Definition and Origin

Autoandrophilia (AAP) literally means "love of oneself as a man." The term describes a pattern in which a female person is sexually aroused by imagining herself as male — having a male body, being seen as a man, or having sex as a man. It is the theorised female counterpart of autogynephilia (AGP).

The term was not coined by Ray Blanchard himself. Blanchard created "autogynephilia" in 1989 to describe males, and when the paraphilias working group for the DSM-5 (the American Psychiatric Association's diagnostic manual) (which he chaired) drafted a "with autoandrophilia" specifier for transvestic disorder in 2010, he later said he had included it only to avoid accusations of sexism: "I proposed it simply in order not to be accused of sexism [...] I don't think the phenomenon even exists" (Blanchard, interviewed in Cameron 2013, Vice). The final DSM-5 (2013) kept only the specifiers "with fetishism" and "with autogynephilia" (American Psychiatric Association 2013); the World Professional Association for Transgender Health's (WPATH's) DSM-5 consensus work group had meanwhile proposed its own, narrower transvestic diagnosis (WPATH work group 2010). Other sexologists, notably Anne Lawrence, had already used the term by 2009.

So AAP exists as a concept in a strange limbo: it was proposed, then disowned by its proposer, then removed from the diagnostic manual — while a growing number of female detransitioners describe exactly the pattern it names.

What AAP Looks Like in Practice

Detransitioners' accounts describe several recurring patterns. These are not clinical subtypes — they are themes in self-reported experience:

• Anatomic AAP: arousal at the idea of having a male body, a penis, or male musculature. One commenter describes "a feeling of bodily mismatch, like as if I 'should' be masturbating/having sex with those genitals instead of mine" (drink-fast, questioning own transgender status).
• Interpersonal AAP: arousal at being seen and desired as a man, or at having sex in a male role. "I felt aroused by the thought of being a feminine man and having sex with men as a man" (DraftCurrent4706, desisted female).
• Autohomoeroticism: a related pattern in which a female person is aroused by the idea of being a gay man — being in a male/male relationship. Blanchard himself used the term "autohomoeroticism" for this (Blanchard, 2018, tweet). This is the pattern most commonly described in /r/detrans accounts involving yaoi and BL ("boys' love") fiction, romance stories about men written mainly by and for women (see below).
• Transvestic AAP: arousal at wearing male clothing or cross-dressing as a man.

The Scientific Evidence

What exists

The honest answer is: almost nothing. As one researcher notes, "there hasn't really been done scientific research of autoandrophilia, so there isn't really much science I can reference" (tailcalled, moderator of r/Blanchardianism). The published literature on AAP is limited to:

• Prevalence estimates using transvestic fetishism as a proxy. General-population studies have found autoandrophilia rates of 0.4% (vs 2.8% for AGP in men), 5.5% (vs 7.2%), and 6.7% (vs 10%) — suggesting AAP exists but is rarer than AGP (cited in tailcalled).
• Survey data from the sex researcher Justin Lehmiller: "11 percent of the women I surveyed reported sexual fantasies about becoming men and that 20 percent had fantasized about dressing up as men" (Lehmiller, cited in the trans writer Julia Serano).
• Veale, Clarke & Lomax (2008) found that 52% of their biological female sample scored 6 or above on the Core Autogynephilia Scale — though this is the same study criticised for the category error described on the AGP page.
• Reddit-based surveys by non-clinical researchers find AAP-like arousal patterns in roughly 50% of female respondents — but Reddit is "way way way more paraphilic than the baseline population" (tailcalled).

What does not exist

There are no large-scale clinical studies of AAP in gender-dysphoric females. There is no equivalent of Blanchard's 1989 clinic data. There is no equivalent of penile plethysmography (a device that measures genital blood flow as a gauge of arousal) (female arousal is harder to measure physiologically). There is no longitudinal research tracking AAP from onset to outcome. The concept is built almost entirely on self-reports, informal surveys, and detransitioners' testimony.

The Blanchard problem

Blanchard's position is internally inconsistent. He proposed the DSM-5 specifier, then said AAP doesn't exist. His stated reason — that women don't have paraphilias in the same way as men — is itself contested. As one commenter notes: "human sexuality studies and just general science (esp medical and psychological) has the tendency to leave out women. Especially in the time period AGP was proposed. Just because something has not been sufficiently studied does not mean it does not exist" (tanoren, desisted).

The psychologist J. Michael Bailey is sceptical of AAP because he is sceptical of paraphilias in women generally, and because AAP "isn't seen much clinically" — but absence of clinical presentation may reflect the fact that clinicians were not looking for it, or that females express it differently (see below).

