Ray Blanchard

8,763 posts

Ray Blanchard

@BlanchardPhD

Researcher in sexual orientation, paraphilias, & gender identity disorders

Torontoindividual.utoronto.ca/ray_blanchardJoined October 2011

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Ray Blanchard

@BlanchardPhD

Dec 5, 2018

This webpage includes a searchable list of my publications through 2018. Open a search box using Control+F on PC or Command+F on Mac. Enter a keyword or string, e.g., gender, birth order, homosex, autogyne. individual.utoronto.ca/ray_blanchard/

Ray Blanchard

@BlanchardPhD

Nov 1

How wrong I was. “My early writings on autogynephilia were published in specialty journals with limited circulations. They were intended for a small readership of clinicians who specialized in the assessment and management of gender dysphoric patients. The general availability

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Triple Bankshot

@triplebankshot

Nov 1

I cannot believe that autogynephilia was just discussed in an interview with a vice presidential candidate. This video was released an hour ago and is already close to 1 million views. @BlanchardPhD @profjmb @BenjaminABoyce

The media could not be played.

Replying to

Pleased and surprised, because prominent and powerful trans influencers and their “allies” have done everything they could to prevent the concept of autogynephilia from entering public awareness.

Twitter has unlocked my account and graciously apologized for their error. My sincere thanks to the people who expressed their concern during the past 24 hours.

Ray Blanchard

@BlanchardPhD

Aug 13, 2022

Trans rights activists have tried to label the word ‘autogynephilia’ as a slur in hopes of preventing people from using the word and spreading knowledge of the phenomenon. I invented the word as a neutral, clinical descriptor, not as a slur, as shown here: rdcu.be/b57bu

Ray Blanchard

@BlanchardPhD

Jul 26, 2022

It has been a disappointment to me that colleagues whom I generally like and respect have adopted the “sex assigned at birth” locution, either because they are afraid of their own students, or because they believe that implicitly endorsing this falsehood is essentially harmless.

Ray Blanchard

@BlanchardPhD

Sep 23

In the gender identity clinic where I worked from 1980 to 1995, we endeavored to make sure that patients understood the limitations of surgical and hormonal treatments, and we would have considered it a contraindication for surgery if a patient thought they were literally going

It is widely accepted that gay men are much more interested in casual sex than lesbian women, not because they are gay, but because they are men. The high “body count” of gay men is what the “body count” of straight men would look like, if straight men did not have straight women

I and other clinicians have noted an element of exhibitionism in many (although not all) cases of autogynephilia. I think this is one reason why some natal male gender dysphorics insist on participating in women's competitive sports.

Ray Blanchard

@BlanchardPhD

Oct 13, 2021

I hope that more and more ordinary trans people will speak out against the worst excesses of trans activism as more and more trans people realize that extremist activism is increasing resentment and decreasing acceptance of trans people.

Ray Blanchard

@BlanchardPhD

Jun 28, 2022

Trans rights activists have claimed that natal women commonly experience sexual excitement from the simple thought of being women as a way of “normalizing” this phenomenon in AGP men. Research shows autogynephilia is actually rare/nonexistent in women: rdcu.be/cQv78

Ray Blanchard

@BlanchardPhD

Aug 10, 2020

Pronouns used to tell you a person’s sex. Now they tell you a person’s politics.

Ray Blanchard

@BlanchardPhD

Jan 3, 2020

My view: Transsexuals have a mental disorder whose discomfort is ameliorated when society and individuals indulge them with reasonable compromises. This is a traditional psychiatric view although it is rarely stated that bluntly.

Ray Blanchard

@BlanchardPhD

Aug 15, 2022

Nineteen out of 20 times one can tell, after a brief interaction with a male-to-female transsexual, if the individual is of the homosexual or autogynephilic type. They retain, as it were, the accent of their birthplace.

Ray Blanchard

@BlanchardPhD

May 12, 2019

Earlier today I wrote this thread in response to a follower who asked me, “What is your actual position on transgender people?” It looks like my reply has not been delivered to a single person besides the original inquirer, so I am reposting it here.

