In 1989, I published a paper that introduced the word “autogynephilia,” which I defined as a male’s paraphilic tendency to be sexually aroused by the thought or image of himself as a woman. I have therefore often been described, especially online, as the inventor of autogynephilia. Of course, I did not “invent” autogynephilia, any more than Richard von Krafft-Ebing invented pedophilia, Alfred Binet invented fetishism, or Joseph Guislain invented necrophilia. I simply named a phenomenon that previous writers had observed but had not named or else had named in a way that I considered improvable.

In this post, I will present a sample of clinical observations that prefigured my concept of autogynephilia. (1/5) The closest equivalent to my term “autogynephilia” is Magnus Hirschfeld’s 1910 term “transvestism.” I gradually became dissatisfied with the term “transvestism” and especially with the way that this word was defined by psychiatrists after Hirschfeld (e.g., in the DSM). That was because “transvestism” does not merely fail to capture the wide range of erotically arousing cross-gender behaviors and fantasies in which women’s garments per se play a small role or none at all; it actually directs attention away from them. Perhaps worse, it ignores the mental contents of heterosexual men who engage in cross-gender behavior — mental contents that are important in understanding the connection between masturbating in women’s panties at one stage of life and pursuing vaginoplasty at another.

It is important to note that my dissatisfactions about the label “transvestism” were first voiced by Hirschfeld himself. This can be seen in one of the quotes in the attachment. (2/5)

Many people seem to think that heterosexual men are relatively recent arrivals to the ranks of biological males who go into public dressed as women or who present to gender identity clinics with the request for hormonal or surgical feminization. The available evidence indicates that the notion of heterosexual men as Johnny-come-latelies is not accurate. The purpose of this post is to present a few samples of such evidence.

In my opinion, nearly every man of the foregoing type is an autogynephile (AGP), that is, a man who has, or once had, a strong tendency to be sexually aroused by the thought or image of himself as a woman. I will therefore refer to them simply as AGPs, even though the available objective evidence might simply be that they are heterosexual (or non-homosexual). (1/6) The first publicized attempt at surgical sex reassignment was carried out on a previously married man named Einar Wegener. He was a Danish artist who had been married to another artist named Gerda Wegener. Wegener adopted the name Lili Elbe when he transitioned to the female role. Wegener/Elbe underwent surgery of an uncertain nature around 1930.

Wegener/Elbe was the subject of the 2015 movie, The Danish Girl. I believe that Wegener/Elbe was almost certainly an autogynephile, although this popular movie naturally did not stress that point. (2/6)

Here are the publisher’s open-access, read-only links to each chapter of Anne A. Lawrence’s magisterial work, Men Trapped in Men’s Bodies: Narratives of Autogynephilic Transsexualism. The links are given in the next three tweets. Men Trapped, Chaps 1-4.
1. Men Trapped in Men's Bodies:

2. Theory and case histories:

3. Narratives by Autogynephilic Transsexuals:

4. Confronting Autogynephilia:
rdcu.be/dkp65
rdcu.be/dkp66
rdcu.be/dkp7c
rdcu.be/dkp7f

<< Difference Between Old-Time (≈1970–1990) And Contemporary Transsexualism Specialists >>

1 of 4: Old-time clinicians did not adopt patients’ perceptions and viewpoints *as their own*. 2 of 4: Old-time clinicians understood that patients had some incommunicable sensation of “truly” belonging to the opposite sex, and they judged that certain severe, intractable cases would be happier approximating the appearance and social role of the opposite sex.

The reason I emphasize postoperative transsexuals’ access to washrooms is because the ability to void outside of private homes is important for participation in normal life, including work. 1/5 Gender-critical folk who do not want male-to-female transsexuals using women’s washrooms could simply argue that the necessity of urinating or defecating while in public is transsexuals’ problem, not women’s problem, and that it is up to transsexuals to cope as best they can. 2/5

This is a thread about the recent study by Jabbour et al., Robust evidence for bisexual orientation among men. PNAS, pnas.org/content/early/…. Phallometric testing was invented as a penile lie detector, and it is still used for the clinical diagnosis of pedophilia in sexual offenders against children, especially when diagnosis from the patient’s history alone is uncertain.

I’m going to stop tweeting about “reasonable compromise” after this thread, because it’s been unproductive. Here are my final thoughts, which pertain to adults only. 1/5 Compromise for women: I think that male-to-female (MTF) trans should be allowed in women’s rest rooms after vaginoplasty. 2/5

Here is my contribution to Autogynephilia Awareness Day. Shortly after I began assessing and researching men with paraphilias and gender identity disorders, I realized that empathy was not going to take me very far. Either one feels sexual excitement at the thought of putting on women’s underwear, or touching a young child’s genitals, or showing one’s penis in public to strangers, or being bound and gagged - or one does not.

Something I read recently on Twitter prompted me to write this thread. It concerns the days when gender identity clinics were generally associated with university hospitals (roughly, 1970’s and 80’s), and when these clinics operated on the “gatekeeper” model. 1/7 One sometimes hears or reads transsexuals brag that they “told the clinicians what they wanted to hear” and so manipulated clinical staff into writing prescriptions for sex hormones or letters of approval for sex reassignment surgery. 2/7

Why would a male-to-female gender dysphoric present as female, use “she, her, hers” as pronouns, adopt a female name, dress and groom as a woman, change the sex designation on documents to “female,” and use facilities set aside for women - but NOT pursue vaginoplasty? 1/4 1. She is not fully certain about transition and wants to leave the door open to detransition?
2. She lacks the funds (around $20,000 USD) for vaginoplasty?
3. She is afraid of hospitals and surgery? 2/4

JA Brown (@jaybeebrtweets) asked me and @MCSeto, “What is a ‘sexual orientation’, anyway?” Here is my answer. Mike Seto’s might be somewhat different. #humansexresearch 1/9 The term sexual orientation is used by human sexuality researchers in two different ways, depending on their intended meaning of “sexual.” 2/9

The word transgender does not have the same meaning as transsexual, and it cannot be used interchangeably with the word transsexual. 1/7 The word transsexual has become a dirty word for unclear reasons. The word transgender has supplanted it as partly a matter of fashion, partly as a signifier of the speaker’s youth or wokeness, & partly from the preference of trans activists for blurring all distinctions. 2/7

Earlier today I wrote this thread in response to a follower who asked me, “What is your actual position on transgender people?” It looks like my reply has not been delivered to a single person besides the original inquirer, so I am reposting it here. My beliefs include the following 6 elements: (1) Transsexualism and milder forms of gender dysphoria are types of mental disorder, which may leave the individual with average or even above-average functioning in unrelated areas of life.

My detractors like to call me a dinosaur. I agree with them, and I offer three lines of evidence in support of our (shared) position. 1/4 The more I dislike someone, the more polite I become. 2/4

The political and journalistic practice of treating LGBT groups as people with something in common implicitly acknowledges the large overlap between variant sexuality and gender identity disorder. 1/4 Similarities in the childhood histories of transsexual and nontranssexual homosexuals probably reflect etiological similarities. Differences between these groups might reflect a dosage effect or additional cofactors for the trans subjects. 2/4