Blanchard conducted a series of studies on people with  gender dysphoria , analyzing the files of cases seen in the Gender Identity Clinic of the  Clarke Institute of Psychiatry  and comparing them on multiple characteristics. [ 8 ] : 10–15   These studies have been criticized as bad science for being  unfalsifiable [ 9 ]  and for failing to sufficiently  operationalize  their definitions. [ 10 ]  They have also been criticized for lacking  reproducibility , and for a lack of a control group of cisgender women. [ 9 ] [ 11 ]  Supporters of the typology deny these allegations. [ 12 ] [ 8 ] : 26


Studying patients who had felt like women at all times for at least a year, Blanchard classified them according to whether they were attracted to men, women, both, or neither. [ 3 ] : 444   He then compared these four groups regarding how many in each group reported a history of sexual arousal together with cross-dressing. 73% of the gynephilic, asexual, and bisexual groups said they did experience such feelings, but only 15% of the androphilic group did. [ 8 ] : 10   He concluded that asexual, bisexual, and gynephilic transsexuals were motivated by erotic arousal to the thought or image of themself as a woman, and he coined the term  autogynephilia  to describe this. [ 3 ] : 444


Blanchard and colleagues conducted a study in 1986 using  phallometry  (a measure of blood flow to the penis), demonstrating arousal in response to cross-dressing audio narratives among trans women. Although this study is often cited as evidence for autogynephilia, the authors did not attempt to measure subjects' ideas of themselves as women. [ 10 ] : 193  [ 13 ]  The authors concluded that gynephilic gender identity patients who denied experiencing arousal to  cross-dressing  were still measurably aroused by autogynephilic stimuli, and that autogynephilia among non-androphilic trans women was negatively associated with tendency to color their narrative to be more socially acceptable. [ 8 ] : 12–13   However, in addition to having methodological problems, the reported data did not support this conclusion, because the measured arousal to cross-dressing situations was minimal and consistent with subjects' self-reported arousal. [ 13 ]  This study has been cited by proponents to argue that gynephilic trans women who reported no autogynephilic interests were misrepresenting their erotic interests. [ 13 ]


Blanchard's research and conclusions came to wider attention with the publication of popular science books on transsexualism, including  The Man Who Would Be Queen  (2003) by sexologist  J. Michael Bailey  and  Men Trapped in Men's Bodies  (2013) by sexologist and trans woman  Anne Lawrence , both of which based their portrayals of male-to-female transsexuals on Blanchard's taxonomy. [ 14 ] [ 15 ] [ 16 ]  The concept of autogynephilia in particular received little public interest until Bailey's 2003 book, though Blanchard and others had been publishing studies on the topic for nearly 20 years. [ 15 ]  Bailey's book was followed by peer-reviewed articles critiquing the methodology used by Blanchard. [ 15 ]
Both Bailey and Blanchard have since attracted intense criticism by some clinicians and by many transgender activists. [ 14 ] [ 15 ] [ 17 ] [ 18 ] : 366


Sexologists may measure sexual orientation using  psychological personality tests , self reports, or techniques such as  photoplethysmography . Blanchard argues that self-reporting is not always reliable. [ 19 ] [ 20 ]  Morgan, Blanchard and Lawrence have speculated that many reportedly "non-homosexual" trans women systematically distorted their life stories because "non-homosexuals" were often screened out as candidates for surgery. [ 21 ]


Blanchard and Freund used the Masculine Identity in Females (MGI) scale and the Modified Androphilia Scale. [ 22 ]  Lawrence writes that homosexual transsexuals averaged a  Kinsey scale  measurement of 5–6 or a 9.86 ± 2.37 on the Modified Androphilia Scale. [ 20 ] [ 23 ]


The concept that androphilia in trans women is related to homosexuality in cisgender men has been tested by MRI studies. [ 24 ] [ 25 ]  Cantor interprets these studies as supporting Blanchard's transsexualism typology. [ 25 ]  These studies show neurological differences between trans women attracted to men and cis men attracted to women, as well as differences between androphilic and gynephilic trans women. The studies also showed differences between transsexual and nontranssexual people, leading to the conclusion that transsexuality is "a likely innate and immutable characteristic". [ 25 ]


According to a 2016 review, structural  neuroimaging  studies seem to support the idea that androphilic and gynephilic trans women have different brain  phenotypes , though the authors state that more independent studies of gynephilic trans women are needed to confirm this. [ 26 ]  A 2021 review examining transgender neurology found similar differences in brain structure between cisgender homosexuals and heterosexuals. [ 27 ]


Autogynephilia  (derived from Greek for "love of oneself as a woman" [ 13 ] [ a ] ) is a term coined by Blanchard [ 14 ] [ 28 ] [ 15 ]  for "a male's propensity to be  sexually aroused  by the thought of himself as a female", [ 13 ] [ 29 ]  intending for the term to refer to "the full gamut of erotically arousing cross-gender behaviors and fantasies". [ 13 ]  Blanchard states that he intended the term to subsume  transvestism , including for sexual ideas in which feminine clothing plays only a small or no role at all. [ 30 ]  Other terms for such cross-gender fantasies and behaviors include  automonosexuality ,  eonism , and  sexo-aesthetic inversion . [ 28 ]


It is not disputed that autogynephilic sexual arousal exists and has been reported by both some transsexuals and some non-transsexuals. [ 13 ] [ 9 ] [ 3 ]  The disputed aspects of Blanchard's theories are the theory that autogynephilia is the central motivation for non-androphilic MtF transsexuals while being absent in androphilic ones, and his characterisations of autogynephilia, including as a  paraphilia . Blanchard writes that the accuracy of these theories needs further empirical research to resolve, [ 3 ] : 445   while others such as the transfeminist  Julia Serano  characterise them as incorrect. [ 9 ]


Blanchard identified four types of autogynephilic sexual fantasy, [ 28 ]  but stated that co-occurrence of types was common. [ 31 ] : 72–73  [ 8 ] : 19–20


The exact proposed nature of the relationship between autogynephilia and  gender dysphoria  is unclear, and the desire to live as a woman often remains as strong or stronger after an initial sexual response to the idea has faded. [ 32 ]  Blanchard and Lawrence argue that this is because autogynephilia causes a female gender identity to develop, which becomes an emotional attachment and something aspirational in its own right. [ 8 ] : 20–21


Many transgender people dispute that their gender identity is related to their sexuality, [ 33 ]
and have argued that the concept of autogynephilia unduly sexualizes trans women's gender identity. [ 34 ] : 1729  [ 35 ]  Some fear that the concept of autogynephilia will make it harder for gynephilic or "non-classical" MtF transsexuals to receive sex reassignment surgery. [ 36 ]  Lawrence writes that some transsexual women identify with autogynephilia, some of these feeling positively and some negatively as a result, with a range of opinions reflected as to whether or not this played a motivating role in their decision to transition. [ 8 ] : 55


In the first peer-reviewed critique of autogynephilia research,  Charles Allen Moser  found no substantial difference between "autogynephilic" and "homosexual" transsexuals in terms of gender dysphoria, stating that the clinical significance of autogynephilia was unclear. [ 10 ] : 193   According to Moser, the idea is not supported by the data, and that despite autogynephilia existing, it is not predictive of the behavior, history, and motivation of trans women.  [ 13 ]  In a re-evaluation of the data used by Blanchard and others as the basis for the typology, he states that autogynephilia is not always present in trans women attracted to women, or absent in trans women attracted to men, and that autogynephilia is not the primary motivation for gynephilic trans women to seek  sex reassignment surgery . [ 13 ]


In a 2011 study presenting an alternative to Blanchard's explanation, Larry Nuttbrock and colleagues reported that autogynephilia-like characteristics were strongly associated with a specific  generational cohort  as well as the ethnicity of the subjects; they hypothesized that autogynephilia may become a "fading phenomenon". [ 15 ] [ 37 ]


Blanchard and Lawrence have classified autogynephilia as a  sexual orientation . [ 13 ] [ 38 ]  Blanchard attributed the notion of some cross-dressing men being sexually aroused by the image of themselves as female to  Magnus Hirschfeld . [ 39 ] [ 29 ]  (The concept of  a taxonomy based on transsexual sexuality  was refined by endocrinologist  Harry Benjamin  in the  Benjamin Scale  in 1966, [ 40 ] [ 41 ]  who wrote that researchers of his day thought attraction to men while feeling oneself to be a woman was the factor that distinguished a transsexual from a  transvestite  (who "is a man [and] feels himself to be one"). [ 40 ] ) Blanchard and Lawrence argue that just like more common sexual orientations such as heterosexuality and homosexuality, it is not only reflected by penile responses to erotic stimuli, but also includes the capacity for pair bond formation and romantic love. [ 31 ] : 73, 75  [ 8 ] : 20–21  [ 42 ]


Later studies have found little empirical support for autogynephilia as a  sexual identity  classification, [ 2 ]  and sexual orientation is generally understood to be distinct from gender identity. [ 43 ] : 94   Elke Stefanie Smith and colleagues describe Blanchard's approach as "highly controversial as it could erroneously suggest an erotic background" to transsexualism. [ 44 ] : 262


Serano says the idea is generally disproven within the context of  gender transition  as  trans women  who are on  feminizing hormone therapy , especially on  anti-androgens , experience a severe drop and in some cases complete loss in  libido . Despite this the vast majority of transgender women continue their transition. [ 45 ]


Blanchard conjectured that sexual interest patterns could have inwardly instead of outwardly directed forms, which he called  erotic target location errors  (ETLE). Autogynephilia would represent an inwardly directed form of gynephilia, with the attraction to women being redirected towards the self instead of others. These forms of erotic target location errors have also been observed with other base orientations, such as pedophilia,  attraction to amputees , and attraction to  plush animals .  Anne Lawrence  wrote that this phenomenon would help to explain an autogynephilia typology. [ 8 ] : 26


The concept of autogynephilia has been criticized for implicitly assuming that cisgender women do not experience sexual desire mediated by their own gender identity. [ 2 ]  Research on autogynephilia in cisgender women shows that cisgender women commonly [ clarification needed ]  endorse items on adapted versions of Blanchard's autogynephilia scales. [ 46 ] [ 47 ]


Moser created an  Autogynephilia Scale for Women  in 2009, based on items used to categorize MtF transsexuals as autogynephilic in other studies. A questionnaire that included the ASW was distributed to a sample of 51 professional cisgender women employed at an urban hospital; 29 completed questionnaires were returned for analysis. By the common definition of ever having erotic arousal to the thought or image of oneself as a woman, 93% of the respondents would be classified as autogynephilic. Using a more rigorous definition of "frequent" arousal to multiple items, 28% would be classified as autogynephilic. [ 47 ]


Lawrence criticized Moser's methodology and conclusions and stated that genuine autogynephilia occurs very rarely, if ever, in cisgender women as their experiences are superficially similar but the erotic responses are ultimately markedly different. [ 15 ] [ 48 ]  Moser responded that Lawrence had made multiple errors by comparing the wrong items. [ 49 ]  Lawrence argues that the scales used by both Veale et al. and Moser fail to differentiate between arousal from wearing provocative clothing or imagining that potential partners find one attractive, and arousal merely from the idea that one is a woman or has a woman's body. [ 8 ] : 176


