Erotic Target Research Articles

Elaborating and Testing Erotic Target Identity Inversion Theory in Three Paraphilic Samples.

Some men sexually attracted to types of persons (e.g., women) or things (e.g., animals) also have internalized sexual attractions: sexual arousal by the idea of being the type of person or thing to whom they are attracted. Consequently, some of these men develop erotic target identity inversions, in which they imitate, yearn to be, or identify as an instance of their erotic target. Erotic Target Identity Inversion Theory predicts that for every external erotic target to which men are attracted, a subset of men will develop an internalized sexual attraction, which may cause an erotic target identity inversion. We examined these predictions in Internet surveys of three samples of men with paraphilic sexual interests: 322 men attracted to amputees, 1501 men attracted to animals, and 402 men attracted to severely obese persons. All samples included substantial minorities of men reporting internalized sexual attractions and erotic target identity inversions specific to their external sexual attractions (e.g., men attracted to amputees who are also aroused by the fantasy of being amputees and wish to become amputees). The correlation between degree of each internalized sexual attraction and degree of its corresponding erotic target identity inversion was approximately 1.0 after correction for attenuation. In each sample, participants' specific internalized sexual attraction was positively correlated with autogynephilia, likely the most common internalized sexual attraction in men. Erotic Target Identity Inversion Theory can potentially explain a variety of otherwise puzzling phenomena, including transgender identity among female-attracted natal males and men seeking amputations of healthy limbs.

Sexual Orientation, Sexual Motivation, and Erotic Target Identity Inversions in Male Adult Baby/Diaper Lovers.

Adult baby/diaper lovers (AB/DLs) enjoy role-playing as babies and/or wearing diapers. They also engage in other related activities, such as urinating or defecating themselves and having an adult care for them. Previous surveys have revealed that AB/DLs commonly report sexual motivation, a finding that is corroborated by case reports in the psychiatric literature and some media interviews. The fact that AB/DLs change their appearance and behavior to become more like babies raises the possibility that they have an erotic target identity inversion (ETII). In ETIIs, a person's external erotic target is inverted into the self, resulting in sexual arousal by the fantasy of being a member of the target class or by imitating one. If AB/DLs are sexually motivated by an ETII, they should experience both sexual attraction to babies and sexual arousal by the fantasy of being a baby. We surveyed 207 male AB/DLs recruited from the Internet about their sexual orientation, sexual motivation, and sexual interests for a primarily quantitative analysis. Consistent with past research, a substantial minority of participants reported non-heterosexual identities (42%), and a large majority reported some degree of sexual motivation for being AB/DLs (93%). Wearing diapers and urinating or defecating oneself were rated as especially sexual. Even though 40% of participants reported sexual arousal by the fantasy of being a baby, only 4% reported sexual attraction to babies. This pattern of results is contrary to predictions from the concept of ETIIs. Instead, participants indicated that physical or mental pain, humiliation, and an adult woman were important to their sexual fantasies of being a baby. Masochism appears to be a promising alternative to an ETII for explaining the sexual motivation of AB/DLs.

A map of desire: multidimensional scaling of men's sexual interest in male and female children and adults.

Men sexually interested in children of a specific combination of maturity and sex tend to show some lesser interest in other categories of persons. Patterns of men's sexual interest across erotic targets' categories of maturity and sex have both clinical and basic scientific implications. We examined the structure of men's sexual interest in adult, pubescent, and prepubescent males and females using multidimensional scaling (MDS) across four datasets, using three large samples and three indicators of sexual interest: phallometric response to erotic stimuli, sexual offense history, and self-reported sexual attraction. The samples were highly enriched for men sexually interested in children and men accused of sexual offenses. Results supported a two-dimensional MDS solution, with one dimension representing erotic targets' biological sex and the other dimension representing their sexual maturity. The dimension of sexual maturity placed adults and prepubescent children on opposite ends, and pubescent children intermediate. Differences between men's sexual interest in adults and prepubescent children of the same sex were similar in magnitude to the differences between their sexual interest in adult men and women. Sexual interest in adult men was no more associated with sexual interest in boys than sexual interest in adult women was associated with sexual interest in girls. Erotic targets' sexual maturity and biological sex play important roles in men's preferences, which are predictive of sexual offending. The magnitude of men's preferences for prepubescent children v. adults of their preferred sex is large.

