Wannabes? The fetishization of transsexualism source
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[edit] Article
Author: James, Andrea In the wake of the Bailey-Blanchard-Lawrence controversy, one important facet is the sexualization of gender variance.
Shortly after the publication of J. Michael Bailey's The Man Who Would Be Queen, sexologists Anne Lawrence and Ray Blanchard spoke at a New York conference on BIID, or Body Integrity Identity "Disorder." which was covered in a 25 June 2003 New York Observer article about it. The term “Wannabes” comes from the amputation fetish community.
I’ll get to that in a minute, though.
I've had to deal with jerks and losers pretending to be me online, so I agree with the author that this is an aggravating and potentially unsafe trend. I consider it a form of identity theft, and many of these people are simply trying to get validation from others or to lure young trans women into their confidence.
Beyond the people who steal images and identities outright is an interesting subgroup in which they paste their own faces into images of women. As you can see below, these are invariably images of women deemed attractive or beautiful. I also consider the impostor pages below an interesting illustration of the "arms race" between admirers who hate the fakes and the wannabes who create the fakes. Please see my page on internet safety for more on the dangers of fake online transsexuals.
Examples of online wannabes (Webmaster's note, images removed, refer to original article to view them)
Now, back to the fetishization of transsexualism...
From a reader in 2003, before the "autogynephilia" support group was kicked off Yahoo in 2005 for violations of Terms of Service:
I just joined Willow Arune's “autogynephilia” support newsgroup to further my goal of figuring out how "autogynephilics" view transsexualism. One of the things that's apparent so far is that these people feel they are under siege. According to them, daring to voice support for Bailey invites attack from other transsexuals, usually in the form of being called men. I know you're not responsible for what other people do, but as community leaders, could you maybe pass the word along that that sort of thing just isn't helpful? I know, we're under attack too. Bailey Blanchard and Lawrence are all fair game, but people are getting caught in the crossfire. Just see if there's anything you can do, ok?
My reply:
I feel bad that they are catching a lot of flak for expressing how they feel. Believe me, I know the feeling. However, the problem is that they have adopted the terminology of people who call them Men Trapped in Men’s Bodies and Man Who Would Be Queen. Whatever their condition, the term “autogynephilia” has the slur of “man” inexorably linked to it by those who coined and promote it, so as long as people in our community use it, I am quite certain they will be inexorably linked to men. I suggest they define themselves on their own terms, and I am going to make a suggestion based on a conference their self-proclaimed spokesperson Anne Lawrence is attending right now.
Here's the thing, and I'm not being judgmental, but I am not certain members of that group are “transsexuals” in the strict clinical definition, and the distinction is important. I think they have a separate clinical condition, or more accurately, an erotic interest, in which they are attracted to transsexuals, or more accurately, transsexualism, so much so that they try to become one themselves. Now before people start sending me a lot of hate mail, hear me out.
[edit] Body Dysmorphic “Disorder”
Defined on the BIID site as:
Preoccupation with a real or imagined defect in body appearance may lead to diagnosis of this Somatoform Disorder. If a slight physical anomaly is present, the person's concern is markedly excessive. The preoccupation causes clinically significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning. The preoccupation is not better accounted for by another mental disorder (e.g., dissatisfaction with body shape and size in Anorexia Nervosa).
I would argue that this is not a disorder, and almost every human has some physical aspect they wish were different. I base this on observations from my general market hair removal site. Virtually every human being removes some hair in order to conform to culturally defined aesthetic standards.
Those with unwanted hair have many options for its removal, and it’s a multibillion-dollar industry. Among that group, there are some for whom it is a compulsion, and others for whom it is an erotic matter, but for most people, it’s just about conforming to an arbitrary definition of what is a socially acceptable amount of hair.
As with gender issues, there are treatments available which can take care of this and immensely increase people’s self-esteem and comfort interacting in society. My message board is filled with grateful people who now happily take off their shirts at the beach or no longer get up an hour before their husband so they can pluck their chin hair without his knowing.
The question becomes when does the dissatisfaction with unwanted hair become “markedly excessive?” For instance, there are women on my boards who will not date because of shame about their hair, and more than one woman has expressed a near-crippling fear of getting in an accident and waking up several weeks later in the hospital with a beard. That might seem unusual or ridiculous, but if permanent hair removal can eliminate anxiety, whether irrational or not, it seems like it should be readily available.
[edit] Body Integrity Identity Disorder
According to their website, BIID is a “psychological condition in which the individual requests an elective amputation. Individuals with this condition experience the persistent desire to have their body physically match the idealized mage they have of themselves.”
