Oof. An eye-opening thread that makes sense of a lot that seems baffling. Author is Lara Adams-Miller @LaraAdamsMille1.

Something you should realize about autogynephiles: They can’t stop. AGP functions more like an addiction than an orientation or identity. “Letting out the woman within” is both a high and a release. Time passes, and, without a fresh fix, they become hostile & self-destructive. It seems like they’re putting it on a bit when they talk about how being denied their trans identity will “literally kill” them. It makes more sense, though, if you realize that they very well may believe that. If you’ve experienced addiction, you know that feeling.

Oh. Jeez. I never thought of that. It would explain many things I keep wondering about, in fury and frustration.

I haven’t experienced addiction myself but by god I have in people near me. I’ve experienced that difference, separation, frustration – why are you like this, why can’t you stop, why can’t you stop even though in other ways you’re so high quality.

I think that trans people who aren’t AGP also experience it as an addiction in some ways. You’ll hear people talk a lot about “gender euphoria.” A euphoric experience is the cornerstone of addiction. Problematically, kids are told “gender euphoria” just means they’re truly trans. The power of addiction lies in dissociation. It’s not just about the direct pleasure offered by the behavior or substance. It’s about what you’re NOT feeling while you engage in that behavior or use that substance. Transgenderism is elaborate, intense dissociation. Understanding it as an addiction also gives insight into the escalating nature of the phenomenon. Men who crossdress start out doing it occasionally as a masturbatory exercise. Over time, the bliss wanes, and the AGP begins to chase the dragon. This is where they will begin wearing women’s items under male clothing, going out “dressed” in public, buying more and more clothing/prosthetics, involving their previously unaware gf/wife in their crossdressing, getting with mtf sex workers, and/or altering their bodies. One way gender ideology is broken is that it takes what should be a moment of clarity and turning point — an AGP realizing he isn’t in control of his compulsions — and reframes it as a healthy personal revelation: “I don’t have a problem. I’m actually a woman.”

Interesting. The reframing is one of my major objections too, but it takes a slightly different form – the reframing of a personal fantasy/game of let’s pretend/idea about the self as a political issue, when personal fantasy ought to be the least political item you could come up with. It’s different but similar and probably related.

There are extensive psychiatric comorbidities among this population because addictions, even non-substance-use ones, are regularly part of a mentally ill person’s coping strategies. A lot of trans people are dissociating from painful psychiatric symptoms. When you challenge a trans person’s identity – by, say, using the “wrong” pronoun – they experience intense discomfort. This may manifest as rage, anxiety/panic, or depression. You just gave a shot of Narcan to a person high on opioids. You interrupted their dissociation. This is why, for so many people, transgenderism never settles into a stable identity. “Gender is fluid” because a dissociation loses its power when it’s no longer new. So a trans woman may become non-binary. They may be a “lesbian,” then pansexual. The shifting is necessary. This population has a high incidence of substance use and dissociative hobbies, such as those which involve role-playing, video games, cosplaying. They engage in these compulsively and rely on them for support the same way they rely on “gender euphoria.”

Ohhh. Again – I’ve wondered about that endlessly – the similarity to cosplay, and the weird childishness of all of it. Addiction and compulsion would explain a lot.

Some trans people will do awful things if their “fix” is threatened. Most just become unhappy. This just depends on their personal boundaries and ethics. Being trans doesn’t make someone dangerous, but an already violent person will commit violence if their gender fix is blocked.

Being trans may not make someone dangerous, but I do wonder if the violent rhetoric of so many “activists” can nudge people in that direction. I’m not confident that all those posters of axes and baseball bats are completely inert.

Dissociation is the source of the “high” for the AGP. He’d achieve that perfect bliss in embodying any role that was deeply *not him.* This is why sexism is an absolute prerequisite for AGP. He sees women as another species, not just people who happen to be female. He would get no pleasure from dressing as women if he had substantial empathy for them. Crossdressing wouldn’t take him away from himself if he didn’t believe that women thought & felt completely different than men do. He must “other” women in order to reach that non-self place.

Ohhh. Damn. That makes so much sense.

The high is from being not-self, which equals, for them, being female – not a “trans woman,” not biologically male, not a “man who became a woman.” Accuracy = potency of euphoria. So each tiny language and situational cue is policed. Any reminder of reality can cause a collapse. To access that gender euphoria, everyone they interact with has to speak and behave as though they’re women. Otherwise, these men are stuck with crossdressing at home or in CD/kink groups. And that really limits how much they can up their dosage, and how often they can dose. Being misgendered once can ruin an entire evening, which AGPs will plan for weeks & spend hours grooming for. For this reason, even after they come out to their spouses, they’ll often wait a long time before CDing in front of her. They need to be sure she’ll stay in character. No sexual orientation is fragile in this way. Tell me that I’m straight, and I don’t suddenly feel less gay. Offensive speech doesn’t even work the way they say it does. What other group, even heavily marginalized, has such an intricate script that must be read by all? This is because we aren’t functioning as human beings living and letting live. We are animated props for the role-play scenario that lets these people access a specific mental state. We’re set pieces, and the whole world becomes their drug. And if you speak or act wrong (according to gender culture rules), you have now become the thing standing in between an addict and their fix. And THAT is what you must understand if you want to understand how dangerous gender-critical activism is, and why. A final note: The collective chasing of the dragon is the reason for the progressive erosion of women’s boundaries and rights. They can only feel *more* by eradicating any structural or behavioral elements that make them feel different than us. This means they’ll never stop. There’s nothing they’ll leave untouched, nothing that should apply to biological women but not them. It doesn’t have to make sense or satisfy any functional purpose. They will never NOT be chasing the dragon. The cup they hold out has no bottom. Everything won’t be enough, because this is addiction, and nothing characterizes addiction quite so distinctly as a persistent sense of scarcity. They will always feel dissatisfied, and that will always be women’s fault. People need to wake up to what this is, because, right now, there’s this idea that we just need to give trans people enough of the right things, and all will be well. But… is that what seems to be happening? Could you guess, if you tried, at what would make the AGPs satisfied? You cannot satisfy an addict. It’s not chemically possible. Trying to do so doesn’t help them and isn’t good for you. Right now the progressives are trying to appease the trans lobby. I read somewhere – “Appeasement” is feeding a crocodile in the hope that he’ll eat you last.

So, there it is. Not cheerful-making, but clarifying.