Schyler B is a conventionally attractive woman in her 30s who exudes a down-home easy going affect, and whose smile and warmth invite you to want to get to know her better.

If you saw her on line selling skin care products, home appliances, or time shares for a Caribbean resort, you would be more likely to stop and take a listen, and hear what she has to say. If she moved to your neighborhood, you'd want to be the first on the block to invite her for dinner. After the dishes are put away and the kitchen is tidies up, you would turn to your partner--or wonder to yourself--"I hope she likes us"

Relatability, friendliness and warmth are key to making the sale, and to making connections. And this is especially important when the product is a tough sell, and where people are not necessarily looking for connection. Which is why Schyler, an integrated and binary trans woman is an especially compelling salesperson for transsexualism, and one of its most widely misunderstood features, the concept of autosexuality and autogynephilia

Schyler B. has publicly spoken in the recent past about her experiences with transitioning and life as an integrated trans woman, and in particular, her experience of growing up experiencing autosexual gynephilic arousal - a phenomenon often described as autogynephilia. This is the term coined by sexologists to describe natal males who develop arousal and attraction to the thought of being female, or by taking actions to take on the appearance of being female. This has been proposed as one of the major triggers for gender incongruence and dysphoria in natal males, though this is highly contested.

(Those more interested in the subject of autogynephilia can go watch our interview with psychologist Dr. James Morandini in Episode 8) https://youtu.be/XiJkGslk-zo

She speaks of the necessity of destigmatizing and normalizing the phenomenon of autosexuality, just as the gay community once did with same-sex attraction. She is also the former co-host of Dollcast, a no-longer-active project which also aimed to show a more normal and relatable side of transsexuality, and to differentiate trans women who transitioned to live integrated lives as women from those who are pursuing transition to stand apart from cisnormative society .

On this episode, we hear about Schyler's childhood and adolescence, her path to transition, her relationship to her partner before and during this process, as well as why she decided to go public despite having the ability to keep her history of transition private. We also discuss the concept of "pretty privilege" within the trans community, and on the role that appearance has in fostering relatability and respectability to people outside the trans experience.

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