Kwantlen Psychology Student Journal
Issue 3, July 2021
Kwantlen Polytechnic University

Perceptions of Attraction: Implicit Biases in Attraction
Towards Transgender Individuals
Pallavi Nair1, Mary Langhorst, Caitlin Van Kesteren,
Dennis Wang, and Emma Silversides
Abstract
Research regarding biases against the transgender community is growing in the field of
psychology, with one of the focal points being attraction. This study was conducted to
determine if individuals are perceived as less attractive when identified as transgender, rather
than cisgender. A between-subjects experimental design was used in which a sample of
university students who identified as cisgender women rated the attractiveness of the same 10
photos (5 of men and 5 of women), labelled as either “cisgender” (n = 21) or as “transgender”
(n = 19). Our hypothesis was that photos labelled as transgender would receive lower ratings
than the photos labelled as cisgender for both the men’s and women’s faces. The independent
samples t-test indicated no statistically significant differences between the cisgender and
transgender photos. This suggests that awareness of an individual’s transgender status does not
negatively influence perceptions of attractiveness, and that younger university students may be
less prejudiced towards the transgender community.
Keywords: transgender, attraction, bias, discrimination, LGBTQ+

1

Written for Research Methods in Psychology I (PSYC 2400). We would like to thank Dr. Shayna Rusticus for her
continuous support and assistance in the completion of this project and for recommending our paper for
publication.

48

NAIR, P., LANGHORST, M., VAN KESTEREN, C., WANG, D., & SILVERSIDES, E.

Perceptions of Attraction: Implicit Biases in Attraction
Towards Transgender Individuals
Implicit biases in attraction towards transgender individuals have major implications for
the transgender community in regard to their dating lives, as well as for how they are generally
perceived and treated by the world. Simply revealing that one is transgender increases the
likelihood that they will be discriminated against (Mao et al., 2019). Furthermore, it may also
impact judgments regarding the perceived attractiveness of an individual if it is known that they
are transgender (Mao et al., 2019). Most of the research conducted on this topic focuses on
implicit biases towards transgender individuals, operationalized through ratings of a particular
variable, such as sexual attractiveness. The purpose of this experiment was to determine if
cisgender women’s perceptions of attractiveness would be influenced by knowing that their
target was transgender.
One theory that may explain the negative bias against transgender individuals is sexual
selection theory, which argues that humans are motivated to pass on their genes and thus require
a mating choice that can fulfill this goal (Little et al., 2011). A possible explanation as to why
men would rate a transgender woman lower on attractiveness could be due to their knowledge
that the woman is infertile and thus, their genes will not be passed on. Similarly, women tend
to gravitate towards men who exhibit masculine characteristics that indicate male fertility,
especially around ovulation (Little et al., 2011). This suggests that fertility is also of importance
to women when judging men’s attractiveness and thus, their knowledge of a man’s identity as
transgender could also produce a lower rating of attractiveness (Little et al., 2011). However,
based on the findings of multiple studies, we believe that another possibility could be a lack of
openness towards gender fluidity that is rooted in social conservatism, as explored below in the
research of Mao and colleagues (2019) and McCullough and colleagues (2019).
The 1980s researchers Freund and Blanchard (1998, as cited in Veale et al., 2008) set
the steppingstones for understanding the psychological interests between transgender
individuals and what sexual identities mean to them. Through the distribution of surveys to
transgender individuals, it was theorized that transgender individuals tend to place more
importance on their partner's physical attractiveness than their own. Since these studies,
transgender individuals have become more open about their identity due to shifting social
contexts (Veale et al., 2008). Freund and Blanchard’s (1998, as cited in Veale et al., 2008) work,

