Andromimetophilia is a paraphilia involving sexual attraction to transgender individuals who have transitioned female-to-male, and women who present as men. The objects of an andromimetophile’s affections are said to be andromimetic. Andromimetophilia is the opposite of gynemimetophilia.
The term comes from the Greek words andros, meaning man, mimos, meaning mime or impersonate, and philia, meaning attachment. The term was coined by sexologists John Money and Malgorzata Lamacz.
Andromimetophilia is classed as a stigmatic-eligibilic paraphilia, because those who are desired by andromimetophiles may feel they are a stigma to other members of society. It’s thought that this type of paraphilia stems from key events in childhood which “deform” or alter the adult’s idea of what is sexually attractive, and what is not.
The term andromimetophilia is somewhat controversial in the transgender community, as it implies that female-to-male transgender individuals are merely “impersonating” men, in the same way that drag kings are. However others believe that andromimetophilia simply refers to an attraction to the shared consciousness of wishing to present as male, that both drag kings and female-to-male transgender individuals possess.
Other critics of the term suggest that calling an attraction to transgender individuals a paraphilia creates a stigma which is damaging to transgender individuals.
