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は、男性が自分を女性として考えたり想像したりすることで性的に興奮する傾向に、「自己女性化性愛」という言葉を作りました。
• この研究には、トロントの精神科クリニックのジェンダー部門の、男性から女性へのトランスセクシュアルの成人患者212人（17～63歳）が含まれていました。
• 患者は、男性に惹かれる1つのグループと、他の3つのグループ、すなわち女性に惹かれる人、両方の性に惹かれる人、どちらにも惹かれない人に分けられました。
• Blanchardは、既存の質問から、女性であることを空想するときの興奮を測定する新しい質問票を作り、4つのグループを比較しました。
• 男性に惹かれない3つのグループはすべて、男性に惹かれるグループより、自分を女性として想像することで性的に興奮すると報告する可能性が高くなっていました。
• Blanchardは、男性に惹かれない男性の性別違和は、男性に惹かれる男性の性別違和とは別の、「自己女性化性愛性の性別違和」という1つの状態であると結論づけました。
• この考え方は後に、米国の精神医学の診断基準DSM-5で、異性装障害の診断に付けられたラベルにつながり、今も強く議論されています。

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.