On Quantum Desire and why we need a new sexology of gender variance

Sexology has done much damage to the transgender community. The gender identity of trans people has been reduced to a “fetish” or a “paraphilia” (sexual perversion).

Because of this many trans and genderqueer people have stopped talking about their sexuality altogether – fearing that whatever they say will be used against them.

Others have internalized the fetish narrative, courageously trying to embracing it, but unfortunately strengthening the oppression of trans people in the process.

Transgender philosopher Felix Conrad has written several ebooks on crossdreaming and gender variance. In his latest one, Quantum Desire, he argues that trans people will have to develop their own sexology, because ultimately they are the only ones who can understand what this is about.

Read the Felix Conrad Quantum Desire interview here! [UPDATED WITH CORRECT URL]

annihilate-this-week:

This is your regularly scheduled reminder that autogynephilia is a pernicious lie made up to further damage women’s ability to embrace their femininity. If you’re happier when you’re wearing cute girly underwear, there are millions of girls who feel just like you do! (and the vast majority of them are cis)

An introduction to the autogynephilia debate here!

How Transgender YouTube-Celebrity Gigi Gorgeous Debunked Transphobic Science by Being True to Herself

The transphobic autogynephilia theory is based on the idea that the sexual orientation of trans women can be used to divide them into two categories: (1) extremely effeminate gay men and (2) straight men with a sexual paraphilia (autogynephilacs).

(Yepp, it is that toxic, but hear me out.)

According to the theory trans women who come out young, transition early, look sexy and love men belong to the first category. All trans women who love women are per definition the opposite, autogynephiliacs: Bad looking late transitioners.

(I am not making this up!)

The theory is now actively used by right wing extremist and left wing “trans-exclusionary radical feminists” to destroy the lives of trans people.

In comes Gigi.

No, she hasn’t said a word about autogynephilia. But she has proven the theory wrong just by being who she is.

As someone who first came out as a gay man, then as a trans woman, passes well and loves fashion, she has to belong to the first category as these sexist researchers have defined it.

(Wait for it…)

Then she comes out and tells the world that she has fallen i love with a woman.

(Kaboom!)

On Female Embodiment Fantasies

Clare Flourish, trans woman and trans blogger, looks at what Julia Serano has called female embodiment fantasies:

When I fantasise about doing something, or having something done to me, I fantasise about my body, and I fantasised about my body being female or being made to appear female from my mid teens. The fantasy aroused me sexually.

Now I have attained my female body, with my breasts and vagina, expressing myself feminine, I have fewer such fantasies. Because I am attracted to women, I am more likely to fantasise about women’s bodies sexually- my own, or my fantasy partner’s- than androphilic trans women.

When trans women have sexual fantasies they have to imagine themselves as women. What else could they possibly do?

Read the whole blog post here!

For more on the topic of female embodiment fantasies and crossdreaming (sometimes referred to as “autogynephilia” – a toxic and transphobic term to be avoided) see the Crossdreamer blog.

You can discuss this topic over at the Crossdream Life forum.

transphilosopher:

I recognize the topic of this video and some of its contents might be controversial - but it’s based on my experiences and some of the research I’ve done. I’d be curious if y’all think I’m just totally off-base here.

Transphilosopher AKA Rachel discusses the apparent difference between androphiic trans women (those who love men) and gynephilic trans women (those who are attracted to women) in this video, and that is OK.

A few observations:

There is as much variation among trans women as there is among cis women, when it comes to femininity, gender expression, mannerism and looks.

We do not say that a cis woman is not a woman if she refuses to present as stereotypical feminine. If we look around we will see that a majority of women do not live up to the standards of fashion magazines and TV celebrities, and that is OK.

There are also butch cis women who take pride in their masculine gender expressions, and they are accepted as women as well.

Until recently you might have seen – on an aggregated level - some differences between androphilic, straight, trans women and gynephilic, lesbian, trans women, in the sense that the lesbian ones – in general – have appeared less feminine than the straight ones.