Ray Blanchard

@BlanchardPhD

Jan 4, 2020

In my view, trans activism changed in character when it affiliated with the social justice movement, re-framed transsexualism as a political problem rather than a clinical problem, and adopted SJW tactics such as no-platforming and getting people fired for their opinions.

Ray Blanchard

@BlanchardPhD

Aug 30

There is one big difference between being the target of trans activists’ ire and being the target of gender-critical feminists’ ire: The latter will not try to get you fired from your job or otherwise deprive you of your livelihood. I don’t know if this distinction arises

THINGS I MISS: 1. The ideals of self-control and self-restraint. 2. Social disapproval of hyperbole and exaggeration. 3. The concept of good taste. 4. Dry understatement. 5. Social disapproval of mawkishness and sentimentality. 6. Precision in language.

Ray Blanchard

@BlanchardPhD

May 2, 2021

When I was a young man, a "safe space" was "not Vietnam."

Ray Blanchard

@BlanchardPhD

May 20, 2019

I'm not going to argue, on Twitter or anywhere else, with people so naïve that they think giving an interview to a conservative publication must mean that one holds conservative views in private life, or that giving an interview to a liberal publication means the opposite.

Ray Blanchard

@BlanchardPhD

Jul 28, 2022

Here’s an irony. The Child and Adolescent Gender Identity Clinic of Toronto’s Centre for Addiction and Mental Health was closed for essentially the opposite reason that London’s Tavistock Clinic is being closed: The CAMH clinic wasn’t affirming enough.

Ray Blanchard

@BlanchardPhD

Sep 23, 2022

Clinical sexologists who endorse “You are who you say you are” have probably never worked outside the gender identity bubble. In sex offender assessment clinics, patients routinely deny having a paraphilic preference, often despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

Replying to

(6) The sex of a postoperative transsexual should be analogous to a legal fiction. This legal fiction would apply to some things (e.g., sex designation on a driver’s license) but not to others (entering a sports competition as one’s adopted sex).

Ray Blanchard

@BlanchardPhD

Jul 22, 2020

I now understand that the locution, “Robin *identifies as* [gay, Jewish, aboriginal]” instead of “Robin *is* [gay, Jewish, aboriginal]” is not merely an affected, pretentious way of speaking. It’s about denying the possibility of objective, stable, external reality.

Ray Blanchard

@BlanchardPhD

Feb 1, 2021

The “debunking” of autogynephilia is in good company with the debunking of biological sex and the debunking of natal males’ physical advantage in competitive sport.

Ray Blanchard

@BlanchardPhD

Jul 20, 2021

“You’re on the wrong side of history” is the contemporary equivalent of “You’ll burn in hell for this.”

Ray Blanchard

@BlanchardPhD

Jan 10

When I worked at a Gender Identity Clinic (1980-1995), clinicians considered transition an option only for patients with severe gender dysphoria. Our clinicians believed that patients with mild or fluctuating degrees of gender dysphoria would probably maximize their overall

The strategy of re-framing trans as a civil rights issue rather than a clinical issue changed the main question from “How to lessen the emotional distress of persons with a rare psychiatric disorder” to “How to reconcile the conflicting rights of natal women and trans women.”

Ray Blanchard

@BlanchardPhD

Aug 18, 2019

Many or most extremist trans rights activists are autogynephiles, natal males sexually attracted to women and desirous of becoming women. They direct their ire at women because it is women who frustrate their desires. Men are largely irrelevant. 1/3

Ray Blanchard

@BlanchardPhD

Sep 4

I am writing in response to a reader’s question, “If you had to guess, what most accounts for the steep rise in the prevalence of opposite-sex identification in the last decade?” I think there are multiple reasons for the increasing prevalence of cross-gender identity (and

My birthday cake. The box my birthday cake came in.

Four books about gender identity, gender dysphoria, and transsexualism in a year, all written by women:

, and

Are people who end their tweets with “No debate,” “End of story,” “Sit down and shut up” accustomed to others actually obeying such commands? Or is this fantasy of control just another fantasy that makes on-line preferable to real life?

