Incorrect Assumptions About the Cause of AGP Are Putting Blanchard's MtF Typology in Jeopardy

The cause of autogynephilia (AGP), according to Blanchard, is a "developmental error of target location."  He speculated that autogynephiles (AGPs) misdirect their gynephilic desire towards their own bodies.  As such, gay men should not be able to AGP; they are not attracted to women, so they cannot misdirect a desire for women towards themselves.  It would also be expected that AGPs would show significantly higher solitary sexual desire and less dyadic sexual desire and behaviour than non-AGPs.  If one's sexual desire is directed towards one's self, it follows that they would likely be more interested in solitary sexual activities and less interested in sexual partners.

A study published in 2020, titled Sexual Behavior, Desire, and Psychosexual Experience in Gynephilic and Androphilic Trans Women: A Cross-Sectional Multicenter Study, found that a number of androphilic trans women (41%, n=17) are aroused by cross dressing.  This same study also found that there was no significant difference in solitary, dyadic, and total sexual desire between gynephilic, bisexual, and androphilic trans women.  These findings suggest that the "developmental error of target location" is likely not the cause of AGP.

The developmental error of target location, as it exists for AGP, can be modeled as such:

 

According to this model, gynephilia is necessary for AGP.  This, however, is not supported by the evidence of transvestic arousal in androphilic men.  It is also not supported by the fact that there is no significant difference in dyadic sexual desire between trans women of various sexual orientations.  Opponents of Blanchard's typology and the concept of AGP are able to use the weakness of this model to wrongly dismiss Blanchard's theories about transsexuality outright.

A New Model

My previous two blog posts have shown research I conducted in relation to self-directed and other-directed paraphilic interests.  Generally speaking, about half of people with an other-directed paraphilic interest will also have a self-directed paraphilic interest synonymous to the other-directed interest.  Examples of this are: aroused by vampires, aroused by the idea of being a vampire; aroused by someone else wearing leather, aroused by wearing leather; and aroused by gynandromorphs (shemales), aroused by the idea of being a gynandromorph. Looking in the other direction, about 50-90% of people with a self-directed paraphilic interest will be aroused by an other-directed paraphilic interest synonymous to their self-directed interest.

It's not known what causes paraphilias.  Some may develop in a different manner from others.  Many paraphilic interests appear to develop from a lived experience.  It's unlikely that prior to the invention of balloons, people would develop a paraphilic interest in balloons, for example.  Due to the problems with the "developmental error of target location" model, and the high prevalence of self-directed paraphilic arousal, it appears to be unlikely that one is born with an arousal directed towards the self, and more likely that they are born with the likelihood of developing a self-directed paraphilic interest, or simply a paraphilic interest in general.

Thoughts or concerns relating to the self are likely more impactful than those towards others.  The idea of someone having their hand chopped off is emotionally impactful, but the idea of one's own hand being chopped off is likely even more so.  As such, it makes sense for paraphilic interests to develop that relate to the self.

A model of self-directed paraphilic interests as they relate to AGP would be as follows:

This model shows that some types of self-directed paraphilic interests are considered AGP, while others are not, based on whether or not they involve female human embodiment (desire to be a gynadromorph is considered "partial anatomic AGP").  These are the types of paraphilic interests that would lead to gender dysphoria in some men.  Other self-directed paraphilic interests can also lead to a strong desire to be what one sexually desires, but they are less likely to seek out gender-affirming treatments because they do not relate to being a female human.

When Blanchard came up with his theories regarding MtF transsexualism, it was in the context of treating patients with gender dysphoria.  His perspective was influenced by the types of people he interacted with.  He was not looking at self-directed paraphilic interests on a whole, and was not interacting with people who might have a crippling desire to be something other than a human female - a desire to be a robot, for example.

While AGP could be seen as a somewhat arbitrary cluster of self-directed paraphilic interests, albeit with the common feature of full or partial female embodiment, I believe AGP is still a valuable concept in its relation to gender dysphoria.  Due to the fact that the developmental error of target location causation model for AGP does not hold up under scrutiny, it is likely wise to abandon it.  Otherwise, its flaws can be used to dismiss Blachard's typology outright.