In a 2022 study, Bailey and Kevin J. Hsu dispute that "natal females" experience autogynephilia based on an application of Blanchard's original Core Autogynephilia Scale to four samples of "autogynephilic natal males", four samples of "non-autogynephilic natal males" and two samples of "natal females". [ 50 ]  Serano and Veale argue that Bailey and Hsu's results do not support their conclusion, because most "natal females" in their research reported at least some autogynephilic fantasies. Furthermore, Bailey and Hsu's "autogynephilic natal male" samples 1, 2, and 4 do not apply to trans people as the majority of the sample were cis crossdressers, not trans women. Sample 3, which was majority trans women, did not have high rates of autogynephilia compared to the other two samples. Serano and Veale also criticize Bailey and Hsu for leaving out two scales that played a central role in Blanchard's original conception of autogynephilia, saying that this implies a much narrower definition of autogynephilia which would have excluded many of Blanchard's original trans subjects. [ 51 ]


Similar to Serano and Veale, Moser also criticizes Bailey and Hsu for mainly comparing the scores of cisgender women with cisgender male crossdressers instead of transgender women. [ 52 ]


Critics of the autogynephlia hypothesis include  transfeminists  such as  Julia Serano  and Talia Mae Bettcher. [ 2 ]  Serano describes the concept as flawed, unscientific, and needlessly stigmatizing. [ 53 ]  According to Serano, "Blanchard's controversial theory is built upon a number of incorrect and unfounded assumptions, and there are many methodological flaws in the data he offers to support it." [ 54 ]  She argues that flaws in Blanchard's original studies include: being conducted among overlapping populations primarily at the  Clarke Institute  in Toronto without nontranssexual controls; subtypes not being empirically derived but instead " begging the question  that transsexuals fall into subtypes based on their sexual orientation"; and further research finding a non-deterministic correlation between cross-gender arousal and sexual orientation. [ 9 ]  She states that Blanchard did not discuss the idea that cross-gender arousal may be an effect, rather than a cause, of gender dysphoria, and that Blanchard assumed that  correlation implied causation . [ 9 ]


Serano also states that the wider idea of cross-gender arousal was affected by the prominence of  sexual objectification  of women, accounting for both a relative lack of cross-gender arousal in transsexual men and similar patterns of autogynephilic arousal in non-transsexual women. [ 9 ]  She criticised proponents of the typology, claiming that they dismiss non-autogynephilic, non-androphilic transsexuals as misreporting or lying while not questioning androphilic transsexuals, describing it as "tantamount to  hand-picking which evidence counts  and which does not based upon how well it conforms to the model", [ 9 ]  either making the typology unscientific due to its unfalsifiability, or invalid due to the nondeterministic correlation that later studies found. [ 9 ]  Serano says that the typology undermined lived experience of transsexual women, contributed to pathologisation and sexualisation of transsexual women, and the literature itself fed into the stereotype of transsexuals as "purposefully deceptive", which could be used to justify discrimination and violence against transsexuals. [ 9 ]  According to Serano, studies have usually found that some non-androphilic transsexuals report having no autogynephilia. [ 9 ]


Bettcher, based on her own experience as a trans woman, has critiqued the notion of autogynephilia, and "target errors" generally, within a framework of "erotic structuralism," arguing that the notion conflates essential distinctions between "source of attraction" and "erotic content," and "(erotic) interest" and "(erotic) attraction," thus misinterpreting what she prefers to call, following Serano, "female embodiment eroticism." She maintains that not only is "an erotic interest in oneself as a gendered being," as she puts it, a non-pathological and indeed necessary component of regular sexual attraction to others, but within the framework of erotic structuralism, a "misdirected" attraction to oneself as postulated by Blanchard is outright nonsensical. [ 55 ]
Activist and law professor  Florence Ashley  writes that the autogynephilia concept has been "discredited", and that Bailey's and Blanchard's work "has long been criticised for perpetuating stereotypes and prejudices against trans women, notably suggesting that LGBQ trans women's primary motivation for transitioning is sexual arousal." [ 56 ]


The concept that trans people with different sexual orientations are etiologically different goes back to the 1920s, [ 57 ] [ 58 ] [ 40 ] [ 59 ]  but the terms used have not always been agreed on. [ 58 ] [ 40 ]


Blanchard said that one of his two types of gender dysphoria/transsexualism manifests itself in individuals who are almost if not exclusively attracted to men, whom he referred to as  homosexual transsexuals . [ 60 ]  Blanchard uses the term "homosexual" relative to the person's  sex assigned at birth , not their current gender identity. [ 13 ]  This use of the term "homosexual" relative to the person's birth sex has been heavily criticized by other researchers. [ 61 ] [ 58 ] [ 62 ] [ 63 ] [ 64 ] [ 40 ]  It has been described as archaic [ 57 ]  confusing, [ 23 ] [ 59 ] [ 65 ]  demeaning, [ 66 ]  pejorative, [ 23 ]  offensive, [ 62 ] [ 67 ]  and  heterosexist . [ 58 ]  Benjamin states that trans women can only be "homosexual" if anatomy alone is considered, and psyches are ignored; he states that after sex-reassignment surgery, calling a male-to-female transsexual "homosexual" is pedantic and against "reason and common sense". [ 68 ]  Many authorities, including some supporters, criticize Blanchard's choice of terminology as confusing or degrading because it emphasizes trans women's assigned sex, and disregards their sexual orientation identity. [ 26 ]  Leavitt and Berger write that the term is "both confusing and controversial" and that trans women "vehemently oppose the label and its pejorative baggage." [ 23 ]


In 1987, this terminology was included in the American Psychiatric Association's  Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders  (DSM-III-R) as "transsexual, homosexual subtype". [ 57 ] [ 63 ]  The later DSM-IV (1994) and DSM-IV-TR (2000) stated that a transsexual was to be described as "attracted to males, females, both or neither". [ 63 ]


Blanchard defined the second type of transsexual as including those who are attracted almost if not exclusively to females (gynephilic), attracted to both males and females (bisexual), and attracted to neither males nor females (asexual); Blanchard referred to this latter set collectively as the  non-homosexual transsexuals . [ 69 ] [ 70 ]  Blanchard says that the "non-homosexual" transsexuals (but not the "homosexual" transsexuals) exhibit  autogynephilia , [ 60 ]  which he defined as a  paraphilic  interest in having female anatomy. [ 29 ] [ 30 ]


Professor of anatomy and reproductive biology  Milton Diamond  proposed the use of the terms  androphilic  (attracted to men) and  gynephilic  (attracted to women) as neutral descriptors for sexual orientation that do not make assumptions about the  sex  or gender identity of the person being described, alternatives to  homosexual  and  heterosexual . [ citation needed ]  Frank Leavitt and Jack Berger state that the label  homosexual transsexual  seems to have little clinical merit, as its referents have "little in common with homosexuals, except a stated erotic interest in males"; they too suggest "more neutral descriptive terms such as androphilia". [ 23 ] [ 21 ]  Sexological research has been done using these alternative terms by researchers such as Sandra L. Johnson. [ 71 ]  Both Blanchard and Leavitt used a psychological test called the "modified androphilia scale" to assess whether a transsexual was attracted to men or not. [ 4 ] [ 23 ]  Sociologist  Aaron Devor  wrote, "If what we really mean to say is attracted to males, then say 'attracted to males' or androphilic ... I see absolutely no reason to continue with language that people find offensive when there is perfectly serviceable, in fact better, language that is not offensive." [ 62 ]


According to the typology,  autogynephilic transsexuals  are attracted to femininity while  homosexual transsexuals  are attracted to masculinity. However, a number of other differences between the types have been reported. Cantor states that "homosexual transsexuals" usually begin to seek  sex reassignment surgery  (SRS) in their mid-twenties, while "autogynephilic transsexuals" usually seek clinical treatment in their mid-thirties or even later. [ 32 ]  Blanchard also states that homosexual transsexuals were younger when applying for sex reassignment, report a stronger cross-gender identity in childhood, have a more convincing cross-gender appearance, and function psychologically better than "non-homosexual" transsexuals. [ 60 ]  A lower percentage of those described as homosexual transsexuals report being (or having been) married, or report sexual arousal while cross-dressing. [ 72 ]  Bentler reported that 23% of homosexual transsexuals report a history of sexual arousal to cross-dressing, while Freund reported 31%. [ 73 ] [ 23 ] [ 74 ] [ 75 ]  In 1990, using the alternative term "androphilic transsexual", Johnson wrote that there was a correlation between social adjustment to the new gender role and androphilia. [ 71 ]


Anne Lawrence, a proponent of the concept, [ 16 ] [ 76 ]  argues that homosexual transsexuals pursue sex reassignment surgery out of a desire for greater social and romantic success. [ 13 ]  Lawrence has proposed that autogynephilic transsexuals are more excited about sexual reassignment surgery than homosexual transsexuals. She states that homosexual transsexuals are typically ambivalent or indifferent about SRS, while autogynephilic transsexuals want to have surgery as quickly as possible, are happy to be rid of their penis, and proud of their new genitals. [ 42 ]  Lawrence states that autogynephilia tends to appear along with other paraphilias. [ 31 ] : 79   J. Michael Bailey argued that both "homosexual transsexuals" and "autogynephilic transsexuals" were driven to transition mainly for sexual gratification, as opposed to gender-identity reasons. [ 14 ]


Blanchard and Zucker state that birth order has some influence over sexual orientation in  male-assigned  people in general, and androphilic trans women in specific. [ 77 ] [ 78 ] [ 79 ]  This phenomenon is called the " fraternal birth order  effect". [ 78 ]  In 2000, Richard Green reported that androphilic trans women tended have a later-than-expected [ clarification needed ]  birth order, and more older brothers than other subgroups of trans women. Each older brother increased the odds that a trans woman was androphilic by 40%. [ 79 ]


Blanchard's typology is mainly concerned with transgender women. [ 16 ]  Richard Ekins and Dave King state that female-to-male transsexuals ( trans men ) are absent from the typology, [ 16 ]  while Blanchard, Cantor, and Katherine Sutton distinguish between gynephilic and androphilic trans men. They state that gynephilic trans men are the counterparts of androphilic trans women, that they experience strong childhood gender nonconformity, and that they generally begin to seek sex reassignment in their mid-twenties. They describe androphilic trans men as a rare but distinct group who say they want to become gay men, and, according to Blanchard, are often specifically attracted to gay men. Cantor and Sutton state that while this may seem analogous to autogynephilia, no distinct paraphilia for this has been identified. [ 32 ] : 603–604  [ 80 ]


In 2000,  Meredith L. Chivers  and Bailey wrote, "Transsexualism in genetic females has previously been thought to occur predominantly in homosexual (gynephilic) women." According to them, Blanchard reported in 1987 that only 1 in 72 trans men he saw at his clinic were primarily attracted to men. They observed that these individuals were so uncommon that some researchers thought that androphilic trans men did not exist, or misdiagnosed them as homosexual transsexuals, attracted to women. They wrote that relatively few studies had examined childhood gender variance in trans men. [ 7 ]


