The erotic fantasies of trans people are not different from those of others
Justin Lehmiller’s fascinating survey of the sexual fantasies of Americans – Tell Me What You Want: The Science of Sexual Desire – puts the sexuality of trans people into a new perspective.
Even though Lehmiller himself makes use of Ray Blanchard’s autogynephilia term, his research effectively debunks that theory.
Lehmiller documents that cross-gender erotic fantasies are as common among those assigned female as those assigned male. In other words: Crossdreaming among MTF trans people who love women cannot be caused by a perverted “male sexuality.”
Lehmiller’s presentation of erotic dreams also documents that fantasies that are regularly used to invalidate the identity of trans women, are shared by cis women as well. This applies, for instance, to the fantasy of being sexy and attractive.
You might argue that the objectification of the female body is caused by an oppressive Patriarchy, as TERFs do. Still, if cis and trans women have internalized that misogyny in the same way, you cannot use such fantasies to invalidate the identity of trans women.
Indeed, the fact that cis and trans women share such fantasies, while cis men are less likely to do so, can be used in support of the identities of the trans women who have such fantasies.
Furthermore Lehmiller documents that as many as one in three Americans may have had erotic crossdreamer fantasies (as in being, or taking the role of, the “opposite” gender). If such fantasies are that common, it makes no sense to define them as “paraphilias” or sexual perversions.
Lehmiller is not the first one who mixes up the phenomenon of crossdreaming with the theory of autogynephilia. Crossdreaming is real. The autogynephilia explanation is wrong.
Most trans activists are very open about the existence of such fantasies. There is no denial of science.
I have published an article about Lehmiller’s book and what it means for trans people here.