EVERYTHING You Need To Know About Autogynephilia

Great article by Jeana Jorgensen on the controversial autogynephilia theory.

She writes:

The main problem, as I see it, is that while some trans women (…) probably are aroused by their erotic imagery of their bodies as female, so are other women, cisgender women (or women assigned female at birth) who might identify as straight, or bi, or lesbian.

We’re all taught that women’s bodies are sexy (thanks, patriarchal male gaze!) and we all probably identify with our bodies as sexual objects to various degrees. So until there’s better research on how women of different types experience their bodies as arousing, it’s unfair to single out and stigmatize trans women as unnaturally drawn to this kind of self-eroticizing imagery.

She also draws attention to the fact that science has often been used to bully those marginalized:

I mean, imagine if male doctors were still intently insisting that all women suffered from hysteria, but every time we tried to speak up and said, “No, actually we are unhappy with the lack of opportunities in our sh*tty Victorian-era lives,” they just shushed us. Or if whenever African-Americans tried to challenge stereotypes that make them out to be more primitive and violent than whites, they were told, “Shut up, because science.”

More here.

Photo: ingram

Women Who Love Cars, Also Known as Autogynephilia

There is a kind of scientist that hides their bigotry behind pseudo-scientific terms and really bad science. One of these theories is the autogynephilia theory. 

It has been thoroughly debunked by those who really know something about the sexuality of trans men and trans women, but it fits the prejudices of transphobes so well, that it is still used to invalidate and harass trans people.

I decided to make a little experiment. What if transferred the logic behind the autogynephilia theory to another group of people? The Greek term Autogynephilia could just as well man “a woman’s love of cars” as “love of oneself as a woman.” 

What if we used the logic of autogynephilia on cis women who love cars? 

You know what? It worked like a charm. 

You can use the old-fashioned gender stereotypes of this kind of sexology to invalidate any group of people who do not live up to the sexual hang-ups of the researchers.

You can read my satirical take on the autogynephilia theory over at Crossdreamers.

All Trans* Inclusive Space • /r/TransSpace

Take a look at the Transpace sub over at reddit. The members are really good at keep each other informed about transgender news and trans issues!

Visit TransSpace here!

Other transgender subreddits you might want to keep an eye on:

• Transgender
  
• FTM
  
• Crossdressing
  
• Genderqueer
  
• TransPositive
  
• Ask Transgender
  
• Ask_transgender
  
• MTF
  
• Crossdreaming
  
• My Partner is Trans
• Trans

Why we need a new narrative for transgender sexuality

I have been reading Felix Conrad’s new ebook on gender variance and sexology. Well written, interesting and provocative, as always. This post will not be so much a review of the book as a commentary on what it covers. We agree that we need a new narrative that makes sense of the sexuality of gender variant people.

Felix’ main point in Quantum Desire: A Sexological Analysis of Crossdreaming is that we need a new sexology for crossdreaming and transgender thinking.

We need a new model, a new narrative, a new way of thinking about sexual desire and gender variance, because right now we are far too busy reacting to the belief systems of old:

You know, the ones that sort gender variant people into categories like “effeminate gay men” and “autogynephiliacs”, “real trans women” and “fetishists”, people “trapped in the wrong bodies” and “sexual perverts”.

We are lacking a new synthesis

The fact that we are arguing against the old is inevitable. This is how human thought evolves. To use the vocabulary of Hegel: We start out with one way of looking at the world (thesis), which is then challenged by another (antithesis) until the world moves on to a third position (synthesis).

What we are lacking is the synthesis. Felix does not provide us with that new model in the book, or at least not fully, but he gives as a pretty good idea about where we have to go.

If I understand him correctly we have to get to the point where we discuss the sexuality and sexual desires of queer and gender variant people freely and openly. We have to get to a point where we are able to make those fantasies an integrated part of transgender identities of all kinds (and I use the word transgender here as an umbrella term for all types of gender variance here).

Right now sexual fantasies of the crossdreamer kind are considered invalidating not only for transsexual women and men – who have transitioned or who want to do so – but also for non-transitioning transgender people (including those genderqueer, crossdressing, drag  and more).

CLICK HERE TO READ THE REST OF THIS POST

Photo:  skab3txina

Wrestling with my very core, my very essence

“Sex is just an avenue to the conscious mind“

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. “   

Read the whole post here!

(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

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.

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!