Welcome to The Navel Gays. A Podcast about Autosexuality.
What is Autosexuality?
Autosexuality is not well-studied, and the existing understanding of it is lacking from our perspective. WebMD states, "Autosexual[s]… are more attracted to themselves than to others and may prefer masturbation to sex with a partner." In our experience, this is inaccurate and misses the fundamental psychological phenomenon at play. We prefer to conceptualize it as the experience of feeling sexual attraction to one's own body, with attraction to or desire for others being filtered through that self-attraction.
However, we argue that autosexuality most commonly manifests as attraction to oneself as the opposite sex. This makes sense, given that the vast majority of people are heterosexual. Think of it as a form of “backfiring” or “boomeranging” heterosexual attraction. Unfortunately, feeling attracted to your own body as something it is not can be psychologically distressing. We believe this is a major cause of gender dysphoria and, consequently, the desire to transition.
A major factor in the experience of autosexuality is complimenting (or competing) attractions to other people. These external attractions can reinforce the sexual or romantic notion of the self as the opposite sex, especially when dating someone of the same sex. For example, a woman who is attracted to the idea of being male or masculine may channel that desire into exclusively dating feminine women, as an extension of her masculine self-concept. This phenomenon is known as metasexuality. We believe this interplay between autosexuality and metasexuality is one potential cause of homosexuality.
In this podcast, your hosts, Tali and Aaron, discuss how they believe this process occurs and the various ways it can manifest. They will also bring on guests with varying experiences and degrees of autosexuality.
Fair warning: You will hear a lot of sexological terminology. So, here's a glossary of terms for anyone not already familiar with sexological discourse:
Auto = self
Allo = other
Gyne = female
Andro = male
Meta = self-referential
For example, an allogynephilic male is the clinical term for a straight man. He is male and experiences external attraction to females. Meanwhile, an autogynephilic (AGP) male is the clinical term for a male who is attracted to the idea of being female. It's important to note that allo- and auto-attractions exist on a spectrum, and the two can compete within a single individual.
Before you dive in, you should know that while this podcast is about sexuality, it is neither sexually explicit nor particularly titillating. Sorry!
