Ray Blanchard#Pedophilia and hebephilia

Blanchard was born in Hammonton, New Jersey to parents Angelina (née Celi) and Ray Milton Blanchard Jr.{{Cite web |year=2017 |title=Angelina Ruggero Obituary |url=https://www.marinellafuneralhome.com/obituaries/angelina-ruggero |website=Marinella Funeral Home}} His father, who served as an Aviation Metalsmith in the United States Navy, went missing in action during World War II. He is memorialized at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu.{{Cite web |title=Ray M. Blanchard Jr. {{!}} American Battle Monuments Commission |url=https://app-azeabmcgovprod.azurewebsites.net/decedent-search/blanchard=ray |access-date=2024-08-22 |website=app-azeabmcgovprod.azurewebsites.net |language=en}}

He received his A.B. in Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania in 1967 and his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois in 1973. He conducted postdoctoral research at Dalhousie University until 1976, when he accepted a position as a clinical psychologist at the Ontario Correctional Institute in Brampton, Ontario, Canada (a suburb of Toronto). There, Blanchard met Kurt Freund, who became his mentor. Freund was conducting research in chemical castration for sex offenders.{{Cite journal | last1 = Freund | first1 = K. | doi = 10.1111/j.1600-0447.1980.tb10433.x | title = Therapeutic Sex Drive Reduction | journal = Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica | volume = 62 | pages = 5–38 | year = 1980 | pmid = 7006321| s2cid = 21981060 }} In 1980, he joined the Clarke Institute of Psychiatry (now part of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health).{{cite book | editor = Laws RD |editor2=O'Donohue WT | title = Sexual Deviance: Theory, Assessment, and Treatment | publisher = Guilford Press | isbn = 978-1-57230-241-9| year = 1997 }} In 1995 Blanchard was named Head of Clinical Sexology Services in the Law and Mental Health Programme of the CAMH, where he served until 2010. He is an adjunct Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto.{{cite web | date = 2014 | title = Ray Blanchard, Ph.D., Professor of Psychiatry, University of Toronto | work = utoronto.ca | url = http://individual.utoronto.ca/ray_blanchard/ | access-date = 2 January 2016}} He served on the American Psychiatric Association DSM-IV Subcommittee on Gender Identity Disorders{{Cite journal

| doi = 10.1007/BF01542614

| last1 = Bradley | first1 = S. J.

| last2 = Blanchard | first2 = R.

| last3 = Coates | first3 = S.

| last4 = Green | first4 = R.

| last5 = Levine | first5 = S. B.

| last6 = Meyer-Bahlburg | first6 = H. F.

| last7 = Pauly | first7 = I. B.

| last8 = Zucker | first8 = K. J.

| title = Interim report of the DSM-IV Subcommittee on Gender Identity Disorders

| journal = Archives of Sexual Behavior

| volume = 20

| issue = 4

| pages = 333–343

| year = 1991

| pmid = 1953325

| s2cid = 22048269 }} and was named to the DSM-5 committee.

Blanchard was a member of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), then called the Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association (HBIGDA).{{cite journal |last=Dreger |first=Alice D. |title=The Controversy Surrounding The Man Who Would Be Queen: A Case History of the Politics of Science, Identity, and Sex in the Internet Age |journal=Archives of Sexual Behavior |volume=37 |issue=3 |pages=366–421 |date=June 2008 |pmid=18431641 |doi=10.1007/s10508-007-9301-1 |pmc=3170124}} However, after criticism of the book, The Man Who Would Be Queen, which relied heavily on Blanchard's typology, Blanchard left HBIGDA on November 4, 2003.