PERCEPTIONS OF ATTRACTION

49

though still valid, may be outdated as newer and more informed pieces of literature have since
been published.
Though still exorbitantly discriminated against, the transgender community has made
substantial advancements since the 1980s in terms of social and personal acceptance. This has
given current researchers more opportunity to conduct investigations into perceptions of this
community and more. Despite this, it is surprising how little research has been conducted on
the topic of attraction to transgender individuals. A recent study indicated that transgender
participants felt that they would be treated with more respect, receive better customer service,
and experience lower levels of prejudice from others when conforming to typical gender norms
(Anderson, 2020). Furthermore, participants that were perceived by others to be gay, bisexual,
or transgender felt that they were at a higher risk for harassment and discrimination. Finally,
participants that identified as queer stated that when they conformed to gender norms and
disguised how they would typically present themselves in regard to clothing and the way in
which they spoke, they felt an increased sense of privilege that only straight, cisgender
individuals experience (Anderson, 2020).
Wittlin et al. (2018) conducted five studies to determine expectations and memorability
of the facial appearances of transgender individuals compared to the facial appearances of
cisgender individuals. In study one, participants were told that they were going to be rating a
photo of either a transgender or cisgender person and were asked to give a rating of how much
they expected the person to be gender congruent. The researchers found that transgender targets
were expected to be less gender congruent than cisgender targets. Study two found that
participants were more likely to rate a photo of an individual lower on gender congruence if the
photo was labelled as transgender than if it was labelled as cisgender. The researchers also
stated that physical femininity is associated with higher ratings of attraction for women and that
women are more harshly judged on attractiveness if they embody physical characteristics that
are more masculine. Study one indicates that there is a stereotype that transgender individuals
will appear to be less gender congruent and study two suggests that one’s identity as transgender
will result in one being perceived as physically less gender congruent than cisgender people.
Targets labelled as transgender also tended to be perceived as less memorable than cisgender
targets. Since transgender individuals are perceived as less gender congruent (even if they are
not low on gender congruence), they may experience increased discrimination if their

50

NAIR, P., LANGHORST, M., VAN KESTEREN, C., WANG, D., & SILVERSIDES, E.

transgender status became known (Wittlin et al., 2018). As perceived femininity increases one’s
attraction to women, it also follows that transgender women openly identifying as transgender
(and thus, being perceived as embodying less femininity) are likely to be viewed as less
attractive (Wittlin et al., 2018) and thus, issues arise for their prospective romantic relationships.
Though Wittlin et al.’s research does not focus on perceived attractiveness of transgender
individuals, it explores aspects such as perceptions of gender congruence and memorability that
impact perceptions of attractiveness.
Mao and colleagues (2019) conducted an experiment in which participants rated the
facial attractiveness of individuals in photos that were labelled either “cisgender,”
“transgender,” or “nonbinary” on a Likert-type scale. They found that the photos labelled
“transgender” received the lowest attractiveness ratings, with “cisgender” photos yielding the
highest attractiveness ratings. The researchers also considered participant variables such as
right-wing political beliefs, gender essentialism, homophobia, and religious fundamentalism; it
was found that those high in each of these variables were especially likely to rate transgender
individuals as less attractive. This study was not the only to discover that those who subscribe
to right-wing political beliefs tend to dislike transgender individuals and it is proposed that this
prejudice is a result of individuals experiencing threats to their identity, perhaps because they
feel that those who identify as transgender go against their belief system (McCullough et al.,
2019).
Along with the aforementioned variables, two other demographic variables that tend to
have more prejudiced views of transgender individuals are cisgender men and heterosexual
individuals (McCullough et al., 2019). Men of all sexual orientations have more unfavourable
views of transgender individuals than women, which could be due to men feeling that those
breaching the boundaries of their assigned gender jeopardize their masculinity (McCullough et
al., 2019). Those who identify as heterosexual also have less favourable responses towards
transgender individuals than those who are homosexual (McCullough et al., 2019). There are
considerable issues today around the perception and treatment of the transgender community;
differences in attraction ratings are likely due to discriminatory, prejudiced, and unfavourable
biases towards transgender individuals’ gender identity rather than their physicality. The
purpose of this study was to determine if there is a difference in how a cisgender person judges
a person’s attractiveness based on knowing an individual’s transgender identity. Based upon

PERCEPTIONS OF ATTRACTION

51

the previous literature on transgender individuals, attraction, and discrimination, we
hypothesized that women who identify as cisgender will find photographs of both men and
women labelled as “transgender” to be less attractive than identical photos labelled “cisgender.”

Methods
This was a between-groups experiment in which participants were randomly assigned
to one of two groups: Group one viewed and rated five photos of men and five photos of women
labelled “cisgender” and group two viewed and rated the same photos with the “transgender”
label. The independent variable of the experiment was the label on the photos and the dependent
variable was the rating of attractiveness.
Participants
Participants were undergraduate university students, ranging from 17 to 40 years of age
(M = 23.30, SD = 4.95). Along with age, participants were asked to indicate their gender identity
and sexual orientation prior to the start of the experiment. The target group for the experiment
was cisgender individuals. A total of 51 participants were initially recruited for this study.
Participants were then removed if they did not answer the key demographic question of gender
identity (n = 4). Additionally, because only seven participants identified as cisgender men, we
decided to exclude them and run the analyses on women only to reduce a potential confound in
combining the men and women. This resulted in a final sample size of 40 women who all
identified as cisgender. The group viewing and rating photos with the “cisgender” label
consisted of 21 participants with 57.1% (n = 12) identifying as heterosexual, 14% (n = 3)
identifying as bisexual, 9.5% (n = 2) identifying as homosexual, 9.5% (n = 2) identifying as
pansexual, 4.8% (n = 1) identifying as asexual, and 4.8% (n = 1) identifying as unsure. The
group viewing and rating photos with the “transgender” label consisted of 19 participants, with
68.4% (n = 13) identifying as heterosexual, 15.8% (n = 3) identifying as bisexual, 5.3% (n = 1)
identifying as homosexual, and 10.5% (n = 2) identifying as pansexual.
Materials
Participants were presented with ten photos of individuals, gathered from a free photo
database: My Modern Met (mymodernmet.com). Of the ten photos, five were of women and
five were of men with all individuals being White to eliminate the potential confound of racial
bias. The individuals in the photos were also all within their early twenties. All individuals in
the chosen photos were smiling in order to hold the factor of facial expression constant. The