Sexual Behavior, Desire, and Psychosexual Experience in Gynephilic and Androphilic Trans Women: A Cross-Sectional Multicenter Study

BackgroundOne of the most prominent etiological theories of gender incongruence in trans women proposes a paraphilic erotic target location error (ie, autogynephilia) as a causal factor in gynephilic (ie, exclusively gynephilic and bisexual) trans women. We hypothesized that a paraphilic erotic target location should manifest itself in various aspects of sexual behavior, solitary and dyadic sexual desire, and psychosexual experience. AimTo compare sexual behavior, sexual desire, and psychosexual experience of exclusively gynephilic and bisexual trans women with that of androphilic trans women to explore whether their sexuality differs substantially. MethodsTrans women diagnosed with gender dysphoria (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders–5) were recruited at 4 transgender healthcare centers in Germany. The present study analyzed items on sexual behavior, desire, and experience of a self-report questionnaire, collected as part of a cross-sectional multicenter study. Main OutcomesMultiple aspects of sexuality were examined using self-constructed items. Sexual desire was measured using the Sexual Desire Inventory and psychosexual experience using the Multidimensional Sexuality Questionnaire. ResultsSignificantly more exclusively gynephilic than androphilic trans women reported a history of sexual arousal in relation to cross-dressing. However, little evidence was found that gynephilic and androphilic sexual desire, behavior, and psychosexual experience differ profoundly. Interestingly, a statistically non-significant trend indicated that gynephilic trans women who had not yet undergone gender affirming surgery showed the highest levels of sexual desire (solitary and dyadic), whereas the opposite was the case for androphilic trans women. Clinical TranslationData of this study indicate that sexual orientation does not appear to be a good predicator for sexual behavior, desire, and psychosexual experience in trans women. Strengths and LimitationsWe investigated sexual desire and experience using standardized and evaluated measures such as the Sexual Desire Inventory and Multidimensional Sexuality Questionnaire. Future studies with a larger sample size should investigate how different gender affirming medical intervention might have diverging influences on sexual behavior, desire, and experience. ConclusionUltimately, this study found little evidence for the hypothesis that sexual behavior, sexual desire, and psychosexual experience differ substantially in gynephilic (exclusively gynephilic and bisexual) and androphilic trans women.Laube JS, Auer M, Biedermann SV, et al. Sexual Behavior, Desire, and Psychosexual Experience in Gynephilic and Androphilic Trans Women: A Cross-Sectional Multicenter Study. J Sex Med 2020;17:1182–1194.

