and Daisies and Lollypops

Besides these two groups, there were also what I called the 'searchers', who were looking for a long-term relationship with a transgendered woman. The majority of men I spoke to didn't care whether their women stayed pre-operative or not, and that they would support the decision that I would make. However, some would not, and I was told on more than one occasion "I don't want to fuck a fake pussy".

Doing this research was particularly draining on myself. I was trying to coordinate the beginnings of a relationship with this paper, but it was not in the cards. I unfortunately ran into a lot of men who were very condescending and insensitive to me as a woman, which from talks with other transsexual women is the rule rather than the exception. I actually questioned my choice to be strictly with men for a while, until I found women who were just as bad as those men I had spoken to. Now, as this experiment has wound down, I plan on stopping the majority of my activities, and trying to work on several men that I met during this time who were actually decent people. My self-image improved, especially hearing the compliments about my appearance and conversational ability, so while I sometimes feel like a freak because of being transsexual, I've at least learned that I'm attractive.

When taken as a whole, one can apply the labeling theory of deviance to the tranny chaser subculture. Many of the men and women I talked to professed to being either bisexual or "straight, but curious". Due to the stigma of homosexual behavior, most of these people do not want to be thought of as a 'queer' by their peers or family. To minimize this, they go for an attractive, "passable" pre-op male-to-female transsexual, and date or have sex with them, hoping to avoid the 'gay' label. Transgendered author Kate Bornstein says, "intentionally having sex with a 'chick with a dick' doesn't make you gay," (Savage), and many of those I spoke with agreed with this assumption.