The asymmetry problem

AAP may not be perfectly symmetrical with AGP. One researcher notes: "AAP in women doesn't seem to be associated with attraction to men, whereas AGP is generally associated with attraction to women... Some parts, such as transvestic AAP, even seem more common in lesbians than straight women" (tailcalled). This suggests AAP might function differently from AGP — or that female sexuality is measured poorly by tools designed for males.

The Yaoi/BL Connection

A striking and recurring theme in female detransitioners' accounts is the role of yaoi (boys' love) manga, BL fiction, slash fanfiction, and gay male erotica in shaping AAP-type fantasies. This is not a minor detail — it appears in a large proportion of /r/detrans accounts from females who transitioned and then detransitioned.

• "I fetishized gay male relationships & sex after consuming a lot of romantic yaoi manga, gay youtube, gay porn, gay tumblr. To put it simply, I had a warped idea that gay men could love each other more deeply than a man could love a woman" (fryurt, detrans female).
• "Me being obsessed with yaoi when I was 13 made me want to be a cute gay anime boy so bad... I think I used this 'character' of a boy to escape my reality of being a traumatised young girl" (cinder_garden, detrans female).
• "I had a lot of sexual fantasies about being a man or just having a penis... I was really into yaoi and BL and that sort of thing (like how a lot of trans women like anime and hentai)" (kanalisieren, detrans female).
• "It's yaoi. Girls (especially gnc and/or gay) get into the yaoi -> trans pipeline. Yaoi gives these girls a way to explore attraction and sex WITHOUT having to encounter the violent sexism of straight porn" (beanndog, detrans female).

One commenter notes the distinction between yaoi (written by and for women) and bara (targeted at gay men): "Yaoi is typically written by women for women — it's Bara that's actually targeted towards real gay men, and these ftm 'trans boys' have little to no interest in Bara at all" (DraftCurrent4706, desisted female). This suggests the fantasy is not about real gay men but about a female-authored idealisation of male/male romance — which is consistent with AAP as an inward-directed fantasy rather than a genuine homosexual orientation.

Trans Perspectives

Trans-identified people generally reject AAP theory, though it receives far less attention than AGP. The main arguments:

• It's identity, not fetish. Trans men describe their attraction to men as simply gay: "Before I accepted that I'm trans, being obsessed with men even felt gay... I felt like I was attracted to men from a man's perspective" (Migitri, ftm). The feeling of being "a man who likes men" is interpreted as evidence of male identity, not autoandrophilia.
• Dysphoria is not arousal. Many trans men describe disgust at being "the woman" in relationships with men, and relief after transition: "I found that i was really against being with men because i hated being their 'girlfriend'" (IUsedAFarcaster, ftm). This is framed as social dysphoria, not sexual paraphilia.
• Sexual feelings don't invalidate identity. The argument that finding oneself attractive as a man is "gender euphoria" or simply confidence, not fetish: "As a trans man, I found myself sexy and attractive... I just found myself attractive as a man" (a detransitioner's account, Chelstrawberrymuffin, detrans female — note this is a detransitioner describing the pattern retrospectively).
• The concept is a slur. Some trans communities treat AAP as a weapon used to delegitimise trans men, similar to how AGP is used against trans women. The LGBTQIA+ wiki describes it as "pseudoscience... used in modern transphobic arguments."

It is worth noting that the trans men's descriptions — "I felt like I was attracted to men from a man's perspective" — are not obviously distinguishable from what AAP describes. The difference is interpretation: one calls it identity, the other calls it paraphilia. The same subjective experience can be framed either way.

Detrans Perspectives

Female detransitioners are the group most likely to describe AAP from lived experience. A recurring theme is recognition after detransition:

• Acknowledging the sexual motivation. "I completely admit that I am autoandrophilic and have been since I was 13... Transitioning didn't help me feel more comfortable with that, it made me feel worse to just completely dissociate with my body. I felt a lot of shame and I think I partially thought of transition as a way of 'fixing' myself. It didn't help. What finally helped me get over the shame was just accepting that my sex is female, and I have AAP, and that really isn't a bad thing" (wetfart41968, questioning own gender transition).
• AAP as a coping mechanism, not just a sex drive. "The fetish is almost always about something deeper, and non-sexual. It's not a perversion, but an atypical way to meet a core need that everyone has... A very loose analogy might be like if you were never taught how to shop at a grocery store and started shoplifting all your food instead" (cranberry_snacks, desisted).
• The yaoi pipeline. As described above, many female detransitioners trace their AAP to yaoi/BL consumption and describe it as a fantasy that was mistaken for identity: "I am not a man born in the wrong body. I am a woman that likes to imagine herself as a male sexually. That's okay" (wetfart41968, questioning own gender transition).
• AAP is discussed far less than AGP. "I hate how everyone loves to go on about AGP but never AAP. This shit effects both sexes and I'd love for it to be talked about more" (drink-fast, detrans female). The silence is partly because female sexuality expresses it less crudely, and partly because the concept was disowned before it could be studied.
• Not everyone agrees AAP is the whole story. Some female detransitioners see AAP as one factor among trauma, internalised misogyny, autism, and social contagion. "I think AGP/AAP happen when we can't find ourselves attractive/worthy as our [natal sex]. Usually because of self disgust borne from trauma or unrealistic/unachievable body goals" (Luck_Unlucky2, desisted female).
• Transition doesn't resolve it. "If you transition, you will not obtain the kind of body that you are fantasizing about, nor will you be able to engage in the kind of sex you are fantasizing about... However, you will face health problems, dependence on the pharmaceutical industry, infertility, discrimination" (DetransLaura, detrans female).

Analysis: What Can Be Concluded Logically

1. The phenomenon exists. Females who are sexually aroused by imagining themselves as men describe themselves clearly and consistently. Denying this requires dismissing both the informal survey data and the testimony of detransitioners. Blanchard's claim that AAP "doesn't exist" is not supported by evidence — it is supported by the absence of research he chose not to do.

2. The scientific evidence is almost nonexistent. Unlike AGP, which has Blanchard's clinic data (however contested), AAP has no large-scale clinical studies. This is a gap in the literature, not a finding. The concept was proposed, disowned, and removed from the DSM before anyone studied it properly.

3. AAP may not be symmetrical with AGP. The association patterns differ — AAP in women does not clearly track attraction to men the way AGP tracks attraction to women. This could mean AAP is a different phenomenon, or that female sexuality is measured poorly by male-designed tools. More research is needed.

4. The yaoi/BL connection is real but not the whole story. A large proportion of female detransitioners describe yaoi as a gateway to AAP-type fantasies. But some describe AAP without any yaoi exposure, and many yaoi fans never develop AAP. The fiction is an accelerant, not a cause.

5. The trans and detrans interpretations are not easily distinguishable. The same subjective experience — "I feel like a man who is attracted to men" — is called identity by one group and paraphilia by the other. Neither interpretation is provable from the inside. What matters clinically is whether the person is making irreversible decisions based on a fantasy that transition cannot fulfil.

6. AAP deserves honest study, not dismissal. The topic is politically toxic: trans spaces dismiss it as a slur, and some gender-critical spaces weaponise it. Neither helps the females living with it. What is needed is research that asks females about cross-sex sexual fantasies without shaming them, follows them long-term, and separates AAP from trauma, autism, and social contagion.

References

• Cameron, L. (2013, April 11). How the psychiatrist who co-wrote the manual on sex talks about sex [interview with Ray Blanchard]. Vice. Statement on autoandrophilia: "I proposed it simply in order not to be accused of sexism [...] I don't think the phenomenon even exists." source.
• Blanchard, R. (2018). Tweet on autohomoeroticism. source.
• Lawrence, A. A. (2009). Coined "autoandrophilia" as the female counterpart to autogynephilia. Cited in transgendermap.com.
• Lehmiller, J. Survey data on female cross-sex fantasies: 11% fantasized about becoming men, 20% about dressing as men. Cited in Serano (2010).
• Veale, J. F., Clarke, D. E., & Lomax, T. C. (2008). Sexuality of male-to-female transsexuals. Archives of Sexual Behavior. Cited in Serano (2010).
• Serano, J. (2010). Autogynephilia, Ad Hoc Hypotheses, and Handwaving. source.
• Prevalence estimates for autoandrophilia (0.4%, 5.5%, 6.7%) from general-population studies using transvestic fetishism as a proxy. Cited in tailcalled's survey summary.
• Genspect (2023). Typology, Classification and Diagnosis of Gender Distress. source.
• WPATH Transvestic Fetishism work group (2010). Should transvestic fetishism be classified in DSM 5? Recommendations from the WPATH consensus process for revision of the diagnosis of transvestic fetishism. International Journal of Transgenderism, 12(4). source.
• American Psychiatric Association (2013). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5): Transvestic Disorder (302.3). source.