Autoheterosexual Glossary
words to help you think about gender and sexuality
This is the glossary from Autoheterosexual: Attracted to Being the Other Sex
A
Acrotomophilia: attraction to amputees.
Adult Baby: an adult who embodies an extremely youthful state through the use of objects such as diapers, pacifiers, and stuffed animals, or through roleplay with someone who takes on the adult role of caregiver.
Adoptive Transracialism: transracialism associated with transracial adoption.
Age Regression: autosexual or autoromantic youthful embodiment.
Allo-: “other”.
Alloandrophilia: attraction to others as men.
Allogynephilia: attraction to others as women.
Alloheterosexuality (allohet): attraction to others of the other sex; externally-directed heterosexuality.
Allosexuality: attraction to others; externally-directed sexual attraction.
Allosexual Orientation: an externally-oriented, enduring, preferential sexual or romantic interest in a particular type of entity.
Alterhuman: an internal identity that is beyond the scope of what is traditionally considered human.
Ambiheterosexuality: attraction both to and to being the other sex; co-occurring alloheterosexuality and autoheterosexuality.
Anatomic Autoheterosexuality: sexual or romantic interest in having the body of the other sex; sexual or romantic interest in having physical features of the other sex.
Anatomic Autosexuality: sexual or romantic interest in having the physical form or physical features associated with a particular type of entity.
Androgynemorphophilia (AGMP): attraction to masculinized females with intact vulva; attraction to FTMs with intact vulva.
Androphilia: attraction to men; attraction to masculinity; attraction to adult human males.
Apotemnophilia: attraction to being an amputee; see Autoacrotomophilia.
Auto-: “self”.
Autoabasiophilia: attraction to having impaired mobility.
Autoacrotomophilia: attraction to being an amputee; synonym for apotemnophilia.
Autoandrophilia (AAP): “love of self as a man”; attraction to being a man; attraction to oneself as a man; masculinity-based autosexual attraction.
Autochronophilia: attraction to being a particular age; attraction to being at a particular stage of sexual development; autosexual age-based attraction.
Autoexophilia: attraction to being a form of extraterrestrial life.
Autofictophilia: attraction to being a fictional character.
Autoandrogynemorphophilia (AAGMP): attraction to being a masculinized female; attraction to being a man with a vulva; attraction to being an FTM.
Autoanthrozoophilia: attraction to being an anthropomorphic animal; attraction to being a furry.
Autogynandromorphophilia (AGAMP): attraction to being a feminized male; attraction to being a woman with a penis; attraction to being an MTF.
Autogynephilia (AGP): “love of self as a woman”; attraction to being a woman; attraction to oneself as a woman; femininity-based autosexual attraction.
Autohebephilia: attraction to being a pubescent adolescent (Tanner stage 2-3, early puberty)
Autohet: abbreviation for autoheterosexual or autoheterosexuality.
Autoheterosexuality: attraction to being the other sex; attraction to being the gender associated with the other sex; attraction to cross-gender embodiment; internally-directed heterosexuality; umbrella term for female autoandrophilia and male autogynephilia.
Autohomosexuality: attraction to being one’s own sex; attraction to being the gender associated with one’s sex; attraction to default-gender embodiment; internally-directed homosexuality; umbrella term for female autogynephilia and male autoandrophilia.
Automythophylophilia: attraction to being a mythical humanoid race (elves, faeries, vampires, etc.).
Automythozoophilia: attraction to being a mythical nonhuman animal.
Autoobjectophilia: attraction to being a nonliving object.
Autopedophilia: attraction to being a prepubescent child (Tanner stage 1, roughly ages 3-11); umbrella term for attraction to being a pre-pubescent or peri-pubescent child.
Autophilia: “love of self”; see Autosexual.
Autophylophilia: autosexual race-based attraction; attraction to being a particular race; attraction to being a particular human race.
Autosexual: attraction to oneself; attraction to being; self-attraction; embodiment-based sexuality; internally-directed sexuality.
Autosexual orientation: an enduring, preferential interest in being a particular type of entity; attraction to being a particular type of entity.
Autosexual Theory of Trans Identity: for each attraction to, there exists a corresponding attraction to being, and for each attraction to being, there exists a corresponding type of trans identity—each with its own flavor of embodiment subtypes, euphoria/dysphoria, and shifts.
Autozoophilia: attraction to being an animal; attraction to being a nonhuman animal
B
Behavioral Autoheterosexuality: interest in adopting behaviors associated with the other sex; interest in acting like the other sex.