In December 2003, the Southern Poverty Law Center reported that Ray Blanchard and J. Michael Bailey were associated with Steve Sailer's Human Biodiversity Institute, a group of far-right writers, academics, and others associated with pseudoscientific race theories and eugenics.{{Cite web |url=https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/intelligence-report/2003/northwestern-university-psychology-professor-j-michael-bailey-looks-queer-science |title=Northwestern University Psychology Professor J. Michael Bailey Looks into Queer Science |website=Southern Poverty Law Center |last1=Beirich |first1=Heidi |last2=Moser |first2=Bob |date=31 December 2003 |access-date=26 October 2022}}

According to Google Scholar, Blanchard's works have been cited more than 14,000 times and he has an h-index of 65.{{Cite web|title=Ray Blanchard - Google Scholar Citations|url=https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=_nuW2bYAAAAJ|access-date=2020-04-28|website=scholar.google.com}}

Blanchard has conducted research on factors that influence the development of sexual orientation, including biological factors. He has proposed a theory known as a fraternal birth order effect or older brother effect. This theory is that the more older brothers a man has, the greater the probability is that he will have a homosexual sexual orientation. The number of older sisters has no effect, however. The same is not true for lesbians—neither the number of older brothers nor the number of older sisters appears to be related to the sexual orientation of women.{{Cite journal |last=Balthazart |first=Jacques |date=2017 |title=Fraternal birth order effect on sexual orientation explained |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |language=en |volume=115 |issue=2 |pages=234–236 |doi=10.1073/pnas.1719534115 |issn=0027-8424 |pmc=5777082 |pmid= 29259109|doi-access=free}}{{Cite journal

| last1 = Blanchard | first1 = R.

| last2 = Bogaert | first2 = A. F.

| title = Homosexuality in men and number of older brothers

| journal = The American Journal of Psychiatry

| volume = 153

| issue = 1

| pages = 27–31

| year = 1996

| pmid = 8540587

| doi=10.1176/ajp.153.1.27

}}{{Cite journal

| doi = 10.1007/BF02437839

| last1 = Blanchard | first1 = R.

| last2 = Bogaert | first2 = A. F.

| title = Biodemographic comparisons of homosexual and heterosexual men in the Kinsey Interview Data

| journal = Archives of Sexual Behavior

| volume = 25

| issue = 6

| pages = 551–579

| year = 1996

| pmid = 8931880

| s2cid = 23951518 }}{{Cite journal

| doi = 10.1017/S0021932098005112

| last1 = Blanchard | first1 = R.

| last2 = Zucker | first2 = K. J.

| last3 = Siegelman | first3 = M.

| last4 = Dickey | first4 = R.

| last5 = Klassen | first5 = P.

| title = The relation of birth order to sexual orientation in men and women

| journal = Journal of Biosocial Science

| volume = 30

| issue = 4

| pages = 511–519

| year = 1998

| pmid = 9818557

| s2cid = 33775783 }} The fraternal birth order effect has been described by one of its proponents as "the most consistent biodemographic correlate of sexual orientation in men",{{Cite journal

| last1 = Bogaert | first1 = A. F.

| title = Biological versus nonbiological older brothers and men's sexual orientation

| doi = 10.1073/pnas.0511152103

| journal = Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

| volume = 103

| issue = 28

| pages = 10771–10774

| year = 2006

| pmid = 16807297

| pmc =1502306

| doi-access = free

}} with each older brother increasing a man's odds of being gay by about 33%.{{Cite journal

| doi = 10.1023/A:1014031201935

| last1 = Cantor | first1 = J. M.

| last2 = Blanchard | first2 = R.

| last3 = Paterson | first3 = A. D.

| last4 = Bogaert | first4 = A. F.

| title = How many gay men owe their sexual orientation to fraternal birth order?

| journal = Archives of Sexual Behavior

| volume = 31

| issue = 1

| pages = 63–71

| year = 2002

| pmid = 11910793

| s2cid = 203129 }}

Blanchard hypothesizes that the older brother effect is caused by interactions between a male fetus and the immune system of the mother: because certain proteins (called H-y antigens) are produced by male and not by female fetuses, the mother's immune system reacts only to male fetuses and is more likely to produce a reaction with each successive exposure to a male fetus.{{Cite journal

| last1 = Blanchard | first1 = R.

