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

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Archives of Sexual Behavior
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J. Michael Bailey at Northwestern University
J. Michael Bailey
Kevin J Hsu at Pennsylvania State University
Kevin J Hsu
Henry Hyungseok Jang at Texas A&M University
Henry Hyungseok Jang
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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.
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Vol.:(0123456789)
1 3
Archives of Sexual Behavior
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-023-02647-x
SPECIAL SECTION: THE PUZZLES OFSEXUAL ORIENTATION ANDGENDER DIVERSITY
Elaborating andTesting Erotic Target Identity Inversion Theory
inThree Paraphilic Samples
J.MichaelBailey1 · KevinJ.Hsu2· HenryH.Jang3
Received: 2 April 2023 / Revised: 2 June 2023 / Accepted: 7 June 2023
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2023
Abstract
Some men sexually attracted to types of persons (e.g., women) or things (e.g., animals) also have internalized sexual attrac-
tions: 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 cor-
relation 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.
Keywords Paraphilias· Erotic target identity inversions· Erotic target location errors· Autogynephilia· Apotemnophilia·
Autozoophilia· Autolipophilia· Sexual orientation
Introduction
In a seminal article, Freund and Blanchard (1993) discussed
how some male paraphilias can be conceptualized as erotic
target location errors. Erotic target location errors consist
of a mislocation of an external erotic target. For example,
some heterosexual men mislocate their attraction to women,
who comprise their external erotic target, from women’s
primary and secondary sexual characteristics onto women’s
clothing (e.g., panties) or non-sexual body parts (e.g., feet).
Other heterosexual men mislocate their erotic target within
themselves, resulting in autogynephilia, sexual arousal by
the idea of being a woman (Blanchard, 1989a, 1991). The
novel contribution of Freund and Blanchard’s (1993) article
was the proposal that erotic target location errors also occur
among men with atypical external erotic targets. For exam-
ple, the article included several illustrative case vignettes of
pedophilic men sexually aroused by the idea of being children
and who imitated them or wished to become like them. It also
described a young man who had the strong erotic desire to
be a cartoon animal called “Puppy Smith.” Freund and Blan-
chard named erotically motivated desires to assume alterna-
tive identities erotic target identity inversions.
Although their observations were novel and striking,
Freund and Blanchard (1993) did not provide an elaborate
theory. They merely offered: “This theory predicts that, for
every class of sexual object, there will be small subgroups
of men who develop fetishes for clothing associated with the
desired object, who develop the erotic fantasy of being the
* J. Michael Bailey
jm-bailey@northwestern.edu
1 Department ofPsychology, Northwestern University, 2029
Sheridan Rd., Evanston, IL60208, USA
2 Department ofPsychological andSocial Sciences,
Pennsylvania State University, Abington, PA, USA
3 Department ofPsychological andBrain Sciences, Texas
A&M University, CollegeStation, TX, USA
Content courtesy of Springer Nature, terms of use apply. Rights reserved.
... It has been observed that paraphilias occur much more frequently among natal males than natal females (e.g., American Psychiatric Association, 2022; Bártová et al., 2021;Bhugra et al., 2010;Dawson et al., 2016;Konrad et al., 2015;Joyal & Carpentier, 2017;Yakeley & Wood, 2014), although systematic reviews of this issue have not been conducted. A recent study of three distinct paraphilias-acrotomophilia, zoophilia, and lipophilia (attraction to amputees, animals, and obese persons, respectively)-found rates of females ranging from 10.5% (lipophilia) to 13.3% (zoophilia) (Bailey et al., 2023). ...
... However, at least one subset of paraphilias share a specific structure, comprising a truly interesting observation. Internalized sexual attractions consist of paraphilias in which an erotic target is internalized into the self, resulting in sexual arousal by the idea of being an instance of that target (Bailey et al., 2023;Freund & Blanchard, 1993;Lawrence, 2009). The example that has been best studied is autogynephilia, a natal heterosexual male's sexual arousal by the thought or fantasy of being a woman Lawrence, 2013). ...