In a 2005 study by Smith and van Goozen, their findings in regards to trans men were different from their findings for trans women. [ 72 ]  Smith and van Goozen's study included 52 female-to-male transsexuals, who were categorized as either homosexual or non-homosexual. Smith concluded that female-to-male transsexuals, regardless of sexual orientation, reported more GID symptoms in childhood, and a stronger sense of gender dysphoria. Smith wrote that she found some differences between homosexual and non-homosexual female-to-male transsexuals. Smith says that homosexual female-to-males reported more gender dysphoria than any group in her study. [ 72 ]


In the third edition of the  Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders  ( DSM-III ) (1980), the diagnosis of "302.5 Transsexualism" was introduced under "Other Psychosexual Disorders". This was an attempt to provide a diagnostic category for  gender identity disorders . [ 81 ]  The diagnostic category,  transsexualism , was for  gender dysphoric  individuals who demonstrated at least two years of continuous interest in transforming their physical and social gender status. [ 82 ]  The subtypes were asexual, homosexual (same "biological sex"), heterosexual (other "biological sex") and unspecified. [ 81 ]  This was removed in the  DSM-IV , in which gender identity disorder replaced transsexualism. Previous taxonomies, or systems of categorization, used the terms  classic transsexual  or  true transsexual , terms once used in  differential diagnoses . [ 83 ]


The  DSM-IV-TR  included autogynephilia as an "associated feature" of gender identity disorder [ 11 ]  and as a common occurrence in the  transvestic fetishism  disorder, but does not classify autogynephilia as a disorder by itself. [ 84 ]


The paraphilias working group on the  DSM-5 , chaired by Ray Blanchard, included both  with autogynephilia  and  with autoandrophilia  as specifiers to  transvestic disorder  in an October 2010 draft of the DSM-5. This proposal was opposed by the  World Professional Association for Transgender Health  (WPATH), citing a lack of empirical evidence for these specific subtypes. [ 85 ] [ 86 ] [ 10 ] : 201   WPATH argued that there was no scientific consensus on the concept, and that there was a lack of  longitudinal studies  on the development of transvestic fetishism. [ 85 ]   With autoandrophilia  was removed from the final draft of the manual. Blanchard later said he had initially included it to avoid criticism: "I proposed it simply in order not to be accused of sexism [...] I don't think the phenomenon even exists." [ 87 ]  When published in 2013, the DSM-5 included  With autogynephilia  (sexual arousal by thoughts, images of self as a female) as a specifier to  302.3 Transvestic disorder  (intense sexual arousal from cross-dressing fantasies, urges or behaviors); the other specifier is  With  fetishism  (sexual arousal to fabrics, materials or garments). [ 88 ]


In the 2010 U.S. Tax Court case  O'Donnabhain v. Commissioner , the Internal Revenue Service cited Blanchard's typology as justification for denying a transgender woman's  tax deductions  for medical costs relating to treatment of her gender identity disorder, claiming the procedures were not medically necessary. [ 89 ]  The court found in favor of the plaintiff, Rhiannon O'Donnabhain, ruling that she should be allowed to deduct the costs of her treatment, including sex reassignment surgery and  hormone therapy . [ 90 ]  In its decision, the court declared the IRS's position "at best a superficial characterization of the circumstances" that was "thoroughly rebutted by the medical evidence". [ 91 ] [ 92 ]


According to the  Southern Poverty Law Center  (SPLC), autogynephilia has been promoted by  anti-LGBT hate groups . [ 93 ] [ 94 ] [ 95 ]  These include the  Family Research Council  (FRC),  United Families International  (UFI), and the  American College of Pediatricians  (ACPeds). [ 93 ] [ 94 ] [ 95 ]
Both Blanchard and Bailey have written articles for  4thWaveNow , which the SPLC describes as an anti-trans website. [ 93 ]


Nic Rider and Elliot Tebbe characterize Blanchard's theory of autogynephilia as an  anti-trans  theory that functions to invalidate and delegitimize transgender individuals. [ 96 ]


Serano writes that  trans-exclusionary radical feminists , self-described as " gender-critical " feminists, have embraced the idea of autogynephilia beginning in the 2000s. [ 53 ]  One early proponent of autogynephilia was radical feminist  Sheila Jeffreys . [ 53 ]  The concept has been used to imply that trans women are sexually deviant men. [ 53 ] [ 97 ]  The concept of autogynephilia became popular on gender-critical websites such as  4thWaveNow ,  Mumsnet , and the  Reddit  community  /r/GenderCritical . [ 53 ]


The dictionary definition of  autogynephilia  at Wiktionary


Cock rock  is a description of  rock music  that emphasizes an aggressive form of  male sexuality . The style developed in the later 1950s, came to prominence in the 1960s and 1970s, and continues into the present day.


Cock rock is a  musical genre . [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ]  Philip Auslander uses  Simon Frith 's description of cock rock characteristics:


[C]ock-rock performance means an explicit, crude, 'masterful' expression of sexuality ... Cock-rock performers are aggressive, boastful, constantly drawing audience attention to their prowess and control. Their bodies are on display ...  mikes  and guitars are  phallic symbols  (or else caressed like female bodies), the music is loud, rhythmically insistent, built around techniques of  arousal  and release. Lyrics are assertive and arrogant, but the exact words are less significant than the vocal styles involved, the shrill shouting and  screaming . [ 4 ]


The meaning of the term  cock rock  has changed over time. It was first mentioned by an anonymous author in the New York–based underground  feminist  publication  Rat  in 1970 [ 5 ]  to describe the male-dominated music industry, and became a synonym for  hard rock , emphasizing the aggressive expression of male sexuality, often  misogynist  lyrics and use of  phallic  imagery. [ 6 ]  The term was used by sociologists  Simon Frith  and  Angela McRobbie  in 1978 to point to the contrast between the male-dominated subculture of cock rock which was "aggressive, dominating and boastful" and the more feminized  teenybop  stars of pop music. [ 7 ]   Led Zeppelin  have been described as "the quintessential purveyors of 'cock rock'". [ 8 ]  Other formative acts include the  Rolling Stones ,  The Who  and  Jim Morrison  of  The Doors . [ 9 ]


In 1981, Frith described the characteristics of cock rock in a way that could apply to female performers, not just male ones. [ 4 ]  In 2004, Auslander used this description of cock-rock characteristics to show that  Suzi Quatro  (the first female bass player to become a major rockstar) is a female cock-rocker. [ 10 ]


Since the 1980s, the term has been sometimes interchangeable with  hair metal  or  glam metal . [ 11 ]  Examples of this genre include:  Mötley Crüe ,  Ratt ,  Warrant ,  Extreme ,  Cinderella ,  Pretty Boy Floyd ,  Jackyl ,  L.A. Guns , and  Poison . [ 12 ]  Despite the name, many of these bands had or have large numbers of female fans. [ 13 ]  The spoof documentary  This Is Spinal Tap  is an acclaimed parody of the genre. [ 14 ]  In the 21st century, there was a revival of the genre with the sleaze metal movement in Sweden, with acts including  Vains of Jenna . [ 15 ]


Die Transvestiten: Eine Untersuchung über den Erotischen Verkleidungstrieb  is a classic 1910 book on  crossdressing  and  transvestism  that was written by  German   sexologist   Magnus Hirschfeld . [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ]  An illustrated companion second volume to the book was published by Hirschfeld and  Max Tilke  in 1912. [ 4 ] [ 5 ] [ 6 ]  In addition, a second edition of  Die Transvestiten  was published by Hirschfeld in 1925. [ 7 ]  Subsequent to its publication, the book was translated into  English  with the title  Transvestites: The Erotic Drive to Cross-Dress  by Michael Lombardi-Nash in 1991. [ 8 ] [ 3 ]


Hirschfeld was himself gay and an occasional  crossdresser , known by other  Berlin  crossdressers as "Aunt Magnesia". [ 9 ] [ 8 ]  It has been said that  Die Transvestiten  was the most significant and authoritative text on transvestism of its time. [ 10 ]  While the book is about crossdressing, it also clearly includes some people with  cross-gender feelings  who would likely be referred to as  transgender  today. [ 1 ] [ 9 ] [ 8 ]  The book has often been overlooked in the English-speaking academia. [ 10 ]


Die Transvestiten  includes first-person narratives of crossdressing, Hirschfeld's commentaries on these cases, and theorizing based on the observations. [ 1 ]  Of the narratives, there were 17 in total, with 16 of them natal male and one of them natal female. [ 1 ]  In the book, Hirschfeld wished to distinguish transvestism and transgenderism from other forms of sexual and/or gender variance, like  homosexuality  and  paraphilias  like  fetishism  and  sadomasochism . [ 1 ] [ 8 ]  Hirschfeld coined the term  transvestism  in the book. [ 1 ]  The original data for the cases in the book was destroyed by the  Nazis  in 1933 when they burned down Hirschfeld's  Institut für Sexualwissenschaft  (Institute for Sexual Science) in Berlin. [ 1 ]


Emasculation  is the removal of the external  male sex organs , which includes both the  penis  and the  scrotum , the latter of which contains the  testicles . It is distinct from  castration , where only the testicles are removed. Although the terms are sometimes used interchangeably, the potential  medical consequences  of emasculation are more extensive due to the complications arising from the removal of the penis. [ 1 ]  There are a range of religious, cultural, punitive, and personal reasons why someone may choose to emasculate themselves or another person.


The term  emasculation  may be used in a  metaphorical  sense, referring to the perceived loss of attributes traditionally associated with  masculinity , such as strength, power, or autonomy.


There are several different methods of emasculation. Both the penis and testicles may be removed simultaneously using a sharp instrument, such as a knife or razor or swords. [ 2 ] [ 3 ]  Non-crushing vascular clamps may also be used in medical surgery to cut off blood circulation and reduce bleeding. [ 4 ]


Alternatively, the penis and testicles may be removed during a series of stages. Medical surgeons use this method when performing surgery on  trans women  who want their genitals removed over multiple  sex reassignment surgeries (male-to-female) , rather than in a single operation. [ 5 ]  In these surgeries, the tissue is used and re-shaped into the neo-vagina and vulva.