Erotic Target Identity Inversions Among Men and Women in an Internet Sample

IntroductionErotic target identity inversions (ETIIs) are poorly studied paraphilias that involve sexual arousal by the idea or fantasy of being the object of one’s sexual desires. AimTo conduct a large non-clinical online survey to investigate self-reported sexual arousal, behavioral expression, and psychological correlates of 4 proposed ETIIs. MethodsA total of 736 natal males and 549 natal females responded to items about self-reported sexual arousal to the idea of acting as an animal (autoanthropomorphozoophilia) or the idea of acting as a child or infant (autonepiophilia), natal males reporting arousal to the idea of acting as a woman (autogynephilia), and natal females reporting arousal to the idea of acting as a man (autoandrophilia). Data pertaining to sexual orientation, childhood gender nonconformity, gender identity discomfort, autism, masochism, and humiliation were also collected. Main Outcome MeasuresThe main outcome was a measure of self-reported arousal and expression of the ETIIs being explored using 4 items: arousal level (–3 to 3) when imagining being the erotic target exemplar; frequency of engagement in dressing or behaving like their preferred target (0–4); strength of feeling that they would be better off as the target (0–4); and the frequency of consideration of making physical changes to look or function more like the target (0–4). ResultsMild levels of reported sexual arousal to the idea of being the preferred erotic target were common among the 4 groups, characterizing about half of them. Gender identity discomfort was associated with autogynephilia, autoandrophilia, and autoanthropomorphozoophilia. Greater gender nonconformity was associated with autogynephilia, autoandrophilia, and autonepiophilia. Autism scores were associated with autoandrophilia and autonepiophilia. Masochism was not associated with ETII scores, but humiliation was. Clinical ImplicationsFindings suggest that it may be important to distinguish between subgroups of those with different levels and types of ETII arousal/expression. Strengths & LimitationsStrengths of this study include the large, non-clinical sample of men and women for the investigation of ETIIs and the inclusion of measures of psychological correlates. The use of an Internet sample with self-report measures may be unrepresentative, although the Internet has the advantage of allowing recruitment from stigmatized or unusual groups. The cross-sectional nature limits our conclusions, as no causal inferences can be made. ConclusionThe results support the concept of ETIIs as a paraphilic dimension in non-clinical samples and the possible role of gender-related psychological factors.Brown A, Barker ED, Rahman Q. Erotic Target Identity Inversions Among Men and Women in an Internet Sample. J Sex Med 2020;17:99–110.

Self-Reported Childhood Maltreatment and Erotic Target Identity Inversions Among Men with Paraphilic Infantilism

Adults with paraphilic infantilism may desire to wear diapers or engage in infant-like role play. Erotic target identity inversions (ETII) and childhood maltreatment have been hypothesized to cause regressive interests. To evaluate these two etiological hypotheses, we surveyed the online adult baby/diaper lover community. Data from 1904 cis-gender men revealed a prevalence of pedophilic interests comparable with the general male population, arguing against ETIIs as common in paraphilic infantilism. In contrast, self-reported childhood neglect and abuse were highly prevalent, suggesting that infantilism might be correlated with childhood maltreatment. Additionally, some participants described repetition and/or sexualization of negative childhood experiences.

The "Furry" Phenomenon: Characterizing Sexual Orientation, Sexual Motivation, and Erotic Target Identity Inversions in Male Furries.

Furries are individuals who are especially interested in anthropomorphic or cartoon animals (e.g., Bugs Bunny). They often strongly identify with anthropomorphic animals and create fursonas, identities of themselves as those anthropomorphic animals. Some practice fursuiting, or wearing costumes that resemble anthropomorphic animals. Furries have been portrayed as sexually motivated in the media and popular culture, although little empirical research has addressed this issue. If some furries are sexually motivated, they may be motivated by an erotic target identity inversion (ETII): sexual arousal by the fantasy of being the same kinds of individuals to whom they are sexually attracted. Furries with ETIIs would experience both sexual attraction to anthropomorphic animals and sexual arousal by fantasizing about being anthropomorphic animals, because they often change their appearance and behavior to become more like anthropomorphic animals. We surveyed 334 male furries recruited from the Internet about their sexual orientation, sexual motivation, and sexual interests. A large majority of our sample reported non-heterosexual identities (84%) and some degree of sexual motivation for being furries (99%). Male furries also tended to report a pattern of sexual interests consistent with an ETII involving anthropomorphic animals. Both sexual attraction to anthropomorphic animals and sexual arousal by fantasizing about being anthropomorphic animals were nearly universal. Furthermore, male furries tended to be sexually aroused by fantasizing about being the same kinds of anthropomorphic animals to whom they were sexually attracted, with respect to gender and species. This sexual motivation and these unusual sexual interests do not justify discrimination or stigmatization.

