Abstract
Men’s sexual arousal patterns have been an important window into the nature of their erotic interests. Autogynephilia is a natal male’s paraphilic tendency to be sexually aroused by the thought or image of being a woman. Autogynephilic arousal per se is difficult to assess objectively, because it is inwardly focused. However, assessing sexual arousal patterns of autogynephilic males in response to external stimuli is also potentially useful. For example, there is substantial association between autogynephilia and gynandromorphophilia (GAMP), or sexual attraction to gynandromorphs (GAMs), colloquially “she-males.” GAMP men’s sexual arousal patterns in response to GAM, female, and male stimuli have recently been characterized. In the present study, we extended this understanding by comparing the sexual arousal patterns of autogynephilic male cross-dressers, GAMP men, heterosexual men, and homosexual men. Erotic stimuli included sexually explicit videos of men, women, and GAMs. Autogynephilic men were much more similar in their arousal patterns to heterosexual and GAMP men than to homosexual men. However, similar to GAMP men, autogynephilic men showed increased arousal by GAM stimuli relative to female stimuli compared with heterosexual men.
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Acknowledgments
We thank Arundati Nagendra for invaluable assistance in maintaining study expenses and materials as well as in recruiting and running participants.
Funding
This study was supported by a research grant from the Provost of Northwestern University (grant number 171-4024200-10031372).
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All research methods and recruitment strategies were approved in accordance with the ethical standards of Northwestern University’s Institutional Review Board for research involving human participants.
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Hsu, K.J., Rosenthal, A.M., Miller, D.I. et al. Sexual Arousal Patterns of Autogynephilic Male Cross-Dressers. Arch Sex Behav 46, 247–253 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-016-0826-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-016-0826-z