Short-term consequences of emasculation include  bleeding [ 6 ]  and infection. [ 7 ]  Historically, death was also a potential complication, although the prevalence is disputed. [ 8 ]


Long term complications include incontinence, [ 9 ]   urethral stricture , [ 10 ]  urine retention, [ 11 ]   urinary tract infection , [ 12 ]   urine extravasation [ 7 ]  and  bladder stones . [ 13 ]  Some studies have found that emasculation may cause a range of physiological changes, such as a shortened torso, [ 14 ]  widened stomach and hips, [ 15 ]  increased height, bowed legs, [ 14 ]  and an elongated skull. [ 14 ]  Additionally, emasculates typically have less or no facial and body hair, [ 16 ]  increased fatty tissue or  gynecomastia , [ 16 ]  and a feminine fat pattern distribution. [ 17 ]  The physiological effects of emasculation are more severe for people who undergo the procedure before the onset of puberty. [ 18 ]


Emasculation was performed in China on men to create palace  eunuchs  for the imperial court. [ 19 ]  The practice dates back to the  Shang dynasty  (1600–1046 BC) [ 20 ]  and continued up until 1924, [ 21 ]  when the eunuch system was abolished by the last emperor of China,  Puyi . [ 22 ]  The last living palace eunuch,  Sun Yaoting , died in 1996. [ 23 ]


Originally, palace eunuchs were prisoners who were involuntarily emasculated. In the  Qing dynasty , men began volunteering to undergo the procedure in order to gain employment, although instances of forced emasculation still occurred. [ 24 ]  One reason why recipients willingly underwent emasculation is that they saw employment as a palace eunuch as a way to acquire wealth and power. Alternatively, poverty was a reason why fathers forced their sons to undergo emasculation, and the desire for financial benefit motivated human traffickers to force emasculation on their victims. [ 25 ]


There were several reasons why the Imperial court required its civil servants to be emasculated. Emasculation was thought to ensure a recipient's undivided loyalty to the emperor, as it severs the recipient's existing familial or social bonds and destroys their ability to produce future heirs. [ 26 ]  The choice to hire emasculated eunuchs also ensured the legitimacy of the emperor's lineage. [ 27 ]  The choice to emasculate, rather than merely castrate, was motivated by a desire to protect the chastity of women in the court, as emasculation rendered a recipient physically incapable of having sex. [ 28 ]  While emasculation was a pre-requisite for gaining employment as a palace eunuch, it did not guarantee employment. [ 29 ]


The emasculation procedure was typically performed by a trained 'knifer', or 'knife expert'. [ 30 ]  To prepare for the operation, the recipient was bathed in cold water to numb his senses and, in some instances, his genitals were twisted to reduce blood flow. [ 31 ]  The recipient was then asked if he consented to the procedure, and if he answered yes the knifer excised the genitals with a single cut. [ 32 ]   Styptic powder  was then applied to the wound to stop bleeding, and a  pewter  needle or spigot was inserted into the urethra to prevent stenosis (narrowing). [ 33 ]


Some Chinese emasculates were the great historian  Sima Qian ,  Cao Teng , the foster grandfather of  Cao Cao ,  Zheng He , a  Ming dynasty  admiral of the imperial navy who sailed to Africa, and the surviving sons and grandson of rebel  Yaqub Beg . [ 34 ]


To create eunuchs for the  Arab slave trade , young black boys from South East Africa typically had their penis and scrotum amputated. [ 35 ]  White boys, by comparison, were usually only castrated. [ 35 ]


Emasculation was one form of genital mutilation practiced by the Skoptsy, a Russian Christian sect. For males, the other form of mutilation available was castration. Females could remove their nipples, breasts,  labia majora ,  labia minora  or  clitoris . [ 36 ]  These practices may have begun sometime during the 1760s, after the sect was founded by Kondratii Selivanov, although they were only discovered by the broader community in 1772. [ 37 ]  They continued up until the 1930s, when the sect was destroyed and its members sentenced. [ 38 ]


The Skoptsy practiced genital mutilation because they believed the genitals were the source of original sin, and that by removing them, they could attain salvation. [ 39 ]  The aim of removing the offending genitalia was to purify the body. [ 40 ]  Their belief was based on a literal reading of the verse of  Matthew 19:12 , which states: "There are some eunuchs, which were so born from their mother's womb: and there are some eunuchs, which were made eunuchs of men: and there be eunuchs, which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake." [ 41 ]  In addition, the verses of  Matthew 18 :8,9 and  Luke 23 :29 were also cited as support. [ 42 ]  Of the two types of genital mutilation available to men, emasculation was called the Greater Seal. Castration, by comparison, was called the Lesser Seal. [ 43 ]  Emasculation was preferable because it rendered a recipient physically incapable of engaging in sinful sexual conduct, allowing them to attain a higher level of purity.


Originally, the emasculation procedure was performed by burning the testicles off with an iron. [ 44 ]  Later, the genitals were tied at the base and removed using a knife or razor blade. The wound was then cauterised, or a salve was applied, to prevent bleeding. Many Skoptsy were peasants and were familiar with animal husbandry, which meant their emasculation procedures were often performed with "surgical precision." [ 45 ]  In some instances, members of the Skoptsy would perform the emasculation on themselves, in an act of  self-surgery , though it was more typical for the procedure to be performed by an elder during a ceremony. [ 36 ]


Throughout the  Indian subcontinent tradition , including India, Bangladesh and Pakistan, some members of the  Hijra  community reportedly undergo emasculation, or  nirvan. [ 46 ]


Traditionally, emasculation was a  rite of passage  into the Hijra community. [ 47 ]  Today it remains an important ritual, though is not mandatory or universally practiced. [ 48 ]  When it is performed, it typically occurs several years after an individual has already participated within the Hijra community. While some Hijra are emasculated, others are intersex, undeveloped in puberty or impotent. [ 49 ]


Whether or not a Hijra undergoes emasculation is influenced by a range of considerations. Some people are not emasculated because they are fearful of surgical complications, are under financial constraints, or merely as a matter of personal choice. [ 50 ]  For Muslim Hijra, emasculation may be avoided due to the belief that genital mutilation goes against Allah's will. [ 51 ]
Others see emasculation as necessary in order to be 'reborn' as a Hijra. In this view, emasculated Hijra are seen as more 'real' than those who are not. [ 52 ]  The decision to be emasculated may also be motivated by personal beliefs about whether a Hijra can have spiritual powers without undergoing the procedure. Amongst members of the Hijra community, this issue is subject to considerable debate. [ 51 ]


In the past, the emasculation procedure was performed by barbers or by the individual themselves (i.e. self-emasculation). [ 53 ]  Nowadays, the operation is performed by a Hijra elder, also called a  dai ma  (midwife). [ 54 ]  They have no medical training, but believe they operate with the power of the patron goddess,  Bahuchara Mata . [ 55 ]  The operation takes place early in the morning, around 3   a.m. or 4   a.m. [ 55 ]  Anesthesia is not administered.   [ 56 ]  The penis and testes are tied together with a string, and the elder then makes two diagonal cuts with a sharp surgical knife to completely excise the organs. [ 57 ]  The elder allows the blood to gush from the wound, which is considered necessary to completely cleanse the recipient of their male parts. This is one reason why the procedure is performed by an elder rather than a medical professional, who might try to stop the haemorrhage, thus interfering with the ritual's cleansing effect. [ 58 ]  Afterwards, no stitches are taken and the wound is left exposed, although a small stick is inserted into the urethra to prevent  urethral stricture . [ 59 ]


Emasculation was one of the Five Punishments used in ancient  China . [ 60 ]  It was the prescribed punishment for people who engaged in licentious conduct, such as infidelity or rape. [ 61 ]  The first evidence of its use dates to the  Shang dynasty  (1700–1100 BC), when the characters for a knife and male genitalia were carved into oracle bones. It continued up until the  Sui dynasty  (581–618 CE), when it was formally abolished. [ 62 ]


There are reports of self-emasculation cases resulting from  mental disorder . Some academics claim that a majority of self-emasculations are a result of psychosis, [ 63 ]  although this finding has been challenged. [ 64 ]  Nonetheless, there are several reported cases of people with  schizophrenia  engaging in self-emasculation.  [ 65 ]


It has been linked to other mental disorders such as dissociative identity disorder. [ 66 ]


Klingsor syndrome, sometimes known as Skotpic syndrome is a condition where people mutilate their genitals as a result of psychotic  religious delusions .  [ 67 ]  For example, in one case a person is reported to have mutilated his genitals after experiencing  auditory hallucinations  telling him he would only be allowed into the  kingdom of heaven  if he emasculated himself. [ 68 ]


Body integrity dysphoria , or xenomelia, is another mental disorder that may drive a person to seek emasculation. [ 69 ]  People with this disorder are distressed by the presence of a limb that they do not identify as part of their body, including the genitals. Emasculation in this context alleviates their distress, enabling them to become 'whole'. [ 70 ]  However, the amputation of healthy limbs by medical professionals is highly controversial. The inability to acquire medically administered emasculation has driven some to self-emasculation. [ 71 ]


Occasionally, self-emasculation is practiced by those suffering from gender dysphoria. [ 72 ]  When compared with the general population, transgender persons are at a higher risk of engaging in acts of genital self-mutilation, including self-emasculation. [ 73 ]


In some cases, a person with a mental illness has emasculated other people. [ 74 ]


Emasculation occurs voluntarily within the  transgender  community as a form of  gender reassignment surgery , allowing recipients to renounce their masculine characteristics and bring their body into closer alignment with their identified gender. It may be sought by trans women (those assigned male at birth who identify as female), who wish to assume their femininity, or by non-binary transgender individuals (those assigned male at birth who identify as neither male nor female), who want to locate themselves outside of traditional gender categories. [ 75 ]


For trans women, emasculation surgery may be performed with or without the creation of a vagina. When a vagina is created, the procedure is called a  vaginoplasty , [ 76 ]  and where it is not, the procedure is called a  vulvoplasty . [ 77 ]


For  non-binary  transgender people, the purpose of emasculation is to make the body less congruent with one's assigned sex without the subsequent assumption of femininity.  [ 78 ]  These individuals may identify as non-binary, a third-sex, eunuch, or another gender. Some adopt the term ' nullo ', meaning someone whose gender has been nullified. [ 79 ]


In some circumstances, a person may be emasculated involuntarily as the result of an accident, [ 80 ]  as part of a ritual attack, [ 81 ]  or due to poor circumcision practice. [ 82 ]


In these cases, the objective of medical treatment is different than for cases of voluntary emasculation. The goals of treatment are to either reattach the severed genitals or to reconstruct an artificial penis and testes. [ 83 ]


From 1960 to 2000, involuntarily emasculated infants were surgically reassigned female, similar to the treatment received by  David Reimer  after his penis was burnt off during a  circumcision  procedure. It is now understood from cases like Reimer's that gender reassignment surgery in infancy can interfere with gender identity formation. Therefore, gender reassignment is no longer the standard practice for involuntarily emasculated infants. [ 84 ]


By extension, the word  emasculation  has also come to mean rendering a male less  masculine , including by humiliation. It can also mean to deprive anything of vigour or effectiveness. This figurative usage has become more common than the literal meaning. For example: " William Lewis Hughes  voted for Folkestone's amendment to Curwen's emasculated reform  bill , 12 June 1809 ... " [ 85 ]


In  horticulture , the removal of male (pollen) parts of a plant, largely for controlled pollination and breeding purposes, is also called emasculation. [ 86 ]


The sexuality of  Adolf Hitler , dictator of  Nazi Germany  from 1933 to 1945, has long been a matter of historical and scholarly debate, as well as speculation and rumour. There is evidence that he had relationships with a number of women during his lifetime, as well as evidence of his antipathy to  homosexuality , and no evidence of homosexual encounters. His name has been linked to a number of possible female lovers, two of whom committed suicide. A third died of complications eight years after a suicide attempt, and a fourth also attempted suicide. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] [ 4 ]


Hitler created a public image of a  celibate  man without a domestic life, dedicated entirely to his political mission and the governance of Nazi Germany. His relationship with  Eva Braun , which lasted nearly 14 years, was hidden from the public and all but his inner circle. Braun biographer Heike Görtemaker notes that the couple enjoyed a normal sex life. Hitler and Braun married in late April 1945, less than 40 hours before committing suicide together.


