Sartorial Autogynephilia
donning women’s fashion
Here, in chapter 2.2 of Autoheterosexual: Attracted to Being the Other Sex, I explain the autogynephilic penchant for wearing women’s clothing.
“The influence which masculine or feminine clothing exerts on the spiritual life of transvestites is uncommonly strong. In the garb of their physical sex…transvestites feel themselves confined, imprisoned, oppressed, they feel that it is something strange, something that does not suit them or belong to them. On the other hand, they cannot find words to describe the feeling of security, restfulness, and exaltation which comes over them in the garb of the opposite sex.”[i]
The sartorial pursuit of feminine embodiment through wearing women’s clothing is one of the most common manifestations of autogynephilia. It’s often the first outward sign of the orientation, which is why autogynephilic people who dressed as the other sex used to be called “transvestites”.
After Hirschfeld published Die Transvestiten in 1910, “transvestite” described anyone whose clothes didn’t match their sex[ii]. Female or male, homosexual or autoheterosexual, it didn’t matter what kind of trans person was being described: they were all transvestites.
In later decades, sexologists started to use “transvestite” specifically to describe males with a history of erotic crossdressing[iii], which continues to be the most common use of the term today. Some contemporary sexologists consider transvestism to be a subtype of autogynephilia and call it “transvestic autogynephilia”[iv].
Since it alludes to birth sex, “transvestic autogynephilia” can be a confusing term when talking about people who have already transitioned to live as women. It also doesn’t make much sense when describing females who are autohomosexual (attracted to being their own sex).
In order to have a term appropriate for both post-transition MTFs and autohomosexual females, I wanted a name for this autogynephilia subtype that didn’t allude to birth sex. I settled on “sartorial”, which means “of or relating to clothing”.
Sartorial autogynephilia is a sexual interest in donning women’s fashion. It refers most literally to wearing women’s clothing but also includes other body adornments such as wigs, makeup, and perfume. For autogynephilic people, these feminine body adornments “exert their attraction by the impression of their own feminine character”[v].
Dressing in a feminine manner is one of the safest and most accessible ways to embody femininity, so it’s where many transfems begin their cross-gender explorations.
Early acts of sartorial embodiment often involve clothes that belong to a female family member, and the crossdressing occurs when other family members are either asleep or outside the home. The fear of getting caught in the act makes these experiences more intense. Intrinsic excitement from crossdressing adds to this intensity, leaving lasting impressions that can be recalled many years later.
It’s common to begin with bras or underwear and progressively add more pieces over time. The process can also go the other way: starting with outer layers and then adding under layers over time.
Eventually, an autogynephilic person who has developed an attachment to wearing women’s clothes may want to wear them all the time. If they fear negative social consequences, they may underdress by wearing women’s clothes beneath men’s clothes.
Underdressing is a fairly safe way of wearing women’s clothing without much risk of others noticing. Another undercover way to crossdress is by wearing feminine articles that aren’t too conspicuous, such as boots or jewelry[vi].
In the 1970s and 80s, it took an average of fifteen years of crossdressing before heterosexual transvestites had a complete femme outfit, and twenty-one years before they adopted a femme name[vii]. Now that cross-gender expression has been destigmatized in many places, this progression tends to be faster. Kids growing up today find out about transgenderism at a younger age and are more likely to see it portrayed as an acceptable way of life.
Society wasn’t always this welcoming to trans people, though.
Transvestism before Transsexualism Existed
Before the advent of prescription hormones, the best option for feminization was crossdressing. This is why first-person narratives of autogynephilia from the early 1900s often focus on the act of crossdressing.
This sartorial embodiment wasn’t about clothes, though; it was about feeling like a woman[viii]. The clothes were just the best way of inducing feminine mental shifts. In the unfortunate event that a dressing-induced erection occurred, it was sometimes seen as an unwelcome interruption to dressing[ix].
Society was actively hostile to male crossdressing, so transfems had to hide it to the best of their ability. It was socially and legally dangerous for a male to dress as a woman in public, so they often had to make do with underdressing.
One transfem reported wearing stockings and a corset underneath her outer masculine layer in everyday life[x]. As a child, another even thought of joining the priesthood so that she could wear a priest’s garb over women’s clothing[xi].
After the onset of puberty, another transfem felt magnetically drawn to displays of women’s clothing in store windows[xii]. The urge to dress in a feminine manner could be present from a young age[xiii] and intensify over time[xiv].
In these classic narratives of autogynephilia, the desire for women’s clothing was extensive. It applied to anything that was for women—no detail was too small to overlook. Hirschfeld insightfully noted that “the transvestic drive directs itself toward the whole costume to the very last detail”[xv].
The emotional rewards from crossdressing could even supplant transfems’ need for friends and socializing[xvi].
If transfems could not crossdress, their mood would sour. An inner unrest would build up and take away their ability to feel pleasure in any aspect of life. Unable to dress, one transfem reported that everyday pleasures lost their charm—even food didn’t taste good[xvii].
In the depths of this depression, they sometimes thought of suicide. One said, “May God have mercy on me and help me with my dresses or call me out of this world, because I feel that, if I am not helped, I shall perish”[xviii].