Replying to

(3) Sex change surgery should not be considered for any patient until that patient has reached the age of 21 years and has lived for at least two years in the desired gender role.

Ray Blanchard

@BlanchardPhD

Jun 15, 2020

The terms “male-to-female transsexual” and “female-to-male transsexual” were instantly comprehensible. A native English-speaker who never saw either term before could tell immediately who had started where and was going where. This is not true of “trans woman” or “trans man.”

Ray Blanchard

@BlanchardPhD

Oct 14, 2021

Journal editors take note: The “assigned at birth“ locution is claptrap.

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Grazie Pozo Christie, M.D.

@GChristiemd

Oct 14, 2021

You may find it interesting to know that as a radiologist, I can confidently determine the sex of a baby as early as the 15th week of pregnancy. This baby is a GIRL. I'm not assigning I'm describing. All the talk of "assigning" sex is unscientific, obscurantist claptrap.

Replying to

Yes. Some of them are quite passionate about their unwavering convictions.

Capture of DSM5: “The term ‘desired gender’ is now ‘experienced gender,’ the term ‘cross-sex medical procedure’ is now ‘gender-affirming medical procedure,’ and the term ‘natal male’/’natal female’ is now ‘individual assigned male/female at birth.’”

psychiatryonline.org

Updated DSM-5 Text Revisions to Be Released in March | Psychiatric News

PsychiatryOnline.org is the platform for all American Psychiatric Association Publishing journals, DSM, and bestselling textbooks, as well as APA Practice Guidelines, and continuing medical education.

Ray Blanchard

@BlanchardPhD

Dec 15, 2019

I have learned a lot on Twitter. For example, how enormously people differ in the amount of evidence they require for making an assertion. I honestly didn’t realize so many people would just make stuff up.

Ray Blanchard

@BlanchardPhD

Sep 28, 2019

Acceptance of homosexuals does not require heterosexuals to participate in homosexual acts. In contrast, acceptance of transsexuals always requires the active participation of others – at a minimum, using trans’ preferred pronouns. This sets a higher bar for acceptance.

Ray Blanchard

@BlanchardPhD

Sep 11, 2018

I am afraid that the public's perception of all transsexuals - including decent, intelligent, reasonable people - will be soured by the obnoxious behaviour of "activists" they never asked to speak for them.

Ray Blanchard

@BlanchardPhD

Jan 2, 2019

I'm not bothered when transsexuals say things like "sex assigned at birth," because that arises from their emotional needs. I'm grossed out when academics parrot that lingo for the purpose of virtue-signalling and maintaining status among their tribe.

Ray Blanchard

@BlanchardPhD

Jul 6, 2021

Some cases of autogynephilia have an exhibitionistic element. Therefore I am skeptical of male-to-female trans who want to use a women’s gym because they have an overwhelming need to swim or work out. Some are there to show off, although it's not always clear what.

Ray Blanchard

@BlanchardPhD

Feb 9, 2021

Clinicians who describe themselves as “allies” of trans and who support transition in every case are actually allies of the disorder and not allies of the patient.

Ray Blanchard

@BlanchardPhD

Sep 5

You are a little late, Dr. Deakins. I let my membership in the American Psychological Association lapse many years ago. As recently as last month I was still getting emails from them inviting me to re-subscribe. I also quite publicly resigned from WPATH many years ago. However, I

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Dr. Amaya Deakins

@amayadeakins

Sep 5

Dr Blanchard endorsing a pseudoscientific theory. @X @APA @APApsychiatric He needs to be kicked out of the APA for this. I will be calling for it #WeDoMoredednesdays #Pseudoscience #LGBTQIA #trans x.com/BlanchardPhD/s…

It’s self-defeating for trans activists to assert that people who are sexually uninterested in trans are therefore transphobic. This will simply lead people to say, “OK, then, I’m transphobic.”

What strikes me the most about this tableau is how puerile it is. It is a pubescent’s idea of what is “edgy” and subversive.