52

NAIR, P., LANGHORST, M., VAN KESTEREN, C., WANG, D., & SILVERSIDES, E.

photos also only displayed faces and no information regarding body type was provided to
eliminate potential biases induced by body type. The same ten photos were used for each group
with the only alteration being the addition of either a “cisgender” label or a “transgender” label.
To measure the dependent variable of attractiveness, we used a Likert-type scale from 1
(extremely unattractive) to 10 (extremely attractive).
Procedures
All data was collected anonymously online using Qualtrics (www.qualtrics.com).
Participants were recruited through the research pool of a small western Canadian university
and were randomly assigned to groups using the Qualtrics randomization function. After
providing electronic consent, participants completed the demographic questions, then were
presented with the ten photos and asked to rate the perceived attractiveness of each photo.
Photos were presented in the same order for both groups. Once the ratings were completed,
participants were presented with a debriefing and were awarded bonus credit for eligible
courses.

Results
An independent-samples t-test was conducted using the statistical software program
Jamovi version 1.6 (The jamovi project, 2020) to compare the average attractiveness ratings
between the two groups. Two analyses were conducted: (1) analysis of attractiveness ratings
for photos with women’s faces, and (2) analysis of attractiveness ratings for photos with men’s
faces. As seen in Table 1, there were no statistically significant differences between the two
label conditions and thus, the results are inconsistent with our predictions. There was a small
effect in the analysis of ratings for women’s faces and a medium effect in the analysis of ratings
for men’s faces. This medium effect size suggests that there may be a difference between the
two men’s label groups that this study was too underpowered to detect. A two-way mixed
ANOVA may have more power to detect a significant effect.

Discussion
The central goal of conducting this research was to determine if knowing an individual’s
transgender identity would affect a cisgender individual’s judgements of that person’s
attractiveness. While we did not find any statistically significant differences between the two
groups for the photos of men and women, the medium effect size for the men’s faces suggests
a possible difference, however, this suggestion requires additional research. Contrary to our

PERCEPTIONS OF ATTRACTION

53

hypothesis, the results suggest that perceptions and ratings of attractiveness were not affected
by the transgender and cisgender labels.
Our results differ from those of previous research that indicate one’s acknowledgement
of an individual as transgender induces unfavourable perceptions (Mao et al., 2019;
McCullough et al., 2019). One explanation for our differing results could be the primary
demographic of the participants who completed our survey. The mean age of the sample was
23 years old, indicating that most of those who completed the survey were of the younger
Millennial generation. This generation has become known to be not only significantly less
prejudiced against minority groups but also engage in activism aiding in the advancement of
minority groups (Higdon, 2019). It is also important to note that most if not all of the
participants were either (a) enrolled in a psychology program or (b) enrolled in at least one
psychology class as most participants who complete psychological studies through the
institution’s research pool are psychology students. Considering this factor, another possibility
for this finding could be due to the participants’ knowledge of similar studies and topics within
the field which may have induced the effect of demand characteristics (in which participants
alter their responses to fit what they believe is the experiment’s purpose). In fact, being a
university-educated student in what is considered to be a politically liberal/left-wing discipline
(Inbar & Lammers, 2012) could also be a contributing source of the non-significant results as
the left-wing has been considered to be more accepting of the LGBTQ+ community, and
previous research has found that those who subscribe to more right-wing philosophies are less
accepting of the community (Mao et al., 2019; McCullough et al., 2019). Finally, our sample
consisted of only women and previous studies have found women to be less biased against
transgender individuals (Mao et al., 2019; McCullough et al., 2019).
Limitations
As with any study, there are limitations that should be noted. The biggest limitation of
this study was the small sample size. If a larger sample had been obtained, it is possible that we
may have seen statistically significant results for the photos of the men, as suggested by the
medium effect size. A second limitation has to do with the composition of our sample. These
results may only generalize to other young, university-educated, cisgender women. This acts as
a double-edged sword as the information obtained is valuable for describing the attitudes of
young women in university towards the transgender community; however, this also presents a