‘Den nye kvinde’ i det tidlige 1900-tals kulturdebat og litteratur

Lise Busk-Jensen: ‘The New Woman’ in the early 1900s cultural debate and literature
 In the latter half of the nineteenth century, men expanded their political and social liberties of action to such an extent that they undermined the patriarchal marriage and the traditional gender system. It provoked a heated cultural debate about women’s changing social situation and new identity. After the turn of the century, the fight for the right to vote became the major goal of woman’s rights movements, but opinions were divided concerning the definition of a modern woman and how she could best be included in society. In particular, the article deals with two of the major debates from the first decade of the twentieth century; namely the discussion in 1905 about Gyrithe Lemche’s criticism of Agnes Henningsen’s novels for solely focussing on women’s erotic identity, and the discussion in 1907 about the theatre censorship that banned the staging of Hjalmar Bergstrøm’s play Karen Bornemann about women’s right to enjoy sexual relations outside of marriage. Female writers joined in the debate and contributed with their own literary depictions of ‘the new woman.’ Agnes Henningsen’s heroines would be erotically liberated and would play an active role in their love relationships. Thit Jensen’s heroines would uncover a personal identity and publicly fight for their opinions. Gyrithe Lemche would create space for women’s abilities and motherly experience in the community, while Karin Michaëlis was intent on providing the numerous silent women, young ignorant girls and oppressed housewives with their own voice in literature. The article shows the positions of the gender debates and analyses women types in the four authorships’ early period as a spectrum of the possibilities created by women’s life outside of the family.

Sujetos (homo)eróticos frente a la pornografía: lugar y función de la producción pornográfica en la elaboración de guiones intrapsíquicos e interpersonales

Esta investigación trata sobre una serie de entrevistas individuales semiestructuradas con varones mexicanos de la ciudad de México que tienen prácticas (homo)eróticas. Las preguntas que respondieron estaban relacionadas con su manera de abordar y consumir pornografía. El objetivo fue observar, desde el ángulo de la recepción, la eventual articulación entre imágenes pornográficas y la elaboración de guiones intrapsíquicos e interpersonales en la construcción de identidades (o subjetividades) (homo) eróticas.

How anomalous are paraphilic interests?

The latest version of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) (American Psychiatric Association, 2013) addressed important issues related to the definition and diagnostic criteria of paraphilic disorders. Among them is the distinctionbetweenparaphilic interestsandparaphilicdisorders, which clearly acknowledge that paraphilias are not necessarily pathological. However, many problems remain with the category of Paraphilic Disorders in the DSM-5. Issues related to the diagnoses of paraphilic disorders were previously stressed by others (e.g., vagueness of terms, lack of validity, unoperationalized terminology, mixed medical and criminal criteria) (e.g., Balon, 2013; Fedoroff, 2011; Hinderliter, 2011; Moser, 2011; Singy, 2010). This commentary will raise more basic, yet rarely addressed, questions concerning the category of paraphilic disorders: the fundamental definition of paraphilia (Criterion A). According to the DSM-5, paraphilia are anomalous sexual activity preferences or anomalous sexual target preferences (the DSM-IV-TR employed the term atypical). Paraphilias are further defined in the DSM-5 as any intense and persistent sexual interests (fantasies, urges or behaviors) not comprised in a definition of so-called‘‘normophilic’’sexual interests, i.e., ‘‘genital stimulation or preparatory fondling with phenotypically normal, physically mature, consenting human partners’’ (American Psychiatric Association, 2013, p. 685). To be paraphilic, these interests must be greater or equal to ‘‘normophilic’’ sexual interests. Examples of paraphilic interests are given, separated by erotic activities (e.g., spanking, whipping, binding) or erotic targets (e.g., children, animals, shoes, rubber). ThefirstcommenthereconcernstheDSM-5attempttodefine normal sexual behaviors. As stressed by others, this type of definition (‘‘normophilic sexuality’’) depends heavily on historical, political, and sociocultural factors, much more than medical or scientific evidence (Balon, 2013; Laws & O’Donohue,2008).Homosexuality, forexample,was listedasamental disorder until 1973, when it was deleted from the DSM-II (American Psychiatric Association, 1968). Given its relative rarity (3–5 % prevalence) and its counter-evolutionary (non-procreative) nature, should exclusive homosexuality be a paraphilia (Cantor, 2012)? At the time of the first Kinsey report (Kinsey, Pomeroy, & Martin, 1948), oral sex, anal sex, and homosexual intercoursewereconsideredascriminalacts inmanyU.S. states. Masturbation was banned by many religions not so long ago. In the future, what will be said about the paraphilias of the DSM-5? A second concern about the DSM-5 definition of paraphilic interests is their label as ‘‘non-normophilic’’ and ‘‘anomalous’’ sexual interests although no information is provided about the evidence on which these labels are based (in the DSM-IV-TR, the term used was‘‘atypical,’’with no additional bases). There is a general consensus that a paraphilia can be defined as sexual interests that are atypical for one’s species (Cantor, 2012). What is less clear, however, is what an atypical sexual interest is. One can wonder when an atypical sexual interest becomes a mental disorder (Moser, 2009) but, again, what exactly is an atypical sexual interest? Finally, such important terms as ‘‘intense’’ and ‘‘persistent’’ are still not defined in the DSM-5 descriptions of paraphilias. Given that mere sexual fantasies can be paraphilic if they are intense and recurrent, and that sexual fantasies are known to be rather intense and recurrent, at least in subgroups of non-clinical populations (e.g., college students) (Leitenberg & Henning, 1995), one can wonder which sexual fantasies fit this definition. C. C. Joyal (&) Department of Psychology, Universite du Quebec a Trois-Rivieres, 3351, Boul. des Forges, C.P. 500, Trois-Rivieres, QC G9A 5H7, Canada e-mail: christian.joyal@uqtr.ca