The main explanation for this is that the lesbians ones have been more likely to transition later in life, meaning that testosterone has had more time to masculinize their bodies. They have also had less time to learn all that tacit behavior cis women have had a life time to master.

The most likely explanation for them transitioning later is that they try harder to live up to the role of a cis man, hoping that this will bring them the love of cis women. They need the love of women and fear that they might have to live their lives alone if they transition.

And yes, there might be, as Rachel points out, some internalized homophobia at play. Some may also, due to a homophobic upbringing, suppress a natural attraction to men.

Trans researcher Jaimie Veale has argued that we should look at the personalities of the two categories of trans women. Maybe the “people pleasers” are more likely to suppress their female identity (and a possible attraction to men) than the more extrovert and self-confident ones. In other words: Maybe this is not about sexual orientation primarily, but about something else.

I should add that some of the ones who love women might have found a female partner, while presenting as a man, and these trans women often set their lives on hold out of fear of losing that woman and their family.

Straight trans women are more likely to use the gay male community as a testing ground for exploring their own identity. Even if parts of the gay community share traditional negative attitudes towards femininity, there are gay and lesbian spaces where trans and nonbinary people may express femininity and be accepted for it. The drag culture is one such arena. In these arenas feminine behavior is accepted and affirmed.

Now that transgender people are more accepted by society, and now that the Internet have given trans women of all sexual orientation a wider net of support, we see that gynephilic trans women also transition earlier. These trans women appear as feminine as the ones who love men, as far as I can see (and this also applies to Rachel).

Note that the difference between gynephilic and androphilic trans women has been used to split the trans community and stigmatize both groups.

The androphilic ones have been reduced to effeminate gay men who want to seduce straight men, while the gynephilic ones have been presented as fetishistic or autogynephilic straight cis men. This line of research has now been thoroughly debunked by serious researchers, and we should not give in to this kind of reasoning.

The Massey University Study of Transgender People shows, for instance, no significant differences between trans women who love men and those who are attracted to women.

Blanchard and Bailey's racist connections

Over at New Crossdream Life Sofie documents the connection between the sexoligist supporting the toxic autogynephilia theory and the racist Human Biodiversity Institute (HBI).

If someone ever tries to invalidate your identity or the one of your transgender friends using this theory, remember that it has been thoroughly debunked as a pseudo-science! Documentation here!

Who’s transgender and why?

In his latest article Felix Conrad criticizes the idea that terms like crossdressing and crossdreaming can be used to distinguish the “fetishists” from the “real” transgender people:

“Self-knowledge is one of the most important qualities of a happy, enlightened human being. To use an example close to home, a transgender awakening is a major life-event. And that’s the problem with current transgender theory: there are millions of transgender people who are not only denied that rite of self-knowledge – the transgender awakening – but the transgender community actively conspires to make them think they are not transgender.”

Felix points out that crossdreaming (what trans philosopher Julia Serano calls female/male embodiment fantasies) are common and natural among most transgender people, and can not be used to determine the true nature of their gender variance.

And since there is so much diversity among gender variant people, wee need an open, inclusive and compassionate definition of what transgender means:

“Let’s stop centring the transgender experience on ‘identifying as’ and ‘transition.’ More and more transgender people – myself included – are going non-binary, and as well as choosing not to identify as any gender they are retooling transition as a state of mind rather than a state of appearance. You do not have to transition or identify as anything in particular to be transgender…you just have to be gender variant.”

More here!

Illustration: sabelskaya

“Treating trans women as sexual deviants has done them real, concrete harm.”

Noah Berlatsky has an interesting article on the sexualization of trans identities over at The Establishment. Noah looks at how the pseudo-scientific theory of “autogynephilia” has been used to invalidate trans women in particular:

As activist Julia Serano writes, “Reducing a person to their sexual bodies or behaviors sexualizes them. And in our culture, sexualizing someone (i.e., reducing them to their sexuality, rather than seeing them as a whole person) is one of the most effective ways of invalidating a person.”
Feministing editor Jos Truitt writes that that the diagnosis of autogynephilia presumes that “the concept of autogynephilia has had a cruel impact on trans women who aren’t straight, telling us our genders are actually just sexual perversions.”

