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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." At least one scientist believes the concept pertains to romantic love in addition to sexual interest.
The model is an attempt to explain male-to-female transsexual and transgender persons who are not exclusively attracted to males, including lesbian (or "gynephilic"), bisexual and asexual transwomen. The model claims that transwomen (called "gender dysphoric males" by Blanchard) who are not sexually oriented toward men are instead sexually oriented toward the thought or image of themselves as women. Most of the attention paid to Blanchard's work on gender dysphoria focuses on what he calls "nonhomosexual transsexuals" or "autogynephilic transsexuals." He calls those transwomen who are exclusively attracted to males "androphilic" or "homosexual transsexuals."
Sexual fantasies
It has been reported widely in clinical and lay literature that some people have sexual fantasies about being the other sex. These people may or may not also be transgendered. When viewed as a psychosexual pathology, these fantasies are considered a type of paraphilia.
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 controversyThe "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. 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, 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.
Some scientific concerns have been raised. A transgendered psychologist writing under the pen name of Madeline Wyndzen identified four possible scientific concerns with Blanchard's model:
- Blanchard's findings had not been replicated independently at the time of publication.
- Blanchard did not include control groups of typically-gendered women.
- Blanchard did not statistically standardize age differences in his data, and
- Blanchard hypothesized causality from observational data.
Some of these concerns are common to any new idea (independent replication takes time), and others can not be tested in any practical or ethical fashion (causing people to be transsexual to prove causality).
Wyndzen is concerned that Blanchard's research promotes the politically and socially dangerous idea that transsexual people are mentally defective: "Rather than asking the scientifically neutral question, “What is transgenderism?” Blanchard (1991) asks, "What kind of defect in a male's capacity for sexual learning could produce … autogynephilia, transvestitism …?" (p. 246).""
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.
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 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
- Blanchard, R. (1989). The concept of autogynephilia and the typology of male gender dysphoria. Journal of Nervous & Mental Disease, 177, 616–623.
- Lawrence, A. A. (2007). Becoming what we love: Autogynephilic transsexualism conceptualized as an expression of romantic love. Perspectives in Biology and Medicine, 50, 506–520.
- Blanchard, Ray (1989). The Classification and Labeling of Non-homosexual Gender Dysphorias. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 18 (4), 315–334
- Blanchard R (1995). Comparison of height and weight in homosexual versus nonhomosexual male gender dysphorics. Archives of Sexual Behavior 1995 Oct;24(5):543-54.
- Blanchard R (1993). Varieties of autogynephilia and their relationship to gender dysphoria. Archives of Sexual Behavior Volume 22, Number 3 / June, 1993
- Lawrence AA (1998). "Men Trapped in Men's Bodies:"An Introduction to the Concept of Autogynephilia. originally published at annelwrence.com, October 1998. Retrieved August 21, 2006)
- Robin Wilson. Northwestern U. Concludes Investigation of Sex Researcher but Keeps Results Secret. Chronicle of Higher Education, 2004.
- ^ Wyndzen MH (2004). A Personal & Scientific look at a Mental Illness Model of transsexualism Division 44 Newsletter, v.20(1), 3, American Psychological Association
- 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.
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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.
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See also
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
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