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.
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