Summary

In this paper Ray Blanchard introduced the word 'autogynephilia': a male's tendency to be sexually aroused by the thought or image of himself as a woman. He tested the idea on 212 male-to-female transsexual patients at a Toronto gender clinic, grouped by sexual attraction, using a new questionnaire. Patients not attracted to men (those attracted to women, to both sexes or to neither) reported more of this arousal than those attracted to men. Blanchard argued that all gender dysphoria in males not attracted to men is one condition driven by autogynephilia. The idea shaped later research and a label in the main US psychiatric manual (DSM-5), and remains one of the field's most disputed ideas. The evidence is one-time self-reports from one clinic, using a questionnaire built and tested on the same patients. It shows a link, not that arousal causes gender dysphoria.

Key findings

• Blanchard menciptakan kata 'autoginefilia' untuk kecenderungan laki-laki terangsang secara seksual oleh pikiran atau bayangan dirinya sebagai perempuan.
• Studi ini mencakup 212 pasien transseksual dewasa laki-laki ke perempuan, berusia 17 hingga 63 tahun, di layanan gender sebuah klinik jiwa Toronto.
• Pasien dibagi menjadi satu kelompok yang tertarik pada laki-laki dan tiga kelompok lain: tertarik pada perempuan, tertarik pada kedua jenis kelamin, dan tidak tertarik pada keduanya.
• Blanchard membuat kuesioner baru dari pertanyaan yang sudah ada untuk mengukur rangsangan pada fantasi menjadi perempuan, dan membandingkan keempat kelompok di dalamnya.
• Ketiga kelompok yang tidak tertarik pada laki-laki lebih mungkin daripada kelompok yang tertarik pada laki-laki melaporkan rangsangan seksual dari membayangkan diri mereka sebagai perempuan.
• Blanchard menyimpulkan bahwa disforia gender pada laki-laki yang tidak tertarik pada laki-laki adalah satu kondisi, 'disforia gender autoginefilik', terpisah dari disforia gender pada laki-laki yang tertarik pada laki-laki.
• Gagasan ini kemudian masuk ke dalam label di manual psikiatri AS DSM-5, yang dilekatkan pada diagnosis gangguan berpakaian lawan jenis, dan tetap sangat diperdebatkan.

Abstract

This study tested the hypothesis that all gender-dysphoric males who are not sexually aroused by men (homosexual) are instead sexually aroused by the thought or image of themselves as women (autogynephilic). Subjects were 212 adult male-to-female transsexuals. These were divided into four groups; one homosexual and three nonhomosexual. The three nonhomosexual groups were heterosexual, bisexual, and analloerotic (unattracted to male or female partners, but not necessarily devoid of all erotic behavior). A Core Autogynephilia Scale was developed to assess a subject's propensity to be sexually aroused by the fantasy of being a woman. The four transsexual groups were compared on this measure (and on several others), using Newman-Keuls multiple-range tests at p less than .05. As predicted, all three nonhomosexual groups were more likely than the homosexual group to report sexual stimulation by cross-gender fantasy. This finding supports the hypothesis that the major types of nonhomosexual gender dysphoria constitute variant forms of one underlying disorder, which may be characterized as autogynephilic gender dysphoria.

Conclusion

As predicted, all three nonhomosexual groups (heterosexual, bisexual and analloerotic) were more likely than the homosexual group to report sexual stimulation by cross-gender fantasy. Blanchard concluded that this supports the hypothesis that the major types of nonhomosexual gender dysphoria are variant forms of one underlying disorder, which may be characterised as autogynephilic gender dysphoria, and proposed the term autogynephilia ('love of oneself as a woman') for a male's propensity to be sexually aroused by the thought or image of himself as a woman.