Thanks for your time and consideration. Yes we all have different experiences, and it's unfortunate that there has been negative experiences with autogynephila. As I mentioned before, sadly I think it's more to do with SOME trans women's hated of those who THEY THINK make them look bad. And that might be true with SOME negative comments. But like all other things, the reason is rooted in people's desire to feel powerful by putting other people down (including those who have been put down by others), and I think it's less about the terminology or what a researcher like Blanchard said 40 years ago (I bet many trans women who lambaste autogynephila never bothered to dig in and find out the various information on the topic).
I used to live in San Francisco a block away from a Trans bar called Diva's, and I was very active in the community, I've met literally thousands of trans women over a 15 year period (I'm also an entertainer), and there are all types, and should ALL be respected, and the ones who are assholes can be ignored.
I explored my gender way before I ever heard the term autogynephilia, I ran across it maybe 10 years ago and I was relieved because it explained me better than anything else. I was attracted to being trans because I couldn't stand the definition of an American Male where I grew up (suburban NY/NJ). Men had to watch sports, be tough ALL the time, have no feelings, etc. I lived overseas and saw my first trans women at 10 years old when I lived in London. I also lived in East Africa - I experienced many cultures, and the American Male was not something I was on board with. I didn't identity as a woman or trans. Just not as an American Shallow Male. When I came back the US as a teenager and saw all the girls I previously knew, loaded up on makeup and fancy clothes, cutting themselves off from their connection to others behind the glamour shield, my interest grew in exploring it. Over the years, I related to alternative people because of their explorations of different states of mind, so to me being trans is about being multi-faceted more than anything. And then when people liked me as a woman, that solidified it for me.
I wrote a book about it if you're interested. And that book is now being produced into a musical I wrote.
Thanks for your interest. It's a complex topic, and emotions are surely high. I have just run across so many assholes, but that's true in EVERY demographic and trans is no exception. It's probably worse in the trans world because trans women have been stressed and abused for sure. It's too bad that many cope by being assholes. This is actually part of the reason for the right’s descending into MAGA. To some extent we have overplayed our hand.
