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 a creat cuvântul „autoginefilie” pentru tendința unui bărbat de a fi excitat sexual de gândul sau imaginea sa ca femeie.
• Studiul a inclus 212 pacienți adulți transsexuali de la bărbat la femeie, cu vârste între 17 și 63 de ani, de la serviciul de gen al unei clinici de psihiatrie din Toronto.
• Pacienții au fost împărțiți într-un grup atras de bărbați și trei alte grupuri: atrași de femei, atrași de ambele sexe și atrași de niciunul.
• Blanchard a construit un chestionar nou din întrebări existente pentru a măsura excitația la fantezia de a fi femeie și a comparat cele patru grupuri pe baza lui.
• Toate cele trei grupuri neatrase de bărbați au avut mai multe șanse decât grupul atras de bărbați să raporteze excitație sexuală la imaginea lor ca femei.
• Blanchard a concluzionat că disforia de gen la bărbații neatrași de bărbați este o singură afecțiune, „disforie de gen autoginefilică”, separată de disforia de gen la bărbații atrași de bărbați.
• Ideea a alimentat ulterior o etichetă din manualul psihiatric american DSM-5, atașată diagnosticului de tulburare de travestire, și rămâne puternic contestată.

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.