Autogynephilia
Autogynophilia
Autogynephilia and the Taxonomy of Gender
Ray Blanchard, Ph.D.
Identity Disorders in Biological Males
Centre for Addiction and Mental
Health—Clarke Division
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
[Abstract] Full Text [PDF]
Introduction
When I joined the Clarke Gender Identity
Clinic in 1980, the clinical literature included a confusing array of
classification schemes for gender identity disorders in biological males. One
thing that most authorities did agree on is that gender identity disorders are
phenomenologically and probably etiologically heterogeneous. The taxonomic
question, therefore, was not whether there is more than one type of
transsexualism in males, but rather, how many more than one type, and how
these should be characterized.
The research strategy that I used for this
question was to start by distinguishing a larger number of groups and then
reduce this to a smaller number by combining groups that seem to be merely
superficially different variants. I started this research program by returning
to the first taxonomic scheme ever proposed, namely, that advanced by Magnus
Hirschfeld.
Magnus
Hirschfeld distinguished four main types of “Transvestiten”:
heterosexual, asexual,*bisexual, and homosexual. Hirschfeld applied these
labels to transsexuals the same way he did to persons with anatomically
congruent gender identity, that is, to refer to erotic attraction to members
of the same or the opposite biological sex. I therefore began my research by
defining and labeling groups in the manner introduced by Hirschfeld, that is,
according to their erotic interest in men, women, both, or neither.
*These individuals lack erotic interest in
other people but not necessarily all sexual drive.
Overview of This Presentation
The core of this research consists of three
studies
The next two screens present the
methodological features common to all of them
The subsequent screens present the individual
studies, giving, in each case, the number of subjects per group, the dependent
measure(s) investigated, and the results of comparing heterosexual, asexual,
bisexual, and homosexual transsexuals.
Methodology Common to All Studies
The subjects were Clarke gender-dysphoric,
biologically male patients.
The data were individual items or multi-item
scales from a self-administered, paper-and-pencil questionnaire.
The subjects were classified as heterosexual,
asexual, bisexual, or homosexual according to their scores on the Modified
Androphilia and Modified Gynephilia Scales (Blanchard, 1985).
Subjects were selected for these studies if
they endorsed option (c) of the following questionnaire item:
Have you ever felt like a woman?
(a) Only if you were wearing at least one
piece of female underwear or clothing
(b) While wearing at least one piece of
female underwear or clothing and only occasionally at other times as well
(c) At all times and for at least 1 year
(d) Never felt like a woman
Study 1
Blanchard, R. (1985). Typology of
male-to-female transsexualism. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 14, 247-261.
Goal: Compare the four transsexual groups on
history of erotic arousal in association with cross-dressing
Subjects
16 heterosexual transsexuals
12 asexual transsexuals
35 bisexual transsexuals
100 homosexual transsexuals
Dependent Measure: Individual Questionnaire
Item
Did you ever feel sexually aroused when
putting on females’ underwear or clothing?
(a) Yes
(b) No
(c) Never put on females’ underwear or
clothes*
*zero endorsements among subjects in this
study
Results
The results, presented graphically on the
next screen, showed that there were no differences among the asexual,
bisexual, and heterosexual transsexuals, and that all three groups included a
much higher proportion of fetishistic cases than the homosexual group.
Study 2
Blanchard, R. (1988). Nonhomosexual gender
dysphoria. Journal of Sex Research, 24, 188-193.
Goal: Compare the four transsexual groups on
degree of childhood femininity and on age when first assessed at the Clarke
Gender Identity Clinic.
Subjects
16 heterosexual transsexuals
16 asexual transsexuals
16 bisexual transsexuals
16 homosexual transsexuals
Dependent Measure: Feminine Gender Identity
Scale for Males
Sample item: Between the ages of 6 and 12,
did you prefer…(a) to play with boys, (b) to play with girls, (c) didn’t
make any difference, (d) not to play with other children, (e) don’t remember.
Sample item: Between the ages of 6 and 12,
did you…(a) prefer boys’ games and toys (soldiers, football, etc.), (b)
prefer girls’ games and toys (dolls, cooking, sewing, etc.), (c) like or
dislike both about equally, (d) had no opportunity to play games or with toys.
Results
The results (next screen) showed that there
were no differences in the average degree of childhood femininity reported by
the asexual, bisexual, and heterosexual transsexuals. All three groups
reported significantly less feminine identification than did the homosexual
group.
Dependent Measure
Patients’ ages when they first presented
for clinical assessment
Results
The results (next screen) showed that there
were no differences in the average age at which the asexual, bisexual, and
heterosexual transsexuals first presented for assessment. All three groups
were significantly older at initial presentation than the homosexual
transsexuals.
Study 3
Blanchard, R. (1989). The concept of
autogynephilia and the typology of male gender dysphoria. Journal of Nervous
and Mental Disease, 177, 616-623.
