document updated 14 years ago, on Oct 10, 2010
There's a concept that some transfeminine people are motivated mainly by the fact that they get sexually aroused by feminine clothing. This is called autogynephilia or transvestic fetishism. Some psychologists (and even the upcoming DSM-V) make a distinction between this and folks who are "truly" transgender.
However, the transgender community reacts very negatively to this conception, for numerous reasons:
- It's a double standard. MTF people are the only ones who can ever be classified this way, while FTM rarely/never are.
- FTM people are generally viewed as far more sexual than they really are, even ones who aren't remotely autogynephiliac. This is based on misogyny. "The common presumption that trans women transition to female for sexual reasons seems to be based on the premise that women as a whole have no worth beyond their ability to be sexualized."
- When gay rights first reached the public consciousness, people seemed preoccupied with the fact that gay people had anal sex sometimes. Rather than consider gay people as a whole person, with complicated lives, people focused in on an activity that gay people spend <2% of their time on.
- I have to admit, there are some transfeminine folks who do kooky things. But this isn't intrinsicly linked with being transgender or gay. Rather, it has to do with the fact that staying closetted forever messes with your head, and makes you resort to doing bizarre things.