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    The reclaimed autogynephilia flag.
    The reclaimed autoandrophilia flag.

    Autogynephilia (AGP) and autoandrophilia (AAP), sometimes also called autohomoeroticism, are paraphilias proposed by sexologist Ray Blanchard to classify lesbian trans women and gay trans men. Blanchard used these terms to promote the idea that transitioning among gay trans individuals is fueled by sexual gratification, a pseudoscience that is still used in modern transphobic arguments.

    Some trans individuals, particularly in the kink community, have reclaimed these terms and ideas.

    History

    Background

    Beginning in the 1950s, clinicians and researchers developed a variety of ways to classify trans individuals, usually based on sexual orientation, age of dysphoria onset, and fetishism. Prior to Blanchard, these classifications generally divided transgender women into two groups: "homosexual transsexuals" (HSTS) if sexually attracted to men, and "heterosexual fetishistic transvestites" if sexually attracted to women. These labels carried a social stigma of mere sexual fetishism, and denied trans women's self-identification of their orientation.[1]

    In 1982, Kurt Freund and colleagues argued there were two distinct types of trans women: one type associated with childhood femininity and attraction to men, and another associated with fetishism and attraction to women. Freund, four of his colleagues, and two other sexologists had previously published papers on "feminine gender identity in homosexual males" and "Male Transsexualism" in 1974. They occasionally also used the term homosexual transsexual to describe transgender men attracted to women.

    Blanchard's Research

    Blanchard conducted a series of studies on people with gender dysphoria, analyzing the files of cases seen in the Gender Identity Clinic of the Clarke Institute of Psychiatry and comparing them on multiple characteristics. These studies have been criticized as bad science for being unfalsifiable and for failing to sufficiently operationalize their definitions.[2] They have also been criticized for lacking reproducibility, and for a lack of a control group of cisgender women.[3]

    Studying patients who had felt like women at all times for at least a year, Blanchard classified them according to whether they were attracted to men, women, both, or neither. He then compared these four groups regarding how many in each group reported a history of sexual arousal together with cross-dressing.[4] He concluded that asexual, bisexual, and lesbian trans women were motivated by erotic arousal to the thought or image of themselves as a woman, and he coined the term autogynephilia to describe this.

    Blanchard's research and conclusions came to wider attention with the publication of popular science books on transsexualism, including The Man Who Would Be Queen (2003) by sexologist J. Michael Bailey and Men Trapped in Men's Bodies (2013) by sexologist and trans woman Anne Lawrence, both of which based their portrayals of male-to-female transsexuals on Blanchard's taxonomy.[5][6][7] The concept of autogynephilia in particular received little public interest until Bailey's 2003 book, though Blanchard and others had been publishing studies on the topic for nearly 20 years. Bailey's book was followed by peer-reviewed articles critiquing the methodology used by Blanchard. Both Bailey and Blanchard have since attracted intense criticism by some clinicians and by many in the trans community.[8]

    Inclusion in the DSM

    In the third edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-III) (1980), the diagnosis of "302.5 Transsexualism" was introduced under "Other Psychosexual Disorders". [9] The diagnostic category, transsexualism, was for gender dysphoric individuals who demonstrated at least two years of continuous interest in transitioning. The subtypes were asexual, homosexual (same "biological sex"), heterosexual (opposite "biological sex"), and unspecified. This was removed in the DSM-IV, in which gender identity disorder replaced transsexualism. Previous taxonomies, or systems of categorization, used the terms classic transsexual or true transsexual.[10]

    The DSM-IV-TR included autogynephilia as an "associated feature" of gender identity disorder and as a common occurrence in the transvestic fetishism disorder, but does not classify autogynephilia as a disorder by itself.[11]

    The paraphilias working group on the DSM-5, chaired by Ray Blanchard, included both with autogynephilia and with autoandrophilia as specifiers to transvestic disorder in an October 2010 draft of the DSM-5. This proposal was opposed by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), citing a lack of empirical evidence for these specific subtypes. WPATH argued that there was no scientific consensus on the concept, and that there was a lack of longitudinal studies on the development of transvestic fetishism.[12]