Goal: Compare the four transsexual groups on
sexual stimulation from cross-gender fantasy; history of erotic arousal in
association with cross-dressing; amount of heterosexual experience; erotic
interest in other persons; and erotic fantasies of being admired, in the
female persona, by another person
Subjects
19 heterosexual transsexuals
18 asexual transsexuals
58 bisexual transsexuals
117 homosexual transsexuals
Dependent Measure: Core Autogynephilia Scale
Sample item: Have you ever become sexually
aroused while picturing yourself having a nude female body or with certain
features of the nude female form? (a) yes, (b) no, (c) have never pictured
this
Sample item: Have you ever been sexually
aroused by the thought of being a woman? (a) yes, (b) no
Results
The results (next screen) showed that the
heterosexual, bisexual, and asexual transsexuals were all more likely to
report sexual stimulation from cross-gender fantasy than were the homosexual
transsexuals.
Dependent Measure: Cross-Gender Fetishism
Scale
Sample item: Have you ever felt sexually
aroused when putting on women’s perfume or makeup, or when shaving your
legs? (a) yes, (b) no, (c) have never done any of these
Sample item: Has there ever been a period in
your life of 1 year (or longer) during which you always or usually masturbated
if you put on female underwear or clothing? (a) yes, (b) no, (c) have never
put on female underwear or clothing.
Results
The results (next screen) showed that the
erotic arousal value of putting on women’s clothes, perfume, and make-up,
and of shaving the legs was significantly less for the homosexual group than
for the heterosexual, asexual, and bisexual groups, which did not differ from
each other.
Dependent Measure: Heterosexual Experience
Scale
Sample item: Have you ever attempted sexual
intercourse with a female age 17-40? (a) yes, (b) no, and you are older than
25, (c) no, and you are 25 or younger
Sample item: When did you first get married
or begin living common-law? (a) before 30, (b) between 30-40, (c) age 41 or
older, (d) never married or had common-law relations, and you are older than
30, (e) never, and you are 30 or younger
Results
The results (next screen) showed that the
average amount of heterosexual experience reported by the homosexual group was
significantly less than that reported by the three nonhomosexual groups. Note
that the asexual group did not report less heterosexual experience than the
other nonhomosexual groups, despite their lower levels of self-reported erotic
interest in other persons.
Dependent Measure: Alloeroticism Scale
Sample item: Would you prefer to kiss...(a) a
handsome man, (b) a pretty woman, (c) the sex of the person makes little
difference, (d) never had the desire to kiss anybody (except close relatives
or children
Sample item: Do you prefer...(a) to have
sexual intercourse with a man, (b) to have sexual intercourse with a woman,
(c) to satisfy yourself sexually without any partner
Results
The results (next screen) validated the
classification of the asexual subjects by using a different set of
questionnaire items. The asexual group reported less erotic interest in
other persons than the other three groups, which did not differ from each
other.
Dependent Measure: Autogynephilic
Interpersonal Fantasy Scale
Sample item: Have you ever become sexually
aroused while picturing yourself as a woman in the nude being admired by
another person? (a) yes, (b) no, (c) have never pictured this
Sample item: Have you ever become sexually
aroused while picturing yourself as a fully dressed woman being admired by
another person? (a) yes, (b) no, (c) have never pictured this
Results
The results (next screen) showed that the
bisexual group was more likely than all other groups to report erotic
fantasies of being admired, in the female persona, by another person. This
suggests that bisexual transsexuals’ interest in male sexual partners is
mediated by a particularly strong desire to have their physical attractiveness
as women validated by others. This “bisexual” behavior need not reflect an
equal erotic attraction to the male and female physiques (and might be better
characterized as pseudobisexuality).
Discussion
The foregoing studies indicate that there are
only two fundamentally different types of transsexualism in males: homosexual
and nonhomosexual. This finding points to the next question: What do the three
nonhomosexual types have in common? I have suggested that the common
characteristic is an erotic orientation that I have labeled autogynephilia.
Autogynephilia may be defined as a man’s paraphilic tendency to be sexually
aroused by the thought or image of himself as a woman.
According to this hypothesis, heterosexual
transsexuals are males in whom autogynephilia interferes the least with normal
erotic attraction to other persons—although many heterosexual transsexuals
are able to maintain potency with women only by means of cross-gender fantasy
during intercourse. Bisexual transsexuals are males in whom autogynephilia
gives rise to some secondary erotic interest in men that coexists with the
individual’s basic attraction to women. Asexual transsexuals are males in
whom autogynephilia simply overshadows or supplants any erotic attraction to
(external) women.
The concept of autogynephilia is obviously
related to the concept of transvestism—or transvestic fetishism, as it is
called in the DSM. The concept of autogynephilia is much broader, however, in
that it encompasses transvestism as well as erotic fantasies and behaviors in
which the wearing of women’s apparel is secondary or absent altogether. For
example, the favorite masturbatory fantasy of some autogynephiles is simply
the mental image of themselves with a nude female body—not doing anything in
particular or having sex with another person, but simply existing.
Thus, the concept of autogynephilia is useful,
not only for explaining why heterosexual, asexual, and bisexual transsexuals
are more similar to each other than any of them is to the homosexual type, but
also for understanding the essential similarity of transvestism and the many
other forms of sexual behavior in which paraphilic men enact their erotic
fantasies of being women with symbols other than women’s attire.
Citation: In J. M. Bailey (Chair),
Phenomenology and classification of male-to-female transsexualism. Symposium
conducted at the meeting of the International Academy of Sex Research,
Paris. June, 2000.