Two wartime reports by the  Allies  attempted to  analyse Hitler psychologically . A 1943 report by  Walter C. Langer  for the U.S.  Office of Strategic Services  (OSS) describes Hitler as having repressed homosexual tendencies and opined that he was an  impotent   coprophile . Psychologist  Henry Murray  wrote a separate psychoanalytical report for the OSS in 1943 that drew similar conclusions.  Otto Strasser , one of Hitler's opponents in the  Nazi Party , also told his post-war interrogators a similar story. British historian  Ian Kershaw  describes Strasser's statement as "anti-Hitler propaganda". [ 5 ]


In research following Hitler's death, a variety of claims have been made about Hitler's sexual orientation: that he was homosexual,  bisexual , or  asexual . Conclusive evidence is lacking, but most historians believe he was  heterosexual . There is at least one claim that Hitler had an  illegitimate  child (named  Jean-Marie Loret ) with one of his lovers. Mainstream historians, such as Kershaw, dismiss this as unlikely or impossible. [ 6 ]


Hitler's sex life has long been the subject of speculation and rumours, many of which were invented or "spiced up" by his political enemies. [ 7 ]  While the sexual preferences of many members of Hitler's inner circle are known, conclusive evidence of Hitler's sexuality is lacking. The evidence that exists about Hitler's private life is largely from people in his inner circle, such as his adjutants, his secretaries,  Albert Speer , the  Wagner family , and others. There is evidence that he had infatuations with several women, as well as evidence of his antipathy to homosexuality, and no evidence that he engaged in homosexual behaviour. [ 8 ] [ 9 ] [ 10 ]  Kershaw describes him as being repelled by personal contact and sexual activity, including homosexuality and prostitution, especially as a young man in  Vienna . He was afraid of contracting a  sexually transmitted infection . [ 11 ]


Kershaw notes that as a soldier during the  First World War , Hitler did not take part in discussions of sex with his comrades. When teased about his celibacy during this period, Hitler responded by saying "I'd die of shame looking for sex with a French girl," and "Have you no German sense of honour left at all?" [ 12 ]  When asked by a comrade if he had ever loved a girl, Hitler replied "I've never had time for anything like that, and I'll never get round to it." [ 13 ]


Hitler created a public image of a celibate man without a domestic life, dedicated entirely to his political mission. [ 14 ] [ 15 ]  He considered himself to be attractive to women, partly because of his position of power. Speer recalled him stating a preference for unintelligent women who would not challenge him about his work or prevent him from relaxing in his leisure time. [ 16 ]  Kershaw speculates that Hitler preferred younger women who were easy to dominate and mould. He notes that at least three of Hitler's close female associates ( Eva Braun ,  Geli Raubal , and  Maria Reiter ) were far younger than himself: Braun was 23 years younger, Raubal was 19 years younger, and Reiter was 21 years his junior. [ 17 ]


Ernst Hanfstaengl , one of the members of Hitler's inner circle in the early years in  Munich , wrote that "I felt Hitler was a case of a man who was neither fish, flesh nor fowl, neither fully homosexual nor fully heterosexual... I had formed the firm conviction that he was impotent, the repressed, masturbating type." [ 18 ]  Nevertheless, Hanfstaengl was convinced enough of Hitler's heterosexuality that he unsuccessfully tried to encourage a romantic relationship between Hitler and  Martha Dodd , daughter of the American ambassador. [ 19 ]  According to Hanfstaengl, filmmaker  Leni Riefenstahl  tried to begin a relationship with Hitler early on, but he turned her down. [ 20 ]   Magda Goebbels  invited Hitler to parties to encourage him to meet women, but he showed no interest. When pro-Nazi foreign women like  Unity Mitford  visited, Hitler usually lectured them about politics. [ 21 ]


Hitler was deeply attached to his half-niece Geli Raubal, 19 years his junior. She began living at his residence after her mother became Hitler's housekeeper in 1925. Although the exact nature and extent of their relationship is unknown, Kershaw describes it as a latent "sexual dependence". [ 22 ]  It was rumoured among contemporaries that they were in a romantic relationship. Geli committed suicide with Hitler's gun in his  Munich apartment  in September 1931. Her death was a source of deep, lasting pain for Hitler. [ 23 ]


Hitler's relationship with Eva Braun, which lasted nearly 14 years, was hidden from the public and all but his inner circle. [ 24 ]  Within that circle, he was open about Braun, and they lived together at  Berchtesgaden  as a couple. Hitler's valet,  Heinz Linge , stated in his memoirs that Hitler and Braun had two bedrooms and two bathrooms with interconnecting doors at the  Berghof , and Hitler would end most evenings alone with her in his study before they retired to bed. She would wear a "dressing gown or house-coat" and drink wine; Hitler would have tea. [ 25 ]  Braun biographer Heike Görtemaker notes that the couple enjoyed a normal sex life. [ 26 ]  Braun's friends and relatives described her giggling over a 1938 photograph of  Neville Chamberlain  sitting on a sofa in Hitler's Munich flat with the remark: "If only he knew what goings-on that sofa has seen." [ 27 ]


Hitler's letters provide evidence that he was fond of her, and worried when she participated in sports or was late returning for tea. [ 28 ]  His secretary  Traudl Junge  stated that during the war, Hitler telephoned Braun every day. He was concerned for her safety when she was staying in the Munich home he had bought her. Junge further asked Hitler once why he never married. Hitler replied, "...I wouldn't have been able to give enough time to my wife". [ 29 ]  Hitler told her that he did not want children, as they would have had "...a very hard time, because they're expected to possess the same gifts as their famous parents and they can't be forgiven for being mediocre." [ 29 ]  In the end, Hitler and Braun married in the Berlin  Führerbunker  in late-April 1945, less than 40 hours before committing suicide together. [ 30 ]


Ernst Röhm  was Hitler's closest friend—one of the few people who called him "Adolf". [ 31 ]  Hitler continued to support him during the  Röhm scandal  in 1931–1932 in which the  Münchener Post  disclosed Röhm's homosexuality, but historian  Laurie Marhoefer  argues that this is not evidence of Hitler's homosexuality. [ 32 ]  Historian  Andrew Wackerfuss  argues that Hitler had no personal discomfort with homosexuality, but that he found it convenient politically to instrumentalise  homophobia  to justify the 1934  Night of the Long Knives . [ 33 ]


Despite the fact that Hitler had previously tolerated the homosexuality of Röhm and other  SA  leaders, the charges of immorality were effective in gaining the support of the German population for the political murders in 1934. [ 34 ]  In August 1941, Hitler declared that "homosexuality is actually as infectious and as dangerous as the plague", [ 35 ]  and supported  SS  leader  Heinrich Himmler 's efforts to remove gay men from both the military and the SS. [ 36 ]  Homosexuality was not one of Hitler's priorities, compared to the  Jewish question . [ 37 ]  The  Nazi Party  held anti-homosexual views, declaring in 1928 that "anyone who even thinks of homosexual love is our enemy." [ 38 ]  Hitler's regime  persecuted homosexuals , sending an estimated 5,000 to 15,000 to  concentration camps ; some 2,500 to 7,500 of these died. [ 39 ]


Hermann Rauschning  claimed to have seen in Hitler's First World War military record an item concerning a  court-martial  that found Hitler guilty of  pederastic  practices with an officer. Rauschning also claimed that in Munich, Hitler was found guilty of a violation of  Paragraph 175 , which dealt with pederasty. No evidence of either of these two charges has been found. [ 40 ]


In 1943, the U.S. Office of Strategic Services (OSS) received  A Psychological Analysis of Adolf Hitler: His Life and Legend  by  Walter C. Langer , commissioned to help the Allies understand the dictator. [ 41 ]  The report, later expanded into book form as  The Mind of Adolf Hitler: The Secret Wartime Report  (1972), [ 42 ]  describes Hitler as having repressed homosexual tendencies [ 43 ]  and states that he was an impotent  coprophile . [ 44 ]  Psychologist  Henry Murray  wrote a separate psychoanalytical report for OSS also in 1943, entitled  Analysis of the Personality of Adolph Hitler: With Predictions of His Future Behavior and Suggestions for Dealing with Him Now and After Germany's Surrender . [ 45 ]  He also dealt with Hitler's alleged coprophilia, but overall diagnosed Hitler a  schizophrenic . [ 46 ]  One of Hitler's opponents in the Nazi Party,  Otto Strasser , told OSS interrogators that the Nazi dictator forced Geli Raubal to urinate and defecate on him. [ 47 ]  Kershaw contends that stories circulated by Strasser as to alleged "sexual deviant practices ought to be viewed as... anti-Hitler propaganda." [ 5 ]


In research following his death, a variety of claims have been made about Hitler's sexuality: that he was gay, bisexual, or asexual, or may have engaged in sexual activity with Geli Raubal. [ 22 ]   Jack Nusan Porter  of the  University of Massachusetts Lowell  wrote in 1998: "Did Hitler despise homosexuals? Was he ashamed of his own homosexual identity? These are areas of psychohistory that are beyond known knowledge. My own feelings are that Hitler was asexual in the traditional sense and had bizarre sexual fetishes." [ 48 ]


Historian  Lothar Machtan  argues in  The Hidden Hitler  (2001) that Hitler was homosexual. The book speculates about Hitler's experiences in Vienna with young friends, his adult relationships with (among others) Röhm, Hanfstaengl, and  Emil Maurice , and includes a study of the  Mend Protocol , a series of allegations made to the Munich police in the early 1920s by Hans Mend, who served with Hitler during World War I. American journalist  Ron Rosenbaum  is highly critical of Machtan's work, saying his "evidence falls short of being conclusive and often falls far short of being evidence at all." [ 49 ]  Most scholarly works dismiss Machtan's claims. [ 8 ] [ 9 ] [ 10 ]  In 2004,  HBO  produced a documentary film based on Machtan's theory, titled  Hidden Führer: Debating the Enigma of Hitler's Sexuality .


Volker Ullrich  proposes that Hitler occasionally had sexual relations with women but he was unskilled, unexperienced as a lover, and mostly uninterested or unable to relate to the experience of his female lovers in bed, and therefore not particularly prolific romantically. [ 50 ]  He notes some comments: "He couldn't kiss," said Charlotte Bechstein, the 15 year old daughter of one of Hitler's patronesses in the early 1920s; [ 51 ]   Maria Reiter  commented, "He didn't know what he was doing." [ 52 ]


Hitler's name has been linked romantically with a number of women:


The  Christian  churches and  theologians  traditionally hold that  Jesus  never married  and remained  celibate  until his death. However, this has not prevented alternative and fringe theories of his sexuality, as both the  gospels  and the  New Testament  do not focus on the subject.


In first century  Judaea , sexual immorality in   Second Temple Judaism  included incest, impure thoughts,  homosexual relations ,  adultery , and  bestiality . According to the rabbinic interpretation of Genesis 2:24, [ 1 ] [ 2 ]  "a man shall leave his father and his mother" forbids a man from having relations with his father's wife and his own biological mother; "cleave to his wife" forbids a man from having more than one wife, having relations with another woman; and "they shall become one flesh" forbids a man from having relations with non-human beings (such as animals). [ 3 ]  Jesus states in the gospels that he came "not to  abolish , but to fulfill the  law ", and at his various trials, no one could testify that Jesus broke them ( Matthew 5:17 , [ 4 ]   Matthew 26 :59–60). [ 5 ]


Mainstream Christian thinking typically assumes Jesus to have remained celibate and without a defined sexuality, living a pious life free from sins such as  lust  or  fornication .


