This is one of the reasons I try to popularize and discuss some of this research here. No one should feel obligated to go into all the details.
Some of you will be interested, however, and if you are, you will soon find that it is hard to get hold of the original peer reviewed papers.
If you do find them, they are often very expensive. A normal price these days is USD 35 per article. But then again, libraries are normally the only ones that buy them. Researchers then go to their libraries to borrow the literature.
I believe we need to discuss the science covering transgender and gender issues, partly because it may help us understand what causes crossdreaming, but also because science is used to stigmatize and dehumanize us. We need to know the research if we are to engage in a discussion with researchers, and tell them our version of the story.
In order to make the research more easily accessible to those who are willing to spend some time on researching the research, some of us have set up The Crossdreamer Science Circle over at Crossdream Life.
This part of Crossdream Life is for those who want to read and comment on relevant scientific material. You have to be a member of Crossdream Life to get access to the XDSC Library, and you have to deliberately sign up to the Circle by adding a comment in the XDSC discussion forum.
The literature that is made available in the library is not to be distributed outside the circle, and we will only add papers that have been legally obtained.
If you are interesting in reading some of the literature that has been covered by this blog, XDSC may help you find the relevant papers.
Jack,
ReplyDeleteIs there any recent research that might show that gynephilic and bisexual transwomen are more feminine than the androhpilic ones?
From my recent observations this seems to be a strong case, though I am not really sure about it!!
-Palta
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ReplyDeleteYou know, this is one of the topics where I am planning a separate post, but which I haven't gotten around to writing yet.
ReplyDeleteNo, I have not seen any research to that effect. I have seen papers that argue that androphilic transwomen are more feminine looking, though.
In fact, this is one of the major points of Ray Blanchard's theory: Gynephilic transwomen are heterosexual masculine men while androphilic transwomen are effeminate gay men.
The transkids.us group make active use of this argument, saying that the observations of Blanchard and his supporters indicate that androphilic transwomen are more naturally feminine than the women-loving type.
Even if Blanchard used his old nurse (really!) to determine who of his research subjects were feminine or masculine and J. Michael Bailey used himself as a witness, there may be something to the idea that androphilic transwomen on average appear more feminine than men. But I believe this is an effect of a socio-cultural selection.
Androphilic transwomen on average transition much earlier than gynephilic transwomen. The traditional argument has been that they become aware of their condition much earlier than the gynephilic ones (in childhood as opposed to at puberty or later).
I think I have demonstrated quite clearly at this blog that this is a myth. A lot of gynephilic crossdreamers report childhood gender dysphoria.
My hypothesis is this one:
Androphilic transwomen have -- as male bodied persons -- role models that the gynephilic transwomen lack: They may initially associate themselves with effeminate gay men.
They can take the role of the gay man and get love, affection and sex that way. That lowers the threshold towards transitioning.
Still, this also means that masculine looking androphilic transwomen have an alternative venue, if they find that they will not be able to pass easily as a woman.
They may have a fulfilling sex life and love life playing the role of the gay man, even if their gender dysphoria will persist.
The selection is therefore for early transitioning feminine looking transwomen.
The gynephilic transwoman will, as a male bodied person, try to attract women.
Not only does the normal social conditioning apply; in this case it is reinforced by the belief that women are looking for masculine men only.
Given that the gynephilic transwoman will lack the feminine role models of the gay society, the only model that seems to make sense is the one of the straight, heterosexual, man.
In fact, surprisingly many male to female gynephilic transgender persons overcompensate, choosing stereotypical male occupations in order to cope with their inner femininity (like in the military).
So while the androphilic train to become a woman in body and mannerisms at an early age, the gynephilic does her best to suppress any sign of femininity.
When, at last, the dysphoria become to intense and the inner woman demands her right, they are partly set in their manly manners.
Moreover, they are much older, and older women look more masculine than younger ones. This is the case whether they have one or two X chromosomes.
What I would like to know, though, is how you have come to the conclusion that the gynephilic look more feminine.
"What I would like to know, though, is how you have come to the conclusion that the gynephilic look more feminine"
ReplyDeleteThey don't look more feminine but they have a less than average appreciation of masculinity for sure. While androphilic transgirls feel repulsed by masculinity within them,they have some attraction to men and world of masculinity (the masculinity outside), something which gynephilic ones lack even more. Most gynephilic and even bisexual transgirls are highly woman-obsessed beings and if possible, could live in a world totally of women.
I don't find the man in the street hot or even delightful to look at even slightly, something the androphilic one will never feel like.I am myself feminine,and I like to see only women and their world, in the street a man wouldn't even catch my eye. Something I have come to conclusion, is peculiar to just me, since most straight men unless homophobic, will also look and appreciate the masculine outlook of some handsome male,perhaps even more. Nothing of masculinity (both within myself as well as of others),interests me and I simply don't understand any beauty of it.
Of course, that is also the reason why I am a non-masculine being in the first place,but when the indifference to masculinity extends to even the world outside,I guess it becomes something more than being just non-masculine.
One androphilic transsexual when she came to know of how I feel about men said-"You are totally weird.... What is in the world of women that you like so much? Don't you like the energetic outlook and stamina of masculine men?"
I just couldn't explain to her,how totally indifferent to the beauty of masculinity I feel.
I must also add that although I do enjoy sex with men for the simple fact that I like being treated as the female therein, I am not even remotely physically attracted to the male body or the man as a person.
ReplyDeleteI was trying to figure out what that means,as lots of bisexual men existed all around me, but none seemed to feel this way.
"Nothing of masculinity (both within myself as well as of others),interests me and I simply don't understand any beauty of it."
ReplyDeleteThis is definitely pretty common among M2F crossdreamers. Maybe it is some kind of hypercorrection. They have spent so much time trying to adapt to an alien masculine role, that they idealize women.
You hit the right spot!
ReplyDeleteAfter spending a horrible lonely childhood trying desperately to fit into an alien culture that neither actually interested me nor made me feel comfortable and right, I found the world of females worth idolizing.
I could also put our experiences this way. Most likely, what happens is that some males are born with a non-masculine brain structure that makes them feel alien to the world of their gender to varying degrees. And as they grow up insecure, they start hyperfeminizing themselves for overcompensation, leading to crossdreaming fantasies!