Dick Down

...roup sex and I liked their breasts and kissing them, but I quickly realized I do not find vaginas sexy at all. So, what am I since not all people with penises are men? I ask because I don’t want to use a label on hook-up apps that’s transphobic in any way. I’m mostly attracted to people with penises, but I want non-binary people with dicks to slide into my DMs too. So, I am attracted to all men and non-binary people with penises (no matter how they present themselves). Is this messed up? I don’t know. I have searched for a term that describes this fixation on specific genitalia, but I have yet to find any. So, am I just straight? It seems some people think attraction and sexuality are separate from genitalia and anything else is transphobic, but for me, it’s the opposite. Dick or bust. I’ve also never been on a dating app, so I am not sure if classifying myself as straight would still leave me visible to non-binary folx looking for women. Maybe that’s true, and finding a nuanced label doesn’t really matter. Limits About Bodies Expressed Lovingly & Sensitively You could make this complicated. You could describe yourself as an AFAB (assigned female at birth), cis-gender (not trans), femme-presenting (just what it sounds like) allosexual (opposite of asexual) phallophile (dick lover) in an ENM (ethically non-monogamous) LTR (long-term relationship) seeking masc-presenting and/or non-binary allosexual AMAB (assigned male at birth) phallus-havers-and-wanna-users for PIV. (And by the way, “phallophile” was the term you were searching for.) Or you could keep it simple, LABELS, and just say you’re straight. Which is what you are. You’re a heterosexual woman—you’re a cis woman who’s attracted to members of the opposite sex—and while you require dick and dicking, you’re open to sex partners who don’t identify as men so long as they 1. have dicks and 2. want to use them. And who knows? In addition to getting dicked down by cis men and non-binary AMAB peeps, you might enjoy getting pegged down by cis women or AFAB non-binary peeps who 1. have a strap-on, 2. know how to use it, and 3. won’t ask you eat or touch their vaginas/front holes. All of the above could be included in your bio on whatever hook-up app you’re using. Oh, gee. Look at that. The less complicated option took longer to explain than the more complicated option. What a world. Anyway, LABELS, there’s nothing transphobic or gynophobic about clearly and respectfully stating who and what you’re looking for. Use a positive framing (what you want), not a negative one (what you don’t). Indeed, letting people who don’t have penises know not to waste their time on you—cis women, non-binary AFAB peeps, trans men who didn’t opt for bottom surgery, trans women who did—is a courtesy, not an insult. You might hear from some people who aren’t what you’re looking for, LABELS, because they didn’t read your profile or because they did and they’re pissed. You aren’t obligated to respond in either case. I had an “argument” with my wife recently. I’m a 48-year-old straight cis man. I’m also poly and kinky. My wife is a 42-year-old cis bi/pan woman. We’ve been married for 12 years. We are active in our local BDSM scene. Two weeks ago, a mutual friend approached me for a scene at a kink club. She’s a trans woman. She wanted me to flog her. It was a great scene and we both (I hope) enjoyed ourselves. Let me state that it was purely an impact scene and there was nothing sexual about the scene on my end, but I did provide some basic aftercare in the form of snuggling afterwards. The day after the scene, this friend texted me, thanked me for the scene, and then asked me to dinner. I said I would need to check with my wife, assuming the invitation was for both of us. She then made it clear she was asking me out on a date. My problem is I am not attracted to her. The primary reason, to be honest, is because she is trans—or more specifically, because she has a penis. I think she’s a great person and I’m totally down to get to know her better as a friend, but there’s no attraction on my side. If she was post-op, I’d be more open to it, but knowing she has a penis is a dealbreaker for me. I declined politely, saying I would be open to hanging out as friends, but I wasn’t interested in dating. She asked if it was because she was trans and I told her the truth. She said she was disappointed, of course, but she understood and appreciated my honesty. When I told my wife about this, she said I was transphobic because I’m not interested in our friend romantically or sexually. I was insulted. I’ve never held any prejudice against people who are transgender! A cousin who was trans committed suicide in the late 1990s and that really opened my eyes and I’ve had a girlfriend for more than a decade now whose daughter is trans and I love that girl. Maybe that sounds like, “I can’t be racist! I have black friends!,” but these are facts! (And I’m black!) My wife, however, thinks that it’s discriminatory and transphobic for me to reject our friend simply because she has a penis. She insists the presence of a penis should be a non-issue for me. I think this is unfair and, in all honesty, it’s really pissing me off. I like our mutual friend as a person, Dan, and I literally just played with her at a public event! I’m just not interested in dating her! Who’s in the wrong here?!? Extremely Not Into Dick First things first: you’re a heterosexual male, ENID. You’re a male who’s exclusively attracted to cisgender members of the opposite sex and that’s a perfectly legitimate sexual orientation. Your wife, of all people, should respect your sexual orientation. And let the record show—let it be underlined and highlighted—that it’s not the trans woman in this little drama making accusations of transphobia. That woman took her shot, ENID passed, she asked why, ENID was honest with her, she was bummed—no one likes rejection—but she took ENID’s “no” for an answer and moved on with her life. It’s the supposed “ally” here, ENID’s wife, who’s being an asshole. It’s ENID’s wife, someone who no doubt thinks of herself as a “trans ally,” arguing that there’s something bigoted about a straight cis man who isn’t attracted to people with penises. Not only is your wife in the wrong, ENID, she’s not helping. If we tell heterosexual males that not being open to dating people with dicks makes them transphobic—if we insist there’s something bigoted about not being attracted to people with penises—most straight cis men are going to stop listening. If that’s the hurdle they have to clear, most will conclude that they’d rather be transphobes. Essentially saying to straight men, “If you won’t suck a dick, you can’t sit with us,” is not a great strategy for a tiny minority group that needs people to stand with them. And, again, as we so often see on Twitter, it’s not the actual member of the actual minority group in question who’s making this argument. It’s the bumbling straight cis ally who thinks she’s being helpful. (Spoiler: she’s not.) Let the record also show that there are straight guys and lesbians out there who don’t have a problem with dick, and straight women and gay men out there who don’t have a problem with pussy. For some, gender trumps sex. But no one should be told they have to suck dick or eat pussy to be an ally. And now I’m going to take a little stroll down memory lane… There was a huge kink scene in Seattle in the early 1990s, and there was this posse of hot straight guys who described themselves as “bi for kink, straight for sex” who organized big play parties that all were welcome to attend. These hot straight-for-sex guys were down to tie up other guys and flog them—gay guys, bi guys, trans guys, even other straight guys—but that was as far as they went with dudes. Were these guys homophobes? No, of course not. And it would’ve been creepy and coercive if their girlfriends told them they were anti-gay bigots unless they were willing to date the men they played with at parties. You are open to play with people with or without penises, but you’re only romantically and sexually attracted to members of the opposite sex. That’s not bigotry, that’s heterosexuality. questions@savagelove.net Listen to Dan on the Savage Lovecast. Follow Dan on Twitter @FakeDanSavage. 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