[edit] Apotemnophilia (fetishization of amputation)
"Apotemnophilia" appears to be a separate condition to BIID, as it is defined as a condition characterized by sexual arousal and facilitation or attainment of orgasm dependent upon being oneself an amputee. These individuals are sometimes described as “Wannabes.” The BIID sufferers are a distinct group in that their desire to be an amputee is related to activities of daily living and not purely related to sexual arousal.
OK, so let me throw out what Blanchard and Lawrence are saying at this conference and see what you think.
[edit] Blanchard and Lawrence on BIID
One of my hundreds of supersleuths who hate BBL sent me this.
Preceding Anne Lawrence at the amputee wannabe conference was speaker Ray Blanchard, on "Theoretical and Clinical Parallels Between BIID and GID":
Dr. Blanchard discussed the parallels between BIID and GID, the history of social acceptance of Sexual Reassignment Surgery (SRS) and assessing the therapeutic impact of sex reassignment surgery and elective amputation. Dr. Blanchard asked the question: Which aspects of GID phenomena are relevant to BIID?. He also discussed the taxonomy of male-to-female transsexualism. Dr. Blanchard covered the aspects of social acceptance of SRS, including positive clinical evidence, backing of prestigious institutes and experts, favorable social climate, sympathetic media and high-profile attractive pioneers. Dr. Blanchard discussed his belief that outcome studies on the therapeutic impact of SRS would never have been sufficient to bring about social acceptance of surgical intervention, but they were certainly necessary. His hypothesis was that the same fact may hold true for the surgical treatment of BIID.
4th Speaker was Anne Lawrence, MD, PhD: "BIID and GID: Paraphilia, Identity, and Access to Care"
Dr. Lawrence defined the term "paraphilia" using the DSM-IV criteria, and discussed the interaction of paraphilia and identity in Gender Identity Disorder. Dr. Lawrence posed the question "Is the desire for amputation a paraphilia?" She also covered objections to the idea that the paraphilia model applies to BIID. Dr. Lawrence discussed a paradigm referred to as the "Erotic Target Location Error" model (developed by Drs. Freund and Blanchard). The final portion of Dr. Lawrence's talk focused on the public health model of "Harm Reduction" as it could apply to BIID > both in the areas of motivating surgical professionals to be of assistance to this population, and helping members of the community who attempt self-amputation to take steps to preserve life and minimize damage. Legal concerns were also discussed in this portion of the talk.
From the New York Observer article:
BIID is often compared to Gender Identity Disorder. "[They] are two sides of the same coin," said Dr. Anne Lawrence. "They're both about feeling like you're in the wrong body and wanting to change that body." Dr. Lawrence, a transsexual herself, was invited to the conference for her expertise on the topic. Unlike sex changes, however, amputating a healthy limb disables the patient-so it's considered unethical, although not illegal.
[edit] Transsexual wannabes
Now, here's where I really put myself out on a limb (so to speak). This is all first-blush theorizing here, but let me give this a shot.
Based on my personal encounter, I believe that Anne Lawrence may have undergone medical procedures not to become a woman, but to become a transsexual. In other words, like an "apotemnophile" who is so attracted to amputees that they want to be one, Dr. Lawrence is so attracted to transsexuals that Dr. Lawrence took steps to emulate them. A tranny-chaser who wants to be just like a transsexual.
Wild, huh?
| Erotic object | "Condition" | Non-medical name |
|---|---|---|
| limb modification | "apotemnophilia" | wannabes |
| genital modification | ??? | ??? |
I'll let you pick your own names. I'm not into labeling, but I am interested in making distinctions where I think they are needed. Transsexuals as traditionally defined seek to bring their minds and bodies into congruence so they can live and date in the non-transsexual world. Dr. Lawrence appears to have undergone the procedures in order to live and date in the transsexual world. In this desire for those who embody transsexualism, Dr. Lawrence appears to place the locus of erotic attention in the modified genitalia, in the same way an "apotemnophile" places the erotic locus of the amputee in the missing limb.
Why would Dr. Lawrence do all this? Same reason an "apotemnophile" would. In order to have better access to a dating pool with their object of desire. Some tranny-chasers are repellent to transsexuals, so if you take the form of a transsexual, you can pursue those you desire more easily. You can go to conventions and blend right in. You can even lure them back to your house under the pretense of collaborating on a book.
Like amputee wannabes who go through with it, Dr. Lawrence is a transsexual wannabe who went through with it. Once an amputee, they can go to disability-rights rallies and social events and approach amputees in a non-threatening way with something in common. Dr. Lawrence has taken the form of her erotic object in an attempt to make a sexual encounter more likely.
I got this notion from something on the BIID site trying to make BIID more socially acceptable by comparing it to GID: Transsexuals "usually mutilate only the genitals in order to assume the physical appearance of the opposite sex." Because Dr. Lawrence is fixated on the genitals in the same way as the BIID people are fixated on limbs. "Erotic Target Location Error," indeed.
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