenderism, 15, 76–99. https://doi.org/10.1080/15532739.2014.937041
Gelman, S. A. (2003). The essential child: Origins of essentialism in everyday thought. Oxford University Press.
Grossman, A. H., & D’Augelli, A. R. (2006). Transgender youth. Journal of Homosexuality, 51, 111–128.
Grzanka, P. R. (2020). From buzzword to critical psychology: An invitation to take intersectionality seriously. Women & Therapy, 43(3–4), 244–261. https://doi.org/10.1080/02703149.2020.1729473
Grzanka, P. R., Zeiders, K. H., & Miles, J. R. (2016). Beyond “born this way”? Reconsidering sexual orientation beliefs and attitudes. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 63(1), 67–75. https://doi.org/10.1037/cou0000124
Haddock, G., & Maio, G. R. (2004). Introduction and overview. In G. Haddock & G. R. Maio (Eds.), Contemporary perspectives on the psychology of attitudes (pp. 36–43). Routledge.
Haddock, G., Zanna, M. P., & Esses, V. M. (1993). Assessing the structure of prejudicial attitudes: The case of attitudes toward homosexuals. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 65, 1105–1118. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.65.6.1105
Haslam, N., & Levy, S. R. (2006). Essentialist beliefs about homosexuality: Structure and implications for prejudice. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 32, 471–485. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167205276516
Haslam, N., Rothschild, L., & Ernst, D. (2002). Are essentialist beliefs associated with prejudice? British Journal of Social Psychology, 41, 87–100. https://doi.org/10.1348/014466602165072
Hayes, A. F. (2018). Introduction to mediation, moderation, and conditional process analysis: A regression-based approach (2nd ed.). The Guilford Press.
Hegarty, P. (2010). A stone in the soup? Changes in sexual prejudice and essentialist beliefs among British students in a class on LGBT psychology. Psychology & Sexuality, 1(1), 3–20. https://doi.org/10.1080/19419891003634356
Hegarty, P. (2020). Attitudes toward homosexuality and LGBT people: Causal attributions for sexual orientation. In Oxford research encyclopaedia of politics. Retrieved 16 March 2021, from https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228637.001.0001/acrefore-9780190228637-e-1173.
Hegarty, P., & Golden, A. M. (2008). Attributional beliefs about the controllability of stigmatized traits: Antecedents or justifications of prejudice? Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 38, 1023–1044. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1559-1816.2008.00337.x
Hegarty, P., & Pratto, F. (2001). Sexual orientation beliefs: Their relationship to anti-gay attitudes and biological determinist arguments. Journal of Homosexuality, 41, 121–136.
Herek, G. M., & Capitanio, J. P. (1995). Black heterosexuals’ attitudes toward lesbians and gay men in the United States. Journal of Sex Research, 32, 95–105.
Horvath, M., & Ryan, A. M. (2003). Antecendents and potential moderators of the relationship between attitudes and hiring discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Sex Roles, 48, 115–130.
Howansky, K., Wilton, L. S., Young, D. M., Abrams, S., & Clapham, R. (2021). (Trans)gender stereotypes and the self-: Content and consequences of gender identity stereotypes. Self and Identity, 20, 478–495. https://doi.org/10.1080/15298868.2019.1617191
Hoyt, C. L., Burnette, J. L., Auster-Gussman, L., Blodorn, A., & Major, B. (2017). The obesity stigma asymmetry model: The indirect and divergent effects of blame and changeability beliefs on antifat prejudice. Stigma and Health, 2(1), 53–65. https://doi.org/10.1037/sah0000026
Huang, Y.-T., Chan, R. C. H., & Cui, L. (2020). Filial piety, internalized homonegativity, and depressive symptoms among Taiwanese gay and bisexual men: A mediation analysis. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 90(3), 340–349. https://doi.org/10.1037/ort0000439
Hubbard, K., & de Visser, R. O. (2015). Not just bi the bi: The relationship between essentialist beliefs and attitudes about bisexuality. Psychology & Sexuality, 6(3), 258–274. https://doi.org/10.1080/19419899.2014.987682
Jayaratne, T. E., Ybarra, O., Sheldon, J. P., Brown, T. N., Feldbaum, M., Pfeffer, C. A., & Petty, E. M. (2006). White Americans’ genetic lay theories of race differences and sexual orientation: Their relationship with prejudice toward blacks and gay men and lesbians. Group Processes and Intergroup Relations, 9, 77–94. https://doi.org/10.1177/1368430206059863
Katz, D. (1960). The functional approach to the study of attitudes. Public Opinion Quarterly, 24, 163–204.
