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Showing posts with label homeovestity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label homeovestity. Show all posts

08 May 2013

Homeogender surgery


There is a type of are some trans woman who have lots of surgeries as part of their transitions.   Some examples are Allanah Star (60+ surgeries), Gia Darling (45+), Fulvia Siguas Sandoval (64+ and in Guinness Book of World Records for most cosmetic surgeries); Nina Arsenault ($150,000+ of surgery); Amanda Lepore.  For some of these the surgeries did not include vaginoplasty.

They are hardly typical of trans women, but they do attract press attention, and in so doing can give out the mistaken impression that trans women in general are fakes and freaks.

Are such women autogynephilic?   Apart from ‘autogynephilia’ being a badly thought out concept that should be dismissed unless and until some future author is able to do something much better with the idea, several of those I have just mentioned were early transitioners.

The point that I am getting around to is that is that having lots of cosmetic surgeries to achieve an idealized body is not peculiar to trans women.  An equally small percentage of cis men and women do it also.  Some examples:

Luciana Malgeri,  Princess Pignatelli, Mrs Avedon.  A classic in this field.  She had a nose job as a teenager and married an Italian Prince.  After divorce she had silicone facial injections and  other cosmetic surgeries.  She opened her first book with:  “A few times every century, a great beauty is born. I am not one of them. But what nature skipped, I supplied—so much so that sometimes I cannot remember what is real and what is fake.”   Camille Paglia’s discussion of transsexuality on p368 of Sexual Personae: Art and Decadence from Nefertiti to Emily Dickinson segues into a discussion of Luciana (perhaps showing that Paglia has no idea about transsexuality).


Vanilla Chamu has spent over 10 million yen to become like a French doll. 





Herbert Chavez of the Philipines has had multiple surgeries since 1995 to look more and more like superman.








Cindy Jackson, in Guiness Book of Records for most (50+) cosmetic surgeries (is Fulvia Siguas Sandoval now forgetten?).







Jocelyn Wildenstein is said to have spent over $4 million on facial plastic surgeries.







One of the psychiatrist’s terms for such surgical makeovers is Body Dysmorphic Disorder.   However I think that there is a more neutral, and therefore better term.  I have previously discussed Hom(e)ovestity – dressing UP as your birth sex.  What we have been discussing here is surgical homeovestity.   Nobody seems to have coined a term for this behaviour.  On the model transvestity –> transsexuality we would get homosexuality, but that term is well established with a different meaning.   I therefore propose Homeogender Surgery. 
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15 October 2011

A Prolegomenon to a Typology of Cis Gender Variance


While there is variance of gender from male to female, from cis to trans, from authentic to bad faith, there are in fact very few Typologies of Gender Variance.

The best known are:

Harry Benjamin in The Transsexual Phenomenon, 1966
  1. Pseudo Transvestite
  2. Fetishistic Transvestite
  3. True Transvestite
  4. Non-op Transsexual
  5. True or Core Transsexual (moderate intensity)
  6. True or Core Transsexual (high intensity)
Ekins & King in The Transgender Phenomenon, 2006
  1. Migrating
  2. Oscillating
  3. Negating
  4. Transcending

Anne Bolin in “Traversing Gender”,  in Sabrina Ramet.  Gender Reversals and Gender Culture,  1996
  1. hermaphroditic genders
  2. two-spirit traditions
  3. cross-gendered roles in the manly heart tradition
  4. woman-marriage
  5. cross-gendered rituals

What each of these typologies have in common is that they are typologies of trans variance only, not of cis variance, and in fact contribute to the mistaken idea that gender variance is a synonym for transgender, that trans persons are at variance in not being cis.

There are in fact quite distinctive variants among people considered as cis-gendered.

Autogynephilia went wrong especially in that the idea was applied to transsexuals before it had been investigated in cis-women as to frequency and as to what are its normal manifestations.   The same goes for autoandrophilia in cis men.  Typologies of trans gender variance are likewise shackled.

I will be treating crossdreamers (to use Jack Molay’s term) as cis, in that that is how the people around them regard them.   Arguably they are wannabe trans, and might persuade a psychologist or a gender therapist that they are such, but one of the points that I will be making is that the dividing line between cis and trans is movable.