In search of Aphrodite: working with archetypes and an inner cast of characters in women with low sexual desire

While much research has been done on sex roles and scripts, an analysis of how archetypes influence sexuality has yet to be articulated. Archetypes are inherent patterns of energy found in the seedbed of the psyche. They have a “felt sense” in the body and move through the psyche shaping perception and motivating behavior. They lie dormant until developmental milestones or life experiences awaken them. This article will describe an archetypal and “inner cast of characters” approach to treating the problem of low sexual desire in women. This method is experiential and acknowledges the range and multidimensionality of human sexual experience. It opens a dimension that can help unlock treatment impasses as the practitioner respectfully engages Sexual Gatekeepers. Identifying the impact of “eros-inhibiting” archetypes and negotiating space for a Sexual Self are part of the work. An archetypal perspective empowers women to define their own erotic identities as they explore the creative realm of the sexual psyche.

Sexual Types: Embodiment, Agency, and Dramatic Character from Shakespeare to Shirley (review)

Reviewed by: Sexual Types: Embodiment, Agency, and Dramatic Character from Shakespeare to Shirley Melissa E. Sanchez (bio) Mario DiGangi . Sexual Types: Embodiment, Agency, and Dramatic Character from Shakespeare to Shirley. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2011. Pp. viii + 296. $65.00. In his smart and innovative new book, Sexual Types: Embodiment, Agency, and Dramatic Character from Shakespeare to Shirley, Mario DiGangi expands the boundaries of the history of sexuality even as he shows how that history is intricately connected to social and political history. DiGangi defines the "sexual type" as a figure who reveals the ideological tensions inherent in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century understandings of character in its social, psychological, and literary registers. On the one hand, the sexual type is an easily recognizable figure (one might even say caricature) of deviant or deformed expressions of gendered or erotic identity. On the other hand, the sexual type participates substantially in familiar and normative social relations and thereby exposes the tenuous and fictional nature of the boundaries between perversity and normality, outsiders and insiders. Moreover, the sexual type is not just "sexual" in a narrow sense. ather, representations of the sexual type reveal the intricate connections between gender and sexual identity and social, economic, and political ideals and loyalties. Focusing on six sexual types—the sodomite, the tribade, the narcissistic courtier, the bawd, the citizen wife, and the monstrous favorite—DiGangi shows how "signifiers of gender and (more subtly) of sexuality serve to convey arguments about political loyalty, military ethics, and aristocratic comportment" (3). The sexual is not merely a metaphor for sociopolitical anxieties but a symptom of the contradictions that informed early modern attempts to align various forms of agency and embodiment into stable and recognizable categories. Accordingly, the types that DiGangi analyzes "unsettle the taxonomical thinking that produces them" (9). DiGangi's study of sexual types also promises to unsettle several modern scholarly taxonomies. For while his project is clearly informed by work in queer studies, DiGangi challenges many of the implicit boundaries that tend to shape scholarship in that field. Most prominently, rather than focus exclusively on early modern representations of same-sex eroticism, Sexual Types includes figures of indeterminate (or "bi-") sexuality (the narcissistic courtier, the monstrous favorite) and figures that fit modern definitions of "heterosexuality" (the citizen wife, the bawd) as well as those that appear to conform to the modern definition of "homosexuality" (the sodomite, the tribade). By examining a range of gendered and sexual behaviors, DiGangi reminds us of the power of early modern studies to destabilize both past and present identitarian categories of male and female, homo- and