There’s a controversial new book that is destined to become a classic in the field of gender and sexual orientation. The Man Who Would Be Queen, by J. Michael Bailey is about the science of gender bending and transsexualism.
This book is controversial because it offers a new vision about the nature of crossdressing and transsexualism. It challenges some of the "conventional wisdom" generally held within the gender community and offers a new way of describing and explaining some gender bending behaviors. That description is less flattering than some would prefer, but it does have a certain ring of truth that is hard to deny.
J. Michael Bailey is Professor of Psychology at Northwestern University who has for some time done research in the origins of human sexual orientation. The first two thirds of this book are about how extremely feminine boys often become gay men. But it is the last third of the book about "Women Who Once Were Boys" that catches our attention.
It seems we must always start by discussing terminology. Bailey asks us to throw out any definitions we have about male-to-female transsexualism and the assorted connotations that may come with those definitions. He chooses to define transsexualism as "the desire to become a member of the opposite sex." Notice that his definition does not talk about motivations, behaviors, or subsequent actions. This is intentional, because this allows different degrees of transsexualism. "Some transsexuals merely undergo electrolysis; others may take hormones; others get breast implants; and of course, others get an operation to simulate the genitalia of the other sex." But some transsexuals never choose any of these actions. They are still transsexuals in Bailey’s definition because they have the desire to become a member of the opposite sex.
Within the class of transsexuals there are two important subdivisions: homosexual and autogynephilic. These two types of transsexuals are very different in their motivation and expression of their transsexualism. If we knew the root causes of their transsexualism, we would probably find those causes to be distinctly different. As Bailey states it, "Succinctly put, homosexual male-to-female transsexuals are extremely feminine gay men, and autogynephilic transsexuals are men erotically obsessed with the image of themselves as women." There's enough in that sentence to upset just about every one of both types.
Homosexual transsexuals are men who from a very early age manifested very feminine behaviors. Unlike some feminine boys who grow up to be gay men, homosexual transsexuals never outgrow or hide their femininity. They choose to change their sex while they are still young, usually under 30 years old. But they remain homosexual because they desire and love men in much the same way that all homosexual men express their sexuality. These are not women who were trapped in a man’s body, but men who are so feminine that the only way they can attract other men, especially heterosexual men, is to transform themselves into the appearance of women.
Autogynephilic transsexuals are not particularly feminine as boys. Their first manifestation of crossdressing behavior occurs in early adolescence when they find it sexually stimulating to try on their mother's or sister's clothing and use it as an aide to masturbation. This is very different from homosexual transsexuals, who crossdress at an earlier age and never report being sexually stimulated by crossdressing. Autogynephilic transsexuals typically attempt to repress their crossdressing and attendant masturbation for many years. If they choose to transition to living as a female, it is usually later in life, typically about age 40. Autogynephilic transsexuals may be attracted to women or men, or both, or neither, but their primary attraction is to the woman they seek to become.
Autogynephilia is a difficult concept to understand. Ray Blanchard, Head of the Clinical Sexology Program of the Clarke Institute of Psychiatry in Toronto coined the term. But Blanchard published only in scholarly journals that are difficult for most of us to access and interpret. Bailey does an excellent job of explaining autogynephilia, but as he says, it still remains a difficult, even jarring, concept to understand. Blanchard has said that autogynephilia is best conceived as misdirected heterosexuality. Somehow due to an error in the development of normal heterosexual preference, autogynephiles’ "erotic target (a woman) gets located on the inside (the self) rather than the outside." These are not women trapped in a man’s body. These are men who are erotically obsessed with the image of themselves as women.
Autogynephilia extends to heterosexual crossdressers who are not transsexual, that is, they do not desire to become a member of the opposite sex. Bailey believes that virtually all heterosexual crossdressers, if they are honest with themselves, are autogynephilic. Even crossdressers who do not want to change their sex are autogynephilic because their focus is on their image of themselves as a woman, and that focus is sexually stimulating. Both Bailey and Blanchard say sexual arousal and masturbation is greatly under reported by autogynephiles, probably because it is simply embarrassing to admit to auto stimulation.
It is not surprising that Bailey’s book is stirring discussion and controversy. He offers ideas that have a ring of truth to them, but are not particularly flattering to some people. But the book is well written, entertaining, and contributes further to our understanding of these complex behaviors.
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Updated: 05/08/04
