Purpose

Ray Blanchard's autogynephilia typology theory proposed that autogynephilia (sexual attraction to oneself as a woman), a putative cause of transgenderism, is related to but also competes with gynephilia (sexual attraction to women). Blanchard proposed that the relationship between gynephilia and autogynephilia should be curvilinear (upside down U shape) with the highest levels of autogynephilia at moderate levels of gynephilia and he found evidence to support this hypothesis. In their study of male-to-female transgender New Yorkers, Nuttbrock and colleagues (2010) examined a number of aspects of Blanchard's autogynephilic theory. In contrast to Blanchard's theory and findings, they found that transvestic fetishism was linearly (not curvilinearly) related to gynephilia. Nuttbrock et al. also found that age and nonwhite ethnicity predicted transvestic fetishism independently of sexual orientation and proposed that this finding suggests that rather than what Blanchard proposed, transvestic fetishism develops as the result of secrecy and exoticization of the female role that is more common among older and white transgender women. Lawrence (2010) criticized these findings because they were used with a measure of transvestic fetishism, which measures something different to the broader autogynephilia that Blanchard proposed. The purpose of this study was to replicate Nuttbrock et al.'s findings using Blanchard's Core Autogynephilia Scale rather than a transvestic fetishism measurement.

Materials and Methods

We recruited a sample of 201 transsexual women through online forums worldwide and New Zealand transgender support organizations. Participants were given a measure of sexual attraction to women as well as Blanchard's Core Autogynephilia Scale.

Results

In accordance with Nuttbrock et al.'s study and in contrast with Blanchard's theory, we found no evidence of curvilinearity in the relationship between gynephilia and autogynephilia. We also found that ethnicity, but not age, was a significant predictor of autogynephilia, independent of sexual orientation.

Conclusion

These findings replicate most of those in Nuttbrock et al.'s (2010) study and improve-upon them by using a measure of autogynephilia rather than transvestic fetishism. The fact that two out of two replication studies have failed to reproduce Blanchard's findings of a curvilinear relationship between gynephilia and autogynephilia casts doubt upon Blanchard's theory and findings. The finding that ethnicity was related to autogynephilia independently of sexual orientation suggests that it is influenced by cultural differences, and this supports Nuttbrock et al.'s and others' suggestions that rather than autogynephilia being something that causes transgender identities, it develops as a result of shame, secrecy, and eroticization of the female role amongst transfeminine and trans female spectrum people.