Definition and Origin

Autogynephilia (AGP) literally means "love of oneself as a woman." The term was coined by Canadian psychologist Ray Blanchard in the 1980s at the Clarke Institute (now the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, CAMH) in Toronto. He defined it as "a male's propensity to be sexually aroused by the thought or image of himself as a female" (Moser 2010). Blanchard described several subtypes: arousal at the idea of having a female body (anatomic), wearing women's clothes (transvestic), behaving in stereotypically feminine ways (behavioural), and being seen and desired as a woman by others (interpersonal).

The related term autoandrophilia (AAP) describes the female-typical pattern: arousal at the idea of oneself as a man. It is far less studied — Blanchard's research focused almost entirely on males, and he later disowned the concept — but it appears prominently in female detransitioners' accounts. See the autoandrophilia page for a full analysis.

Blanchard's Typology

Blanchard proposed that male-to-female (MtF) transsexualism comes in exactly two types, distinguished by sexual orientation before transition:

• Homosexual transsexuals: exclusively attracted to men before transition, typically gender-nonconforming since childhood, transition young, and pass well. In this typology "homosexual" refers to same-sex attraction relative to natal sex.
• Autogynephilic transsexuals: attracted to women, bisexual, or asexual; their desire to transition is said to originate in autogynephilia — an inward-directed sexuality in which the man becomes his own object of desire.

Blanchard claimed AGP is "always (or almost always)" present in non-homosexual MtFs and absent in homosexual ones, and that it is clinically significant because it interferes with pair-bonding (Moser 2010). Later, writer and sexologist Anne Lawrence reframed AGP not as a mere fetish but as "a type of sexual orientation and a variety of romantic love," involving both erotic and attachment elements — what she called "becoming what we love" (Lawrence, Men Trapped in Men's Bodies, 2013).

The Scientific Evidence

Evidence cited in favour

• Blanchard's own clinic data showed a strong statistical correlation between non-homosexual orientation and self-reported AGP arousal patterns.
• A 1986 penile plethysmography study (measuring genital blood flow as a gauge of arousal) (Blanchard, Racansky & Steiner) found measurable arousal to cross-dressing narratives in some trans women who denied such arousal — though the measured arousal was minimal and the study never presented subjects with a "sex as a woman with a woman" scenario, which would be the expected fantasy of a gynephilic (attracted to women) trans woman (Moser 2010).
• Some clinicians report that a subset of late-transitioning males have long histories of cross-dressing, feminisation fantasies, or arousal at the thought of being female — a pattern that is clinically observable even by critics of the theory.

Criticisms

The theory has been formally critiqued in the peer-reviewed literature, most notably by Charles Moser (2010). But the most popular rebuttal — "cis women experience it too" — is logically broken and deserves to be taken apart.

The "cis women are AGP too" comparison

Moser's survey asked natal women whether they are "sexually aroused by being a woman" and found that 93% reported some such arousal (Moser 2009, cited in Moser 2010). Veale, Clarke & Lomax (2008) similarly found 52% of their biological female sample scored 6 or above on the Core Autogynephilia Scale. Trans communities cite these findings as proof that AGP is "normal female sexuality" and therefore not a paraphilia.

This comparison is a category error. A natal woman being aroused by "being a woman" is simply being aroused while female. The AGP construct is about being aroused by becoming or imagining yourself as the opposite sex — a male-bodied person fantasizing about having a female body. These are not the same phenomenon. A woman's sexual self-confidence and a man's paraphilic cross-sex fantasy cannot be equated by asking both groups the same question. It is like surveying men "do you enjoy having a penis?" and concluding that men who want to cut theirs off are therefore normal.

What the comparison gets wrong

• Category error. Arousal while female is not arousal by becoming female. The survey question collapses two different things into one.
• Arousal-pattern distinction. AGP arousal is directed at a body one does not have. Female sexual arousal is directed at a body one already has. These are structurally different.
• Unfalsifiability. If a male reports AGP arousal, that confirms the theory. If he denies it, that is "motivated denial" (Blanchard's own explanation). If a woman reports similar arousal, that is "proof" AGP is normal. Every outcome confirms the theory — which means the theory is not falsifiable and therefore not scientific in the strict sense (the trans writer and biologist Julia Serano, 2010).

What the comparison gets right

The critique is not entirely wrong. AGP scales do ask about ordinary experiences — choosing clothes, feeling attractive, enjoying one's appearance — which inflates scores and makes the construct sloppy. If a scale cannot distinguish between a woman enjoying her body and a man fantasizing about having hers, the scale is measuring something too broad. This is a real methodological problem, separate from the category error above.

The stronger critique: is it a theory or a label?