54

NAIR, P., LANGHORST, M., VAN KESTEREN, C., WANG, D., & SILVERSIDES, E.

lack of generalizability to both cisgender men and women outside of university. While we
would have liked to have included men in this study, we were unable to recruit enough men to
be able to conduct analyses for this group.
Implications and Future Directions
Considering the fairly limited research on the topic of perceptions and prejudices toward
transgender individuals, as well as the extremely limited research on the interaction between
transgender individuals and attraction, it is essential to conduct a variety of studies (e.g.,
correlational, experimental, case study) to advance our understanding of not only transgender
individuals, but the LGBTQ+ community as a whole. Despite younger generations appearing
to be more accepting of the transgender community, transgender individuals still feel a sense
of inequality and unfairness in their treatment and expect their status as a transgender individual
to actively disadvantage and work against them as a result of prejudice and discrimination
(Anderson, 2020). This assumption has been shown to be well-reasoned as multiple studies
have found results suggesting that one’s transgender status grants them lower ratings of
attractiveness, perils in dating (including difficulties with finding a partner as well as violent
altercations as a result of transgender status being discovered), higher risk of discrimination,
and an overall unfavourable judgement which discourages those who are transgender from
openly identifying as such (Mao et al., 2019; McCullough et al., 2019; Wittlin et al., 2018). The
results of this study imply that the younger generation of women in university are less likely to
be prejudiced against transgender individuals, particularly regarding attractiveness.
It may be of some worth to conduct research regarding perceptions of the attractiveness
of transgender individuals with samples including different participant variables. The goal of
this study was to gather responses from men and women enrolled university; however, men
only constituted approximately 15% of the final sample. Obtaining a larger sample size with
specific characteristics such as 50% women and 50% men or 50% left-wing and 50% rightwing may give more insight into the effects of different demographic variables on perceptions
of transgender individuals.

PERCEPTIONS OF ATTRACTION

55

Tables
Table 1
Analysis of Photo Ratings Using Independent-Samples t-Test
Variable

Cisgender

Transgender

df

t

p

Cohen's d

M

SD

M

SD

Attractiveness
Rating
(Women)

6.09

1.79

6.71

1.71

38

-1.12

.271

-0.35

Attractiveness
Rating (Men)

5.25

1.27

5.94

1.47

38

-1.59

.119

-0.50

56

NAIR, P., LANGHORST, M., VAN KESTEREN, C., WANG, D., & SILVERSIDES, E.

References
Anderson, S. M. (2020). Gender matters: The perceived role of gender expression in
discrimination against cisgender and transgender LGBQ individuals. Psychology of
Women Quarterly, 44(3), 323–341. https://doi.org/10.1177/0361684320929354
Higdon, N. (2019). Rallying over balloting: The origins of millennial activism. Journal of
Critical Thought and Praxis, 8(1), 12–29. https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/jctp/vol8/iss1/3/
Inbar, Y., & Lammers, J. (2012). Political diversity in social and personality psychology.
Perspectives on Psychological Science, 7(5), 496–503.
https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691612448792
Little, A. C., Jones, B. C., & DeBruine, L. M. (2011). Facial attractiveness: Evolutionary
based research. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological
Sciences, 366(1571), 1638–1659. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2010.0404
Mao, J. M., Haupert, M. L., & Smith, E. R. (2019). How gender identity and transgender
status affect perceptions of attractiveness. Social Psychological and Personality
Science, 10(6), 811–822. https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550618783716
McCullough, R., Dispenza, F., Chang, C. Y., & Zeligman, M. R. (2019). Correlates and
predictors of anti-transgender prejudice. Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender
Diversity, 6(3), 359–368. https://doi.org/10.1037/sgd0000334
The jamovi project. (2020). jamovi (Version 1.6) [Computer Software].
https://www.jamovi.org
Veale, J. F., Clarke, D. E. & Lomax, T. C. (2008). Sexuality of male-to-female transsexuals.
Archives of Sexual Behavior, 37, 586–597. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-007-9306-9
Wittlin, N. M., Dovidio, J. F., LaFrance, M., & Burke, S. E. (2018). About face: Memory for
transgender versus cisgender targets’ facial appearance. Journal of Experimental
Social Psychology, 78, 77–92. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2018.04.009