The curious case of Gialu
Gialu is a 25-year-old, female to male transgender, TikTok influencer with 1.7 million followers. She was a beautiful woman but, around age 21, she started to transition. (S)he has had top surgery, takes testosterone, has bottom growth but has not had sex reassignment surgery and is very happy with her transition. Her life story can be reconstructed from the TikTok videos (s)he has posted.
S)he seems happy and looks very feminine in her old videos but talks about not feeling authentic. (S)he has very good relations with her family, her old friends and has a MtF boy-girlfriend. (S)he is bisexual, starting pretty early in her life. In one of her videos (s)he asks: do I want them or do I want to be like them. (S)he is confused. Does (s)he feel physical attraction to, or envy and admiration for the person that attracts her? If (s)he wants to be like a man, does this cause her to feel sexually aroused? Gialu may be a case of autoandrophilia or transvestitism evolved into gender dysphoria.
Autoandrophilia (in Blanchard's transsexualism typology), is the paraphilic tendency of a female person to be sexually aroused by the thought of becoming a male. It is called autogynephilia when a male person is sexually aroused by the thought of becoming a female. Similarly, transvestitism occurs when an individual experiences recurrent, intense sexual arousal from cross-dressing, or dressing as the opposite gender.
Gialu frequently posts videos where (s)he models men’s clothing and haircuts, therefore (s)he seems to derive great pleasure from the male image of herself. (S)he is very feminine in her empathy for animals, friends, family; in her love for colourful haircuts, clothes and accessories and for showing them off. (S)he also mentions being shy.
According to renown sexologist Michael Bailey, the author of the book “The Man who Would be Queen”, the cases of gender identity disorder/gender dysphoria that start in late adolescence or adulthood as opposed to cases that start in childhood, are usually due to the progress of undiagnosed autogynephilia (autoandrophilia in the case of women).
Gialu started her gender transformation at age 21, during the Covid epidemic, when she was quarantined at home and spending a lot of time online. As (s)he says “It was actually during the Covid lockdown in 2020 that I saw for the first time non-binary people and trans people in social media that were proud of being themselves and talking about their personal stories and feelings. It was then when something clicked”
Being bisexual further facilitated her transformation, because there are no gender rules in lesbian relationships. It is even common for one of the lesbian partners to take a masculine role in the relationship.
Gialu claims to have recently been diagnosed with ADHD, even autism. Interestingly, according to a study published in 2023 “A Systematic Review of the Relationship Between Neurodiversity and Psychosexual Functioning in Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) or Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)”, “compared with neurotypical females, females with ADHD were more prone to report transvestic fetishistic desire (5% vs 0%), transvestic fetishistic activity (5% vs 0%)… No significant differences were found between ADHD and neurotypical males”.
Shouldn’t the doctors that treat her know about this research and advise her accordingly? They should rule out the possibility that her transition is fueled by a treatable paraphilia before treating her with hormones and surgery.
Clinical Psychologist here. She needed a comprehensive psychological assessment including IQ testing, mood screening, autism and ADHD screening. Then (if possible) her parents should have been assessed and interviewed. Her confusion, anxiety and shyness is a result of developmental and/or systemic issues. Compared to some of the cases I have worked with her presentation is not difficult at all. Her issues sound very treatable. From reading this and looking at her website I am nearly 100% that I, or any competent (and ethical) clinical psychologist could successfully treat this young woman in about 12 sessions, post assessment. I looked at her 'before' pictures and I want to cry. And scream. This is a tragedy. Transgender 'healthcare' is nothing short of a crime against humanity. I hope we are seeing the beginning of the end of it. Please follow me on X @psychgirl211 where I speak on this topic nonstop! (Oh and 'Gender Dysphoria' is a false construct. It is not real)
There is nothing to "treat." If she wants to chop off her breasts and take synthetic hormones, those are extreme cosmetic choices with known (and unknown) negative effects. These choices are, at best, ill-advised, and, at worst, disastrous for the individuals that choose them. Whatever her reasons for cutting off healthy body parts and injecting unhealthy chemicals into her body, in my opinion, it's all a shame and I feel bad for her - but also resent her "advertising" the glory of those choices (and leaving out all the negatives). The encouragement and exaltation of these decisions and the people who make them is one of the reasons we are so polarized.
I wish someone who can actually get the attention of young people would go on TikTok and tell the truth: there is nothing "authentic" about any of this. It is not a medical treatment. It is a series of extreme body modifications with ill health results and nothing more.