Behavioral Autosexuality: interest in adopting behaviors associated with a particular type of entity.
Body integrity dysphoria: negative body integrity-related feelings; the type of dysphoria associated with transabled identity.
Bottom: a sexual partner who plays a receptive, responsive, or passive sexual role; to play a receptive, responsive, or passive sexual role.
C
Caregiver: someone who roleplays as the adult caretaker of an age regressor.
Chronophilia: an age-based sexual attraction; attraction to people of a particular age;
Cis-: “on this side of”; “on the same side of”; antonym of trans.
Cisgender: when someone’s gender identity corresponds to the gender associated with their sex.
Cisvestism: dressing in clothing associated with one’s sex; dressing in clothing associated with one’s default gender.
Core Autoheterosexuality: sexual or romantic interest in the idea of being the other sex.
Core Autosexuality: sexual or romantic interest in the idea of being a particular type of entity.
Cross-: crossing to the other side of a dimension of being; on the other side of a dimension of being; see Trans.
Cross-Embodiment: embodiment which signifies crossing to, or being on the other side of, a dimension of being.
Cross-Gender Embodiment: embodying a gender associated with the other sex; embodiment which signifies crossing gender; embodiment which signifies belonging to the other sex or the gender associated with it.
Cross-Gender Identity: identifying as a gender associated with the other sex; identifying as the other sex; internal sensation of belonging to the other sex or the gender associated with it.
Cross-Identity: identification as a type of entity that is incongruent with one’s default physical form; see Trans Identity
Cross-Sex Hormones: hormonal medications taken to approximate the hormone levels of the other sex.
Crossdreaming: cross-gender ideation; when an autoheterosexual person thinks of, imagines, or pictures themselves as the other sex or a gender associated with it; cross-embodiment ideation; when an autosexual person thinks of, imagines, or pictures themselves as a particular type of entity.
D
Desistance: when someone intends to transition gender but ultimately decides against it before beginning social or medical transition; deciding against gender transition before starting it.
Detransition: when someone who has socially or medically transitioned decides to socially or medically revert to living as their birth sex; deciding against gender transition after starting it.
Devotee: someone who is sexually attracted to amputees or people with other disabilities.
Disorder of Sexual Development (DSD): a congenital condition associated with atypical development of internal and external genital structures.
Dimension (sexual orientation): the dimension of attraction along which a sexual orientation acts (gender, race, age, species, disability, etc).
Dimension (sexuality): a manifestation of sexuality that can be measured by researchers to gauge the presence of a sexual interest (e.g., arousal, attraction, preference, porn use, behavior, fantasy, etc).
Dream Shift: dreaming about being the type of entity one is autosexually attracted to being; embodying one’s erotic target in a dream.
Dysphoria (autosexual): downward mood shifts in response to perceived shortcomings of cross-embodiment; negative embodiment-related feelings; the opposite of Euphoria.
E
Enby: a nonbinary person; see Nonbinary.
Eonism: embodying traits associated with the other sex as an expression of the wish to be that sex; an archaic term for autoheterosexual transgenderism.
Epistemic Injustice: injustice pertaining to knowledge; knowledge-based injustice.
Erotic Target: the type of entity that an individual is sexually attracted to; someone’s “type”.
Erotic Target Identity Inversion (ETII): attraction to being the same type of entity that one is attracted to; an autosexual orientation.
Erotic Target Location Error (ETLE): nonallosexual erotic target locations (attractions to nonliving objects or oneself instead of other people); an etiological theory which proposes that autosexual orientations come about due to developmental errors in locating erotic targets in the environment.
Erotic Target: the type of entity to which a person is attracted; object of attraction; love object.
Etiological Paradigm of Transgenderism: a scientific framework for understanding transgenderism as a phenomenon with distinct ultimate causes such as homosexuality and autoheterosexuality.
Etiology: the study of causation or origin; the ultimate cause underlying a condition;
Euphoria (autosexual): good embodiment-related feelings; positive feelings associated with the perception of cross-embodiment; the opposite of Dysphoria.
F
Facial Feminization Surgery (FFS): a group of surgical procedures intended to feminize the face.
Female: of or denoting the sex that can bear offspring or produce ova.
Femdom: a genre of erotic media in which females or MTFs dominate males.
Feminine: qualities traditionally associated with females; femaleness.
