Blanchard's transgender typology

The phenomenon of transsexuality has not been studied until the 20th century; the first classification of transgender people can be found in the work of Magnus Hirschfeld in 1923 ^[4] . In 1966, Harry Benjamin wrote that researchers at that time thought that attraction to men when they felt like a woman was a factor that distinguished a transvestite from a transgender ^[5] . In 1980, a new diagnosis of “302.5 Transsexualism” was introduced in DSM-III in the section on psychosexual disorders ^[6] . This was an attempt to provide a diagnostic category for gender identity disorders ^[7] .

Autogynephilia (from other Greekαὐτός - "self-", γυνή - “woman” and φιλία - “ love ”; “Love of oneself as a woman”) is a term coined in 1989 by Ray Blanchard, referring to “the perverse tendency of a man to be sexually aroused by the thought or image of himself as a woman” ^[8] . Alternative names for this term: auto-sexuality , aonism and sex-aesthetic inversion ^[9] . DSM-IV-TR includes an almost equivalent definition and recognizes autogynephilia as a common occurrence in fetish transvestism , but does not classify it as a disorder in itself ^[10] . The paraphilia working group included autogynephilia and autoandrophilia as subtypes of transvestism in the DSM-5 , which was opposed by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health due to the lack of obvious empirical evidence for this theory ^{[2] [3]} .

Blanchard gives examples illustrating autogynephilic sexual fantasies from people's stories ^[11] :

Philip began to masturbate during puberty, which he reached at the age of 12 or 13 years. The earliest sexual fantasy he could remember was the desire to have a woman’s body. When he masturbated, he imagined himself to be a naked woman lying alone in her bed. His mental images were concentrated on his chest, vagina, the softness of his skin, and so on, on all the characteristic features of a female physique. She remains his favorite sexual fantasy throughout life.

Original text

Philip was a 38-year-old professional man referred to the author's clinic for assessment .... Philip began masturbating at puberty, which occurred at age 12 or 13. The earliest sexual fantasy he could recall was that of having a woman's body. When he masturbated, he would imagine that he was a nude woman lying alone in her bed. His mental imagery would focus on his breasts, his vagina, the softness of his skin, and so on — all the characteristic features of the female physique. This remained his favorite sexual fantasy throughout his life.

According to Blanchard, “autogynephilia does not necessarily cause sexual arousal every time he presents himself as a woman or behaves like a woman, no more than a heterosexual man automatically experiences an erection when he sees an attractive woman. Thus, the concept of autogynephilia - like heterosexuality, homosexuality or pedophilia - refers to the potential for sexual arousal ” ^[12] .

Blanchard identified four subtypes of autogynephilic sexual fantasies, but noted that "all four types of autogynephilia, as a rule, are combined with other types, and do not occur singly" ^[13] :

• transvestite autogynephilia - excitement from fantasies about dressing in typical women's clothing or from dressing itself;
• behavioral autogynephilia - the excitement comes from actions or fantasies associated with the behavior characteristic of women;
• psychological autogynephilia - excitement from the thought of possessing specific female body functions (pregnancy, menstruation, etc.);
• anatomical autogynephilia - excitement from fantasies of having a female body or some of its features ( chest , vagina).

There are also native men who talked about sexual arousal from the idea of ​​having only some, but not all, elements of the female anatomy, for example, to have a breast, but at the same time keep your penis and testicles; Blanchard called this phenomenon partial autogynephilia ^{[14] [15]} .

Blanchard also considered it more correct to attribute autogynephilia to sexual orientation rather than paraphilia ^[15] .

Blanchard also introduced the term "analeroericism" ( English analloeroticism , from an- - "not", the negative prefix + allo- , from other Greek. ἄλλος - another + erotic - amorous, erotic), meaning the absence of sexual attraction to people of any gender in persons with gender dysphoria ^{[16] [17]} . At the same time, he described cases when autogynephilia was so strongly expressed that it nullified any attraction to real people ^[18] .

To test the possibility that genetic women may also experience autogynephilia, Moser (2009) created an autogynephilia scale for women based on the items used to classify M → F transgender women for autogynephilia in other studies. A questionnaire containing this scale was distributed among 51 women from the employees of the city hospital, of which 29 were completed and returned for analysis. By general definition, as a sensation of erotic excitement from a thought or self-representation as a woman, 93% of respondents recorded autogynephilia. Using a more rigorous definition of “frequent” arousal from such thoughts, autogynephilia was recorded in 28% of respondents ^[19] . However, in a response to an article, Lawrence (2009) criticized Moser's methodology and conclusions, arguing that true autogynephilia is extremely rare in genetic women ^[20] .

Autoandrophilia and autoandrophobia

A similar term autoandrophilia refers to women from birth who are sexually aroused from the thought or self-image as a man ^[21] . Autoandrophilia was classified as a type of fetish transvestism in the preliminary edition of DSM-5 ^[22] , but was not included in the final version. The phenomenon itself was studied much less than autogynephilia, Blanchard said that he proposed this term to avoid accusations of sexism , and in general he was not even sure whether autoandrophilia existed at all ^[23] .

Autoandrophobia (from Greek αὐτός - “self-”, ἀνήρ - “man” and φόβος - “fear”; “fear of being like a man”) is a related but different term from autogynephilia, which was coined by Charles Moser (2010). Some M → F transsexuals who have been contraindicated in taking estrogens (for example, due to deep vein thrombosis ) have noticed that antiandrogens alone are enough to alleviate their gender dysphoria . This indicates that M → F transgender people strive not only to have female characteristics, but also to suppress male ones. According to Moser, “the desire to suppress other sexual interests is not typical for individuals with paraphilia” ^[24] .

• Anne A. Lawrence . Men Trapped in Men's Bodies. Narratives of Autogynephilic Transsexualism . - New York , Heidelberg , Dordrecht , London : Springer, 2012 .-- 242 p. - ISBN 978-1-4614-5181-5 , ISBN 978-1-4614-5182-2 .