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

• 블랜처드는 남성이 자신을 여성으로 생각하거나 상상하는 것에 성적으로 흥분하는 경향을 가리켜 ‘자기여성애’라는 말을 만들었습니다.
• 이 연구는 토론토 정신과 클리닉 성별 서비스의 성인 남성에서 여성으로의 성전환증 환자 212명(17~63세)을 포함했습니다.
• 환자들은 남성에게 끌리는 한 집단과, 여성에게 끌림, 양성에게 끌림, 어느 쪽에도 끌리지 않음의 세 다른 집단으로 나뉘었습니다.
• 블랜처드는 기존 질문들로 여성이 된다는 환상에 대한 흥분을 측정하는 새 설문지를 만들어 네 집단을 비교했습니다.
• 남성에게 끌리지 않는 세 집단 모두 자신을 여성으로 상상하는 것에서 성적 흥분을 보고할 가능성이 남성에게 끌리는 집단보다 높았습니다.
• 블랜처드는 남성에게 끌리지 않는 남성의 성별 불쾌감이 남성에게 끌리는 남성의 성별 불쾌감과 구별되는 하나의 상태, ‘자기여성애적 성별 불쾌감’이라고 결론지었습니다.
• 이 생각은 나중에 미국 정신과 진단 편람 DSM-5에서 복장도착장애 진단에 붙는 명칭으로 이어졌고, 여전히 강하게 논란이 됩니다.

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.