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Girl on t-girl action

Dear Sasha,

I’ve been reading your column for many years and finally have something to write to you about. I, a biologically born woman, have recently started dating a transgendered (M-to-F) woman and need some advice.

How do we make it work in the bedroom? I’m usually quite dominant, and she’s fairly submissive, so we have that part sorted out. However, she’s pre-op, so still has the male anatomy. She doesn’t mind using it, if she knows it will please me, but it’s generally not her first choice. What do you suggest for us, that will be fun, not threatening and pleasurable?

Stranger in a Strange Land

Dear Stranger,

When people experience a discordant relationship with their bodies (either because they don’t like them, they’ve been mistreated in them or they don’t match their gender identity expectations), agency over how sexual expression is received by that body is often a challenge.

People who feel their gender or sexual self-image differently than their physical bodies imply (or more appropriately, what is assumed by the bodies they inhabit) naturally have divergent ideas about how they engage with and how they like other people to engage with the parts of their body that conflict with their true gender or desire.

This can be difficult to negotiate, especially in the heat of the moment when you just want to hang onto something hot that is not only not available, but stops all sexual activity dead in its tracks when you do get your fingers on/around/in it.

Our own sexual expression is often halted by or predicated on our partner’s reservations – which can be ever-shifting, depending on mood or self-esteem. This heightened bestowal of personal trust can feel so precarious. One day you’re permitted to explore a range of activities with your partner the next day you’re not.

You experience sex as a series of breakthroughs that can be retracted at any time. What did you do wrong this time that you didn’t the last? You begin to see intimacy with your partner as something you have to earn, not by being a skilled and sensitive lover, but by being steadfast and patient. Since many of us have our own issues with sexual communication and being trusted, it can create a tense and uncertain environment.

If your primary goal is to navigate this relationship without injuring feelings, egos and genders, I can guarantee you will not get perfect scores. It’s admirable not to want to hurt someone and to respect their identity, but I think a lot of times when people undertake monumental life changes like gender reassignment, the expectation that everything will suddenly be fucking awesome is pretty high and thus bound to create some level of frustration.

In addiction recovery programs, people talk a lot about what’s referred to as the “geographical cure” – basically, moving in order to erase your past, to get a fresh start with the new you. Let’s look at gender reassignment for a moment through this lens. For some people, transition has the effect of really making things click into place. But for others, it doesn’t solve all their problems the way they thought it would. This can be deeply disappointing and really difficult to discuss.

Is it fair that people who experience gender incongruence need to be constantly on top of their feelings about their body and always prepared to articulate their needs? No. Additionally, gender incongruence is very often not the only obstacle with which they must wrestle.

Very few of us get out of childhood without getting mauled in some way. We all have bridges to build and crosses to bear when it comes to intimacy. Unfortunately, sometimes we get stuck in these cycles of “You think you have it bad. Well, I’ve had this and that happen to me, and I’m burdened by this long and treacherous list of personal problems you will never understand.”

We seem hell-bent on highlighting inequality rather than focusing on empowering ourselves. We fret incessantly over the comparative ease with which some people move through the world. We judge other people’s outsides by what we feel inside.

Here’s something I’ve learned: we can’t come to sex with any assumptions about anyone. If we choose to bring people into our intimate lives, it’s our responsibility to be verbal about our fears even if it makes us writhe with discomfort and self-pity. We also need to be kind about other people’s fears even if seem less weighty than our own.

Talk to your girlfriend about how she’d like you to engage with her body, keeping in mind that she may not even want to discuss her cock or may have a word she’d prefer you both use for it. Also keep in mind that these feelings may shift with time. Your level of understanding and consideration is important but will only be fruitful if she’s willing to be open about where she’s at with her body and mind, too.

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