| last2 = Klassen | first2 = P.

| doi = 10.1006/jtbi.1996.0315

| title = H-Y Antigen and Homosexuality in Men

| journal = Journal of Theoretical Biology

| volume = 185

| issue = 3

| pages = 373–378

| year = 1997

| pmid = 9156085

| bibcode = 1997JThBi.185..373B

| citeseerx = 10.1.1.602.8423

}}

{{main|Blanchard's transsexualism typology}}

Blanchard coined the term "autogynephilia" to describe trans women with an erotic desire "to be women," and hypothesized that all gender dysphoria experienced by this group is of two types: "homosexual" gender dysphoria and "non-homosexual" gender dysphoria. Blanchard defined the former as being present in transsexuals attracted to men, while he defined the latter as being present in transsexuals attracted to the idea of themselves as women.{{Cite journal

| last1 = Blanchard | first1 = R.

| title = The classification and labeling of nonhomosexual gender dysphorias

| journal = Archives of Sexual Behavior

| volume = 18

| issue = 4

| pages = 315–334

| year = 1989

| pmid = 2673136

| doi=10.1007/BF01541951

| s2cid = 43151898

}} Within the transgender community, the idea has been criticized. Blanchard's findings and research have been rejected by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), the largest association of medical professionals who provide care for transgender people, as lacking empirical evidence.{{Cite journal | last1 = Gijs | first1 = L. | last2 = Carroll | first2 = R. A. | doi = 10.1080/15532739.2010.550766 | title = Should Transvestic Fetishism Be Classified inDSM 5? Recommendations from the WPATH Consensus Process for Revision of the Diagnosis of Transvestic Fetishism | journal = International Journal of Transgenderism | volume = 12 | issue = 4 | pages = 189–197 | year = 2011 | doi-access = free }}{{Cite journal | last1 = Knudson | first1 = G. | last2 = De Cuypere | first2 = G. | last3 = Bockting | first3 = W. | title = Second Response of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health to the Proposed Revision of the Diagnosis of Transvestic Disorder forDSM5 | doi = 10.1080/15532739.2011.606195 | journal = International Journal of Transgenderism | volume = 13 | pages = 9–12 | year = 2011 | s2cid = 143808776 }}

Blanchard supports public funding of sex reassignment surgery as an appropriate treatment for transsexual people, as he believes the available evidence supports that the surgery helps them live more comfortably and happily, with high satisfaction rates.{{cite journal | last = Blanchard | first = R | year = 2000 | title = Part II: The case for publicly funded transsexual surgery | journal = Psychiatry Rounds | volume = 4 | issue = 2 |pages = 4–6 | url = http://individual.utoronto.ca/james_cantor/index_files/Blanchard2000.pdf }}

Blanchard defined autogynephilic as "a man's paraphilic tendency to be sexually aroused by the thought or image of himself as a woman".{{Cite journal|last1=Veale|first1=Jamie|last2=Clarke|first2=David|last3=Lomax|first3=Terri|date=2011|title=Male-to-Female Transsexuals' Impressions of Blanchard's Autogynephilia Theory|journal=International Journal of Transgenderism|page=136}} He researched this theory by conducting a test on a sample of 119 MtF transsexuals who submitted an anonymous questionnaire to test if they were autogynephilic or homosexual. Blanchard believed that not all transsexuals fit in the category of "homosexual" and that some were instead autogynephilic transsexuals. Survey participants felt that they were neither homosexual nor autogynephilic transsexuals and should not be classified in either group. A majority felt that the sexual attraction to become a woman weakened with age, but others reported that they had noticed a change after physical transition. Blanchard ultimately concluded that transsexuals were either sexually aroused by men, androphilic, or aroused by the thought of being a woman, nonandrophilic.