As with trans persons, cis persons can be arranged by psychological identification, and then clothing, hormonal and surgical enhancements.

Here are some of the variants within the cis spectrum:
  • persons who are quite comfortable with the gender of their body and, what is another way of saying the same thing, are not at all uncomfortable with the idea of or in the presence of transsexuals, genderqueer, drag performers, transvestites, etc.
  • persons who do not want to change their gender, but are nevertheless estranged from their current gender.   While there have always been such persons, post-structuralist theory has offered new ways to articulate it.
  • intersex persons who stay with the gender of rearing. Intersex is, of course, an umbrella term covering much variation of its own.
  • autogynophilics/autoandrophilics.   For many this is a phase typically starting with puberty where they are erotically excited at being the sex/gender that they are.   For some this excitement continues into maturity.
  • crossdreamers who have accepted their inner cross gender persona, are comfortable with trans persons, but have not or not yet decided to do anything about it.
  • a variant on crossdreaming is literary androgyny where a writer is able to pass, not in person but through his/her manuscripts as the other gender.  Examples would be Fiona Macleod, George Elliot, James Tiptree, Jr, Patricia Highsmith, and the female writers of contemporary gay romances.
  • persons who are uncomfortable with the idea and/or the presence of various types of trans persons.   On the model of the research that has established that male homophobes are erotically aroused by male imagery, we may speculate that persons in this type are crossdreamers in denial.
  • persons who seek out homosocial environments, be it the military, a convent, a feminist group, a male-only pool-hall as a validation of their biological gender.
  • hom(e)ovestites, who dress in a standard or exaggerated way associated with their own gender, even when it is not appropriate.  Examples are men who always wear suits, even when their friends are casually dressed; women who wear skirts and makeup when they are impractical.
  • butch men and women. For men this is an extreme homeovestity.  Butch women are taken by some to be a type of trans, but many butch women object that they are not.
  • There should be an extreme femme homeovestity, but apart from femme lesbians it does not seem to exist, probably because it is indistinguishable from the way that prostitutes dress – which is required for employment.
  • the bear culture that has developed over the last few decades, that appreciates the normal appearance of middle-aged and often overweight men.  This is still mainly a gay culture, but straight bears are becoming more common. 
  • same-sex hormonally enhanced cis-persons.  Most women in the developed countries spend some years taking contraceptive pills which of course are estrogens.  Until a health scare a few years ago, many women went on hormone-replacement therapy after menopause.  Estrogens again.   Some men into bodybuilding or athletic attainment like to take testosterone for greater achievement, but this is generally illegal.
  • cross-sex hormonally enhanced cis-persons.  Many men are put on estrogens to diminish prostate problems.  Women athletes sometimes take testosterone for the same reasons that men do.
  • surgical enhancements 1: plastic surgery.  Traditionally associated with women, this is becoming more common with men.
  • surgical enhancements 2: in vitro fertilization
  • surgical enhancements 3: body modification. 
  • surgical enhancements 4: Transhumanism. 
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17 November 2010

Jack Donovan (1974 – ) artist, priest, androphile activist.

Jack Donovan was originally from Pennsylvania. He was a New York go-go dancer during the 1990s club-kid scene, and has been an artist.  He has lived in various US cities, and has settled in Portland, Oregon.

As Jack Malebranche, he was an ordained priest and media representative for the Church of Satan for many years.  He resigned this position, on good terms, in 2009.

As Malebranche he wrote the provocative book, Androphilia, A Manifesto: Rejecting the Gay Identity, Reclaiming Masculinity, in which he proposed masculine, indeed masculist, homosexuality and separation from the gay scene and stereotypes.  He uses the word ‘androphilia’ in a special way, such that most gay men are not encompassed by it, and we should also mention that most gay men  would not identify with his portrayal of 'gay'.
“The word gay has never described mere homosexuality. Gay is a subculture, a slur, a set of gestures, a slang, a look, a posture, a parade, a rainbow flag, a film genre, a taste in music, a hairstyle, a marketing demographic, a bumper sticker, a political agenda and philosophical viewpoint. Gay is a pre-packaged, superficial persona—a lifestyle. It’s a sexual identity that has almost nothing to do with sexuality.”
He in fact develops 'androphilia' as a gender variation although he does not use such a concept. In particular he does not explain how male androphilia is different from male autoandrophilia or male homeovestity.
Returning to his original name of Jack Donovan, he has been active on alternateRight.com and the anti-feminist/men's rights blog, Spearhead.  With Nathan Miller he wrote Blood-Brotherhood And Other Rites of Male Alliance in which he distances himself from gay marriage, which he says carries too much historical baggage, and proposes alternate models for male-male coupling. 