    Criticism

    Critics of Blanchard's hypothesis include transfeminists such as Julia Serano and Talia Mae Bettcher. Serano describes the concept as flawed, unscientific, and needlessly stigmatizing. According to Serano, "Blanchard's controversial theory is built upon a number of incorrect and unfounded assumptions, and there are many methodological flaws in the data he offers to support it."[13] She argues that flaws in Blanchard's original studies include: being conducted among overlapping populations primarily at the Clarke Institute in Toronto without nontranssexual controls; subtypes not being empirically derived but instead "begging the question that transsexuals fall into subtypes based on their sexual orientation"; and further research finding a non-deterministic correlation between cross-gender arousal and sexual orientation. She states that Blanchard did not discuss the idea that cross-gender arousal may be an effect, rather than a cause, of gender dysphoria, and that Blanchard assumed that correlation implied causation.[3]

    Bettcher, based on her own experience as a trans woman, has critiqued the notion of autogynephilia, and "target errors" generally, within a framework of "erotic structuralism," arguing that the notion conflates essential distinctions between "source of attraction" and "erotic content," and "(erotic) interest" and "(erotic) attraction," thus misinterpreting what she prefers to call, following Serano, "female embodiment eroticism." She maintains that not only is "an erotic interest in oneself as a gendered being," as she puts it, a non-pathological and indeed necessary component of regular sexual attraction to others, but within the framework of erotic structuralism, a "misdirected" attraction to oneself as postulated by Blanchard is outright nonsensical.[14]

    Activist and law professor Florence Ashley writes that the autogynephilia concept has been "discredited", and that Bailey's and Blanchard's work "has long been criticised for perpetuating stereotypes and prejudices against trans women, notably suggesting that LGBQ trans women's primary motivation for transitioning is sexual arousal."[15]

    Modern AGP & AAP Communities

    Despite it's origins as an anti-trans pseudoscience, many trans and cis individuals alike have taken interest in the idea, including many trans people who reclaim it within kink. One individual who frequently posts content related to autoandrophilia, Tumblr user ftmfranknfurter, stated:

    "Another reason why forcemasc is so appealing, especially to mlm transmascs is that so much of the time in our relationships with men, they want to feminise us. It’s almost a cliche that every transmasc has had a bad relationship with a “bi” dude who discourages then from taking T and tries to make them use they/them or she/her pronouns. It’s nice to imagine a fantasy where someone wants us to actively transition, who finds the masculinity hot, who romanticises the changes on T. And I can only hope that this has made more transmascs have higher standards and realise that there are people who do will love you and find you attractive because you are masculine and not because you’re their idea of a hot tomboy."[16]

    Another autoandrophilia blogger, Tumblr user theswitchking, shared a similar sentiment, stating that many transmasculine individuals felt like they're "being finally listened to",

    "like we go through life getting told we’re just confused girls, or we’ll never be man enough, or we probably just didn’t want to be like mommy, or it’s because we’re mentally ill, or a host of other invalidations.

    and then we read a post that’s about someone who wants to see us being more masculine —who sees it as a good thing. who says 'just take the testosterone. this what you really want, isn’t it?'

    and we say, Yes. Yes, it is what I want. Thank you for listening to me."[17]

    Similar sentiments can be found within autogynephilia communities. Tumblr user transexualpirate gained 670 notes on a post stating that the term should be taken back from TERFs. "It's totally fine to be aroused when you feel desirable," he stated. "And it's totally normal to feel desirable when you're experiencing gender euphoria."[18] Tumblr user euniexenoblade also made a statement discussing the reclaimation of autogynophilia, saying that:

    "...with transfems [forcefem is] given this fun new theme of forcing you to do something youre afraid to do yourself. It's less about degradation** around being a woman and more about forcing you to transition or to make you dress more feminine despite how scared you are to do so, the idea that choice is revoked you just have to do it. It's not degrading that you're a woman, it's degrading you don't have a choice. It's about forcing you to do the thing you're scared to do in this transmisogynist culture."[19]