The number of openly transgender women has rapidly increased over the past several decades. More and more individuals have undergone operations and hormone therapy.{{Cite journal|last=Lawrence|first=Anne. A|date=2007|title=Becoming What We Love: autogynephilic transsexualism conceptualized as an expression of romantic love|journal=Perspectives in Biology and Medicine|pages=507–508}} They believe that their gender identity, defined as "one's inner sense of being male or female, masculine or feminine",{{Cite journal|last=Lawrence|first=Anne. A|date=2004|title=. Autogynephilia: A Paraphilic Model of Gender Identity Disorder|journal=Transgender Subjectivities|page=76}} did not match the body they were in. According to Blanchard, "Autogynephilic transsexuals were men who were also sexually attracted to women, but whose paraphilic sexual interest made them want to go farther and permanently change their bodies to become the objects of their attraction".

According to Julia Serano, Blanchard's autogynephilia theory is commonly used by trans-exclusionary radical feminists, or "gender critical" feminists, to imply that trans women are sexually deviant men.{{Cite journal |last=Serano |first=Julia |date=2020 |title=Autogynephilia: A scientific review, feminist analysis, and alternative 'embodiment fantasies' model |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/343552498 |journal=The Sociological Review |volume=68 |issue=4 |pages=763–778 |doi=10.1177/0038026120934690 |issn=0038-0261 |s2cid=221097198 |via=ResearchGate}}{{Cite web |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/frightening-online-transphobia-has-real-life-consequences-advocates-say-n1089456 |title='Frightening' online transphobia has real-life consequences, advocates say |website=NBC News |last1=Compton |first1=Julie |date=22 November 2019 |access-date=17 October 2022}} According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, Blanchard's autogynephilia theory has been promoted by anti-LGBT hate groups.{{Cite web |url=https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2016/04/07/anti-lgbt-hate-group-releases-anti-trans-position-statement |title=Anti-LGBT Hate Group Releases Anti-Trans Position Statement |website=Southern Poverty Law Center |author=Hatewatch Staff |date=7 April 2016 |access-date=21 October 2022}}{{Cite web |url=https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2018/05/15/10-things-you-need-know-about-tony-perkins-and-family-research-council |title=10 things you need to know about Tony Perkins and the Family Research Council |website=Southern Poverty Law Center |author=Hatewatch Staff |date=15 May 2018 |access-date=21 October 2022}}{{Cite web |url=https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2018/10/03/roundup-anti-lgbt-activities-1032018 |title=Roundup of anti-LGBT activities 10/3/2018 |website=Southern Poverty Law Center |author=Hatewatch Staff |date=3 October 2018 |access-date=15 October 2022}}

Teleiophilia, which denotes sexual interest in adults, is not categorized as a paraphilia, in contrast to concepts like pedophilia, which involves sexual interest in prepubescent children.{{cite journal | last1 = Blanchard | first1 = R. | last2 = Barbaree | first2 = H. E. | last3 = Bogaert | first3 = A. F. | last4 = Dickey | first4 = R. | last5 = Klassen | first5 = P. | last6 = Kuban | first6 = M. E. | display-authors = etal | year = 2000 | title = Fraternal birth order and sexual orientation in pedophiles | doi = 10.1023/A:1001943719964 | pmid = 10983250 | journal = Archives of Sexual Behavior | volume = 29 | issue = 5| pages = 463–478 | s2cid = 19755751 }} The term was formalized in order to forestall neologisms, such as "adultophilia" or "normophilia", that were occasionally used but had no precise definition. The term is used primarily by professional sexologists in the scientific literature.

Blanchard served on the gender dysphoria sub-working group for the DSM-IV.

