Survey of FTMs and Their Partners

From our friend Jamison Green.

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

Last year, a publisher asked me to write a book called  “The FTM Guide to SEX.”  Based on the questions that continually come up around FTM transitions and how sexuality is affected, not to mention how relationships are affected, I thought this was a pretty good idea. The fact is, there is practically nothing out there about transmen and sex/sexuality that’s written for a wide audience (and that psychologists and other counselling professionals, and physicians could use and rely on to help them understand our relationships and community), so I started talking last year with a few people about contributing some of their sexuality stories, and also working up some questions for a survey.

Last fall, I had the opportunity to go to Serbia and meet Dr. Miroslav Djordjevic.  He showed me a paper he had just had accepted in the “Journal of Sexual Medicine” describing his surgical technique for metoidioplasty, which he has been doing for several years.  In that article, he wrote, “I have no knowledge of my patients’ sexual satisfaction.”  I said, “Miro, this is a problem!”  I told him about the research I was developing, and he suggested we team up to study this, write journal articles about it, and present at conferences.  We agreed to do that.

So, I am undertaking some research about FTM/transmen and their partners’ sexual health and sexual practices, and I am asking you to share this request with the transmen and their partners that you know.  I have two questionnaires out on SurveyMonkey right now, and they will be open until the end of June, 2009.  One is for transmen, and the other is for partners of transmen.  Any partners of transmen who happen to be transmen themselves can answer both questionnaires – they must just remember from which perspective they are responding.  The two surveys are different, though there are some parallel questions. The transmen survey has 97 questions, and takes roughly 40-50 minutes to complete.  The partner survey has 78 questions, and takes roughly 35 to 40 minutes to complete; but these times will vary depending each person.

All participants must be 18 years old, or older.  You do not have to be in the United States, and you do not have to be in a relationship to participate.

Responses are completely anonymous, and there is no way anyone’s responses can be connected with their email address, their computer, or their partner’s responses.  At the end of either survey, respondents will be given an email address to which they may write if they would like to volunteer for a follow-up interview to further discuss their experiences.  If you do volunteer, your participation will no longer be anonymous (because the researchers will know how to contact you at that point), but your survey responses will remain anonymous, and the identifying information in your follow-up interview will be kept confidential as required by ethical research practices and federal, state, and local laws.  Your privacy will be protected.

Please help spread the word among transmen and partners about this research, and please participate, and encourage your qualified partner(s) and friends to participate.  The more respondents we can get, the better!  But please don’t broadcast these links on public web sites, because if they generate spam for SurveyMonkey, the survey could be taken down, and that would be terrible for me! 

I deeply appreciate your help and your participation (if you’re qualified – some of you aren’t, I know, but I either trust you to spread the word or I want you to be aware of this research because I believe the results will be of interest to you).

Remember, the data collection period ends June 30, 2009, so please go to the appropriate site and respond as soon as you can, and spread the word among your private community networks.  We’re really hoping that the results of this study will be helpful to our community, and also to medical and therapeutic service providers who impact our bodies and our relationships, but the success of this project depends on all of us!  Please take the time to answer the surveys, and help to recruit eligible participants.  You can forward this email, if you like.

Thank YOU!!!

Jamison
www.jamisongreen.com
P.S.  If you’re interested in writing a short piece about sexuality for “The FTM Guide to SEX” (not erotica, but practical information about how you solved particular problems, like telling a new prospective partner that you’re trans, finding gay male sex partners, dealing with fears about your sexuality, or how your surgery(ies) impacted your sexuality, drop me a note.  You could either write it under your own name or a pseudonym, or you could make it part of your anonymous survey response.  I look forward to hearing from you!

Unless it’s part of your anonymous survey response, I’ll need these short pieces by the end of July.  Thanks for considering this!