    Neo-Blanchardian terms

    There are some neologisms created as self-concepts within Tumblr blogs or Reddit communities. Examples below:

    Resources

    1. Pfeffer, Carla A. (2016). "Transgender Sexualities". In Goldberg, Abbie E. (ed.). The SAGE Encyclopedia of LGBTQ Studies, Volume 3. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications. pp. 1249–1250.
    2. Bevan, Thomas E. (2015). The Psychobiology of Transsexualism and Transgenderism: A New View Based on Scientific Evidence. Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger.
    3. 3.0 3.1 https://web.archive.org/web/20240406092150/https://www.juliaserano.com/av/Serano-CaseAgainstAutogynephilia.pdf
    4. Lawrence, Anne (2013). Men Trapped in Men's Bodies: Narratives of Autogynephilic Transsexualism. Springer Science+Business Media.
    5. Bancroft, John (2009). "Transgender, gender nonconformity and transvestism". Human Sexuality and its Problems (3rd ed.). Elsevier. pp. 290–291.
    6. Sánchez, Francisco J.; Vilain, Eric (2013). "Transgender Identities: Research and Controversies". In Patterson, Charlotte J.; D'Augelli, Anthony R. (eds.). Handbook of Psychology and Sexual Orientation. Oxford University Press. pp. 47–48.
    7. Ekins, Richard; King, Dave (2006). The Transgender Phenomenon. London: SAGE Publications. pp. 86–87.
    8. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3170124/
    9. https://archive.org/details/femaletomaletran0000loth/page/60/mode/1up?view=theater
    10. https://web.archive.org/web/20240720163724/http://www.mut23.de/texte/Harry%20Benjamin%20-%20The%20Transsexual%20Phenomenon.pdf
    11. Diagnostical and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders: DSM-IV-TR: 4th Edition Text Revision.
    12. https://web.archive.org/web/20220412015209/https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15532739.2010.550766
    13. Serano, Julia (2007). Whipping girl: a transsexual woman on sexism and the scapegoating of femininity. Seal Press. p. 178.
    14. https://www.academia.edu/5300966
    15. Ashley, Florence (August 10, 2020). "A critical commentary on 'rapid-onset gender dysphoria'" (PDF). The Sociological Review. 68 (4): 779–799.
    16. https://web.archive.org/web/20240901214314/https://www.tumblr.com/ftmfranknfurter/747598355986792448/another-reason-why-forcemasc-is-so-appealing?source=share
    17. https://web.archive.org/web/20240901214849/https://www.tumblr.com/theswitchking/748947497222881280/not-to-be-sincere-on-the-horny-blog-but-i-think?source=share
    18. https://web.archive.org/web/20240901215904/https://www.tumblr.com/transexualpirate/728195206922534912/we-should-take-autogynephilia-back-from?source=share
    19. https://web.archive.org/web/20240901220556/https://www.tumblr.com/euniexenoblade/747850789246074880/im-like-absolutely-fascinated-at-how-transfems?source=share
    20. https://archive.is/wZldR
    21. https://web.archive.org/web/20230619085207/https://www.reddit.com/r/AGPAAPmemes/comments/ka063m/agpaap_vs_ahease/
    22. https://web.archive.org/web/20240917210726/https://www.reddit.com/r/4tran4/comments/1bn5dnp/i_am_a_man_with_autogynephilia_and/?rdt=64749
    23. https://web.archive.org/web/20230603185252/https://arco-pluris.tumblr.com/post/640575614999543808/autohomoerotic-ahe-autosapphoerotic-ase
    24. 24.0 24.1 https://archive.is/kI84Y
    25. 25.0 25.1 https://archive.is/OMHFH
    26. https://archive.ph/GVOTn#selection-3997.2-3997.178
    27. 27.0 27.1 27.2 https://archive.is/FlSYd
    28. https://archive.is/p3asY
    29. https://archive.ph/BjFn2
    30. https://archive.is/LlByP
    31. https://archive.is/kgEps#selection-297.0-297.17
    32. https://archive.is/8J3D3#selection-309.0-311.59
    33. https://archive.is/HiJbY
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