Blanchard served as chair of the paraphilia sub-working group for the DSM-5. Transgender activists protested the appointment for the DSM-5.{{cite news | last = Rau | first = K | date = 2008-07-07 | access-date = 2012-02-10 | url = http://www.xtra.ca/public/viewstory.aspx?AFF_TYPE=3&STORY_ID=5074&PUB_TEMPLATE_ID=2 | title = Trans activists infuriated by doctors in charge of gender identity definitions | work = Xtra! |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090830021616/http://www.xtra.ca:80/public/viewstory.aspx?AFF_TYPE=3&STORY_ID=5074&PUB_TEMPLATE_ID=2|archive-date=30 Aug 2009}} The National LGBTQ Task Force issued a statement questioning the APA's decision to appoint Ray Blanchard and Kenneth Zucker to the DSM-5 working group for Gender and Sexual Identity Disorders, stating that, "Kenneth Zucker and Ray Blanchard are clearly out of step with the occurring shift in how doctors and other health professionals think about transgender people and gender variance."{{cite web |url=http://www.thetaskforce.org/press/releases/pr_052808 |title=Task Force questions critical appointments to APA's Committee on Sexual and Gender Identity Disorders |last=Sarda-Sorensen |first=Inga |date=2008-05-28 |website=National Gay and Lesbian Task Force |access-date=2023-10-01 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120725181844/http://www.thetaskforce.org/press/releases/PR_052808 |archive-date=2012-07-25}}

In 2008, Blanchard was the lead author of an influential paper proposing the introduction of hebephilia in the DSM-5.{{Cite journal

| last1 = Blanchard | first1 = R.

| last2 = Lykins | first2 = A. D.

| last3 = Wherrett | first3 = D.

| last4 = Kuban | first4 = M. E.

| last5 = Cantor | first5 = J. M.

| last6 = Blak | first6 = T.

| last7 = Dickey | first7 = R.

| last8 = Klassen | first8 = P. E.

| title = Pedophilia, Hebephilia, and the DSM-V

| journal = Archives of Sexual Behavior

| volume = 38

| issue = 3

| pages = 335–350

| year = 2009

| pmid = 18686026

| doi = 10.1007/s10508-008-9399-9

| s2cid = 14957904

}} The paper, coauthored mostly with colleagues from CAMH and the University of Toronto, triggered a number of reactions, many of them critical on the basis that it pathologizes reproductively valid behavior in order to uphold current social and legal standards. Critics include Richard Green,{{Cite journal |last1=Green |first1=R. |year=2010 |title=Sexual preference for 14-year-olds as a mental disorder: you can't be serious!! |url=https://rdcu.be/dkUOI |journal=Archives of Sexual Behavior |volume=39 |issue=3 |pages=585–586 |doi=10.1007/s10508-010-9602-7 |pmid=20204488 |s2cid=27870308|url-access=subscription }} DSM-IV editor Michael First,{{cite news | title = DSM-V Work on Paraphilias Begins in Earnest | last = Frieden | first = J | date = 2009-12-01 | work = Clinical Psychiatry News | url = http://psych.imng.com/fileadmin/content_pdf/cpn/archive_pdf/vol37iss12/70438_main.pdf | access-date = 2013-08-28 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20141221061358/http://psych.imng.com/fileadmin/content_pdf/cpn/archive_pdf/vol37iss12/70438_main.pdf | archive-date = 2014-12-21 }} forensic psychologist Karen Franklin,{{Cite journal| doi = 10.1002/bsl.934| title = Hebephilia: Quintessence of diagnostic pretextuality| year = 2010| last1 = Franklin| first1 = K.| journal = Behavioral Sciences & the Law| volume = 28| issue = 6| pages = 751–768| pmid = 21110392}} and Charles Allen Moser,{{Cite journal |last1=Moser |first1=C. |year=2009 |title=When is an Unusual Sexual Interest a Mental Disorder? |url=https://rdcu.be/dkUPi |journal=Archives of Sexual Behavior |volume=38 |issue=3 |pages=323–325 |doi=10.1007/s10508-008-9436-8 |pmid=18946730 |s2cid=43363957|url-access=subscription }} while William O'Donohue argued that the proposal did not go far enough.{{Cite journal |last1=O'Donohue |first1=W. |year=2010 |title=A Critique of the Proposed DSM-V Diagnosis of Pedophilia |url=https://rdcu.be/dkUPm |journal=Archives of Sexual Behavior |volume=39 |issue=3 |pages=587–590 |doi=10.1007/s10508-010-9604-5 |pmid=20204487 |s2cid=30900698|url-access=subscription }}