heterosexual. In addition, Sexual Types gracefully combines formalist, historicist, feminist, and queer methods of reading. By showing how sexual taxonomies are inseparable from social, economic, and political ideologies, [End Page 247] DiGangi reveals the importance of private, affective, embodied experience to these public structures of identification. Finally, DiGangi examines a wide range of early modern writing. In addition to a number of plays by Shakespeare, Sexual Types includes careful analysis of less commonly read work by Jonson, Middleton, Dekker, Webster, Fletcher, Massinger, Killigrew, and Shirley. These plays are, moreover, set in conversation with legal tracts, political pamphlets, crime narratives, character studies, travel writing, and medical texts. The effect is quietly to remind us of the artificiality of both modern hierarchies of literary value and modern distinctions between aesthetic and sociopolitical realms of thought. Sexual Types is divided into three parts, each of which examines a pair of types, one male and one female, that foregrounds a particular set of ideological issues. Part 1 includes chapters on representations of the sodomite and the tribade in Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and The Winter's Tale, each of which unsettles categories of masculinity and femininity, perversity and familiarity. In chapter one, DiGangi argues that the sodomite should be conceived as neither an alien figure (as Alan Bray and Paul Hammond have argued) nor as a purely fictional subject constructed through discourse (as Gregory Bredbeck and Jonathan Goldberg would have it), nor yet as a familiar figure with whom playgoers might pleasurably identify (as in Bruce Smith's and Mary Bly's accounts...

Preferred Female Body Proportions Among Child-Free Men

Based on conceptual extrapolations from sociobiological models concerning the significance of secondary sex characteristics as markers of a female's capacity to produce and nurture offspring, we reasoned that men's greater unwillingness to reproduce would be linked to preference for a female body type characterized by the relative absence of such markers. Heterosexual undergraduate men (N = 67) indicated their ideal (most arousing) female body type on-line by means of an adjustable female figure. As expected, the desire to remain childfree was linked to erotic preference for a combination of smaller breasts and larger waist-to-hip ratio. Additional research into individual factors that map onto variations in the preferred body proportions of erotic targets is thus encouraged.

Sexual Arousal to Female Children in Gynephilic Men

Phallometric assessments of single-victim sexual offenders against children have suggested that only about 50% of these men are more attracted to children than they are to adults. This has raised the question of what motivates the other 50% of men to approach young girls for sex. Freund et al. showed that gynephilic men (i.e., men preferentially attracted to adult women) evidenced greater arousal to images of prepubescent girls than to images of males of any age or to nonerotic images, arguing that gynephilic men may approach prepubescent girls as a "surrogate" for their preferred erotic targets (i.e., adult women). One might argue that these phallometric results are artifactual, given that they were obtained in a time period during which images of nudity were far less common than they are today (thus any female nudity might have elicited arousal). To address this issue, the authors examined the sexual arousal patterns of 214 contemporary men who, based on self-report, offense history, and phallometric responses, were purely gynephilic. Results showed the "classical control profile": the greatest arousal to adult women, systematically decreasing arousal as the female stimuli became younger, and essentially no arousal to any age categories of males or to neutral (nonerotic) stimuli. Arousal to both pubescent and prepubescent girls was significantly greater than to neutral stimuli (p < .001 for both). Thus, Freund et al.'s results still appear to be valid, and the explanation for child molesting that they suggest still seems to be feasible.