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Lily Maynard

@LilyLilyMaynard

Jul 27

I'm not a religious person. But why is it okay for the Olympics opening ceremony to mock Christianity, when other religions are treated with respect? If this was a mockery of Islam/Judaism/Hinduism or any other religion people would be incensed.

In most areas, I would automatically take the opinion of an expert over that of a lay person. In the field of gender/trans, however, many “experts” are ideologues and activists, and they cannot be relied on for objective opinions.

Ray Blanchard

@BlanchardPhD

Mar 18, 2021

For some autogynephiles, the prospect of being “slut-shamed” is aspirational.

Ray Blanchard

@BlanchardPhD

Jul 31, 2022

Gender dysphoria (including its severe form, transsexualism) is not the same as gender ideology. Many patients — nearly all before the internet — developed gender dysphoria in isolation from other trans and yet presented with similar symptoms.

Ray Blanchard

@BlanchardPhD

May 19, 2020

In the 1970-80s, clinicians tried to help gender-dysphoric patients lead happier lives. They weren’t trying to help them impose their subjective view of reality on the rest of the population, much less do so by force of law.

Ray Blanchard

@BlanchardPhD

May 26, 2020

“Trans Women Are Trans” will never become a counter-slogan for gender-critical feminists because it has an unfortunate acronym.

Ray Blanchard

@BlanchardPhD

Jan 1, 2021

I never imagined, when I joined the Clarke Gender Clinic in 1980, that someday debates concerning trans would concern, not clinical management, but fundamental perceptions of reality, with many “normal” people supporting the trans view because of fashions in moral superiority.

Replying to

My beliefs include the following 6 elements: (1) Transsexualism and milder forms of gender dysphoria are types of mental disorder, which may leave the individual with average or even above-average functioning in unrelated areas of life.

Ray Blanchard

@BlanchardPhD

Dec 10, 2022

Why do people keep writing “lmao,” when it is unlikely they are experiencing any such level of convulsive hilarity?

Ray Blanchard

@BlanchardPhD

Jun 11, 2020

I’m so old I can remember when controlling one’s emotions was thought to be a good idea.

Ray Blanchard

@BlanchardPhD

Dec 20, 2019

Biological sex is immutable, but hormones and surgery can help simulate the opposite-sex phenotype, and this usually alleviates intractable gender dysphoria. Postoperative sex is essentially a legal fiction, which most people will accept in some but not all situations.

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Mars F.

@UpperhandMars

Dec 20, 2019

Biological sex is immutable. If you don't believe in biological sex than you don't believe in transsexuals. You can not medically transition UNLESS you acknowledge your biology. There, I said it. #IStandWithMaya #JKRowling

Ray Blanchard

@BlanchardPhD

Oct 13, 2021

Subtweet to many tweets: Nobody believes that humans can change sex. The questions are whether imitating the phenotype and behavior of the opposite sex ameliorates gender dysphorics’ mental suffering, and whether, how, or how much ordinary citizens should support such transition.

Ray Blanchard

@BlanchardPhD

May 20, 2020

“Trans women are women” is a political slogan sold as the product of science. I say this as someone who believes that it is humane and appropriate to treat trans women as women in most everyday situations (not including, for example, competitive sports).

Replying to

Critics of transgenderism who focus exclusively on its sociopolitical aspects and ignore its origins in individual psychopathology are unwittingly playing by the rules set by trans rights activists. They'd rather discuss definitions of women than their desires to become them. 3/3

Ray Blanchard

@BlanchardPhD

Dec 2, 2020

My sin, in creating the term ‘autogynephilia,’ was in providing the word needed to make a thought thinkable. Trans activists have tried their best since then to extirpate that word from the English language.

Ray Blanchard

@BlanchardPhD

Feb 29, 2020

I “believe in” gender identity in the sense that I believe some individuals have a complex of emotions and cognitions centred on the idea that they are, or should have been, the opposite sex, and I believe that preoccupation with these ideas causes considerable distress.