Blanchard also wrote the literature review paper for the DSM-5 committee regarding pedophilia, in which he summarized and attempted to address the criticism over the DSM-IV-TR definition of pedophilia.{{Cite journal

| last1 = Blanchard | first1 = R.

| title = The DSM Diagnostic Criteria for Pedophilia

| doi = 10.1007/s10508-009-9536-0

| journal = Archives of Sexual Behavior

| volume = 39

| url = http://www.dsm5.org/Documents/Sex%20and%20GID%20Lit%20Reviews/Paraphilias/DSMV.PEDO.pdf

| issue = 2

| pages = 304–316

| year = 2009

| pmid = 19757012

| s2cid = 20213586

}} The DSM-5 diagnosis initially proposed a new name ("pedohebophilic disorder") and the rationale for the change cited several of Blanchard's scientific publications.{{cite web|url=http://www.dsm5.org/ProposedRevisions/Pages/proposedrevision.aspx?rid=186 |title=U 03 Pedophilic Disorder - Rationale |publisher=American Psychiatric Association |access-date=2012-02-10 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100215165810/http://www.dsm5.org/ProposedRevisions/Pages/proposedrevision.aspx?rid=186 |archive-date=February 15, 2010 }} In the end, the pedohebephilic disorder proposal was rejected, but the name was changed from pedophilia to pedophilic disorder, reflecting the DSM-5's general distinction between paraphilia and paraphilic disorder.{{cite journal | author = Blanchard, R. | year = 2013 | title = A dissenting opinion on DSM-5 pedophilic disorder | journal = Archives of Sexual Behavior | volume = 42 | issue = 5 | pages = 675–678 | doi=10.1007/s10508-013-0117-x | pmid=23677282| s2cid = 32858085 }}

Blanchard noted that both Richard Green{{Cite journal

| last1 = Green | first1 = R.

| title = Is pedophilia a mental disorder?

| journal = Archives of Sexual Behavior

| volume = 31

| issue = 6

| pages = 467–471; discussion 471–510

| year = 2002

| pmid = 12462476

| doi = 10.1023/A:1020699013309

| s2cid = 7774415

}} and William O'Donohue{{Cite journal

| last1 = O'Donohue | first1 = W.

| last2 = Regev | first2 = L. G.

| last3 = Hagstrom | first3 = A.

| title = Problems with the DSM-IV diagnosis of pedophilia

| journal = Sexual Abuse: A Journal of Research and Treatment

| volume = 12

| issue = 2

| pages = 95–105

| year = 2000

| pmid = 10872239

| doi=10.1023/A:1009586023326

| s2cid = 195287902

}} remarked that a so-called "contented pedophile"—an individual who fantasizes about having sex with a child, but does not commit child sexual abuse, but just masturbates fantasizing it, and who does not feel subjectively distressed afterward—does not meet the DSM-IV-TR criteria for pedophilia, because Criterion B is not met. Whereas Green proposed to solve the problem by removing pedophilia from the DSM, and O'Donohue proposed to remove criterion B for pedophilia, Blanchard proposed a general solution applicable to all paraphilias, namely a distinction between paraphilia and paraphilic disorder. The latter term is proposed to identify the diagnosable condition, which meets both Criterion A and B, whereas an individual who does not meet Criterion B, can be ascertained, but not diagnosed, as having a paraphilia. (Blanchard acknowledges Kenneth Zucker and James Cantor for discussions about this distinction). Interviewed by bioethics professor Alice Dreger, Blanchard explained: "We tried to go as far as we could in depathologizing mild and harmless paraphilias, while recognizing that severe paraphilias that distress or impair people or cause them to do harm to others are validly regarded as disorders."{{cite web | last = Dreger | first = A | date = 2010-02-19 | url = http://www.thehastingscenter.org/Bioethicsforum/Post.aspx?id=4494 | title = Of Kinks, Crimes, and Kinds: The Paraphilias Proposal for the DSM-5 | publisher = Hastings Center | access-date = 2012-02-10 }}