Erotic Target Location Errors: An Underappreciated Paraphilic Dimension

Based on studies of heterosexual male fetishists, transvestites, and transsexuals, Blanchard (1991) proposed the existence of a hitherto unrecognized paraphilic dimension, erotic target location errors (ETLEs), involving the erroneous location of erotic targets in the environment. ETLEs can involve preferential attention to a peripheral or inessential part of an erotic target, manifesting as fetishism, or mislocation of an erotic target in one's own body, manifesting as the desire to impersonate or become a facsimile of the erotic target (e.g., transvestism or transsexualism). Despite its potential clinical and heuristic value, the concept that ETLEs define a paraphilic dimension is underappreciated. This review summarizes the studies leading to the concept of ETLEs and describes how ETLEs are believed to manifest in men whose preferred erotic targets are women, children, men, amputees, plush animals, and real animals. This review also describes ETLEs in women; discusses possible etiologies of ETLEs; considers the implications of the ETLE concept for psychoanalytic theories of transvestism and male-to-female transsexualism, as well as for the forthcoming revision of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition; suggests reasons why the concept of ETLEs has been underappreciated; and describes what might result if the concept were more widely appreciated.

Anatomic Autoandrophilia in an Adult Male

Some men are sexually aroused by impersonating the individuals to whom they are sexually attracted, or by permanently changing their bodies to become facsimiles of such individuals. Blanchard (J Sex Marital Ther 17:235-251, 1991) suggested that these paraphilic sexual interests, along with fetishism, represented erotic target location errors, i.e., developmental errors in locating erotic targets in the environment. Because the desire to impersonate or become a facsimile of the kind of person to whom one is attracted can have significant implications for identity, Freund and Blanchard (Br J Psychiatry 162:558-563, 1993) coined the term erotic target identity inversion to describe this type of erotic target location error. The best-known examples of erotic target identity inversions occur in men who are sexually attracted to women and who are also sexually aroused by the idea of impersonating or becoming women; these paraphilic interests manifest as transvestic fetishism and as one type of male-to-female transsexualism. Analogous erotic target identity inversions have been described in men who are sexually attracted to children and to female amputees. In theory, erotic target identity inversions should also occur in men who are sexually attracted to men. There have been no unambiguous descriptions, however, of men who are sexually attracted to men and also sexually aroused by the idea of changing their bodies to become more sexually attractive men. This report describes such a man, whose paraphilic interest would appropriately be called anatomic autoandrophilia. The demonstration that anatomic autoandrophilia exists in men is consistent with the theory that erotic target location errors constitute an independent paraphilic dimension.

Clinical and Theoretical Parallels Between Desire for Limb Amputation and Gender Identity Disorder

Desire for amputation of a healthy limb has usually been regarded as a paraphilia (apotemnophilia), but some researchers propose that it may be a disorder of identity, similar to Gender Identity Disorder (GID) or transsexualism. Similarities between the desire for limb amputation and nonhomosexual male-to-female (MtF) transsexualism include profound dissatisfaction with embodiment, related paraphilias from which the conditions plausibly derive (apotemnophilia and autogynephilia), sexual arousal from simulation of the sought-after status (pretending to be an amputee and transvestism), attraction to persons with the same body type one wants to acquire, and an elevated prevalence of other paraphilic interests. K. Freund and R. Blanchard (1993) proposed that nonhomosexual MtF transsexualism represents an erotic target location error, in which men whose preferred erotic targets are women also eroticize their own feminized bodies. Desire for limb amputation may also reflect an erotic target location error, occurring in combination with an unusual erotic target preference for amputees. This model predicts that persons who desire limb amputation would almost always be attracted to amputees and would display an increased prevalence of gender identity problems, both of which have been observed. Persons who desire limb amputation and nonhomosexual MtF transsexuals often assert that their motives for wanting to change their bodies reflect issues of identity rather than sexuality, but because erotic/romantic orientations contribute significantly to identity, such distinctions may not be meaningful. Experience with nonhomosexual MtF transsexualism suggests possible directions for research and treatment for persons who desire limb amputation.