Konopka, K., Prusik, M., & Szulawski, M. (2020). Two sexes, two genders only: Measuring attitudes toward transgender individuals in Poland. Sex Roles, 82, 600–621. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-019-01071-7
Kvaale, E. P., Gottdiener, W. H., & Haslam, N. (2013). Biogenetic explanations and stigma: A meta-analytic review of associations among laypeople. Social Science & Medicine, 96, 95–103. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2013.07.017
Lord, C. G., Ross, L., & Lepper, M. R. (1979). Biased assimilation and attitude polarization: The effects of prior theories on subsequently considered evidence. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 37, 2098–2109.
Makwana, A. P., Dhont, K., de Keersmaecker, J., Akhlaghi-Ghaffarokh, P., Masure, M., & Roets, A. (2018). The motivated cognitive basis of transphobia: The roles of right-wing ideologies and gender role beliefs. Sex Roles, 79, 206–217. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-017-0860-x
Maio, G. R., & Olson, J. M. (Eds.). (2000). Why we evaluate: Functions of attitudes. Lawrence Erlbaum.
Malcolmson, K. M., Christopher, A. N., Franzen, T., & Keyes, B. J. (2006). The Protestant work ethic, religious beliefs, and homonegative attitudes. Mental Health, Religion, & Culture, 9, 435–447.
Mallinckrodt, B., Abraham, W. T., Wei, M., & Russell, D. W. (2006). Advances in testing the statistical significance of mediation effects. Journal of Counselling Psychology, 53, 372–378. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0167.53.3.372
McCormick-Huhn, K., Warner, L. R., Settles, I. H., & Shields, S. A. (2019). What if psychology took intersectionality seriously? Changing how psychologists think about participants. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 43(4), 445–456. https://doi.org/10.1177/0361684319866430
Medin, D. L., & Ortony, A. (1989). Psychological essentialism. In S. Vosniadou & A. Ortony (Eds.), Similarity and analogical reasoning (pp. 179–195). Cambridge.
Mitchell, R. W., & Dezarn, L. (2014). Does knowing why someone is gay influence tolerance? Genetic, environmental, choice, and “reparative” explanations. Sexuality & Culture, 18(4), 994–1009. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12119-014-9233-6
Morton, T. A., Postmes, T., Haslam, S. A., & Hornsey, M. J. (2009). Theorizing gender in the face of social change: Is there anything essential about essentialism? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 96, 653–664. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0012966
Norton, A. T., & Herek, G. M. (2013). Heterosexuals’ attitudes toward transgender people: Findings from a national probability sample of US adults. Sex Roles, 68(11–12), 738–753. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11199-011-0110-6
Oldham, J. D., & Kasser, T. (1999). Attitude change in response to information that male homosexuality has a biological basis. Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy, 25, 121–124.
Osmundson, J. (2011). “I was born this way”: Is sexuality innate, and should it matter? LGBTQ Policy Journal at the Harvard Kennedy School, 1, 15–27.
Piskur, J., & Degelman, D. (1992). Effect of reading a summary of research about biological bases of homosexual orientation on attitudes toward homosexuals. Psychological Reports, 71, 1219–1225.
Pratarelli, M. E., & Donaldson, J. S. (1997). Immediate effects of written material on attitudes toward homosexuality. Psychological Reports, 81, 1411–1415.
Rios, K. (2013). Right-wing authoritarianism predicts prejudice against “homosexuals” but not “gay men and lesbians”. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 49, 1177–1183. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2013.05.013
Ross, L., Lepper, M. R., & Hubbard, M. (1975). Perseverance in self-perception and social perception: Biased attributional processes in the debriefing paradigm. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 32, 880–892. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.32.5.880
Sakalli, N. (2002). Application of the attribution-value model of prejudice to homosexuality. Journal of Social Psychology, 142, 264–271.
Smith, M. B., Bruner, J. S., & White, R. W. (1956). Opinions and personality. Wiley.
Suhay, E., & Garretson, J. (2018). Science, sexuality, and civil rights: Does information on the causes of sexual orientation change attitudes? Journal of Politics, 80, 692–696. https://doi.org/10.1086/694896
Tierney, D., Spengler, E. S., Schuch, E., & Grzanka, P. R. (2021). Sexual orientation beliefs and identity development: A person-centred analysis among sexual minorities. Journal of Sex Research, 58, 625–637. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224499.2021.1878344
Walch, S. E., Ngamake, S. T., Francisco, J., Stitt, R. L., & Shingler, K. A. (2012). The Attitudes Toward Transgendered Individuals Scale: Psychometric properties. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 41, 1283–1291. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-012-9995-6
Warriner, K., Nagoshi, C. T., & Nagoshi, J. L. (2013). Correlates of homophobia, transphobia, and internalized homophobia in gay or lesbian and heterosexual samples. Journal of Homosexuality, 60, 1297–1314. https://doi.org/10.1080/00918369.2013.806177
Weiner, B. (1986). Attributional theory of motivation and emotion. Springer.
