Blanchard's Transsexualism Typology - Justification For The Two Classifications

Justification For The Two Classifications

According to Blanchard (1985, 1987) key characteristics of homosexual transsexual people include conspicuous cross-gender behavior from childhood through adulthood, and a "homosexual" sexual orientation. Blanchard (1987) found in his studies that homosexual transsexual people were younger when applying for sex reassignment The average age of the non-homosexual transsexual people in Blanchard's sample is around 39, whereas the average of the homosexual transsexual people was 23.6. Moreover, the homosexual transsexual people reported that cross-gender wishes preceded cross-dressing by 3–4 years, whereas the non-homosexual transsexual people reported that their first cross-gender wishes occurred around the time they first cross-dressed. Blanchard also reports that they have a more convincing cross-gender appearance and functioned psychologically better than "non-homosexual" transsexual people. A lower percentage of the homosexual transsexual people reported being (or having been) married, and feeling sexually aroused while cross-dressing. Early studies had variously found that between 10% and 36% of homosexual transsexual people report a history of sexual arousal to cross dressing. Bentler (1976) found 23%, while Freund (1982) reported 31%. In a follow-up study of post-operative transsexual people, Blanchard found that both types of male-to-female transsexual people respond well to sex reassignment, but that the homosexual transsexual people are less likely to regret doing so.

Sexologists quantitatively measure sexual orientation using psychological personality tests or rely on self reports. Blanchard and Freund used the Masculine Identity in Females (MGI), and the modified androphilia scale. Homosexual transsexual people averaged a Kinsey Scale measurement of 5-6 or a 9.86±2.37 on the Modified Androphilia Scale.

In The Man Who Would Be Queen, J. Michael Bailey (2003) stated that the homosexual transsexual people from Chicago gay bars he studied were comfortable with prostitution, and that this type of transsexual has a male sexual appetite, but lusts after men. He supported Blanchard's typology of two forms of transsexualism in males—one that is an extreme type of homosexuality, and one that is an expression of autogynephilia. In "The Transsexual Phenomenon", Harry Benjamin (1966) wrote that a few dozen transsexual people "find prostitution a useful profession for emotional as well as practical reasons" before surgery.

Ken Zucker (2002) and Yolanda Smith (2005) independently found that homosexual transsexual people are of lower average IQ, social class, and age. They were on average in their mid-teens to mid-20s when they reported to a gender clinic for sex reassignment. The homosexual transsexual people are more likely to have recent immigrant status, non-intact families, non-Caucasian race, and childhood behavior problems). Bailey found that most homosexual transsexual people he interviewed from Chicago gay bars learned to live on the streets, resorting to prostitution, or shoplifting.

Blanchard does not consider sex with males to be a sole defining characteristic of being "homosexual" versus "non-homosexual". Concerning "non-homosexual" autogynephilic transsexual people who sleep with men, Blanchard writes: "The effective erotic stimulus in these interactions, however, is not the male physique of the partner, as it is in true homosexual attraction, but rather the thought of being a woman, which is symbolized in the fantasy of being penetrated by a man. For these persons, the male sexual partner serves...to intensify the fantasy of being a woman."

Leavitt and Berger also mentioned studies by Blanchard which suggest that heterosexual transsexual people will adjust their life stories to ensure that they get sex reassignment surgery.(Leavitt 1990) Blanchard considers self-report to be unreliable. Morgan (1978), Blanchard (1985), Lawrence (2005) and other researchers have asserted that many "non-homosexual" transsexual people systematically distort their life stories because "non-homosexuals" were often screened out as candidates for surgery and because some see "homosexual transsexual" as a more socially desirable diagnosis.

Blanchard (1996) and Zucker (2007) came to the general conclusion that birth order has some influence over sexual orientation in biological males in general, and homosexual male to female transsexual people in specific. This phenomenon is called the "fraternal birth order effect". In 2000 Richard Green wrote "Homosexual male-to-female transsexuals have a later than expected birth order and more older brothers than other subgroups of male-to-female transsexuals. Each older brother increases the odds that a male transsexual is homosexual by 40%." Green did not find a higher incidence of homosexuality in the younger brothers of homosexual transsexual people. Zucker and Blanchard wrote that studies have consistently supported the "fraternal birth order effect" that homosexual transsexual people have more brothers than sisters and are born later in birth order. In contrast, in their study using an Asian sample they found that the transsexual men had significantly more sisters than controls. Zucker attributes this to the preference for males in Korean society causing parents to stop having children once they have a boy. Therefore all male children are less likely to have older brothers and hence no fraternal birth order effect is observed. According to Bailey's interpretation of Blanchard's theory the causes of homosexual transsexuality are extreme examples of the causes of homosexuality in males.

Research by Blanchard, Zucker, and Green argues that the causes of homosexual transsexualism, transsexualism, and homosexuality overlap to a large degree.

Blanchard (1995) also said homosexual transsexual people were comparatively shorter and lighter in proportion to their height than non-homosexuals. Independent research done by Johnson (1990) and Smith (2005) concur with most of Blanchard's observations. Smith did not find a significant difference in height-weight ratio. Subsequent research has found only partial support of Smith's findings. Johson's 1990 work used the alternative term "androphilic transsexual", Johson wrote that there was a correlation between social adjustment to the new gender role and androphilia.

MacFarlane found that in New Zealand 90% of the transsexual prostitutes were Māori. Of these, 90% had sex with a male as a child and 22% had sex with a female. Every subject in the study considered their sexual activity with men to not be homosexual, as they considered themselves female. Maoris comprise 9% of the overall population. In The Man Who Would Be Queen J. Michael Bailey states that about 60% of homosexual transsexual people he studied in Chicago gay bars were Latina or black, while in his studies of gay males only 20% were non-white; to provide possible explanations for this disparity, Bailey quotes the opinions of two of his subjects who attributed the difference to genetics, or inflexible gender roles in their respective cultures. MacFarlane similarly concluded that cultural acceptance influenced the number of Māori transsexual prostitutes, but also greater detachment from their culture, a lower standard of education, fewer job opportunities, and cultural confusion due to the abandonment of old customs.