Dreamboys, Meatmen and Werewolves: Visualizing Erotic Identities in All-Male Comic Strips

The homoerotic comic strip, as a medium and genre in its own right, integrates several media including illustration, cartoon, animation, graphics, physique art, and pornography. In these subaltern texts, when the characters are of the same gender the rites of masculinity are both indulged and subverted. Hence, this graphic subculture provides a radical perspective on sexualities, intimacies, body worship and contemporary phallic regimes. This article focuses on Jon Macy’s ‘Tail’ (published in 1997 in Meatmen, an American anthology of gay male comics), a hard-core comic strip that eroticizes and politicizes Sigmund Freud’s homophobic myth of the Wolf Man.

"Police Free Gay Slaves": Consent, Sexuality, and the Law

On 11 January 1995, the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg agreed hear complaint against Great Britain by three gay men imprisoned for sado-masochistic sexual practices in the infamous Operation Spanner case.l This international hearing addressed the vital question, If man wants his scrotum sandpapered in the privacy of his own home, is it anybody else's business? The complaint the Court arose after the United Kingdom had sentenced sixteen men prison for engaging in consensual sado-masochistic sexual activities; specifically, among other things, nailing each other's willies the skirting b ~ r d . ~ The men were convicted on assault charges; the case was unusual in that the evidence against them was set of videotapes of the activity rather than the testimony of any victim. Since the activity itself was entirely consensual, there was no complaining witness in any of the cases.4 The Commission eventually rejected the men's complaint, ruling that the state has the right interfere in the private lives of its citizens to protect health and moral^.^ One commentator called the day of the Commission's decision a black day for human rights in Europe, arguing that the Commission's Judge Pettiti displays contempt for individual freedom unrivalled even by the Thought Police in Orwell's 1984.6 Underlying such condemnations of the Commission's judgment is an insistence that the government stay out of the affairs of consenting adults. It is presumed by critics that the state should not interfere with the consensual sexual activities of individuals, no matter how bizarre such activities might seem other^.^ Because the men involved consented the activities they engaged in, it is argued, any physical harm sustained by the participants should be deemed no more injurious public health and morals than similar injuries that might occur during particularly vigorous boxing match or mountain climb. This essay is an attempt understand the discursive apparatus surrounding sexual in the broader context of the history of the Anglo-American juridico-legal repression of sexuality. The goal of this essay is make few observations about the production of erotic subjectivities through juridico-legal discursive ma~hinery.~ I have chosen rather circuitous route this goal. Rather than approaching the problem systematically in order arrive at final conclusions, I have chosen analyze cluster of events in Anglo-American juridico-legal history in order tease out some of the implications of the way in which certain assumptions about consent circumscribe erotic identities.

Sexual content-induced delay with double-entendre words.

Seventy-three men and 72 women made lexical decisions to target words that followed sentences constructed so that the last word was a sexual double-entendre. Prime target relatedness, erotic versus nonerotic target, stimulus onset asynchrony, and participant's gender were varied in a between-subjects design. A second analysis that substituted sentence context for prime target relationship also was conducted. Data were collected on the emotionality and social acceptability of priming sentences and target words. Results revealed that, as with previous research on neutral words, prime target relatedness facilitated lexical decisions. Additionally, there was evidence of slowing in making lexical decisions when erotic material was presented or was part of a contextual bias. This delay was accentuated in women. A model that proposes that sexual words evoke a more complex processing sequence is presented. The model suggests that appraisal and checking or editing mechanisms, which are accentuated in women, help explain the phenomenon.