Weston, R., & Gore, P. A., Jr. (2006). A brief guide to structural equation modelling. Counselling Psychologist, 34, 719–751. https://doi.org/10.1177/0011000006286345
Whitley, B. E. (1990). The relationship of heterosexuals’ attributions for the causes of homosexuality to attitudes toward lesbians and gay men. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 16, 369–377.
Whitley, B. E., Jr., & Aegisdottir, S. (2000). The gender belief system, authoritarianism, social dominance orientation, and heterosexuals’ attitudes toward lesbians and gay men. Sex Roles, 42, 947–967. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1007026016001
Whitley, B. E., Jr., & Lee, S. E. (2000). The relationship of authoritarianism and related constructs to attitudes toward homosexuality. Journal of Applied Social Psychology, 30, 144–170. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1559-1816.2000.tb02309.x
Williams, J., & MacKinnon, D. P. (2008). Resampling and distribution of the product methods for testing indirect effects in complex models. Structural Equation Modelling, 15, 23–51. https://doi.org/10.1080/10705510701758166
Funding
Not applicable.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Ethics Approval and Consent to Participate
All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. The survey packet included information that described the main purpose of the study, an informed consent form, and the measures. Informed written consent was obtained from all participants. To ensure confidentiality, participants were assured in written consent that their responses were anonymous, and that the data would be kept in a safe place that could only be accessed by the first author and would not be disclosed to other parties without their permission.
Consent for Publication
All the authors have consented for publication.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Appendix
Appendix
Experimental Stimuli Used in the Biological Determinist Condition
Born this Way? Researchers Explore the Science of Gender Identity
Some young boys show an early preference for being girls and some young girls are convinced they should be boys. This apparent mismatch of biological sex and gender identity can lead to negative psychological well-being. Coupled with school bullying and family rejection, it can make lives a torment for young people, and the rate of suicide is frighteningly high. As they move into adulthood, they continue to suffer from various types of discrimination. This discrimination stems from a persistent attitude that transgender identification is an aberration of normal sexual development.
However, over the last decades, growing recognition emerged that transgender feelings start very early and are very consistent—pointing to a biological basis. A consortium of five research institutions in Europe and the United States, including Vanderbilt University Medical Center, George Washington University, and Boston Children’s Hospital, has examined the genome, a person’s complete set of DNA, for clues about whether transgender people are born that way.
Scientists in the consortium have embarked on what they call the largest-ever study of its kind, searching for a genetic component to explain why people assigned one gender at birth so persistently identify as the other, often from very early childhood. They extracted DNA from the blood samples of 10,000 people, 3,000 of them transgender and the rest non-transgender, or cisgender.
“Knowing what variations transgender people have in common and comparing those patterns to those of cisgender people may help us understand what role the genome plays in everyone’s gender identity” said Nick Thompson, leader of the study and an assistant professor of medicine at the Vanderbilt Genetics Institute.
This study showed that transgender people had a high frequency of particular DNA variants of four genes that would alter sex hormone signalling while they had been developing in utero.
“There are also reports that identical twins are much more likely to be concordant (that is both transgender, or both cisgender) than fraternal twins or siblings. This suggests a substantial genetic component” added Nick Thompson.
Neurologists have also spotted clues in the brain structure and activity of transgender people that distinguish them from cisgender individuals. A study led by Dutch neurobiologist Dick Swaab, who looked at postmortem brain tissue of transgender subjects, indicated that male-to-female transsexuals had clusters of cells, or nuclei, that more closely resembled those of a typical female brain, and vice versa.
Researchers have begun to discover the biological etiology of transgender identity There may be many other genes that contribute to one’s gender identity. They are not necessarily all concerned with sex hormone signalling. Some may affect brain functions and behavior” says Eric Smith, chief of the division of medical genetics and professor of human genetics, pediatrics, and urology at the University of California, Los Angeles. “So far, two decades of studies have provided hints of a very strong biological origin to being transgender, including the interplay among genetic, hormonal, and neurological factors.
