23 year old Masters degree student Jamie Veale is researching transsexuals' sexuality and hopes to test an as yet fully accepted theory. She writes: In the late 1980s, sexologist Ray Blanchard formed a theory that there are two types of male-to-female transsexuals who can be differentiated by their sexuality. Blanchard claims that those male-to-female transsexuals that are not exclusively attracted to males have a different motivation for transition than those that are. Blanchard calls this motivation ‘autogynephilia', using the term to refer to a transsexual's propensity to be sexually aroused by the thought of themself as a female. Since Blanchard there has been relatively little work done on the concept of autogynephilia. My research hopes to examine autogynephilia among male-to-female transsexuals to assess the validity of Blanchard's theory. My project will also measure autogynephilia among a group of biological females, to assess whether autogynephilia is something that only male to female transsexuals experience. I am also measuring of sadomasochistic tendencies and other sexual preferences among these groups. Among the transsexual community there is disagreement with Blanchard's theory. Although his theory has become accepted within the field of psychology, there have been no studies done replicating Blanchard's results. Since Blanchard there has been relatively little work done at all on the concept of autogynephilia. I hope that my project can rectify this somewhat by replicating some of Blanchard's work. I am a 23 year old male-to-female transsexual, currently living in Auckland, although I originally hail from Christchurch. I moved up to Auckland in 2003 for my transition and also to do a Master's degree in psychology at Massey University's Albany campus. I chose to study this area because studying male-to-female transsexual sexuality can give important insights into the manifestation of transsexualism and also deepen our understandings of sexuality in the wider population. I am looking to recruit male-to-female transsexuals, and other females for this research to do an online questionnaire (which can be found at the link below). The questionnaire will probably take about 20-30 minutes to complete. You can then compare your answers to other people who have taken the survey. And all responses to this survey are kept strictly confidential, people will not be asked any information that will identify them (for example, their name), so the responses will be completely anonymous. A summary of the results of the research will be posted on the www.tranz.org.nz web site after my thesis has been completed in July. This project has been reviewed and approved by the Massey University Human Ethics Committee, ALB Application 04/083. Jamie Veale - 9th April 2005