In the  Gospel of Matthew  19:3–12, Jesus is reported to have referred to the behavior of  eunuchs  to illustrate a desirable approach to sexuality: "For there are some eunuchs, which were so born from their mother's womb: and there are some eunuchs, which were made eunuchs of men: and there be eunuchs, which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake." [ 6 ]  The term "eunuch" normally referred to a  castrated  man. Several  theologians  and Bible commentators have interpreted this passage as indicating Jesus's support for complete  celibacy . [ note 1 ]


The early Christian writer  Origen  who was purported to have interpreted Jesus' words literally, was alleged to have  castrated himself  as an act of devotion. [ 7 ]  The early  Church Father   Tertullian  wrote that Jesus himself lived as a "eunuch", [ note 2 ]  likewise encouraged people to adopt this practice. [ 8 ]


Christ is ascribed a male  human body  during his time on Earth, including a set of male genitalia. The  Circumcision  is a major event of the early  Life of Jesus , originally described in Luke [ 9 ]  as taking place shortly after the  Presentation  at the temple in accordance with the Jewish law followed by Mary and Joseph. The  Holy Prepuce , or  foreskin , removed from Jesus's body is a major  Christian relic  and is described by one scholar as representing a focus on the  humanity of Jesus . [ 10 ]


Beginning in the 13th century, European art would break with Christian tradition of hiding Jesus's genitalia using clothing and composition, instead depicting Christ with a visible or even physically erect phallus. [ 11 ]  This "display of the genitals" was coined in art scholarship as the  ostentatio genitalium , mirroring the  ostentatio vulnerum , or "display of the  wounds ", during the Passion. [ 12 ]


The  non-canonical  3rd-century  Gospel of Philip , using  Coptic  variants of the Greek  κοινωνός  ( koinōnos ), describes Jesus' relationship with Mary Magdalene. The gospel uses  cognates  of  koinōnos  and Coptic equivalents to refer both to the literal pairing of men and women in marriage and sexual intercourse, but also metaphorically, referring to a spiritual partnership, and the reunification of the Gnostic Christian with the divine realm. [ 13 ]


The Gospel of Philip mentions Mary Magdalene as one of three women named Mary "who always walked with the Lord" (Philip 59.6–11). The work also says that the Lord loved her more than all the disciples, and used to kiss her often (Philip 63.34–36). [ 14 ]  Author  John Dickson  argues that it was common in early Christianity to kiss a fellow believer by way of greeting (1 Peter 5:14), [ 15 ]  thus such kissing would have no romantic connotations. [ 16 ]  Kripal writes that "the historical sources are simply too contradictory and simultaneously too silent" to make absolute declarations regarding Jesus' sexuality. [ 17 ]


Bart Ehrman , a scholar of the Greek New Testament and early Christianity, concludes that historical evidence says nothing at all about Jesus' sexuality—"certainly nothing to indicate that Jesus and Mary had a sexual relationship of any kind". Ehrman says that the question people ask him most often is whether Mary Magdalene and Jesus of Nazareth married each other (after the claim was popularized in  The Da Vinci Code ):


It is not true that the  Dead Sea Scrolls  contained Gospels that discussed Mary and Jesus. ... Nor is it true that the marriage of Mary and Jesus is repeatedly discussed in the Gospels that didn't make it into the New Testament. In fact, it is never discussed at all—never even mentioned, not even once. ... It is not true that the Gospel of Philip calls Mary Jesus' spouse. [ 18 ]


Early  Latter Day Saints  Apostle  Orson Hyde  taught that Jesus was a  polygamist  who was married to Mary Magdalene,  Martha , and  Mary of Bethany , and fathered children with them. He also taught that the  marriage at Cana  was Jesus' own wedding. [ 19 ] [ 20 ] [ 21 ] [ 22 ]  This idea is not official LDS doctrine, [ 23 ]  although it has certainly entered into  Mormon folklore . [ 24 ] [ 25 ] [ 26 ]


The  Gospel of John  makes references to the "disciple whom Jesus loved" (John 13:23, [ 27 ]  John 19:26, [ 28 ]  John 21:7–20), [ 29 ]  a phrase which does not occur in the  Synoptic Gospels . In the text, this "beloved disciple" is present at the  crucifixion of Jesus , with Jesus' mother,  Mary . The "disciple whom Jesus loved" may be a self-reference by the author of the Gospel (John 21:24), traditionally regarded as  John the Apostle . In subsequent centuries, the reference was used by those who implied a  homosocial  or  homoerotic  reading of the relationship. For example, scholar  Louis Crompton  says Saint  Aelred of Rievaulx , in his work  De spiritali amicitia  ("Spiritual Friendship"), referred to the relationship of Jesus and John the Apostle as a "marriage" and held it out as an example sanctioning friendships between clerics. [ 30 ]


James I of England  may have been relying on a pre-existing tradition when he defended his relationship with the  George Villiers of Buckingham : "I wish to speak in my own behalf and not to have it thought to be a defect, for Jesus Christ did the same, and therefore I cannot be blamed. Christ had his son John, and I have my George." [ 31 ]   Frederick the Great  wrote to similar effect in his 1748–1749 poem  Palladium , which includes the lines: "This good Jesus, how do you think He got John to sleep in his bed? Can't you see he was his  Ganymede ?" [ 32 ]


Others who have given voice to this interpretation of the relationship between Jesus and John have been the philosophers  Denis Diderot  and  Jeremy Bentham . [ 33 ]   Gene Robinson , a bishop, discussed the possible homoerotic inclinations of Jesus in a sermon in 2005. Robinson's claim has been criticized, including by David W. Virtue, who editorialized by calling it an "appalling  deconstructionism  from the liberal lobby which will spin even the remotest thing to turn it into a hint that Biblical figures are gay". [ 34 ]


Bob Goss , theologian, and the author of  Jesus Acted Up: A Gay and Lesbian Manifesto  and  Queering Christ: Beyond Jesus Acted Up , [ 35 ]  said of the interaction between Jesus and John, it "is a  pederastic  relationship between an older man and a younger man. A Greek reader would understand." [ 36 ]  Theologian Ismo Dunderberg argues that the absence of accepted Greek terms for "lover" and "beloved" discounts an erotic reading. [ 37 ]  In contrast, the writer and theologian Robert Gagnon has argued that the Greek word translated as "loved" is  agape  (used, for example, in John 3:16: [ 38 ]  "for God so loved the world"), rather than the Greek word referring to sexual love,  eros . [ 39 ]  On the other hand, Theodore W. Jennings Jr. notes that "eros does not occur either in the New Testament or in the  Septuagint ", and that these use  agape  to refer to "the love of a husband for his wife or even to the illicit loves of inordinate desire", including throughout the explicitly erotic  Song of Solomon . [ 40 ]


The Gospel of Mark 14:51–52 describes how in the  Garden of Gethsemane , "A young man, wearing nothing but a linen garment, was following Jesus. When they [the Temple guards] seized him, he fled naked, leaving his garment behind." [ 41 ]  The text of the  naked youth  is puzzling for some authors; moreover, the text only appears in Mark, which has led some commentators to allege that  Mark the Evangelist , traditionally held to be the author of the Gospel of Mark, was describing himself as the youth. [ 42 ]


The separate and non-canonical  Secret Gospel of Mark —fragments of which were contained in the controversial  Mar Saba letter  by  Clement of Alexandria , which  Morton Smith  claimed to have discovered in 1958—states that Jesus during one night taught "the mystery of the kingdom of God" alone to a youth wearing only a linen cloth. This has been linked to the views of an ancient group called the  Carpocratians . Some modern commentators interpret it as a baptism, others as some form of sexual initiation, and others as an  allegory  for a non-sexual initiation into a  gnostic  sect. [ 43 ]  However, the authorship of Secret Mark is still a matter of debate. [ 44 ]  Some scholars find it authentic, while others consider it to be Smith's  forgery , [ 44 ]  while still others believe it to be  apocryphon . [ 44 ]


The Bride of Christ is a  metaphor  for the  Ecclesia , likening the relationship between  Christians  and  Jesus  to a  betrothal  pointing to a future wedding, when Christians are re-united with Jesus. In the  Gospel of John  (John 3:22–36), [ 45 ]   John the Baptist  speaks in terms of himself as a " best man " with the implication that Christ the bridegroom (see also  Matthew  9:15) [ 46 ]  is coming to meet his bride, although there is nothing specific to identify the bride.  Church Fathers  such as  Cyprian  applied the image to the Church. [ 47 ]


A number of Christian sects such as the  Brethren of the Free Spirit  instead took to describing  salvation through Christ  as an intimate or erotic union with Jesus, although this interpretation is widely condemned in mainstream theology.  Teresa of Avila 's description of her most famous vision has been interpreted by secular writers, such as  Dan Brown , as "a metaphor for some serious sex"; [ 48 ]  the view of Teresa having a sexual relationship with Jesus, in her visions, is exemplified by the poster art for  Theresa: The Body of Christ , a 2007 film by  Ray Loriga .


The  Children of God  Christian group actively promotes the view that a sexual relationship with Jesus would be desirable, encouraging devotees to imagine during sexual activity that it is Jesus who is having sex with them, [ 49 ]  and equate prophecy with Jesus'  ejaculation . [ 50 ]


The Irish surrealist painter  Colin Middleton  depicted Jesus as  androgynous  in his  Christ Androgyne  (1943), [ 51 ]  currently in the  Ulster Museum . Middleton added female characteristics to Christ's body, including one naked breast. The work can be interpreted as sexual, or as a general symbol of suffering humanity during World War II. [ 52 ]


The 1976 fictional poem  The Love That Dares to Speak Its Name  by  James Kirkup  speculated what it would have been like if Jesus had had several sexual encounters with other men – including with  Pontius Pilate , and a graphic description of Jesus' sexual encounter with a Roman soldier; Christian opposition to the poem's suggestions resulted in the  Whitehouse v Lemon  court case, a famous  blasphemous libel  trial. [ 53 ]


The Book of Longings , a 2020 novel by American author  Sue Monk Kidd , follows a fictional wife of Jesus named Ana. [ 54 ]  The two have sex regularly while they are together, however their only child is stillborn and the couple otherwise agrees to use  contraceptives .


