Hi, I’m Phil Illy.

I learned about autogynephilia in spring of 2019. It was a pretty huge mindfuck to learn in my 30’s that I had a sexual orientation I’d never heard of, and monotropism took over. I started obsessively reading sexology research about autogynephilia from sexology’s inception all the way up to the present day. After a year of this, I realized I was uncommonly knowledgeable about it, and keeping it to myself would be a waste.

I wanted to help others like me understand their condition—not just for the satisfaction of self-understanding, but also to enable greater agency in the decision-making process surrounding gender transition. It was obvious to me that the transgender movement’s steadfast denial of autoandrophilia and autogynephilia was too harmful to continue, and had to end.

I knew I’d encounter intense pushback from the transgender movement for trying to spread awareness of my sexual orientation, so I decided to write a book—books are indestructible, build credibility, and offer a pretext for making media appearances.

After 2+ years of full-time work, I finished Autoheterosexual: Attracted to Being the Other Sex. Autoheterosexual treats autoandrophilia as the female counterpart to male autogynephilia, and thus proposes a generalized two-type transgender model which applies to both sexes.

In clear, direct language, Autoheterosexual explains attraction to being the other sex: what it looks and feels like, how it alters gender identity, and how scientists figured it out. It also explains why talking about this orientation is currently controversial, and why we need to talk about it anyway.

In short, Autoheterosexual makes the most common kind of transgenderism easy to grasp. It also imparts a deeper understanding of sexual orientation and most forms of trans identity, and provides answers to spicy questions such as “are traps gay?” and “is transrace valid?”.
(Since controversy was inevitable, I figured I’d lean into it a bit).

Like my book, this substack will cover sexuality, gender, and transgenderism as part of my campaign to shift transgenderism research toward an etiological framework. I may branch out into other subjects over time, but this is where I’ll start.

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Spreading knowledge about sexuality, gender, and transgenderism in order to implement the etiological paradigm of transgenderism

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Author of Autoheterosexual: Attracted to Being the Other Sex, a book that comprehensively describes the most common kind of transgenderism.