Men Trapped in Men's Bodies: Narratives of Autogynephilic Transsexualism

by Anne A. Lawrence

There are few topics in sex research as compelling and confounding to researchers, clinicians, and the general public as that of transsexualism. Upending normative notions of gender, eroticism, and identity, it poses significant scientific and clinical challenges. The book addresses a fascinating and largely unexplored topic within the study of The feelings and desires of conventionally masculine men who are attracted to women yet want to become women themselves. Through a collection and discussion of vivid first-person narratives, the book provides an in-depth examination of these men's unusual propensity to be sexually aroused by the thought of themselves as women and how these men's sexual feelings influence their decisions to seek or undergo sex reassignment. These narratives about autogynephilia by autogynephilic male-to-female (MtF) transsexuals provide the first comprehensive documentation of the erotic ideation that underlies the most common form of MtF transsexualism. The narratives provide empirical evidence for Blanchard's theory of MtF transsexual motivation, and thus are of interest to researchers and theorists studying the phenomenology of MtF transsexualism. The narratives are likely to be eye-opening to psychologists, psychiatrists, physicians, and other professionals who work with MtF Most clinicians probably do not fully appreciate the erotic underpinnings of their clients' condition. A better understanding of their clients' autogynephilic feelings and motivations would enable these professionals to provide more empathetic and effective clinical care.   

Genres: Feminism, Nonfiction, Psychology, Gender, Sexuality, Transgender, Science

258 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 30, 2012

Reviews

[Ada Gynefile · Rating 5 out of 5]

Men Trapped in Men's Bodies, by Anne A. Lawrence, is an exceedingly thorough exploration of the phenomenon of autogynephilic transsexualism—the most prevalent form of transsexualism in western individualistic countries. The author, herself an autogynephilic transsexual, uses her extensive scientific knowledge of MtF transsexualism acquired over a lifetime of clinical and research work in combination with first-person narratives collected from 249 autogynephilic transsexuals over a period of 13 years to paint a vivid picture of the motivations, feelings, and difficulties faced by males whose autogynephilic sexual orientation births and nurtures an unquenchable desire to be of the female sex.

For those whose sexuality is fairly characterized as autogynephilic, this book can be a shocking wake up call that radically reorganizes their self-conception and/or confirms lingering suspicions that they may be what is currently called transgender. Being autogynephilic myself, I can confidently say that both of these were the case for me. This explanation is often felt as deeply unsatisfying and most alleged autogynephiles reject the concept as explanatory of their experience for emotional reasons. As a result, very few end up investigating what the sexology literature has to say about them. This typical reaction has led to nearly universal rejection of the concept of autogynephilia and its associated two type typology of MtF transsexualism within the transgender community. However, it is my deeply informed belief following hundreds of hours of investigation into the scientific literature that the overwhelming bulk of empirical evidence supports this explanation for the ultimate cause of late-onset MtF transsexualism.

Men Trapped in Men's Bodies is a masterful work of scholarship and the capstone achievement of Anne Lawrence's career—an accomplishment that I truly hope she takes pride in. That she courageously persevered in search of empirical truth despite a relentless onslaught of personal attacks and rejection by many of her own kind belies a strength of character and uncommon level of intellectual integrity that is truly inspiring. I am exceedingly thankful to her for speaking difficult truths and in doing so treating me and other autogynephiles as mature adults who are capable of receiving potentially upsetting knowledge about ourselves.

It took over a century to supplant Magnus Hirschfeld's 'Transvestites' (1910) as the best sexological monograph exploring and detailing the paraphilic sexual orientation currently labeled autogynephilia. Hopefully it won't take yet another century for scientists to produce a superior text on this subject, but there's little doubt in my mind that Men Trapped in Men's Bodies will be the #1 sexology book on autogynephilia for many years to come.

[David M]

An admirably candid account. The author had me right up til the very end when s/he suggests puberty blockers may be a legitimate treatment for autogynephilic adolescent boys. I simply can't accept that medicine should be in the business of foreclosing a child's possibilities in life before he even gets the chance to live.

[Gwen · Rating 1 out of 5]

OMG. I think I threw up in my mouth a little.

I cannot believe Anne Lawrence is still writing this trash. This is her latest installment regarding her ongoing self-hating war against trans women.

Lawrence buys into gender stereotypes and claims that many trans women "display few of the interests, behaviors, and psychological traits that are typical of women." Nice.

She also continues the claim that trans women who are attracted to men are "homosexual men". Similarly, she claims that trans women who are attracted to women are "nonhomosexual men". These terms are incredibly insulting to trans women, and despite Lawrence's claims, are NOT terms that are used in most of the medical and scientific literature anymore. Ms. Lawrence is living in the dark ages.

Lawrence continues to spout discredited theories about trans people -- theories by Blanchard, Bailey, Zucker, and, of course, Lawrence. This includes terms like "autogynephilia" that the trans community has rejected completely and utterly.

Anyway, if you are interested in NOT understanding trans women, then this book is for you!

Alternately, if you wish to understand trans women, there are much better books and resources out there.

