Futanari - Everything Anon Knows

There are, as I understand it, a few different sorts of "styles" of dickgirl, specific types of which are known in the Japanese-aware corners of the Internet as futanari, or futa for short. The varieties say something about the nature of deviant sexuality, especially depending which style the viewer enjoys the most. The basic idea of the dickgirl is that of a generally female body type with male genitalia attached. There are two major variations in that attachment: Either the futanari, which is a woman, who retains their vagina but gains a dick and/or balls (and would be medically termed a hermaphrodite); or the penis and sometimes balls replace the vagina, which is termed dickgirl. In addition, the scale of the endowment varies, as does the prominence of the "female-ness" of the rest of the body of the futanari.

This essay will be looking at drawn representations of this fetish, and excluding discussion of real-life pre-op transgendered individuals, who are sometimes billed as "dickgirls" by pornographers. All contents are purely speculation, and may indeed have no basis in reality.

On the left, a "male" futa, vs. the more "female" ones. Note the larger erection on the bustier redhead.

"My Two Wings": a melodramatic futanari manga from Japan. The main character is a very feminine futanari.

At one end of the spectrum is the dickgirl -- known within the fetish community specifically as a dickgirl, and considered separate from the futanari -- who is already rather male-looking, or at least not extremely female in appearance, gaining a cock and balls and losing their vagina. Individuals attracted to images of this sort, especially images of dickgirls of this class penetrating men, are likely closest (in a Kinsey-esque conception of sexuality; note that this is seen by some modern sexologists as overly simplistic) to the homosexual end of the scale. The dickgirl both presents a male figure and generally acts in a "male way" toward its own sexual behavior, taking the lead in literature about these styles of dickgirl in encounters with both men and women. If the viewer associates more with the male penetrated than the dickgirl penetrator, it is not a broad leap to make that they would associate more with someone on the receiving end of homosexual activity than someone who is more heterosexual.

Moving down the charts, there are futanari who have bodies that conform to a more "traditional" example of female beauty. (It is worth noting that, on the whole and in general, there are no "ugly" futanari.) Wide hips, large breasts, long hair, and a "female" face are all a part of this type. Many times (though by no means is this true for all futanari that fit this description), these futanari will gain a penis, but in some fashion retain their vagina. Sometimes this is done by simply replacing the clitoris with a penis; other times, the penis is "retractable", and hides within the vagina when the futanari is not aroused. Generally, when the idea of attraction to hermaphrodites is considered, individuals who enjoy futanari are classed as homosexual, but there have been a number of outspoken (although generally anonymous) fans of futanari who insist that they are completely heterosexual.

My inclination is to take them at their word on this question, although not entirely. Someone who consumes futanari manga is likely to have at least considered their own sexuality with more than a cursory interest. However, it is also hard to believe that they are completely a "0" on the Kinsey-esque scale noted above -- that is, completely heterosexual. After all, they're being aroused by an image of a penis, something that a nominative "totally straight" individual would not be, generally by definition. They way out of this contradiction is to consider who the viewer identifies with.

Literature in this genre is generally split between the futanari penetrating a male, being penetrated by a male, and penetrating a female; sometimes all three can occur in the same story, and, indeed, in the same scene. If the viewer identifies more strongly with the futanari character as it acts with female characters in sexual activity, it can be seen as a form of what's come to be described as, in a parallel to the Freudian penis envy, vagina envy. A male, especially one with high libido, may emphasize with a perceived ability by a woman to enjoy sex in more ways than a male; however, there is a strong ingrained desire to maintain their "male-ness", represented by their penis. From this confusion arises the empathy with the futanari, who is at once able to experience this full range of pleasures but remains "male" throughout, and therefore nonthreatening to the viewer's own manhood.

The difference between fantasy and reality. Many futa fans would find themselves repulsed by an actual hermaphrodite.

Another position that futanari enjoyment can be seen from is that of a need by a male mind to map the physical symptoms of arousal onto the female form. Consider: in men, it is very simple to see whether or not a male is aroused. The penis is not under conscious control, and instead reacts whenever the male sees a image before them that triggers the arousal centers in the mind. For a male looking at a female, however, there is no direct way to consider arousal in the male way of looking at it. The female has no obvious outward signs of arousal, and some studies find that female sexual desire is much more mental than physical in the first place. For a man, then, placing a penis, which is a very simple sign of whether the being it's attached to is aroused, allows them to gauge the sexual arousal of the female in the same physical terms that they're familiar with. In a related sense, the reliance on quasi-imagined physical signs of female arousal in male-oriented erotica -- "hardened" or "erect" nipples, a woman's "snatch, dripping with arousal" -- are a manifestation of the same phenomenon. (Note, too, that the word "erect" is used for aroused nipples.)

In both Western and Eastern cultures, the male form is seen as strength-oriented; a handsome male is muscular, has a large penis, acts with some conviction, and imposes his will, powerfully, on the world around him. This conception of males, and the male form, as sexually potent is pretty much universal. In contrast, the female form is more sensual, less overtly sexual in the same manner that a strong male form is. The varieties of what is considered attractive for a female body vary widely, and due to the non-obvious arousal-markers of the female body, it is considered less a symbol of sexuality then of general sensuality, to draw a fine distinction. By grafting the male, overtly sexual, and powerful penis onto the sensual female form, the sensuality of the female is transformed into a more sexual image. Related fetishes may include the transposition of other, traditionally "male" characteristics onto a female: muscle fetishism, weapon fetishism, car fetishism, so on and so forth.

The image of the futanari giving itself a blowjob is a potent one, with a number of fetishists admitting that it's what truly attracts them to the fetish. This is more backing for the theory that it's not implicitly homosexual to enjoy futanari -- the image here is one of masturbation combined with the sexual idea of a woman performing oral sex. They can simultaneously hit a wide variety of mental triggers in the viewer, especially depending how they're acting toward the masturbation. The fact that the futanari is enjoying its own being with the image of masturbation, that it itself is aroused, gives the viewer a subtle affirmation that it truly is alright to be aroused by futanari.

An overly "hyper-sexual" futanari.

The sexual variety to which drawn images of futanari can be taken, and the general dislike of the penis in-and-of-itself in futanari fans, is further evidence that it is not so much the penis itself that viewers are attracted to, but instead the combination of the male and the female in one being (a potent mythological symbol, among other considerations). For example, imagine the sexual nature of an image where the character is modeled after an ancient conception of female sexuality: huge breasts; wide, birthing hips; large amounts of overall body "softness"; fair, flowing hair. To attach a penis to this image is not to suddenly turn this being from a female symbol to a male symbol but instead transcends both male and female categories.

To the far end of this sort of fetishism, we can attach the moniker of "hyper-sexualism" -- that is, the attraction comes not from any specific part of the genitalia, but instead from the potent combination of various potential sexual functions into one being. This might also be associated with bisexuality (again, in the simplistic sense), in that the bisexual is attracted to more than just the opposite sex, but simply sexual characteristics in the large. It's sort of how otherwise completely heterosexual males will say that they love to see a woman getting banged by a "big, thick cock" in their porn. In a perfectly heterosexual world, they wouldn't even notice the cock. But some part of them enjoys that highly sexualized image of the large male organ. It is no surprise that individuals who are interested in this sort of extreme-futanari are also generally interested in a wide range of other paraphilias, some of them associated with other sexual extremes.

Like many things, this article is a work in progress. I'd be interested in hearing from a female interested in futanari, in particular, since this is ~~mostly~~ almost entirely written from a male perspective.