Berlatsky argues, correctly in my view, that sexual “embodiment” fantasies are quite normal among cis as well as trans people:

In romance novels, in fashion magazines, in spy stories, in porn, men and women and others imagine themselves in different bodies, whether of the same gender or of a different gender. In most cases, these fantasies are not seen as wrong because they are part of cis sexuality, and cis people aren’t seen as abnormal. Trans people’s fantasies are labeled as deviant because trans people themselves are seen as deviant—and then, in a perfect (read: twisted) circle, the “deviant” fantasies become a way to say that trans people, and in this case especially trans women, are broken.

Read the whole article here!

And here is my take on why “feeling sexy” should be considered natural and healthy in both cis and trans people.

Illustration photo: Boggy 22

Looking for students and researchers for transgender studies

Dr. Jaimie Veale is looking for students and researchers who would be interested in studying transgender issues.

Dr. Jaimie Veale (who is transgender herself) has done some extremely important research in transgender people, documenting, for instance, a diversity and a complexity that goes far beyond the traditional dichotomies between two types of male to female transgender people.

In this context she has delivered compelling evidence that undermines the so-called “autogynephilia” theory of Dr. Ray Blanchard of Toronto, a theory that effectively reduces transgender identities to paraphilias.

I have presented some of her research here and here, and you can find more material over at her own web site.

Having spent some time in British Columbia, Jaimie is now back in New Zealand, in a faculty position at the School of Psychology at the University of Waikato.

In time Jaimie hopes to be able to build up a team of researchers interested in everything transgender (crossdreaming included). If you are interested in this kind of research, and would even like to contribute yourself, do not hesitate to contact her. She may even supervise students from a distance.

Jack Molay

How to stop the pseudo-science of autogynephilia from hurting transgender people

So someone has brought up Ray Blanchard’s concept of autogynephilia in a discussion of gender variance and transgender women. They are all sexual perverts, they tell you. The science proves it!

Actually it doesn’t.

Here is some essential reading that will bring you up to speed on the topic of cross-gender arousal, crossdreaming and transgender identities.

Welcome to the seedy side of sexology. Welcome to the autogynephilia debate.

Start with my summary of the AGP controversy.

Julia Serano

Julia Serano, leading trans philosopher and trans activist, presents cross-gender arousal in her highly influential book Whipping Girl, which has just been published in its second edition.

She understands crossdreaming (i.e. arousal from imagening yourself as your target sex) as an expression of a subconscious identity.

Serano has written about her approach to what she calls female embodiment fantasies here.

Serano has also commented on the claim that trans activists are denying the existence of trans-gender arousal.

And here is a more academic paper by Serano: “The Case Against Autogynephilia."

Feeling sexy

Dr. Charles Moser has identified "autogynephilic” fantasies in non-transgender women.

Yeah, i know, cis women have had a different life experience than trans women. The point is simply that they too can get excited by feeling sexy; that does invalidate their identity.

Female to male crossdreamers

If anyone tells you (as Blanchard will) that there are no female to male crossdreamers, you should take a look at my research.

I have written several posts on the lives of FTM crossdreamers and “girlfags”, and know many of them.

You may start here: “The Yaoi Culture and the Female to Male Crossdreamers."

J. Michael Bailey, the Donald Trump of sexology

The novelist Imogen Binnie has written a very sarcastic and funny review of J. Michael Bailey’s book, The Man Who Would be Queen.

Bailey attempted to popularize the autogynephilia theory, revealing the underpinning sexism and gender stereotypes in the process. Binnie captures this in a brilliant manner!

Non-transitioning

If you want a different take on autogynephilia from an MTF crossdreamer who has not transitioned and who does not plan to do so, you should take a look at the writings of Felix Conrad.

He has published a series of well-written (and funny!) reflections on crossdreaming. There is even a couple of books!

And there is more!

For more resources, you may look at Lynn Conway’s site and the resources listed by Andrea James.

I also recommend Kelley Winter’s paper on autogynephilia.

(This blog post was originally published over at Crossdreamers.com).