Gender-Related Traits in Transsexuals

Thirty-eight male-to-female (M-to-F) transsexuals, 7 female-to-male (F-to-M) transsexuals, 135 nontranssexual men, and 225 nontranssexual women were as-sessed on the following: gender diagnosticity (GD) measures, which assessed male- vs. female-typical occupational and hobby preferences; instrumentality; expressiveness; self-ascribed masculinity; and self-ascribed femininity. M-to-F transsexuals differed strongly and significantly from nontranssexual men on GD and self-ascribed femininity (effect sizes from 1.84 to 3.40) and more weakly on instrumentality, expressiveness, and self-ascribed masculinity (effect sizes from 0.40 to 0.56). F-to-M transsexuals differed strongly and significantly from non-transsexual women on GD and on self-ascribed masculinity and femininity (effect sizes from 2.45 to 3.97), but not on instrumentality or expressiveness (effect sizes of 0.07 and 0.39). The degree to which the six assessed gender-related traits distinguished transsexual from nontranssexuals was strongly correlated with the degree to which these same traits distinguished nontranssexual men from nontranssexual women. Using comparison data from past research, M-to-F trans-sexuals were quite similar to gay men on all gender-related traits except self-ascribed femininity, but F-to-M transsexuals were considerably more masculine than lesbian women on all gender-related traits except for instrumentality and expressiveness. KEY WORDS: transsexuals; gender-related traits; masculinity; femininity; gender differences