Sometimes, they did kill themselves[xix].
The strict gender rules around clothing hurt transfems constantly[xx]. Due to these fashion restrictions, they had to hide the most cherished side of themselves from a society that was actively hostile to them. They had “no peace except in pinafores”[xxi].
Transfems with families often had to sequester their feminine dressing to the rare times they were home alone or could travel. If they were lucky, their wives begrudgingly tolerated or even accepted their nature[xxii].
Women’s Clothing Feeds Transfem Identity
More often than not, the transfems whose experiences were immortalized in sexology books believed that their interest in women’s clothing didn’t originate in sexuality. From their perspective, wearing women’s clothing was an expression of their femme identity[xxiii], and the clothing itself served to help that true self emerge[xxiv].
Women’s clothing had a powerful effect on their identity.
“Dressed as a girl I seem actually to become one”[xxv], one of Ellis’s cases reported. She also referred to her first crossdressing experience as her “change of sex”[xxvi] and for the rest of her life considered herself to be not fully male. Ellis described her attraction to wearing women’s garb as merely “the outward symbols of the inner spiritual state”[xxvii].
Many transfems loathed the men’s clothing that society forced upon them and only felt at peace in the evening when they could dress in a way that expressed their gender identity. One said, “When evening came, I breathed easier, because I then let fall the burdensome mask, and I felt myself completely a woman”[xxviii].
For many transfems, home was their refuge. Wrapped in women’s garb, they found a precious, fleeting peace that eluded them during the day. One of them captured this sartorial sense of safety when she said, “skirts are a sanctuary to me”[xxix].
A transfem who had successfully lived as a woman multiple times, R.L., found that afterward, simply dressing as one had lost its allure. R.L. kept her clothing nearby but didn’t see the point in wearing it unless she could do so “as a woman”[xxx]. She desired to be a woman, not to dress like one[xxxi]. “Simply to ‘dress up’ has never satisfied me”, she lamented[xxxii].
Although wearing women’s clothing was enjoyable at first, in the end it became an irritating reminder of what she wanted more than anything else: to be a woman.
Tactile Sensations: Corsets, Softness, and Lace
When dressing as a woman, autogynephilic people often like soft materials, fine lace, or the constriction of corsets. Tactile sensations play a powerful role in sartorial embodiment.
Transfems of the past were no different: they got sensual enjoyment and emotional reassurance from feeling women’s clothing on their skin. Seeing the clothes or hearing them rustle also added to the overall effect. This sensory feedback cultivated femme feelings and brightened their moods.
R.L. poetically captured how this worked:
Dressing is a sort of ritual; I am really “in the spirit” and see and feel myself to be a woman; it is pleasing to put on the clothes, especially the touch of a pretty blouse on bare arms and shoulders. The soft comfort of underwear, and clasp of corsets, the caress of petticoats around silk-stockinged legs, the smartness of shoes, together with the delightful sensation from the graceful movements, and happy frame of mind, all combine to cause the most delicious aesthetic feelings of happiness and content.[xxxiii]
Quotes like this are why R.L.’s firsthand narrative is one of my favorites. Her account is memorable and thorough, and its contents indicate that she was thoroughly autogynephilic. For these reasons, I will refer to her by name and call upon her testimony several times.
Other transfems reported similar enjoyment from feeling women’s clothing on their bodies. Soft, silky, or lacy fabrics were particularly appealing.
Transfems of the past loved the gentle touch of soft materials[xxxiv] and the comfort of soft fur[xxxv]. They longed to be wrapped in soft slips[xxxvi] and cradled by soft underwear[xxxvii].
Although softness is inherently pleasurable to some extent, part of their enjoyment came about because they associated softness with women. They thought that women had soft bodies[xxxviii], soft skin[xxxix], soft voices[xl], and soft hair[xli], so they aspired to softness and wore soft clothing to help them embody it.
Silk and Lace
Silk was a popular material for embodying this softness.
Transfems were likely to enjoy wearing silk dresses[xlii], silk scarves[xliii], silk underwear[xliv], or silk stockings[xlv]. They enjoyed being ensconced in “elegant silk shoes”[xlvi] or “rustling silk underwear”[xlvii].
The sweet song of rustling silk could even bring upon sartorial euphoria[xlviii]: “again and again a wonderful feeling penetrated me when the silk skirts rustled around me”, reported one transfem[xlix].
Transfems of the past also enjoyed lace in many forms. Both its appearance and texture were appealing. They wore lace slips[l], lace underwear[li], and lace petticoats[lii], and they sometimes carried perfumed lace handkerchiefs[liii].
One transfem even described an attractive dress as “so delicate, so fragrant, like a poem translated into lace”[liv].
Corsets: “Corsetted and Laced to the Last Gasp”
As much as transfems of the past enjoyed softness, silk, and lace, corsets were next level. They absolutely adored the constriction of corsets.
The consistent firm embrace of a corset induced and maintained feminine mental shifts, making it a powerful tool for cross-gender embodiment.
Corsets could provide “exquisite physical pleasure”[lv], especially when they were “corsetted and laced to the last gasp”[lvi].
