Late Transition and Lesbian Transwomen
Yet another phenomenon that Blanchard’s model is meant to explain is why straight transwomen (what he calls homosexual transsexuals)
tend to transition earlier in life, while lesbian transwomen (what he terms autogynephilic transsexuals) tend to transition later.
It should be fairly obvious as to why this is the case. Simply put, straight transwomen have less to lose by transitioning than do lesbian
transwomen. If you are an 18 year old biological male who has the psychological makeup of a female, are you are attracted to males, you can
either transition and be a heterosexual woman, or you can choose not to transition, and be a homosexual male. Either way, you’re going to be a
kind of outlaw in our society. The added social penalty of transitioning just isn’t that extreme. On the other hand, if you are that 18 year old, and you
are attracted to females, what do you have to gain by transitioning? You can stay as you are, avoid the shunning that comes with social rejection,
and you have a much larger field of women to choose from.
Of course, that reasoning is flawed, and it is only a matter of time before that fact is driven home to you. You’ve avoided both the stigma of being a
transsexual and the stigma of being a lesbian, but you still have to maintain the pretense of being male. Some people manage to keep up the
pretense and the rationalization for decades. Others only for years. Crossdressing can delay the inevitable crash. It can act as a sluiceway in a
dam, lessening the psychological pressure you feel on the inside.
Of course, there is another possible reason for the higher than average rate of lesbians among late transitioners. As mentioned above, habits
run deep. So does shame. Many late transitioners who might be somewhat attracted to men as well as women feel a sense of shame at the
prospect. They have internalized many of the myths in society, such as Blanchard's "homosexual transsexual" idea, and are afraid that if they
get involved with a man, they will actually be less accepted as a woman, because people will think they transitioned solely for this reason.
Or worse, they may suspect that any man who is interested in them might be gay, and only interested in them as a "male". The prospect of
this kind of "left-handed acceptance" is more than many transwomen are willing to risk.
Other late transitioners simply don't pass well, and are afraid to try relations with men. They find women to be more understanding and less
focused on surface appearances.
Lastly, there is a question to be asked about the nature of homosexuality and heterosexuality. I have discussed this
elsewhere.
"Manly Men" Who Later Transition
This part is a bit of conjecture, because I was never exactly a manly man. But it fits with what I’ve seen in many other transwomen. And again, this
is almost too obvious to need saying.
One of the most common things that happens to introverts when they finally manage to come out of their shell is that they go a little overboard. This
is true not only for introverts, but for any psychological aspect that a person tries to change. Many transwomen go overboard into hyperfemininity
when they transition. And when you are a young person who is trying desperately to quash the crossgender feelings that would have such a high
social price should they ever get out, hypermasculine behavior is far from unexpected.
Conclusion
That some transwomen have had, or continue to have, sexual fantasies that could be termed autogynephilic does not make them “autogynephilic
transsexuals.” They are merely transwomen whose bodies have been trained over the years to respond with physical arousal to the fear associated
with being caught doing something socially “wrong”. Even after the fear is gone, the habit of responding with arousal to images of feminization
persists.
The shame that so many transwomen feel about these fantasies is a shame that has been internalized, and stems from the response of so many
people who have no understanding of what it is like to grow up with gender dysphoria. When so many people try to read a sexual cause into gender
dysphoria (consider the word transsexual itself), any marginally intelligent person knows that admitting to these sorts of sexual manifestations
is only likely to confirm that mistake in the minds of listeners.
While Dr. Ray Blanchard’s work can be seen as an extension of the transphobic attitude experienced by so many transmen and transwomen at
the Clarke Institute, and while J. Michael Bailey use of transwomen as experimental subjects with neither their knowledge nor their consent places
him far outside the bounds of any serious researcher, Dr. Anne Lawrence deserves our sympathy more than our condemnation. Her guilt and shame
at feelings which were nothing to feel guilty or ashamed of led her to embrace a model that explained those feelings in a way that seemed to dispell
her guilt and shame.