In a December 2017 article, Blanchard and J. Michael Bailey wrote an article for 4thWaveNow—a site that opposes gender-affirming care for young transgender people—supporting the concept of "rapid-onset gender dysphoria" (ROGD).{{Cite web |last1=Bailey |first1=J. Michael |last2=Blanchard |first2=Ray |date=7 December 2017 |title=Gender Dysphoria is Not One Thing |url=https://4thwavenow.com/2017/12/07/gender-dysphoria-is-not-one-thing/ |access-date=5 November 2022 |website=4thWaveNow}}{{Cite journal |last1=Ashley |first1=Florence |date=10 August 2020 |title=A critical commentary on 'rapid-onset gender dysphoria' |journal=The Sociological Review |volume=68 |issue=4 |pages=779–799 |doi=10.1177/0038026120934693 |s2cid=221097476}}

In an interview with Vice, Blanchard expressed the view that trans people, "should be considered as whatever their biological sex is plus the fact that they are transsexuals."{{Cite web |url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/heres-how-the-guy-who-wrote-the-manual-on-sex-talks-about-sex/ |title=How the Psychiatrist Who Co-Wrote the Manual on Sex Talks About Sex |last1=Cameron |first1=Laura |website=Vice |date=11 April 2013 |access-date=11 October 2022}} Blanchard rejected the idea that treating gender dysphoria as a mental disorder contributes to stigma against the trans community, adding: "I mean, how many people who make a joke about trannies consult the DSM first?"

In November 2023, Blanchard stated on his official Twitter account that in his view "it’s irrelevant whether a man can become a woman or vice versa. What’s relevant is whether individuals tormented by the desire to be the opposite sex are happier when they present that way, and whether or how much the majority of society is willing to accommodate this."{{Cite web |last=Blanchard |first=Ray |date=13 November 2023 |title=In my view it’s irrelevant whether a man can become a woman or vice versa. What’s relevant is whether individuals tormented by the desire to be the opposite sex are happier when they present that way, and whether or how much the majority of society is willing to accommodate this. |url=https://twitter.com/BlanchardPhD/status/1724058470670868688 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://archive.today/20240101134203/https://twitter.com/BlanchardPhD/status/1724058470670868688 |archive-date=1 January 2024}}

{{reflist}}

• [http://individual.utoronto.ca/ray_blanchard Blanchard Faculty Webpage] at the University of Toronto
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20160706150253/http://www.psychiatry.utoronto.ca/people/ray-blanchard/ Blanchard Webpage] via Department of Psychiatry
• [http://www.psych.org/MainMenu/Research/DSMIV/DSMV/WorkGroups/SexualGID/RayBlanchardPhD.aspx Ray Blanchard profile] via American Psychiatric Association
• [https://archive.today/20110725024314/http://www.autogynephilia.org/origins.htm Origins of the Concept of Autogynephilia] – Written by Blanchard in February 2004
• [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQKXiZc3FXg Ray Blanchard discusses gay brother studies] – YouTube video

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blanchard, Ray}}

Category:1945 births

Category:Living people

Category:American sexologists

Category:Writers on LGBTQ topics

Category:Transgender studies academics

Category:People from Hammonton, New Jersey

Category:University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign alumni

Category:University of Pennsylvania alumni

Category:21st-century American psychologists

Category:Canadian psychologists

Category:Canadian sexologists

Category:20th-century American psychologists