Experimental Stimuli Used in the Epigenetic Condition
Born this Way? Researchers Explore the Science of Gender Identity
Some young boys show an early preference for being girls and some young girls are convinced they should be boys. This apparent mismatch of biological sex and gender identity can lead to negative psychological well-being. Coupled with school bullying and family rejection, it can make lives a torment for young people, and the rate of suicide is frighteningly high. As they move into adulthood, they continue to suffer from various types of discrimination. This discrimination stems from a persistent attitude that transgender identification is an aberration of normal sexual development.
However, over the last decades, growing recognition emerged that transgender feelings start very early and are very consistent—pointing to a biological basis. A consortium of five research institutions in Europe and the United States, including Vanderbilt University Medical Center, George Washington University, and Boston Children’s Hospital, has examined the genome, a person’s complete set of DNA, for clues about whether transgender people are born that way.
Scientists in the consortium have embarked on what they call the largest-ever study of its kind, searching for a genetic component to explain why people assigned one gender at birth so persistently identify as the other, often from very early childhood. They extracted DNA from the blood samples of 10,000 people, 3000 of them transgender and the rest non-transgender, or cisgender.
“Knowing what variations transgender people have in common and comparing those patterns to those of cisgender people may help us understand what role the genome plays in everyone’s gender identity” said Nick Thompson, leader of the study and an assistant professor of medicine at the Vanderbilt Genetics Institute.
This study showed that transgender people had a moderate frequency of particular DNA variants of four genes that would alter sex hormone signalling while they had been developing in utero.
Neurologists have also spotted clues in the brain structure and activity of transgender people that distinguish them from cisgender individuals. A study led by Dutch neurobiologist Dick Swaab, who looked at postmortem brain tissue of transgender subjects, indicated that male-to-female transsexuals had clusters of cells, or nuclei, that more closely resembled those of a typical female brain, and vice versa.
“However, researchers have yet to precisely pinpoint the etiology of transgender identity. Various studies suggest that both biological and environmental variables play a role in transgender development. For example, it is possible that parents pass on their own beliefs about gender, both overtly and covertly. Biology is not the only reason for the development of transgender identity” says Eric Smith, chief of the division of medical genetics and professor of human genetics, pediatrics, and urology at the University of California, Los Angeles. “So far, two decades of studies have provided hints of some biological basis to being transgender, but there is no irrefutable conclusion. We should not ignore the possibility that environment may also shape the brain and how genetic factors are expressed.”
Experimental Stimuli Used in the Control Condition
Coming Out as Trans: Two Personal Stories
The night I came out as transgender to my wife
By Anne Smith, transgender female
Before I came out as transgender, I was a shy reclusive person.
I didn’t have many friends and would never really go out unless it was with my family. I found it very difficult to interact socially; for example, I couldn’t go out for a coffee on my own like everyone else does.
From about primary school age, I knew that there was something wrong.
It was very difficult to make male friends as we just had nothing in common. And I couldn’t make female friends either because I always thought I’d be found out or that they would find it strange.
I spent the first 36 years of my life trying to live how society had told me I should, as male, but I knew that I was female inside and this nearly destroyed me.
So one night, with nothing else to lose as I just couldn’t go on as I was or I would no longer be here, I blurted out to my wife Julie during an argument that I was a freak.
It sounds bad, but I was terrified and I thought that’s how the world was going to see me from now on. To my surprise—after many nights of shouting, screaming, and nearly calling it quits on our marriage—Julie said that she would support me as she still loved me as I still love her.
We’d said in our vows “For richer for poorer, in sickness and in health” and those vows meant something to us both.
I first came out as a trans man when I was 39
By Mike McMullan, transgender male
It was not that I didn’t want to be male before then, it was more that the world had consistently rejected my masculinity.
I always felt male.
I raged every time I was asked to wear something feminine for an event or family photo. I giggle when I see those pictures now as I think that, 30 min before that smiling moment with my sister and brothers, I was a nightmare.
When I was a child, the term for me was tomboy—and I would grow out of it. I look back and feel sad that the person I was constantly rejected.
What I learned from my formative years was I was not good enough or of any significance. That behavior created a lost young adult who never knew how to build a life for himself.
I fell in love and gave my all to partners with nothing being built for me. I couldn’t put words to what was missing.
When eventually I came out, I was attending university to retrain for office-based work. I found it amazingly supportive and non-judgemental as long as I was straight about what was going on.
I was really proud of that college.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Ching, B.HH., Chen, T.T. Effects of Biological Determinism on Beliefs and Attitudes About Transgender People: Psychological Essentialism and Biased Assimilation. Arch Sex Behav 51, 1927–1942 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-021-02262-8
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-021-02262-8