Is there such a thing as “autogynephilia”, that is, sexual arousal at the thought of being a woman? The transgender community online adamantly assures each other there is no such thing:
Both screenshots above are from this thread, in which a poster wants to know why his therapist is asking questions about his desire to transition to a woman. Note how the second comment tells the original poster to ditch the therapist who is asking questions, and find someone who will go along with the desire to transition.
There is a great reluctance in the trans community towards the concept that some male people can feel arousal at the thought of themselves as being women. Considering that there are a plethora of different fetishes, people are aroused at pretty much anything from rubber boots to trees, it seems odd to claim that such a thing as autogynephilia does not even exist.
The assertions that AGP does not exist pop up in any discussion where someone is questioning whether they are actually transgender or are experiencing a sexual fetish, like this one.
Denial that AGP exists, together with encouraging physical violence towards the researcher who described it, and implications that he should not be able to get work because his research is unpopular with transgender people.
It is curious also, that there are online communities of self-identified autogynephiles, who happily post away about their fetish and related fantasies, apparently oblivious to the fact that they do not exist (WARNING: links lead to sexually explicit websites).
Posters who identify themselves as transgender very often talk about the sexual component to their transgender identification. In this thread, the following is posted and then deleted:
In another thread, one poster discusses pretending to be a woman when masturbating, then gradually escalating:
In yet another thread, the poster talks frankly about the sexual motivations for wanting to transition:
Yet other posters talk about how arousing it is to wear women’s underwear:
“I get very turned on with the thought of being a girl”, this poster writes, and is reassured that this is normal:
Does anyone else get really turned on checking themselves out in the mirror? asks yet another poster. Among the replies is someone who is aroused by stockings, and someone who masturbates to their own nudes:
Another poster is worried about excessive masturbation:
With one exception, the comments are all about how taking hormones will decrease the poster’s libido. It is not brought up how this young person’s extreme porn consumption might have affected his sexuality and identity.
Finally, let us close this already long post with this post, wherein the poster describes arousal at being called a female name:
“I just get hard for some reason”. We will let those words stand for themselves, and the readers can make up their own minds regarding the existence of autogynephilia.
Transgender Reality 