Post by Ayla on Feb 13, 2016 14:08:53 GMT 8
The idea behind autogynephilia is that you love women so much that you want to be one yourself: you have committed what Blanchard called an “erotic target location error”: you have an erotic target (women) but you have located the target in yourself instead of a real-life woman. Many trans women in Blanchard’s second group reported that they could only climax by having an autogynephilic fantasy, imagining themselves to be feminized in some way or living a female gender role.
That’s the theory in a nutshell. It boils down to the claim that there are two and only two essential kinds of trans women: those who are attracted exclusively to men and those who are lesbian/bi.
There are many points of dispute for Blanchard’s theory. It has been severely criticized along several dimensions, both theoretically and questioning the data itself. I will raise only some of the possible worries about the theory. ..
Would being an autotransgynephiliac delegitimize my identity as a trans woman? Why? Why would that be the case? Why is loving the thought of myself as a trans woman less legitimate than saying I have an intersexed brain, or that I am really a woman trapped in a man’s body?
So what if I “wanted to be trans” or “loved the idea of being trans”? Is that really so bad? Why not phrase it “I didn’t want to live as man with a masculine body and I dont know what other options there are except being known to the world as a trans woman” - I know I don’t want to wear male-coded clothing nor do I want to hear male pronouns directed my way. Nor did I want my body and face to be covered in hair or my chest to be flat. My “desire to be trans” is really just the other side of the coin of no longer wanting to live my life as a crossdressing cis male. That just didn’t seem as desirable as living a life as a trans woman.
Maybe I wanted to socially and medically transition because that would make me happier. If so - what’s wrong with that? So long as I don’t hurt anyone else - why does it matter if I’d rather “choose” to be a trans woman and take hormones than choose to remain living my life where everyone thinks of me as a cis male? Is that so bad? Mainstream trans discourse is so hung up on bio-neurological explanations of I was “born this way” - focusing on brain sex theories, fetal hormone levels, etc. None of that matters to me. I don’t know anything about whether I have a “male brain” or a “female brain” - I’ve never looked at my brain before. But I do know what will make me happy. I do know what my desires are and I know how to take steps to satisfy those desires. I know my desires are not causing anyone else any harm. I know I am happier on HRT than I was before HRT. I know how I want my body to look and I know how I don’t want my body to look. I know how I want others to perceive me and treat me. Scientific technology is available to help me satisfy my desires and I plan on taking full advantage of that technology to help myself live a more enjoyable and satisfying life.
Is being a trans woman such a shitty thing to be in our society that no one in their right mind would rationally choose to be a trans woman? That doesn’t make sense to me. It seems possible that someone could think they’d be happier as a trans woman than being a cis male not because they think they “are a woman” deep down in their brain but because social and medical transition would satisfy their unique set of desires formed by a unique combination of nature and nurture. That’s me. I chose to be trans.
www.philpercs.com/2016/02/autogynephilia-a-critique-and-personal-narrative.html
That’s the theory in a nutshell. It boils down to the claim that there are two and only two essential kinds of trans women: those who are attracted exclusively to men and those who are lesbian/bi.
There are many points of dispute for Blanchard’s theory. It has been severely criticized along several dimensions, both theoretically and questioning the data itself. I will raise only some of the possible worries about the theory. ..
Would being an autotransgynephiliac delegitimize my identity as a trans woman? Why? Why would that be the case? Why is loving the thought of myself as a trans woman less legitimate than saying I have an intersexed brain, or that I am really a woman trapped in a man’s body?
So what if I “wanted to be trans” or “loved the idea of being trans”? Is that really so bad? Why not phrase it “I didn’t want to live as man with a masculine body and I dont know what other options there are except being known to the world as a trans woman” - I know I don’t want to wear male-coded clothing nor do I want to hear male pronouns directed my way. Nor did I want my body and face to be covered in hair or my chest to be flat. My “desire to be trans” is really just the other side of the coin of no longer wanting to live my life as a crossdressing cis male. That just didn’t seem as desirable as living a life as a trans woman.
Maybe I wanted to socially and medically transition because that would make me happier. If so - what’s wrong with that? So long as I don’t hurt anyone else - why does it matter if I’d rather “choose” to be a trans woman and take hormones than choose to remain living my life where everyone thinks of me as a cis male? Is that so bad? Mainstream trans discourse is so hung up on bio-neurological explanations of I was “born this way” - focusing on brain sex theories, fetal hormone levels, etc. None of that matters to me. I don’t know anything about whether I have a “male brain” or a “female brain” - I’ve never looked at my brain before. But I do know what will make me happy. I do know what my desires are and I know how to take steps to satisfy those desires. I know my desires are not causing anyone else any harm. I know I am happier on HRT than I was before HRT. I know how I want my body to look and I know how I don’t want my body to look. I know how I want others to perceive me and treat me. Scientific technology is available to help me satisfy my desires and I plan on taking full advantage of that technology to help myself live a more enjoyable and satisfying life.
Is being a trans woman such a shitty thing to be in our society that no one in their right mind would rationally choose to be a trans woman? That doesn’t make sense to me. It seems possible that someone could think they’d be happier as a trans woman than being a cis male not because they think they “are a woman” deep down in their brain but because social and medical transition would satisfy their unique set of desires formed by a unique combination of nature and nurture. That’s me. I chose to be trans.
www.philpercs.com/2016/02/autogynephilia-a-critique-and-personal-narrative.html