Follicle Stimulating Hormone (LSH): hormone which stimulates the growth of ovarian follicles in females and plays a key role in sperm production in males.
Forced Feminization: genre of erotic media in which males are forcibly feminized, often by females.
Fraternal Birth Order Effect (FBOE): the observation that the more sons a female has, the more likely each successive son is to be homosexual.
Furry: an anthropomorphic animal; a fan of anthropomorphic animals.
Fursona: a form of anthropomorphic identity adopted by fans of anthropomorphic animals.
G
Gamete: reproductive cells such as sperm or ova that combine to create a new organism.
Gender: sexness; the social and cultural domain of sex; a euphemism for sex that avoids conflation with sexual intercourse.
Gender Dysphoria: bad gender-related feelings; downward mood shifts in response to perceived shortcomings of cross-gender embodiment; the opposite of Gender Euphoria.
Gender Euphoria: good gender-related feelings; upward mood shifts in response to the perception of cross-gender embodiment; the opposite of Gender Dysphoria.
Gender Expression: how we outwardly embody masculinity and femininity through our appearance or behavior.
Gender Identity: sense of ourselves as masculine, feminine, in-between the two, or somewhere outside of the gender binary.
Gender Identity Paradigm of Transgenderism: a scientific framework for understanding transgenderism in which transgender people are understood to have a gender identity incongruent with their biological sex. This paradigm does not incorporate the two known transgender etiologies.
Gender Incongruence: mismatch between an individual’s sex or sex traits and their gender identity.
Gender Issues: continuous underlying liability toward a preference for gender transition; an umbrella term covering gender dysphoria and cross-gender ideation.
Gender Role: a social role associated with either males or females.
Gender Transition: socially and/or medically transitioning to live as a gender incongruent with one’s sex; see Social Transition or Medical Transition.
Genderqueer: denoting or relating to an individual who does not subscribe to conventional gender distinctions but identifies with neither, both, or a combination of masculine and feminine genders; a gender identity or gender expression which challenges social constructions of binary gender; see Nonbinary.
Gonadotropin: a hormone that induces the gonads to produce sex hormones; category of hormones that includes luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle stimulating hormone (FSH).
Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone (GnRH): hormone released by the anterior pituitary gland that induces the release of luteinizing hormone and follicle stimulating hormone.
Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone Agonist (GnRHa): a class of drugs that agonistically bind to the GnRH receptor; the drug category that puberty blockers belong to.
Gynandromorphophilia: attraction to feminized males with an intact penis; attraction to MTFs with an intact penis.
Gynephilia: attraction to women; attraction to femininity; attraction to adult human females.
H
Heritability: how much the variation of a trait within a population can be attributed to variation in genetic factors instead of the environment or random chance.
Heterosexual: other-sex attraction; an enduring sexual preference for people of the other sex (or the gender associated with it).
Homosexual: same-sex attraction; an enduring sexual preference for people of the same sex (or the gender associated with it).
Hormone replacement therapy (HRT): a euphemism for cross-sex hormones; see Cross-Sex Hormones.
I
Interpersonal Autoheterosexuality: sexual or romantic interest in socially being the other sex; sexual or romantic interest in being treated or seen as the other sex;
Interpersonal Autosexuality: sexual or romantic interest in embodying a social role associated with a particular type of entity; sexual or romantic interest in being seen or treated as a particular type of entity.
Intersex: an umbrella term for disorders of sexual development; see Disorder of Sexual Development.
K
Kintype: the type of entity or types of entities that an otherkin identifies as.
L
Little: an individual who engages in age regression; an individual with a youthful cross-age identity.
Littlespace: a mental shift associated with youthful embodiment; an autopedophilic mental shift.
Luteinizing Hormone (LH): a hormone produced in the anterior pituitary gland which induces gonadal hormone production.
M
Male: of or denoting the sex that produces sperm.
Masculine: qualities traditionally associated with males; maleness.
Maternal Immune Hypothesis: the hypothesis that maternal immune responses to the male proteins of male fetuses are the cause of the fraternal birth order effect.
Medical Transition: undergoing hormonal or surgical medical interventions in order to more closely resemble the other sex; getting body modifications or undergoing medical interventions in order to more fully embody a particular type of entity.
Mental Shift: a shift in mindstate toward having thoughts, feelings, sensations, or perceptions associated with another type of entity; consciousness cross-embodiment.
Meta-Androphilia: sexual attraction to being a woman with a man; sexual attraction to men based in a desire to reinforce one’s femininity.
