Autogynephilia

Autogynephilia, also called autogynophilia, refers to sexual arousal caused by imagining or experiencing oneself as female or as having a female body. The term comes from a medical and psychiatric context and has mainly been applied to people who were assigned male at birth. It is highly controversial because it can problematically conflate gender identity, bodily experience, sexual fantasy, and being transgender.

Trans women in particular have often been wrongly explained, pathologized, or devalued through the concept of autogynephilia. This is clinically and ethically problematic: being transgender is not a paraphilia and cannot be reduced to sexual arousal. In current official diagnostic classifications, autogynephilia is not listed as a separate diagnosis.

In public discourse, the term often appears in contexts where trans women in particular are being delegitimized or disparaged. For this reason, it should not be used as an external label for others. If the term is used at all, it should be used very cautiously, in context, and preferably only as a rare self-description.