I am a pre-op transsexual woman. I live full-time as a woman. I have been on hormones for about 3 years, and I have boobs that I grew all by myself.
I thought maybe I could clear some things up.
You don't need testosterone to have a sex drive.
A lot of people seem to think that removing testosterone totally kills your sex drive.
Testosterone makes you urgently horny, like you just need to cum. If you don't have testosterone you're probably not going to masturbate five times a day, but you can still have a sex drive. Note that this does not apply to sexually compulsive women who were usually molested when they were younger, because they like to masturbate every day anyway.
When I was full of testosterone I was horny most of the time, but I was also kinda disgusted with myself and there wasn't really much feeling behind it. Being full of estrogen I have a much deeper meaningful need for sex. It's different, but it's definitely still a sex drive.
I even hear trans girls say things sometimes about having no sex drive or arousal without testosterone, and I really have to wonder how feminine your brain is if having estrogen instead of testosterone makes you lose sexual function. Most trans women have a regular female sex drive.
About hormones
Everybody has some estrogen and some testosterone. The testicles are not the only things that make testosterone; your adrenal glands make testosterone, and in some people they make a lot. I know one person who had her testicles removed and her pituitary started making excessive testosterone. So sometimes you can have a lot of testosterone without testicles. After all, genetic women have no testicles, and some of them have plenty testosterone.
If you take testosterone (like a bodybuilder on steroids) your body will eventually atrophy your testicles because they're not needed. Your body also tries to balance itself out. Habitual steroid abusers eventually need breast reductions because their body starts producing a lot of estrogen and they grow little boob lumps (gynecomastia). The opposite is also true to some extenet.
All sex hormones are steroids, and all steroids compete with each other to some degree for steroid receptors. Testosterone blocks estrogen and estrogen blocks testosterone.
This leads us to the fact that trans girls need to be on testosterone blockers. It is actually more important to be on testosterone blockers than it is to be on estrogen. Being on estrogen alone won't usually do much except maybe give you a tiny lump behind your nipples because you still have all that testosterone, and when your estrogen increases your body might increase your testosterone to compensate.
Growing boobs can be difficult
Most trans women would really like to grow boobs instead of just getting a boob job. This can be very difficult. Everybody is affected differently by different hormones and different drugs. Some people grow big boobs just by taking 2mg of estrogen per day and a testosterone blocker, but this is very rare. Most people's liver destroys the majority of estrogen taken in pill form. People generally resort to upping their dosage to high levels (greater risk of blood clots), switching to Premarin (horse estrogen which is more effective but also has greater risk of side effects), or switching to injections. Some people try various forms of progesterone. There are also different testosterone blockers, but the vast majority of people in the US take Spiro.
But the bottom line is many people go crazy and will do whatever it takes for feminization with no regard for their ability to maintain an erection or ejaculate. If they think it'll help they'll probably get an orchiectomy (castration).
Testosterone blockers are chemical castration
A genetic female has some testosterone. Even a castrated male has some testosterone. But a transsexual on testosterone blockers usually has much lower testosterone than either one.
When you're on testosterone blockers your testicles will atrophy. In a few months you'll be permanently sterile. In about a year your testicles will be much smaller. After that, you are essentially castrated. If you stop taking testosterone blockers your testicles probably aren't going to make a recovery and return to their normal size.
Many people who have gone back off T-blockers regained some testosterone after a few months, but that's not guaranteed. Many people can stop taking T-blockers and as long as they still take estrogen that's enough to suppress the testosterone.
I stopped taking T-blockers and estrogen for a month because my meds got lost in the mail (actually the Indian post office sent them to the wrong country), and I felt totally run down, severely depressed, and crazier than usual. I also lost 10 lbs. and am close to looking anorexic. I did not, however, revert to waking up with a raging hard-on and grow hair on my ass just because I haven't gotten rid of my testicles.
Some people can be on testosterone blockers for years, but as soon as they stop their testosterone will shoot back up because their pituitary makes a lot of testosterone. But testosterone blockers will still permanantly change your body.
Most girls in shemale porn aren't taking hormones
Or at least they're not taking significant levels. It's hard enough to grow boobs when you're doing all you can. It's nearly impossible to find some middle ground where you can grow boobs but still use your cock on demand like a pornstar.
A trans girl on estrogen gets a dark stripe all the way down her urethra. This is very easy to spot.
When you're on hormones, you can still have an orgasm, but you're not going to shoot a lot of cum. Some people have totally dry orgasms within a few months. Some people still produce ejaculate after years on hormones, but it's a lot less, and it's not going to get airborn.
Notice that in most shemale porn they also have obvious boob jobs. Plenty non-pornstar trans girls get boob jobs, but in porn it's at least 90% because most of them aren't even trying to feminize except superficially through surgery.
About erections...
When you have the testosterone of a male you wake up with an erection every day. When you don't, you don't wake up with an erection. It just never happens. And you don't get random erections for no reason throughout the day. This doesn't mean you can't get an erection, but it does make 100% mental. Some trans women are proud of never getting erections, but for many it's definitely possible. Still, you have to be legitimately turned on, so people who are on hormones often use Viagra to get it up for porn. Viagra works fine because all it does is dilate the blood vessels and give you an artificial hard-on. No testosterone required.
A lot of girls on hormones say they can't get it up. You definitely have to be in the right place mentally. I get them, but they're often pretty painful. Many times I've felt like I had the world's biggest erection and ... well ... it was barely hard. But usually things work OK.
Why would anybody get castrated?
Testosterone blockers can be harsh. I take Cypro (Cyproterone, or Androcur). That's what many people outside the US take, but in the US it is not approved by the FDA, so all the trans women in the US take Spiro (Spironolactone, or Aldactone). Spiro is a strong potassium-sparing diuretic. When I took it, it constipated me and gave me heart palpations and severe muscle cramps if I got a lot of potassium. Spiro also hinders feminization a bit by counteracting progesterone.
Even after a few years of testosterone blockers, people will still keep taking them just to be sure they don't have testosterone. Getting your testicles removed usually means you can stop taking testosterone blockers (unless your body goes crazy and makes a lot of testosterone without testicles). Then you can be sure that all you need is a little estrogen. It saves you from taking a ton of pills, taking harsh diuretics, and having to look at a weird half-empty scrotum in the mirror.
Physiologically it doesn't make much difference whether or not you have testicles if those testicles aren't functioning anyway. In any civilized country, the people getting orchiectomies have already chemically castrated themselves. No hospital is going to just let you walk in and get the procedure done. You have to be transsexual and have been on hormones for a long time, and then it's just done so you can stop taking T blockers. After an orchiectomy you will stop taking T blockers and you will actually have slightly higher testosterone because of the little bit your body makes outside the testicles.
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