AGP is probably not what you think it is (
self.honesttransgender)
submitted 2 hours ago by
cranberry_snacks
I know this will be met with a lot of vitriol, but this comes up often enough, with such an overwhelming amount of misinformation, that it needs to be said.
AGP
is not a fetish. It's not a pervert wanking in the corner in a dress. These are TERF talking points, and carrying on with this myth just spreads this same transphobia.
AGP is a
sexuality, or sexual orientation. It often starts pre-puberty. People with AGP often develop deep persistent female identities and dysphoria around the mind/body incongruence. The female identity typically persists throughout life.
The inner "relationship" with a person's female sense of self is
not inherently erotic or perverted, like a lot of people seem to believe. The inward feelings are often things like empathy, affection, admiration, and love. Core inner feelings that are necessary for psychological health.
AGP people are trans by common definition. Many people with AGP develop female gender identities, suffer dysphoria, and transition. If you don't believe these things are what makes a person trans, that's fine, but what's left? What is it that makes a person trans if it's not their identity, dysphoria, or transition?
Here's a really concise quote from Anne Lawrence on what AGP is:
[People with AGP] love females and want to become what they love. That is their sexual orientation.
On what "sexual orientation" means:
Blanchard was careful to emphasize that autogynephilia is a genuine sexual orientation, involving both erotic and romantic elements. The romantic manifestations of a person’s sexual orientation includes feelings of affection,
idealization, appreciation of beauty, comfort, and desire for closeness -- all the things associated with the word love, broadly construed.
And, on the actual experience of this:
They identify with women, or feel themselves to be female mentally or spiritually, or believe they simply would feel more comfortable and authentic living as women.
I have AGP. I've had a persistent female gender identity since I was a little kid, and I'm almost 50 now. I suffered through years of dysphoria. My identity is not an erotic fetish; it's a gentle, powerful, and persistent self-love. The psychological dynamics that underpin it have been professionally diagnosed multiple times by independent professionals.
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For those who are bothered by this post, sorry, kinda. I honestly don't want to poke the hornet's next, and I really do wish we could talk about it in a caring, compassionate way.