As an over-gendered man, one would presume that he had no interest in trans people.  However he has written several essays particularly on trans women.  His concepts of trans women are pretty stereotyped and would seem if anything to derive from his time as a go-go dancer, much as Bailey's concept of HSTS trans women is also derived from hanging around gay bars.
“Well, actual transsexual males are a whole different ball of wax–they tend to be really scrappy. Despite the fact that they imagine themselves to be women, a lot of them would not think twice about throwing hands. They’re a very confused and angry bunch, in my experience.” (Oct 2009)
“generally drag queens, trannies and transsexuals in all stages of transition were not well. They were often addicted to drugs, had been diagnosed with mental disorders or chemical imbalances, and many had at one point routinely engaged in prostitution. …
Female transsexuality is a different ballgame; it seems to be almost entirely a feminist tom-boy fantasy and it is difficult to separate from feminist politics. At some point I will write something titled ‘Chaz Bono is Still a Fat Chick’, but today is not that day.  …
If a man takes hormones to look more like a woman, or a woman takes hormones to look more like a man, we accept it and legally recognize the switch.  If a man takes hormones to enhance his own natural masculinity, we call it immoral and we’ve made it illegal. We call him a cheater and threaten to put an asterisk beside his name. Why is it so much more acceptable to use drugs to alter your sex than it is to embrace and enhance what you were born with? From the perspective of mental health, isn’t that counterintuitive? …
It is worth noting, too, that many of these individuals occasionally engage in deceptive behavior, ‘hiding’ their birth sex from potential sexual partners. It’s not just a comedy cliché. It happens, and it’s ethically reprehensible. (Dec 2009).
“a large number if not a majority of male-to-female transsexuals were mentally unstable, and that feminists and cultural Marxists were doing these men harm by convincing them that they should try to become something that they could never truly be: women.” (May 2010).
 EN.Wikipedia        www.jack-donovan.com
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There is much in common between the HBS people and Jack Donovan.   Both advocate heteronormativity, and both are dismayed by the variety and difference found among both gays and trans people.

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29 August 2010

Georges Zavitzianos (1909 – 1995) psychoanalyst

Zavitzianos was born in Corfu. Greece. He studied medicine at Monpellier, France, where he was psycho-analyzed by Eduard Pichon. He returned to Greece in 1934 where he worked as a neuropsychiatrist with a psychoanalytic orientation. In the late 1940s he was a co-founder of the first Greek psychoanalytic group. In 1950 he was elected to the Societé psychanalytique de Paris.

In 1952 he emigrated to Canada, where he was active in the Psychoanalytic Club at McGill University in Montréal. He married the singer Sylvia Filyndras and they settled in Bethesda, Maryland.

His writings are concerned with female 'perversions' and he coined the expression 'homeovestism' for erotic arousal by wearing the clothes of the gender that one is, either obsessively or with exaggeration, such as men who always wear a suit and tie, or women who never go out except in a skirt and makeup. His writings on the subject mirror writings by psychoanalysts of his generation about transvestism, and as such he sees it as a 'perversion' and a 'fetish'.
  • George Zavitzianos. "Fetishism and Exhibitionism in the Female and Their Relationship to Psychopathy and Kleptomania". International Journal of Psychoanalysis 52 (3): 297–305, 1971. PMID . www.pep-web.org/document.php?id=ijp.052.0297a. 
  • George Zavitzianos. "Homeovestism: Perverse Form of Behaviour Involving the Wearing of Clothes of the Same Sex". International Journal of Psychoanalysis 53 (4): 471–477,1972. PMID. www.pep-web.org/document.php?id=ijp.053.0471a. 
  • George Zavitzianos. "The Object in Fetishism, Homeovestism, and Transvestism". International Journal of Psychoanalysis (PEP) 58 (4): 487–95, 1977. PMID. www.pep-web.org/document.php?id=ijp.058.0487a.
  • George Zavitzianos. "The perversion of fetishism in women". Psychoanalytic Quarterly. 51, 405-425. 1982.
  • Athanase Tzavaras. Georges A. Zavitzianos: Corfu, 1909-Maryland/E.U, 1995. Cahiers de psychiatrie, 53,10-13, 1996.
  • “Georges Zavitzianos”. Answers.com. www.answers.com/topic/zavitzianos-georges.
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Before the 1960s it was difficult to distinguish homovestity from the socially required norms. The term ‘homeovestism’ was re-introduced by Louise Kaplan in the early 1990s. As the obverse of ‘transvestism’ as pathologized by psychoanalysts, Zavitzianos and Kaplan saw homeovestism as a perversion and a fetish. However, as there has not been much public usage of the words, the pathologizing connotations have not passed over, and we are able to use them without the psychoanalytic baggage.