Aroused By Being What You Are Aroused By Part 2 - Looking In the Opposite Direction

In my previous post, I looked at the rate at which those with a particular paraphilic interest were also aroused by the idea of being the interest they were aroused by.  For example, for all the people aroused by vampires (as in, another person is the vampire), this is the % of those who are also aroused by the idea of being a vampire.  The following graph shows the results of that analysis:

I decided to also look in the opposite direction - what % of respondents who are aroused by what they are around by being. For example, of all the people aroused by the idea of being a vampire, this is the % of those also aroused by another person as a vampire.

In most cases, being aroused by the idea of being something is associated with being aroused by that thing.  For example, if you are aroused by the idea of being a vampire, you are most likely aroused by vampires.  I think I might have gotten even higher percentages on some of the items if I changed the wording of the questions.  In most cases, I asked the respondent if they would be aroused by having sex with that person or thing.  It could be that some people are shy about sex.  Also, in some cases the parings were not perfect.  "Balloons" and "being inflated like a balloon" are not a perfect pair, but perhaps balloon fetishism is not something commonly associated with an ETII, and rather an ETLE.

There is a notable difference between men and women when comparing the two graphs.  A woman who is aroused by wearing latex, for example, would be less likely to feel aroused if her partner did the same.  The reverse is true with men.  A man who is aroused by his partner wearing latex, for example, would be less likely to feel aroused if he did the same.  This might indicate that women are more likely to be the object of desire than men.

A random finding that I found interesting when looking through the data is that being aroused by the idea of being a child is more common than being aroused by children.  2% of female respondents are aroused by children, while 10% of female respondents are aroused by the idea of being a child, and 6% of male respondents are aroused by children, while 13% of male respondents are aroused by the idea of being a child.  Sexual interest in children might work differently than most other sexual interests that can also include an ETII.  Using factor analysis, Tailcalled found that sexual attraction to children is associated with a disgust/taboo factor.  Perhaps being part of this factor makes it somehow different from most other paraphilic interests associated with an ETII.  Another possibility is that it's difficult to get data on pedophilia, even if they survey is anonymous, so the data that I gathered is not accurate. 

Discussion on AGP and Future Research

AGP is often described as an ETII towards women.  I think it's possible that this is missing the mark.  I think AGP might be a bunch of different paraphilic interests that include the common feature of a woman.  This might include pregnant women, giant women, or bimbos.  It might also be associated with a paraphilic interest in feminized men.  It's not obvious why some men are into GAMs, but half of men who are attracted to them are aroused by the idea of being one, and 88% of men who are aroused by the idea of being one are also aroused by them (the % might be higher if I change the wording away from having sex with them to a more abstract attraction).  In future research, I might include a photo of an attractive woman and ask the participants if they would be more, less, or equally attracted to her if she was transgender.  If AGPs are more attracted to her if she is transgender, it might indicate that one type of AGP (perhaps the most common) is a paraphilia associated with feminized men.  It would be a good idea to also do this with other types of ETII interests associated with females, in case attraction to feminized men is more like a feature of an ETII towards women.

The Male N's (n=* for the Above Second Graph)

Total - 522

Being a vampire -121

Being an alien - 93

Being a child - 66

Being a doctor - 233

Being inflated like a balloon - 16

Being frozen in place like a statue - 80

Being a religious figure - 83

Having cat ears - 49

Wearing latex - 108

Wearing leather -113

Being a furry - 64

Being a dog - 35

Wearing a diaper - 22

Crossdressing - 114

Being a GAM - 94

Being a transman - 64

Being a bimbo -89

The Female N's (n=* for the Above Second Graph)

Total - 516

Being a vampire - 152

Being an alien - 83

Being a child - 54

Being a doctor - 233

Being inflated like a balloon - 13

Being frozen in place like a statue - 97

Being a religious figure - 81

Having cat ears - 65

Wearing latex - 107

Wearing leather -166

Being a furry - 38

Being a dog - 30

Wearing a diaper - 12

Crossdressing - 103

Being a GAM - 85

Being a transman - 50

Being a bimbo - 120