... In the seminal paper on the phenomenon (which referred to "erotic target location errors"), the authors hypothesized that "for every class of sexual object, there will be small subgroups of men who develop fetishes for clothing associated with the desired object, who develop the erotic fantasy of being the desired object, and who develop the sustained wish to transform their own bodies into facsimiles of the desired object" (Freund & Blanchard, 1993, p. 562). A recent test of this hypothesis was confirmed for three paraphilic samples (Bailey et al., 2023). The existence of persons (predominately male) aroused by imitating or becoming the type of person or thing to whom they are especially attracted, across a wide range of erotic targets (e.g., women, amputees, children, and anthropomorphic animals) suggests that deep rather than superficial similarities motivate the classification of internalized sexual attractions and perhaps paraphilias in general. ...
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... The concept of erotic target identity inversion is the most compelling explanation of autogynephilia, and it theorizes that this sexuality develops from an internalization of sexual attraction to women, resulting in sexual arousal by the fantasy of being a woman (Bailey et al., 2023;Freund & Blanchard, 1993;. When this internalization is complete, autogynephilic individuals do not experience sexual attraction to others, a phenomenon called analloeroticism. ...
... Third, while most autogynephilic individuals retain sexual attraction to women, some completely internalize their sexual attraction to women and experience a lack of sexual attraction to others (Bailey et al., 2023;Freund & Blanchard, 1993;. It is expected that male cross-dressers and transfeminine individuals would therefore report higher rates of analloeroticism, compared with those not likely motivated by autogynephilia. ...
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... For instance, Asmundson offers an extensive overview of psychological coping mechanisms, potentially elucidating aspects connected to cross-dressing and bisexuality (Asmundson, 2022). Additionally, the study by Bailey, Hsu, and Jang delves into the Erotic Target Identity Inversion Theory in paraphilic samples, exploring the interplay between sexuality, identity, and coping mechanisms, which may include cross-dressing (Bailey et al., 2023). Moreover, Curtis and Morris present a single case study, "Cross-dressing as a meaningful occupation," focusing on the personal significance of cross-dressing as a coping strategy (Curtis & Morris, 2015). ...
... Regarding jurisdiction, legislative safeguards for gender expression exist to guarantee that individuals who cross-dress are granted fair housing, education, and employment opportunities without bias or discrimination. Irrespective of the classification of cross-dressing, concepts and behaviours associated with crossdressing are consistently classified under exhibitionism, sexuality, and transgenderism (Bailey et al., 2023;Plemons, 2021). However, these categories are outside of S.R.'s. ...
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Background 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. Method 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 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. Conclusions 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.
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The number of population-based studies focused on the prevalence of paraphilic sexual interests in men is very low and for women, the subject remains largely unexplored. The two main aims of this study are to investigate the prevalence of paraphilias and to explore sex differences in an online representative sample of Czech men and women using various dimensions of sexual experience. We collected data about sexual motivations and behavior from a representative online sample of 10,044 Czechs (5,023 men and 5,021 women). In a standardized online interview, participants answered questions about selected dimensions of sexual experience within specific paraphilic patterns: sexual preferences, sexual arousal, sexual fantasies in the past 6 months, pornography use in the past 6 months, and experience with paraphilic behaviors. Our results show that 31.3% of men (n = 1,571) and 13.6% of women (n = 683) admitted to at least one paraphilic preference. Moreover, 15.5% of men and 5% of women reported more than one paraphilic preference. Except for beating/torture and humiliation/submission, in terms of real experience with such behaviors almost all paraphilias were more common among men than among women. Our results indicate that the high prevalence of some paraphilic patterns might render their pathologization problematic.
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Erotic Target Identity Inversions Among Men and Women in an Internet Sample
Article
  • Dec 2019
Introduction: Erotic 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. Aim: To conduct a large non-clinical online survey to investigate self-reported sexual arousal, behavioral expression, and psychological correlates of 4 proposed ETIIs. Methods: A 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 measures: The 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). Results: Mild 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 implications: Findings suggest that it may be important to distinguish between subgroups of those with different levels and types of ETII arousal/expression. Strengths & limitations: Strengths 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. Conclusion: The 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 2019;XX:XXX-XXX.
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