The perceived  sadomasochism  of the  crucifixion  has been commented upon, and occasionally portrayed explicitly in modern art; for  satirical  reasons, this was depicted in the controversial  Jesus with Erection  poster, a concept which has also been depicted for serious reasons in sculpture by  Terence Koh . [ 55 ]


Male dominance , or  maledom  is a  BDSM  practice where the  dominant  partner is male. A sexually dominant male in BDSM practices is also known as a maledom. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ]  Maledoms can be professional as well as non-professional. The term  ProDom  is used for a professional male dominant who earns money by working as a professional dominant as part of the sex industry. [ 4 ]  A maledom who role-plays a paternal figure is also known as  Daddy Dom. [ 5 ] [ 6 ]


Practices of domination common to many  BDSM  and various other sexual relationships are also prevalent, such as various forms of  body worship  including cock and ball worship, ass worship and  foot worship ,  fellatio ,  tease and denial , corporal punishment including  spanking ,  caning  and  whipping ,  breast torture , pussy torture,  orgasm denial ,   verbal humiliation , face slapping, hair pulling,  wax play , spitting,  golden showers ,  forced orgasm ,  "forced" chastity , and  irrumatio . [ 7 ] [ 8 ]  Male dominance may also take place in the form of clothed male, naked female. [ 9 ]


Male dominants are often referred to as dom, master, owner, sir, taskmaster, corporalist, boss or top. For some people, male dominance is only used in sexual and intimate scenarios, but for others male dominance can be included in 24/7 BDSM relationships. [ 10 ] [ 11 ]


A 1995 study indicated that 71% of  heterosexual  males preferred a dominant-initiator role, [ 12 ]  but a more recent study in Germany from 2015 indicates that 29.5% of men who are active in BDSM express a preference for a dominant role, 24% consider themselves to be switches and 46.6% of men prefer the submissive role. [ 13 ]  Another survey in Colorado from 2017, challenges these conclusions, and indicates that men tend to self-identify as Dominant, Master, Top, or Sadist (DMTS) and always perform dominant roles. [ 14 ]


Maledom scenarios are common in  BDSM  fiction, including works such as the  Story of O  and the works of  John Norman  and Adrian Hunter. Maledom is a growing adult film genre.


Maledom fiction began with the works of the  Marquis de Sade  who wrote about sexual scenarios in which men tortured others, primarily women. The term  sadism  is derived from de Sade's name. Since then, the lifestyle around male dominance has grown into a large part of the  BDSM scene .


The  Fifty Shades  novel series  by  E. L. James  is associated with the cultural mainstreaming and normalising of BDSM. The books achieved great commercial success, with the first volume selling over 100 million copies worldwide. [ 15 ]


Other works include:


Male submission  or  malesub [ 1 ]  is a situation in  BDSM  and other  sexual activities  in which the  submissive  partner is male. [ 2 ]   A 2015 study indicates that 46.6% of men who are active in BDSM expressed a preference for a submissive role, 24% consider themselves to be switches and 29.5% prefer the dominant role. [ 3 ]


Male submission in BDSM can take many different forms and include a variety of activities, including  cock and ball torture ,  forced feminization ,  chastity ,  cuckoldry ,  erotic humiliation ,  facesitting ,  golden showers ,  pegging ,  foot fetishism , and clothed female, naked male. [ 4 ] [ 5 ] [ 6 ]


During the 18th century, some European brothels began specializing in restraint, and flagellation, as well as other activities which involved female domination and male submission. [ 7 ]


This  BDSM -related article is a  stub . You can help Wikipedia by  expanding it .


The Man Who Would Be Queen: The Science of Gender-Bending and Transsexualism  is a 2003 book by the American psychologist  J. Michael Bailey , published by  Joseph Henry Press . [ 1 ]


In the first section of the book, Bailey discusses gender-atypical behavior and  gender dysphoria  in children, emphasizing the biological determination of  gender . In the second section, he deals primarily with gay men, including the link between childhood gender dysphoria and male  homosexuality  later in life. Bailey reviews evidence that male homosexuality is congenital (a result of genetics and  prenatal  environment), and he argues for the accuracy of some  gay stereotypes . [ 2 ]  In the third section, Bailey summarizes evidence for the  Blanchard  typology of  trans women  that claims there are two forms of  transsexualism  that affect transgender women: one as an extreme type of male homosexuality and one that is a sexual interest in having a female body, called  autogynephilia .


The book caused considerable controversy, which led to complaints and a formal investigation by  Northwestern University , where Bailey was chair of the psychology department until shortly before the investigation concluded. Northwestern ultimately found no basis for the complaints, [ 3 ] [ 4 ]  and a university spokesperson said that his departure from the department chairmanship had nothing to do with the investigation. [ 5 ]  According to Bailey, some of his critics were motivated by a desire to suppress discussion of the book's ideas about the autogynephilia theory of transgender women. [ 6 ]


The Man Who Would Be Queen  is divided into three sections: "The Boy Who Would Be Princess", "The Man He Might Become", and "Women Who Once Were Boys".


It starts with an anecdote about a child Bailey calls "Danny". Bailey writes of Danny's mother, who has been frustrated by other therapists she has seen about her son's "feminine" behavior. [ 7 ]  Bailey discusses psychologist and sexologist  Kenneth Zucker 's work with children whose parents have noticed significant gender-atypical behaviors.  Bailey uses the anecdote about Danny to describe  gender identity disorder , a label applied to males with significant feminine behaviors and females with significant masculine behaviors, such as  cross-dressing . For example, this class includes boys that prefer to play with dolls and regularly identify with female characters in stories or movies, and girls that prefer to play with  toy cars  and identify with male characters. This section of the book also discusses some case studies of men who were, for varying reasons,  reassigned  to the female sex shortly after their birth, and emphasizes the fact that, despite this, they tended to exhibit typically male characteristics and often identified as men.


The second section deals primarily with gay men, including a suggested link between childhood  gender identity disorder  and male homosexuality later in life. Bailey discusses whether homosexuality is a congenitally or possibly even genetically related phenomenon. This discussion includes references to Bailey's studies as well as those of neuroscientist  Simon LeVay  and geneticist  Dean Hamer . He also discusses the behavior of gay men and its stereotypically masculine and feminine qualities.


In the third section, Bailey summarizes a taxonomy of trans women that was proposed by  Ray Blanchard  about fifteen years earlier. According to Blanchard, there are two types of trans women: one described as an "extreme form of male homosexuality", the other being motivated by  a sexual interest in having a female body . [ 8 ] [ 9 ] [ 10 ]  Bailey also discusses the process by which transition from male to female occurs.


The book elicited both strongly supportive and strongly negative reactions. The controversial aspects included the contents of the book, whether the research was conducted ethically, whether it should have been published by the National Academies Press, and whether it should have been promoted as a scientific work. According to  Benedict Carey 's story in  The New York Times , "To many of Dr. Bailey's peers, his story is a morality play about the corrosive effects of  political correctness  on  academic freedom ." [ 11 ]  Interviewed by Carey, bioethicist  Alice Dreger  argues that "what happened to Bailey is important, because the harassment was so extraordinarily bad and because it could happen to any researcher in the field. If we're going to have research at all, then we're going to have people saying unpopular things, and if this is what happens to them, then we've got problems not only for science but free expression itself." [ 11 ]


However, critics such as  Deirdre McCloskey  think that the pointed criticism, including filing charges, was warranted: "Nothing we have done, I believe, and certainly nothing I have done, overstepped any boundaries of fair comment on a book and an author who stepped into the public arena with enthusiasm to deliver a false and unscientific and politically damaging opinion". [ 11 ]   The concern over academic freedom was dismissed by  Charles Allen Moser , who wrote: "The death of free speech and academic freedom has been highly exaggerated. Science is not free of politics, never has been, and never will be." [ 12 ]


Kirkus Reviews  concluded: "Despite its provocative title, a scientific yet superbly compassionate exposition." [ 13 ]  The book received praise from sexual behavior scientist  Simon LeVay , [ 13 ]  from sex-differences expert  David Buss , [ 3 ]  and from research psychologist  Steven Pinker , who wrote: "The Man Who Would Be Queen may upset the guardians of political correctness on both the left and the right, but it will be welcomed by intellectually curious people of all sexes and sexual orientations." [ 14 ] [ 15 ]  It also received praise from  Forbes  magazine's  Daniel Seligman [ 16 ]  and from Mark Henderson at  The Times . [ 17 ]   Conservative commentator  John Derbyshire   said: "a wealth of fascinating information, carefully gathered by (it seems to me) a conscientious and trustworthy scientific observer." [ 18 ]  It also received a positive review from writer Ethan Boatner [ 13 ]  of  Lavender  magazine and Duncan Osborne in  Out . [ 19 ]  Research psychologist  James Cantor  also wrote a positive review of the book in the newsletter of  APA 's Society for the Psychological Study of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Issues (Division 44). [ 20 ]   Alice Dreger , Northwestern University professor of clinical medical humanities and bioethics, also praised the book, stating that "plenty of gay and transgender people" who had read the book, saw it as accurate and "wonderfully supportive of LGBT people". [ 21 ]


In December 2003, the  Southern Poverty Law Center  (SPLC) reported that many of the early supporters of Bailey's book, including Ray Blanchard,  were members of the  Human Biodiversity Institute . [ 22 ]


The public response of members of the transgender community was almost entirely negative. [ 3 ]  Among other things, they opposed the book's endorsement of  Blanchard's taxonomy of male-to-female transsexualism , [ 23 ]  and its publication by the  National Academies Press , by whom it was "advertised as science" [ 24 ]  and marketed as "scientifically accurate," [ 25 ]  which they argued was untrue.  They also claimed the book exploited children with  gender dysphoria . [ 11 ]  Among those criticizing the book were computer scientist  Lynn Conway , [ 26 ]  biologists  Joan Roughgarden [ 25 ]  and  Ben Barres , [ 27 ]  physician  Rebecca Allison , [ 28 ]  economist  Deirdre McCloskey , [ 29 ]  psychologist Madeline Wyndzen, writers  Dallas Denny , [ 30 ]   Pauline Park , [ 31 ]   Jamison Green , [ 32 ]  and  Andrea James , [ 33 ]  as well as  Christine Burns  of  Press for Change , and Executive Director Monica Casper of the  Intersex Society of North America . [ 34 ]  James, a transgender advocate, attacked Bailey by constructing a website with pictures of Bailey's children taken from his public website beside sexually explicit captions. [ 11 ]


Negative responses also came from outside the transgender community. Liza Mundy of  The Washington Post  thought the book was exceptionally dull despite the potentially interesting topic. [ 35 ]  Sexologist  Eli Coleman  referred to the book as "an unfortunate setback in feelings of trust between the transgender community and sex researchers,". [ 3 ]  Eli Coleman was then President of the  Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association  ( World Professional Association for Transgender Health ). [ 3 ]  In response to the criticism, Ray Blanchard resigned from his position at HBIGDA on November 4, 2003. [ 3 ]


Eli Coleman's colleague, Walter Bockting, wrote that it was "yet another blow to the delicate relationship between clinicians, scholars, and the transgender community." [ 36 ]   Kinsey Institute  Director  John Bancroft  said the book promoted a derogatory explanation of transgender identity that would hurt many vulnerable transgender people, and that the book, which was written in a  popular science  style, did not support the material in a scientific manner. [ 3 ]  Psychologist Randi Ettner said of Bailey, "He's set back the field 100 years, as far as I'm concerned." [ 23 ]


The Man Who Would Be Queen  was originally one of the finalists for the  Lambda Literary Award  for the "transgender" category. [ 37 ]  However, after judicial review, the book was determined to be " transphobic " and "not appropriate for the category", so it was removed from consideration. [ 37 ] [ 38 ]