Blanchard's own data showed 87% of transsexuals were "non-homosexual" (i.e. not exclusively attracted to men) — but this does not prove AGP caused their transition. Correlation is not causation. A man can be attracted to women and also have gender dysphoria for reasons unrelated to erotic self-focus. The theory does not predict who will detransition, who will regret transition, or who will be satisfied — which limits its clinical usefulness.

Other criticisms

• Not cleanly separable by orientation. Blanchard's own data showed ~15% of "homosexual" transsexuals reported cross-gender fetishism, and other studies found 10–27% of "non-homosexual" trans women never reported AGP arousal (Moser 2010). Veale et al. found AGP-classified transsexuals reported more attraction to men, not less — at variance with the theory.
• Clinical significance unclear. Moser notes no data show AGP actually interferes with pair-bonding; many trans women have stable partnered relationships. A 2016 review (Nieder et al.) found "no link between sexual orientation and outcome of transition-related health care for trans adults."
• Conflation of populations. Studies often mix erotic cross-dressers (who mostly do not transition) with gender-dysphoric patients seeking transition — a confound repeatedly noted in critiques of Bailey & Hsu (2022).

What the evidence supports

The honest summary is narrow: erotic arousal at the thought of oneself as a woman exists as a real, documented phenomenon in some males, sometimes alongside gender dysphoria and sometimes preceding transition. What the evidence does not establish is Blanchard's stronger claims — that AGP is a paraphilia unique to males, that it is the universal cause of all non-androphilic (not attracted to men) MtF transition, or that it defines two mutually exclusive types of trans women. The DSM-5 (the American Psychiatric Association's diagnostic manual) dropped Blanchard's typology, listing "autogynephilia" only as a specifier for transvestic disorder, not as an explanation of gender dysphoria. Among clinicians working with trans patients today, the typology is widely regarded as unsupported (Wikipedia summary of the literature; Nieder et al. 2016).

Trans Perspectives

Trans-identified people overwhelmingly reject AGP theory, and several arguments recur in their communities:

• "Cis women experience it too." The most common rebuttal is that arousal at one's own body or presentation is normal female sexuality, citing Moser's and Veale's findings. As one commenter put it, the theory is "a false study, that has since been disproven, that's still popular and misunderstood," comparing it to the debunked "alpha wolf" idea (pineapplekief, MTF).
• Sexual feelings don't invalidate identity. Many argue that finding sexual joy in transition is simply human: "It is totally ok to have sexual feelings around transition. Sex is human... it doesn't negate the other kinds of joy transition brings you" (cyborg_sophie, mtf). Post-orgasm doubt is reframed as a dopamine drop plus internalised transphobia, not evidence of fetish.
• A destructive narrative. Some see AGP as "possibly the most destructive narrative of the gender critical movement" adopted by vulnerable community members (Sylvie_Ponders, MTF). Others note that trans people who endorse the theory are often dismissed as "not actually trans."
• Alternative explanations. Trans writers like Julia Serano argue that "female embodiment fantasies" are a product of a repressed subconscious sex, not a paraphilia — i.e. AGP is an effect of being trans, not a cause. Some trans commenters describe patterns that superficially resemble AGP but interpret them differently: "if I admire someone, why wouldn't I want to be like them?" (e-hekuma, MTF).

It is worth noting that these rebuttals have mixed strength. The "cis women do it too" argument is supported by real data (Moser 2009; Veale 2008), but Lawrence and others counter that the adapted questionnaires were not equivalent to Blanchard's, and that arousal to imagining a body one does not have differs from arousal to a body one already has. The "debunked" framing overstates the case: the theory is contested and out of fashion clinically, but the underlying phenomenon is documented in Blanchard's data and in detransitioners' self-reports.

Detrans Perspectives

Detransitioners — particularly males who transitioned and then returned to living as men — are the group most likely to affirm some version of AGP theory from lived experience. A recurring theme in /r/detrans accounts is recognition after detransition:

• Recognition after the fact. "I didn't think I had it when I was in transition despite the signs, I convinced myself it was pseudoscience. But now that I have testosterone and a sex drive — it's very obvious to me that it was AGP... that caused me to transition" (nndndbsbsuzb, detrans male). He describes a "feminine artefact" — an idealised female persona one falls in love with and feels compelled to become.
• Pornography as an accelerant. Several describe escalation through sissy or "shemale" pornography, where "the hatred for the self plus the desire to escape are what eventually molds into a trans identity" (vsapieldepapel, desisted female). One detrans male reports that "porn and autogynephilia drove my transition... transitioning was allowing me to live out my fetish all the time," and that quitting both together was what helped.
• A coping strategy, not just a sex drive. More reflective accounts locate AGP beneath unmet needs: "When you transpose your identity into this female self, you're becoming someone you consider desirable, lovable... the reason you have this coping strategy is because you don't know how to meet that need as male" (cranberry_snacks, desisted). Another describes it as "one hell of a drug... Males with AGP need good, non-affirming therapy" (Ionlyregisyererdbeca, desisted male).
• Clinicians who affirmed instead of explored. A common regret: "My fetish was normalized and encouraged by transition-activist doctors. I was told... that all women fantasize about their own bodies, and that this was further proof I needed HRT and surgery. Had I received proper counseling instead, I could have kept my fetish in the bedroom" (joliphotia, detrans male).
• The female side: autoandrophilia. Female detransitioners describe parallel patterns — arousal at imagining oneself as a man, often intertwined with yaoi and BL ("boys' love") fiction, romance stories about men written mainly for women: "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). Others describe it as "the female version of autogynephilia" driving a butch-then-FTM trajectory (furbysaysburnthings, detrans female). Commenters note AAP is discussed far less than AGP, partly because female sexuality expresses it less crudely. See the autoandrophilia page for a full analysis.
• Not everyone agrees AGP explains everything. Some detransitioners see it as one factor among trauma, internalised homophobia, autism, and social contagion; others caution against treating it as a total explanation. A few describe AGP as a "secondary factor" layered on alienation from masculinity or mental illness (sydney-speaks, detrans male).

Female detransitioners also raise the feminist objection that AGP-as-female-sexuality erases women's actual experience: "saying that agp is just normal female sexuality is asserting that... women trying to see themselves as men see them... is what OUR sexuality is, when it's in fact a projection of male sexuality" (portaux, desisted).

Analysis: What Can Be Concluded Logically

1. The phenomenon exists. Males who are sexually aroused by imagining themselves as women are documented in clinical literature and describe themselves readily. Denying this requires dismissing both Blanchard's data and detransitioners' testimony.

2. The strong theory is underdetermined. Blanchard's claim that AGP causes all non-androphilic MtF transition, is absent in women, and forms two clean types is contradicted by his own data's exceptions and by the unfalsifiability introduced by the "denial" hypothesis. A correlation between gynephilia and AGP-type arousal is not proof of a distinct paraphilic type.

3. The "cis women are AGP too" rebuttal is logically incoherent. It compares a woman's arousal at being female to a man's arousal at becoming female — structurally different phenomena. The fact that AGP scales score natal women highly shows the scales are sloppy, not that male AGP is normal female sexuality.

4. Both sides overclaim. Trans communities often say AGP is "debunked" — it is not; it is contested. Blanchardians often say AGP explains "all" non-androphilic transition — the evidence supports "some," not "all." The truth in between: erotic self-focus cross-cuts gender identity, and in a subset of males it appears to be a significant driver of transition desire.

5. Clinical relevance is real regardless of theory. Whether one calls it a paraphilia, an orientation, or erotic self-focus, patients whose transition desire is entangled with sexual arousal deserve honest exploration before irreversible interventions. Detransitioners' accounts of being affirmed rather than assessed (joliphotia, detrans male) echo broader findings that 55% of surveyed detransitioners felt their initial evaluation was inadequate (Littman 2021).

6. What is needed. Research that separates cross-dressers from transition-seekers, uses proper female control groups, follows patients long-term, and asks about sexual motivation without shaming. The topic is politically toxic in both directions: trans spaces suppress it, and some gender-critical spaces weaponise it. Neither helps the people actually living with it.

References

• Moser, C. (2010). Blanchard's Autogynephilia Theory: A Critique. Journal of Homosexuality. source.
• Moser, C. (2009). Autogynephilia in women. Journal of Homosexuality (cited in Moser 2010). source.
• Veale, J. F., Clarke, D. E., & Lomax, T. C. (2008). Sexuality of male-to-female transsexuals. Archives of Sexual Behavior (cited in Moser 2010 and Serano 2010).
• Blanchard, R., Racansky, I. G., & Steiner, B. W. (1986). Phallometric detection of fetishistic arousal in heterosexual male cross-dressers. Journal of Sex Research (cited in Moser 2010).
• Lawrence, A. A. (2013). Men Trapped in Men's Bodies: Narratives of Autogynephilic Transsexualism. Springer.
• Serano, J. (2010). Autogynephilia, Ad Hoc Hypotheses, and Handwaving. source.
• Nieder, T. O., et al. (2016). Sexuality and transition-related care (review finding no link between sexual orientation and transition outcomes; cited in literature summaries).
• Littman, L. (2021). Individuals Treated for Gender Dysphoria with Medical and/or Surgical Transition Who Subsequently Detransitioned. study page.
• Blanchard, R. (1989). The concept of autogynephilia and the typology of male gender dysphoria. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 177(10), 616–623. PubMed.