The Crossdream Life forum, a safe space for all shades of transgender and genderqueer, has been hard to reach for the few days, as forum host Lefora has moved over to new servers.
The forum is now back online. Let’s meet over at Crossdream Life and talk about what it means to be trans gifted!
Visit crossdreamlife.com.
Quote from Transcend Movement.
I am glad to say that transgender women have become much more visible and accepted during the last few years. That is a victory for the transgender community.
But keep in mind that a lot of male to female gender variant people still present as men, some out of fear of harassment, others because they feel at home in their male persona – they just have another side that needs to express herself.
Crossdream Life is a discussion forum for all kinds of trans and genderqueer, crossdressers and crossdreamers included.
For more than 20 years the so-called “autogynephilia” theory has been used to invalidate male to female transgender people. Even if the theory has been dismissed by both LGBTQA activists and most scientists in the field, people still have to respond to it. That has caused a lot of suffering.
Here is a great blog post by Ozymandias, that explains why this is a failed theory that does not capture the realities of being transgender.
Ozymandias suggests an alternative to stigmatizing explanations based on “fetishes”, “effeminate homosexuality” and “paraphilias”:
It is almost as if there are three switches,
- one of which says Figure Out What People Of Your Sex Are Supposed To Do In Your Culture And Do That,
- one of which says Be Attracted To People Of The Other Sex,
- and one of which says Feel Strongly That You Are A Member Of Your Sex.
And then some factor– perhaps prenatal?– has something like a 50% chance of flipping over each individual switch.
So a minority of the population has all three (that is, they are straight feminine trans women), and a lot of people have one or two, but there’s still a strong correlation between the positions of the three switches.
Photo: RomoloTavani
Josie has written a very moving post on the struggle of reconciling a male persona with a strong female gender core.
“What I’m now being forced to face is that this isn’t as simple as sweeping a fetish under the rug. This is wrestling with my very core, my very essence. I’ve spent the last 5 years slapping a band-aid on a broken leg wondering why it still hurts. I don’t hate being a man. I don’t hate my body. It just doesn’t match who I am.
What I do hate is the internal struggle. I hate having a hard time being intimate with people because I’m not comfortable in my own skin. I hate fearing being found out. I hate feeling like if people really knew who I was inside they would run away.
I can’t deny being biologically male, but I can’t keep disrespecting myself by treating my femininity like a masturbation fantasy either. It’s tough to marry these two together, and I’m tired of living my life feeling incomplete. “
(I know that some transgender people dislike terms like “biological male”, arguing that trans women are always biological female. But when you are struggling with this kind of mind/body dissonance, you need a term that describes the fact that you have the body parts of a man. That is an important part of the problem for many transgender people.)
Photo LittleBe80
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.
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!)
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!
Do we need an additional transgender flag for crossdressers and crossdreamers? My answer is no, as the transgender umbrella is wide enough to encompass all gender variant people. We already have a flag for transgender people.
Moreover, many trans men and trans women has explored their identities as crossdressers or crossdreamers at some point of their life journey.
That being said, some new flag proposals give great insight into the way many transgender people think about themselves and their identities and expressions.
In a blog post over at Crossdreamers.com I have looked at some of them.
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
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.
See also my complete list of autogynephilia resources.
(This blog post was originally published over at Crossdreamers.com).
