Autogynephilia

Synonyms

Automonosexuals; Male-to-female transsexualism; Transvestic fetishism; Transvestism

Definition

It is a sexual perversion characterized by a male’s inclination to get sexually aroused by the thought of himself as a female.

Introduction

The term “autogynephilia” is derived from the Greek words “Autos,” referring to “self,” “Gyne” referring to “women,” and “philia,” referring to “love” (Blanchard, 1989b; Wiktionary, 2023). The concept of autogynephilia was introduced by Ray Blanchard (Blanchard, 1989b). Blanchard described autogynephilia as a phenomenon in males, who tend to get sexual arousal after imagining themselves as females (Blanchard, 1989a, b). It is a form of paraphilia. In this form of paraphilia, male-to-female transsexualism is seen, and often cross-dressing is noticed (Lawrence, 2011). As per the available information, about 3% of Western men experience autogynephilia (Lawrence, 2011). The close word that explains autogynephilia is transvestism, as a majority of...