Autogynephilia

Autogynephilia (Template:PronEng) (from Greek αὐτό (self), γῦνή (woman) and φῖλία (love) — "love of oneself as a woman") is the term coined in 1989 by Ray Blanchard to refer to "a man's paraphilic tendency to be sexually aroused by the thought or image of himself as a woman." It has been suggested that the concept pertains to romantic love in addition to sexual interest.

According to a series of published research findings, Blanchard concluded that biologically male transsexuals who were sexually attracted to males fundamentally differed from biologically male transsexuals who were sexually attracted either to females, to both males and females, or to neither; he referred to the former type as homosexual transsexuals and to the latter type as nonhomosexual transsexuals. Moreover, Blanchard found that the nonhomosexual transsexuals were sexually aroused by the thought or image of themselves as women, referring to them as autogynephilic.

Sexual fantasies

Blanchard classified four subtypes:

• Transvestic autogynephilia: arousal to the act or fantasy of wearing women's clothing
• Behavioral autogynephilia: arousal to the act or fantasy of doing something regarded as feminine
• Physiologic autogynephilia: arousal to fantasies of female-specific body functions
• Anatomic autogynephilia: arousal to the fantasy of having a woman's body, or parts of one

Blanchard, Bailey, and Lawrence theory controversy

Main article: Blanchard, Bailey, and Lawrence theory controversy

The "BBL Controversy" also known as the "Autogynephilia Controversy" is an ongoing and heated line of discussion in the transgendered community. The concept had not received much attention outside of sexology until sexologist Anne Lawrence, who self-identifies as an autogynephile, published a series of web articles about the concept in the late 1990s. Lynn Conway and Andrea James responded to Lawrence's essay. In 2003 J. Michael Bailey published a popular science book The Man Who Would Be Queen, which contained a section on Blanchard's theory of male-to-female transsexualism, including autogynephilia. Conway started an investigation into the publication of Bailey's book by the United States National Academy of Sciences. Accusations of misconduct by Bailey were leveled. Northwestern University investigated Bailey, but did not reveal the findings of that investigation and did not comment on whether or not Bailey had been punished. According to intersex activist and bioethics specialist,[1] Prof. Alice Dreger, Ph.D., who is now one of Bailey's supporters, two of the four transwomen who accused Bailey of misusing their stories were not mentioned anywhere in the book, and Bailey's critics' publication of obscenely titled photographs of his minor children constituted an unconscionable harassment campaign.[2]

Furthermore, critics claim that the distributions of sexual orientation among transsexuals do not reveal two categorically distinct groups, however researcher Yolanda Smith found in a follow up study conducted in the Netherlands:

In this study the two subtypes were indeed found to differ on many characteristics. Replicating some of the previously observed differences, we found that compared with nonhomosexual transsexuals, homosexual transsexuals reported more cross-gendered behavior, appearance and preference in childhood, and they reported less sexual arousal while cross-dressing in adolescence, applied for SR at a younger age, and fewer were (or had been) married."

Study of this theory is ongoing and it is not either accepted or rejected by a majority of psychologists.

Some transwomen have been extremely critical of the theory, especially after the publication of The Man Who Would Be Queen. However, some of the harshest critics in 2003 had previously either explicitly endorsed Blanchard's theory or provided evidence from their own histories that was quite consistent with the theory. For example, one of the harshest nonacademic critics of the theory, Andrea James, had initially endorsed Blanchard's work and considered herself autogynephlic: "I found many of his observations to be quite valid, even brilliant, especially in distinguishing early- and late-transitioning TS patterns of thought and behavior.... ...I readily admit to my own autogynephilia...." Another transwoman, Deirdre McCloskey whose opposition to Bailey's book led her to file several ethical charges against him, had earlier explicitly written about her sexual arousal (as a male) to the idea of becoming a woman:

He always read disproportionately about gender crossers, or about crossdressers who actually lived as women. When in 1994 he ran across 'A Life in High Heels,' an autobiography by Holly Woodlawn, one of Andy Warhol's group, the parts he read and reread and was sexually aroused by were about Woodlawn's living successfully for months at a time as a woman, not her campiness when presenting as a gay genetic man in a dress....Donald's preoccupation with gender crossing showed up in an ugly fact about the pornographic magazines he used. There are two kinds of crossdressing magazines, those that portray the men in dresses with private parts showing and those that portray them hidden. He could never get aroused by the ones with private parts showing. His fantasy was of complete transformation, not a peek-a-boo, leering masculinity. He wanted what he wanted.

Ray Blanchard on men who have sex with men

Ray Blanchard has also hypothesized that autogynephilia is a motivation for some men who have sex with men who identify themselves as heterosexual.

He is quoted in an article by Dan Savage [3] as saying:

"There is a class of heterosexual men called autogynephiles, who are sexually aroused by the thought or image of themselves as women," [...] "They may act out this fantasy in various ways. One common way is to dress up as women and seek sex with men. It is not rare that they employ pornographic movie theaters for this purpose, although that strategy usually limits them to wearing brassieres or panties beneath their male clothes."

"The exciting aspect of the men they have sex with is the symbolic value of the male partner, which enhances their fantasies of being women," [...] "Autogynephiles are not interested in men's bodies, they rarely or never have sex with men when they are not crossdressed, and they are being truthful when they state that they are not gay. In their normal lives, they are unremarkably masculine and they often have wives or girlfriends."

References

Bibliography

• Blanchard, Ray. "The Origins of the Concept of Autogynephilia" (HTML). www.autogynephilia.org. Retrieved 2005-01-09. {{cite journal}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
• Wyndzen, Madeline. "Autogynephilia & Ray Blanchard's Mis-Directed Sex-Drive Model of Transsexuality" (HTML). www.genderpsychology.org. Retrieved 2005-01-09. {{cite journal}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
• Smith, Yolanda L.S. (2005-12-15). "Transsexual subtypes: Clinical and theoretical significance" (PDF). Psychiatry Research. 137 (3). Elsevier: 151–160. doi:10.1016/j.psychres.2005.01.008. Retrieved 2007-06-26. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)

See also

• Autosexuality
• BBL controversy
• List of transgender-related topics

External links

Proponents

• Anderson L (2003). The Autogynephilia Resource
• Fenton JF (2004). "The Lemonade Stand of Desire", from TGForum.com A sociological analysis of the debates around autogynephilia
• Lawrence AA (2000). Sexuality and Transsexuality: A New Introduction to Autogynephilia, from Transsexual Women's Resources

Critics

• Bland J (2003). The 'Science' Behind Autogynephilia
• Conway L (2004). An investigation into the publication of J. Michael Bailey's The Man Who Would Be Queen
• James AJ (2004). "Autogynephilia": A disputed diagnosis, from Transsexual Road Map
• Orens B (2004). Autogynephilia: A Mistaken Model
• Wilson KK (2000). Autogynephilia: New Medical Thinking or Old Stereotype? from GIDreform.org
• Wyndzen MH (2004). Everything You Never Wanted to Know About Autogynephilia (But Were Afraid You Had To Ask), from Psychology of Gender Identity & Transgenderism