Two of the trans women in Bailey's book have accused him of ethical breaches in his work by talking to them about their life stories without obtaining formal written consent. [ 39 ]   Alice Dreger alleged that the women were aware that Bailey was writing a book about trans women at the time of the interviews; some of them read the drafts of the book before publication, [ 3 ]  and several said they felt their stories had been told "accurately and sympathetically." [ 40 ]  Bailey has denied that it is unethical for a university professor to talk to people in the same manner that  journalists  do, or to write books with the resulting anecdotes. He also stated that the book was "popular and not 'scientific'"  so it was not required to follow  IRB  rules. [ 6 ]


According to Dreger, whether federal regulations required professors to obtain formal approval from a university IRB before interviewing people was uncertain at the time; [ 3 ]  she points out that shortly after publication of the book, the US Department of Health and Human Services, in conjunction with the  Oral History Association  and  American Historical Association , issued a formal statement that taking  oral histories , conducting interviews, collecting anecdotes, and similar activities do not constitute IRB-qualified research, and were never intended to be covered by clinical research rules, when such work is "neither systematic nor generalizable in the scientific sense." [ 3 ] [ 41 ]


Also cited as harassment of Bailey were legal complaints that Bailey was  practicing psychology without a license . The basis for these complaints was that  sex-reassignment surgery  in the US requires authorization letters from two psychologists, and Bailey had written a second letter, at no charge and upon request, for some individuals Bailey had spoken with while writing the book. American bioethicist  Alice Dreger  notes that there was no legal basis for this claim, as Bailey received no compensation for his services, and was forthright in his letters about his qualifications, even attaching copies of his C.V.: "Presumably all this was why [Illinois] never bothered to pursue the charge, although you'd never know that from reading the press accounts, which mentioned only the complaints, not that they had petered out." [ 40 ]  State regulators took no action on these complaints. [ 11 ]


In her book  Galileo's Middle Finger  (2015), bioethicist  Alice Dreger  accused Bailey's critics of attempting to make it look as though virtually every trans woman represented in Bailey's book "had felt abused by him and had filed a charge". [ 40 ]  One of Bailey's critics, transgender academic  Deirdre McCloskey , argued that the critics' actions had not overstepped the boundaries of fair comment about what she saw as an "unscientific" opinion. [ 11 ]


Men Trapped in Men's Bodies: Narratives of Autogynephilic Transsexualism  is a 2013 book on the subject of  autogynephilia  and  transgender women  written by  sexologist   Anne Lawrence . [ 1 ]  In the book, she discusses autogynephilia, a  paraphilia  in which a person is  sexually attracted  to and  aroused by  the thought or image of themselves as female. [ 1 ] [ 2 ]  It is defined as an  erotic target location error , as a self-directed form of  gynephilia , and as a  sexuoromantic orientation . [ 1 ] [ 3 ] [ 2 ]  Autogynephilia has been theorized by some academics, such as Lawrence,  Ray Blanchard , and  J. Michael Bailey , to be the motivating  etiology  for a subset of transgender women. [ 1 ]  It has also been theorized to be the cause of the feelings and behaviors of certain non-transgender males, including non-transitioning autogynephiles (sometimes called "crossdreamers") and  erotic crossdressers  ("transvestites"). [ 1 ] [ 4 ]  In respect to the latter,  transvestism  has been defined as a subtype of autogynephilia. [ 1 ]  Lawrence herself is a transgender woman and self-identifies as autogynephilic. [ 1 ]  However,  Blanchard's etiological typology of transgender women  and autogynephilia are highly controversial subjects and are not accepted by many other transgender women and academics. [ 5 ] [ 6 ]  The book was published in 2013 by  Springer  in  New York . [ 1 ]


Men Trapped in Men's Bodies: Narratives of Autogynephilic Transsexualism  is 242 pages in length and has 12 chapters. [ 1 ]  Its chapters include "Men Trapped in Men's Bodies", "Theory and Case Histories", "Narratives by Autogynephilic Transsexuals", "Confronting Autogynephilia", "Developmental Histories", "Manifestations of Autogynephilia", "Autogynephilia and Heterosexuality", "Sex with Men", "Other Aspects of Autogynephilic Sexuality", "Debating the Meaning of Autogynephilia", "Narratives by Nontranssexual Autogynephiles", and "Autogynephilic Transsexualism in Perspective". [ 1 ]  It includes 249 first-person narratives of autogynephilia by transgender women and 52 narratives of autogynephilia by non-transgender males (301 narratives in total) that were submitted to and collected by Lawrence. [ 1 ]  This followed earlier collections of the same kinds of narratives that Lawrence had published in 1999. [ 1 ] [ 7 ] [ 8 ]  Besides the book, Lawrence has published a number of  literature reviews  on autogynephilia. [ 9 ] [ 2 ] [ 10 ] [ 3 ] [ 5 ]


The book has a similar title to a 1998 essay published by Lawrence in  Transgender Tapestry  called  Men Trapped in Men's Bodies: An Introduction to the Concept of Autogynephilia [ 11 ]  and to a 1999 essay presented by Lawrence at the 16th  Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association  (HBIGDA) symposium known as  Men Trapped in Men's Bodies: Autogynephilic Eroticism as a Motive for Seeking Sex Reassignment . [ 1 ] [ 12 ] [ 13 ]  Both of these essays were also previously published on Lawrence's website, [ 1 ] [ 11 ] [ 13 ]  in addition to her earlier 1999 collections of autogynephilia narratives. [ 7 ] [ 8 ]  The book's title is also similar to the title of a chapter called  Men Trapped in Men's Bodies  in J. Michael Bailey's 2003 book,  The Man Who Would Be Queen: The Science of Gender-Bending and Transsexualism , with this chapter title being inspired by and taking after the titles of Lawrence's earlier essays. [ 14 ]  The phrase "men trapped in men's bodies" refers to the fact that transgender women are often described as "women trapped in men's bodies", yet autogynephilic transgender women are said not to resemble women in terms of their behavioral characteristics and life histories but instead to be more similar to men in these areas and to have an intense desire to become women due to their autogynephilic feelings. [ 1 ] [ 14 ]  Hence, these transgender women, relative to pretransition, could, in a sense, alternatively be described as "men trapped in men's bodies" per Lawrence. [ 1 ] [ 14 ]  Ray Blanchard has stated that Lawrence initially startled even him with the phrase and the forthright titles of her essays. [ 1 ]


Men Trapped in Men's Bodies: Narratives of Autogynephilic Transsexualism  has received several published  book reviews , including by  psychologist  Richard Lippa, [ 15 ]   psychiatrist   Stephen B. Levine , [ 16 ]  sexologist Kevin Hsu, [ 17 ]  psychologist Richard Carroll, [ 18 ]  and psychologist Margaret Nichols. [ 19 ]  It has been regarded by Ray Blanchard, who wrote the  foreword  of the book and developed the concept of autogynephilia, as the definitive text on the subject of autogynephilia. [ 1 ]  He has compared it favorably to  Magnus Hirschfeld 's classic 1910 work,  Die Transvestiten: Eine Untersuchung über den Erotischen Verkleidungstrieb  ( Transvestites: The Erotic Drive to Cross-Dress ). [ 1 ]


Many transgender women reject autogynephilia as an explanation for their feelings and consider the concept to be offensive. [ 5 ] [ 6 ]  Criticisms have been lobbied against the construct of autogynephilia on a variety of grounds. [ 20 ] [ 21 ] [ 22 ]  However, some people, most famously Lawrence herself, identify with autogynephilia and find that it accurately describes their experiences. [ 1 ] [ 23 ] [ 24 ]  That some individuals identify with autogynephilia is also evidenced by the 301 narratives of autogynephilia by transgender and non-transgender people that were submitted to and published by Lawrence. [ 1 ]


A  playboy lifestyle  is the  lifestyle  of a wealthy man with ample time for  leisure , who demonstratively is a  bon vivant  and  man about town  who appreciates the pleasures of the world, especially the company of women. The term "playboy" was popular in the early to mid-20th century and is sometimes used to describe a conspicuous  womanizer .


"The Original Playboys relied upon a perfect storm of pleasurable circumstances: The world was at peace; airplanes began flying internationally; their parents were members of the 1920s  café society  and raised progressive, well-mannered, fashion-forward children; they possessed unparalleled wealth, there was no Internet – as a result, they will forever remain an inimitable breed of elite, professional pleasure seekers, the likes of which the world will never see again." [ 1 ]


Initially the term was used in the eighteenth century for boys who performed in the theatre, [ 2 ]  and later it appears in the 1888 Oxford Dictionary to characterize a person with money who is out to enjoy himself. [ 3 ]  By the end of the nineteenth century it also implied the connotations of "gambler" and "musician". [ 4 ]  By 1907, in  J. M. Synge 's comedy  The Playboy of the Western World ,  the term had acquired the notion of a  womanizer . According to  Shawn Levy , the term reached its full meaning in the interwar years and early post WWII years. Postwar intercontinental travel allowed playboys to meet at international nightclubs and famous "playgrounds" such as the  Riviera  or  Palm Beach  where they were trailed by  paparazzi  who supplied the  tabloids  with material to be fed to an eager audience. Their sexual conquests were rich, beautiful, and famous. In 1953,  Hugh Hefner  caught the wave and created the  Playboy  magazine. [ 5 ]


Porfirio Rubirosa , who died in a car crash in 1965, is an example of someone who embodied the playboy lifestyle. [ 1 ] [ 3 ]  The diplomat claimed to have no time to work, being busy spending time with women, getting married briefly and in sequence to the two richest women in the world, drinking and gambling with his friends, playing polo, racing cars, and flying his airplane from party to party. He was linked to other famous playboys of the time  Aly Khan , [ 6 ]   Jorge Guinle , [ 7 ]  "Baby" Francisco Pignatari, [ 8 ]  and later,  Gunther Sachs , [ 1 ]  his acolyte, who termed himself a  homo ludens . [ 3 ]


Other people who adopted the playboy lifestyle included  Alfonso de Portago , [ 9 ]   Barry Sheene , [ 10 ]   Hugh Hefner ,  Dan Bilzerian ,  Julio Iglesias ,  George Best ,  Adam Clayton ,  Imran Khan ,  Michael Douglas ,  James Hunt ,  Howard Hughes , [ 11 ]   Averell Harriman , [ 12 ]   Errol Flynn , [ 7 ]   Gianni Agnelli , [ 8 ]   Silvio Berlusconi ,  John F. Kennedy , [ 11 ]   Alessandro "Dado" Ruspoli , [ 8 ]   Carlos de Beistegui , [ 7 ]   Count Theodore Zichy , [ 13 ]   David Frost , [ 14 ]   Bernard Cornfeld ,  Wilt Chamberlain ,  George Clooney , [ 15 ]   Maurizio Zanfanti ,  Mario Conde , [ 16 ]   Fabrizio Corona , [ 17 ]  and  Richard Harris .


Fictional playboys include   James Bond  from the  James Bond  franchise,  Patrick Melrose  from  Patrick Melrose ,  Bruce Wayne  from the  DC Comics   Batman  franchise,  Tony Stark  from  Marvel Entertainment ,  Jack Donaghy  from  30 Rock , and  Charlie Harper  from  Two and a Half Men .