Is autogynephilia a fetish?
‘Fetish’ is an extremely unhelpful word. It is not a neutral, scientific word, but a term that comes loaded with baggage, and to most people is a synonym of ‘perversion.’ Therefore, even if it was technically correct to say that femephilia is a fetish I would eliminate the term from any dialogue around femephilia. However, while we’re on the subject, I don’t believe autogynephilia* is a fetish because, again, femephiliac sexual behaviour is too complex to label in one pen stroke. For example, its fantasies often involve a mix of hetero or homo lust, emotion for the sexual partner, and femephiliac lust… you can’t tease them apart and say it’s all about being a woman and that’s the only thing going on. Autogynephilia is fluid: it can sometimes form a major part or only a minor part of a sexual experience. It is also chameleon like and changes in different…