‘Homovestity’ means ‘as’ one’s own gender – dress styles already in existence. ‘Homeovestity’ means ‘like’ one’s own gender – e.g. the gay leather outfits that did not pre-exist their fetishization.

Obviously homeovestity is similar to autogynephilia in women and autoandrophilia in men.  However the sets of jargon exist as two solitudes and do not talk to each other.
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03 January 2009

Was Hermann Göring a transvestite?

This article is about the Generalfeldmarschall of the Luftwaffe, who ranked second only to Adolf Hitler in Nazi Germany. Those interested in his general biography can read the Wikipedia entry here.

There is a rumour that Göring was a transvestite, and the question is raised in many sites on the web.

However there is very little substance to the rumour.

About the only biography that approaches the topic of transvestity is Goring: A Biography by David Irving, whose objectivity has been questioned given his association with right-wing causes and his suing for libel of historian Deborah Lipstadt. The judge in the case ruled that Irving "for his own ideological reasons persistently and deliberately misrepresented and manipulated historical evidence".

Irving has one and only one paragraph on the topic in his 846 page biography:
Nobody was celebrated with greater enthusiasm than
Göring. “Göring,” Herbert Backe, the level-headed deputy to
the minister of agriculture, told his wife after touring eastern
Germany with the general in mid-May, “arrived at Breslau
wearing a white air-force uniform. The citizenry went wild.”
The cheers gave Göring the feeling of immortality: He was Germany -- he was the law. The increasingly odd, sometimes even effeminate garments (many of them designed for him by Carin) were a part of his public image. He was at heart almost a transvestite, certainly an exhibitionist. “Herbert,” Frau Backe wrote in her diary, “says that out in the Schorf Heath [around Carinhall] he always has a spear with him.” p193.
This is totally inadequate.

Bernd-Ulrich Hergemöller. Mann für Mann : biographisches Lexikon zur Geschichte von Freundesliebe und mannmännlicher Sexualität im deutschen Sprachraum. Hamburg: MännerschwarmSkript, 1998 is a biographical encyclopedia of German gays. It has no entry on Hermann Göring but mentions him several times. The only contribution that it offers is that Göring had a violet nightshirt!

Actor Jeff Chandler is taken to be a transvestite on the word of Esther Williams; and J. Edgar Hoover on the word of Susan Rosentiel. There is no such witness in the case of Göring.

The movies of course contribute to the rumour. The actor Volker Spengler who played Erwin/Elvira Weiskopf, the transsexual in Fassbinder's In Einem Jahr mit 13 Monden (In a Year of 13 Moons) 1978, then, eighteen years later, played Göring in Volker Schlöndorff's The Ogre, 1996. The 1988 television film, The Man Who Lived at the Ritz, based on A.E. Hotchner's novel featured Joss Ackland as a transvestite Göring.

So, certainly case not proven.

A more plausible assumption, noting that Göring did like to dress up but mainly in military uniforms and other male but ostentatious costumes, is that he was a homovestite. Homovestity, dressing up as one's own gender, was a concept not yet developed in the 1930s, and even today is generally not discussed. It is part of gender variance, but I am not spending much time on it in this blog because a) the research has not been done for me to use b) if the research were done, it would likely swamp the transgender activities which are after all our central focus.
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