[Kālikā · Rating 2 out of 5]

A good analysis of autogynephillic transsexualism that aligns with what I have observed in online trans communities, but the author still advocates for autogynephilles to transition, and even encouraged lying if it means you will be able to get the treatments, though the author would like for autogynepillic transsexualism to eventually be acknowledged and accepted as such while still allowing autogynephillic transsexuals the right to transition. The author also expressed support for the use of puberty blockers in young boys.

In the cases presented, many autogynephilles admit they are aroused when their female name is used, or when they are referred to as she/her, so every time anyone does that they are unknowingly participating in these men's paraphillia's and turning them on. Pedophilia and being an adult baby wearing diapers were also co-occurring paraphillias for some of the autogynephilles studied, which won't surprise anyone that has ever looked at their communities.

The trans community hates this book because they fear they will be less accepted if their paraphillia is recognized, and that they will be declined treatment, so they often pretend to have a childhood history of gender dysphoria and effeminate behavior like that of homosexual transsexuals who are treated as "real" transsexuals. It's incorrect to recognize one form of transsexualism as real and the other as just a paraphillia, both are delusional neither effeminate men nor autogynephilles are or can ever be women.

[Stacey Handler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely fascinating investigation into what it means for individuals who suffer from Autogynephilia using their own words. To think that a lot of AGPs don't actually believe AGP exists is astounding to me, as this work lays out clearly all the markers and the individual stories prove the truth of it. This book has cemented a lot of my thoughts about transgenderism, but has also changed some too and I would recommend it to anyone with an interest in transgenderism and the current gender wars.

[Clare · Rating 2 out of 5]

i am tired of transphobes with poor reading comprehension

[hanh · Rating 1 out of 5]

It's difficult for me to write a review of this book because I feel I hate both the author & the content itself. I'm not coming to this from the perspective of someone who doesn't believe in autogynephilia I've seen it and on the internet it's not that hard to find either. Although it is informative about the nuances of this paraphilia I dislike the author's stance and opinions which heightened how painful this feels to read. I don't believe any form of "genuine" trans-genderism or sexualism actually exists it currently sits in the western cultural area christianity often has in the past (you can't PROVE for certain it doesn't exist can you?) the author doesn't seem to believe it exists amongst hetero and bi-sexual men but that it does amongst homosexuals based on how "feminine" and "girly" they act, take of that what you will.

[Alex]

As you might have guessed from the title, this is not a great book

[Elizaveta · Rating 4 out of 5]

I decided to give this book a review, because the opinions on it were very polarized, and I wanted to perchance tip the scales a bit into a more balanced view of the book.
It is a fascinating qualitative account of a multitude of transwomen who candidly state that their desire to transition is due to them wanting to, basically, become what they erotically desire (in a Jungian sense, their relationship with their anima supercedes all others). My partner has also provided me with context that there are some transwomen who stay in the community and for whom being transwomen is important, and there is a part of the community that mostly consists of women who after transition leave the community to live as heterosexual women. These two types correspond neatly to nonhomosexual/homosexual "transsexuals" in the speak of the author.
The thing that drove me to conclude that the author is right in posing that autogynephilia underlies a lot of emotional distress and libidinal response in certain people who decide to transition is the fact that some women reported having fantasies of "becoming a woman" or "feminization", long after they have completed a transition to a point of living full-time and having SRS, so by all accounts, while they didn't grow as women, they have become women.
However, even that point, I feel, is only supported by the fact that so many people have come forth claiming that this is their experience, including my partner, who is an autogynephilic transgender woman. The book is rather weak as scientific literature: most of the literature review is based upon the work of one scholar, and most of the references confirming the author's point of view are of her own writing, which is not representative. I am also particularly not convinced about the whole "pseudobisexuality" business, since it is now known that gender identity, sexual orientation and sex are bimodal, rather than dychotomic. So the argument that all of the sexual attraction to men in nonhomosexual transgender women comes from a desire to be validated by a man is, I feel, unsupported by evidence presented.
I also feel that the author has not developed the concept enough, since it seems that autogynephilic feelings are more prominent not only due to "long-standing" transgender identities, but also due to the fact that the women in these narratives have been suppressing them or hiding them, which is known to induce unwanted thoughts and behaviors of any kind. Little time is given on the pages to the fact that many women who mention stereotypical female sexual roles are on the younger side of things, so there's also a crossinfluence with pornography depicting women as desirable and men as "props". There's also not a discussion on the fact that gender stereotypes and gender-associated activies are not something people are born with, but socialised into, and it is also a known fact that many girls have "male-typical" interests (like robots and hard sciences) if not given social conditioning that their interests are not valid, and vice versa. So, not enough feminism in this book for my taste.
I feel that this book might be really good for transwomen who experience weirdness over not wanting to be a woman since an early age (which is OK) and to some doctors and educators who are willing to see that autogynephilic people (and honesly any transpeople) might not require a full transition, but some parts of it (e.g., whether SRS, facial feminisation, change of clothing, change of lifestyle or breasts augmentation is needed).

[Tokyo D · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is essentially a textbook on the subject of AGP trans. Very academic.

[Celeste · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absolutely fascinating. Gave me an entire different view on my transition. Claims of the accuracy of the typology aside, this lense maps on exactly onto my transition. The (nowadays) transphobic language feels frustrating and invalidating to feel with, but dont let that distract you from the contents of the book