Meta-Attraction: increased attraction to others based on what their traits imply about oneself; enhanced attraction to others because their traits affirm one’s cross-gender self; gender-affirming attraction to others; enhanced attraction to others because their traits affirm one’s sense of cross-embodiment.
Meta-Gynephilia: sexual attraction to being a man with a woman; sexual attraction to women based in the desire to reinforce one’s masculinity.
Meta-Homosexuality: gender-affirming same-sex attraction; attraction to embodying the other sex with someone of the same sex.
Minority Stress Theory: theory positing that minorities are exposed to greater amounts of internal and external stressors, and that this increased exposure to stressors causes adverse health outcomes.
Mitochondria: organelles within cells that produce the chemical energy cells need to survive and function.
Mitochondrial Dysfunction: disordered functioning of mitochondria in which mitochondria become inefficient, misshapen, and/or produce increased amounts of oxidative molecules.
N
Nonalloheterosexual: sexualities aside from heterosexual attraction to others; see Queer.
Nonbinary: a gender identity which is neither fully feminine or fully masculine, or which falls outside of the gender binary.
Nonvanilla: describes a sexual interest, behavior, or orientation which is not normophilic; see Paraphilia.
Normophilia: sexual interest in genital stimulation or preparatory fondling with phenotypically normal, physically mature, consenting human partners; see Vanilla.
O
Objectophilia: attraction to nonliving objects.
Organizational Hypothesis: the idea that sex hormone exposure in early development irreversibly alters the nervous system in ways that permanently alter later behavior in female-typical and male-typical ways.
Otherkin: an individual who identifies as a type of nonhuman entity.
Otherkith: an individual who identifies with a type of nonhuman entity.
P
Paradigm: a shared framework in which science is conducted.
Paraphilia: an enduring sexual preference which is not normophilic; see Nonvanilla.
Paraphilic Interest: a sexual interest which is not normophilic.
Persistence: the enduring desire to undergo social or medical gender transition.
Phalloplasty: a series of surgical procedures which result in the construction of a phallus.
Phantom Shift: sensing the presence of phantom anatomy associated with an erotic target; sensing the presence of phantom anatomy corresponding to a particular type of entity; proprioceptive cross-embodiment via phantom anatomy.
Philia: “love”; a sexual interest; a sexual or romantic attraction.
Phylophilia: race-based sexual attraction; attraction to a particular race; attraction to a particular human race.
Physiologic Autoheterosexuality: sexual or romantic interest in having the bodily functions of the other sex.
Physiologic Autosexuality: sexual or romantic interest in having the bodily functions of a particular type of entity.
Plushophilia: attraction to toy stuffed animals.
Pregnancy Transvestism: term used by Magnus Hirschfeld to describe the pregnancy embodiment of transfems; pregnancy embodiment associated with physiologic autogynephilia.
Pretender: an individual who temporarily embodies disability for sexual or emotional reasons.
Psyche Autoheterosexuality: sexual or romantic interest in having the thoughts, feelings, sensations, or perceptions of the other sex; sexual or romantic interest in embodying the consciousness of the other sex.
Psyche Autosexuality: sexual or romantic interest in having the thoughts, feelings, sensations, or perceptions of a particular type of entity; sexual or romantic interest in embodying the consciousness of a particular type of entity.
Puberty Blockers: drug administered to halt or delay puberty; see Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone Agonist.
Q
Queer: sexualities that are nonheterosexual, autoheterosexual, or based in nongendered dimensions of attraction; see Nonalloheterosexual.
R
Romance Hypothesis: the hypothesis that gender transition in autoheterosexuals can be motivated by a deep, long-term romantic attachment to the cross-gender self that persists even if overt cross-gender eroticism has waned.
S
Sartorial Autoheterosexuality: sexual or romantic interest in donning clothing or other body adornments associated with the other sex; sexual or romantic interest in adorning one’s body with objects associated with the other sex.
Sartorial Autosexuality: sexual or romantic interest in donning clothing or other body adornments associated with a particular type of entity; sexual or romantic interest in adorning one’s body with objects associated with a particular type of entity.
Sensory Shift/Perceptual Shift: a type of mental shift in which an individual feels themselves to have the sensory or perceptual abilities of an erotic target.
Sex: a method of reproduction in which two gametes fuse to create a new organism.
Sexual Dimorphism: when sexually reproducing species come in two main forms that correspond to the female and male reproductive strategies.