But sometimes the power of corsets was too great. When trying on a corset for the first time, one transfem had her first erection. This startled her, so she quickly took it off and was left “deeply dissatisfied with the whole process” because she wanted to keep wearing the corset[lvii].
While trying on a corset for a theatrical role, another transfem got a “vigorous erection”. Soon after, she “sallied forth for a promenade in Piccadilly” to procure a corset of her own[lviii].
Whether it was the soft caress of silk or the prolonged hug of a corset, being wrapped in feminine garb conjured up femme feelings and brought emotional comfort to autogynephilic people of past generations. The act of putting on women’s clothing brought forth feminine mental shifts, and the sight, sound, and feel of the clothing added to the overall effect.
In Sum:
Sartorial autogynephilia is a sexual interest in donning women’s fashion. This most obvious and striking example of feminine embodiment is why transvestite was the term that began the gender-related category of trans that we usually call transgender in the present day.
Like other aspects of autogynephilia, sartorial autogynephilia goes beyond eroticism and enters the realm of emotions and sentiments. Over time, an autogynephilic person may become emotionally attached to wearing women’s clothing. If they aren’t comfortable wearing it publicly, they may decide to wear it underneath their men’s clothing while in public—a practice known as underdressing.
Wearing women’s clothing has the potential to shift an autogynephilic person’s gender identity across the gender divide. Prior to the recent destigmatization of gender nonconformity, it often took decades of crossdressing before a solid feminine gender identity emerged.
Dressing in women’s clothing is one of the safest and most accessible ways for an autogynephilic person to tap into and express their feminine side.
Feeling, hearing, and seeing themselves in women’s clothing all contribute to an autogynephilic person’s sense of feminine embodiment, which makes tight, soft, or richly textured garments especially appealing.
[i] Hirschfeld, Sexual Anomalies and Perversions, 188.
[ii] Hirschfeld, Transvestites, 124.
[iii] Benjamin, The Transsexual Phenomenon.
[iv] Blanchard, “Clinical Observations and Systematic Studies of Autogynephilia,” 237; Hsu, Rosenthal, and Bailey, “The Psychometric Structure of Items Assessing Autogynephilia,” 3.
[v] Hirschfeld, Sexual Anomalies and Perversions, 221–22.
[vi] Hirschfeld, Transvestites, 127.
[vii] Docter, Transvestites and Transsexuals, 209.
[viii] Hirschfeld, Transvestites, 60.
[ix] Ellis, “Eonism,” 62.
[x] Hirschfeld, Transvestites, 36.
[xi] Hirschfeld, 105.
[xii] Hirschfeld, 69.
[xiii] Hirschfeld, 75.
[xiv] Hirschfeld, 66.
[xv] Hirschfeld, 127.
[xvi] Hirschfeld, 39,65.
[xvii] Hirschfeld, 72.
[xviii] Hirschfeld, 109.
[xix] Hirschfeld, Sexual Anomalies and Perversions, 222.
[xx] Hirschfeld, Transvestites, 86,109.
[xxi] Hirschfeld, 86.
[xxii] Hirschfeld, 108.
[xxiii] Hirschfeld, 29,61; Ellis, “Eonism,” 87.
[xxiv] Hirschfeld, Transvestites, 94.
[xxv] Ellis, “Eonism,” 50.
[xxvi] Ellis, 46,47.
[xxvii] Ellis, 52,53.
[xxviii] Hirschfeld, Transvestites, 94.
[xxix] Hirschfeld, 84.
[xxx] Ellis, “Eonism,” 89.
[xxxi] Ellis, 76.
[xxxii] Ellis, 74.
[xxxiii] Ellis, 88–89.
[xxxiv] Hirschfeld, Transvestites, 65.
[xxxv] Hirschfeld, 75.
[xxxvi] Hirschfeld, 39.
[xxxvii] Hirschfeld, 88–89.
[xxxviii] Hirschfeld, 45.
[xxxix] Hirschfeld, 51,129.
[xl] Hirschfeld, 73; Ellis, “Eonism,” 85.
[xli] Hirschfield, Sexual Anomalies and Perversions, 218; Hirschfeld, Transvestites, 335.
[xlii] Hirschfeld, Transvestites, 50.
[xliii] Hirschfeld, 55.
[xliv] Hirschfeld, Sexual Anomalies and Perversions, 221.
[xlv] Ellis, “Eonism,” 88–89.
[xlvi] Hirschfeld, Transvestites, 38.
[xlvii] Hirschfeld, Sexual Anomalies and Perversions, 221.
[xlviii] Hirschfeld, Transvestites, 24.
[xlix] Hirschfeld, 47.
[l] Hirschfeld, 39,69,105.
[li] Hirschfeld, Sexual Anomalies and Perversions, 200.
[lii] Ellis, “Eonism,” 52.
[liii] Hirschfeld, Transvestites, 127.
[liv] Hirschfeld, 42.
[lv] Ellis, “Eonism,” 67.
[lvi] Ellis, 52.
[lvii] Hirschfeld, Transvestites, 69.
[lviii] Ellis, “Eonism,” 43.