Sexual Fetishism: a sexual preference for nongenital body parts (partialism) or sexual interest in nonliving objects.
Sexual Identity: an identity pertaining to sexuality.
Sexual Inversion: an antiquated term for homosexuality which alludes to the psychosexual inversion associated with it.
Sexual Orientation: an enduring pattern of preferential sexual or romantic interest in a particular type of entity, embodiment, or method of interaction.
Sexual Preference: a sexual interest that is preferred over other sexual interests.
Shifting: when an autosexual person experiences phantom anatomy or a state of consciousness reminiscent of the type of entity they are attracted to being.
Sissification: eroticized feminization.
Sissy: an individual with erotic interest in feminizing themselves; a sexual identity held by some autogynephilic people.
Situational Transracialism: umbrella term for adoptive transracialism and other forms of transracialism associated with one’s particular life circumstances.
Social Desirability Bias: a tendency to socially present oneself in ways that will garner approval from others; a bias toward presenting oneself in a socially desirable way.
Social Transition: changing one’s name, stated identity, pronouns, dress, and other forms of gendered expression on a long-term basis in order to live as another gender; changing one’s name, dress, speech, stated identity, or behavior on a long-term basis in order to socially embody a particular type of entity.
Suprabinary: beyond a binary; describes gender identities beyond those corresponding to the two sexes.
T
Teratophilia: attraction to monsters or deformed people.
Therian: an individual who identifies as a nonhuman animal; an individual with a deep, integral or personal belief that they’re a nonhuman animal.
Top: a sexual partner who plays an assertive, initiatory, or active sexual role; to play an assertive, initiatory, or active sexual role.
Trans: “across”; “on the other side of”; cross-.
Trans Identity: identification as a type of entity that is incongruent with one’s default physical form; see Cross-Identity.
Transabled: describes an individual who identifies as, or socially/medically transitions to, having a disability that differs from their default ability; crossed in the dimension of disability.
Transage: describes an individual who identifies as, or socially/medically transitions to, an age that differs from their chronological age; crossed in the dimension of age.
Trans Man: a female-born individual who identifies as a man or socially/medically transitions to live as one.
Trans Woman: a male-born individual who identifies as a woman or socially/medically transitions to live as one.
Transfem: a male-born individual who has a feminine gender identity or has socially/medically transitioned to more fully embody femininity; an individual on the male-to-female (MTF) spectrum; an abbreviation for transfeminine.
Transfeminine: describes a form of feminine gender identity held by some males; describes an individual on the male-to-female (MTF) spectrum.
Transgender: describes an individual who identifies as, or socially/medically transitions to, a gender that does not correspond to their sex; describes an individual with a nondefault gender identity; crossed in the dimension of gender.
Transgender Transformation: a genre of erotic media in which protagonists transform into the other sex or gain traits associated with it.
Transmasc: a female-born individual who has a masculine gender identity or has socially/medically transitioned to more fully embody masculinity; an individual on the female-to-male (FTM) spectrum; an abbreviation for transmasculine.
Transmasculine: describes a form of masculine gender identity held by some females; describes an individual on the female-to-male (FTM) spectrum.
Transrace: describes an individual who identifies as, or socially/medically transitions to, a race that differs from their default race; crossed in the dimension of race.
Transsexual: describes an individual who has undergone medical interventions in order to more closely resemble the other sex; of or relating to medical gender transition.
Transsexualism: undergoing medical interventions in order to more closely resemble the other sex; medical gender transition.
Transspecies: an individual who identifies as, or socially/medically transitions to, a species that differs from their default species; crossed in the dimension of species.
Transvestism: wearing clothing or other body adornments associated with the other sex; donning body adornments to attain cross-embodiment.
Transvestite: an individual who wears clothing associated with the other sex as a symbol of inner personality; a crossdresser.
Trap: a slang term for an MTF individual with an intact penis which implies passability.
Two-Type Typology of Transgenderism: a categorization system for transgender people that sorts them into homosexual and autoheterosexual etiological groups based on whether their sexualities are homosexual or nonhomosexual with respect to their birth sex.
U
Underdressing: crossdressing beneath a cisvestic outer layer.
V
Vaginoplasty: a surgical procedure which results in the construction of a neovagina.
Vanilla: describes conventional sexual behavior; describes normative sexual behavior; see Normophilia.
W
Wannabe: an individual who admires amputees and wants to become one.
Z
Zoophilia: “love of animals”; attraction to animals; attraction to nonhuman animals.
