Carl Dybdahl / “tailcalled” and transgender people

Carl Dybdahl aka “tailcalled” is a Danish software engineer and “autogynephilia” activist. Dybdahl was moderator of the reddit forum Blanchardianism (named after “autogynephilia” inventor Ray Blanchard) and has written many posts promoting the diagnosis “autogynephilia.”

Background

During high school in 2013 to 2016, Dybdahl worked at Sophion Bioscience as a programmer. Dybdahl attended University of Copenhagen, earning a bachelor’s degree in 2019 and a master’s degree in 2021. After graduating, Dybdahl worked at SupWiz until 2022, then joined Microsoft as a software engineer. In 2026, Dybdahl joined Puzzel.

Dybdahl described questioning making a gender transition:

I think a lot of my earlier focus was a way of avoiding my own feelings. I was using intellectualizing as a form of escapism from my own low self-esteem and anxiety.

My transition was more social and internal. I explored identifying as non-binary for a time. I never took hormones or had any surgery. My journey was one of questioning, researching, and eventually, a kind of personal detransition where I stepped back from a trans identity altogether.

Looking back, I believe my depression and anxiety played a huge role in my fixation on gender. I was looking for a definitive answer, a “cure” for my discomfort, and transition seemed like a clear path to some. But I’ve come to see that my issues were more rooted in general low self-esteem than in a specific gender problem. I benefited from stepping away from gender-focused communities and working on my underlying mental health.

In 2023, Dybdahl married Alice Ryhl.

“Autogynephilia” activism

Dybdahl moderated the reddit forum Blanchardianism, described as “A subreddit for discussing the science of transsexualism, focusing especially on the Blanchardian model of transness (i.e. the AGP/HSTS dichotomy). We do not subscribe to Blanchard’s beliefs beyond this model, and we do not necessarily believe in the most orthodox variants of it.”

In 2021, Dybdahl’s Discord server promoting “autogynephilia” was reportedly banned because Dybdahl was a member of another server for scientific racists.

In 2022, “autogynephilia” activist Rod Fleming outed “tailcalled” as Carl Dybdahl.

References

Fleming, Rod (November 6, 2022). The Fraud called Tailcalled is Carl Dybdahl. Rod Fleming’s World https://www.rodfleming.com/the-fraud-called-tailcalled-is-carl-dybdahl/

Fleming, Rod (November 3, 2022). A Fraud called ‘Tailcalled’ — and an offer. Rod Fleming’s World https://www.rodfleming.com/a-fraud-called-tailcalled-and-an-offer/

[deleted] (November 17, 2021). Tailcalled, the king of the neo-Blanchardians, just managed to get his Discord account banned for being in a scientific racism Discord server, disrupting his server for neo-Blanchardianism. This is the most sane Blanchardian. https://www.reddit.com/r/truscum/comments/qvsnap/tailcalled_the_king_of_the_neoblanchardians_just/

“hexomer” (2021). r/blanchardianism is reopened and still as transphobic as ever. https://www.reddit.com/r/AgainstHateSubreddits/comments/ogpf81/rblanchardianism_is_reopened_and_still_as/

Siskind, Scott Alexander (August 21, 2023). What Can Fetish Research Tell Us About AI? Astral Codex Ten https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/what-can-fetish-research-tell-us

Selected writing by Dybahl

Dybdahl, Carl (October 27, 2025). Major survey on the HS/TS spectrum and gAyGP. LessWrong https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/GiFwApBHrNx9Y5GF5/major-survey-on-the-hs-ts-spectrum-and-gaygp

Dybdahl, Carl (July 23, 2023). Autogynephilia discourse is so absurdly bad on all sides. LessWrong https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/mvQjpu7iFnqQ47Lbp/autogynephilia-discourse-is-so-absurdly-bad-on-all-sides

Dybdahl, Carl (June 12, 2023). Book Review: Autoheterosexuality. LessWrong https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/nqkFcjP6wtQrQMiN2/book-review-autoheterosexuality

Dybdahl, Carl (June 10, 2023). I think Michael Bailey’s dismissal of my autogynephilia questions for Scott Alexander and Aella makes very little sense. LessWrong https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/oHn8yvzn5uGvPYmsb/i-think-michael-bailey-s-dismissal-of-my-autogynephilia

Dybdahl, Carl (October 2022). Towards a comprehensive study of potential psychological causes of the ordinary range of variation of affective gender identity in males LessWrong https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/4NPfBfdBmYZDEBgWb/towards-a-comprehensive-study-of-potential-psychological

Dybdahl, Carl (November 28, 2021). Apparently winning by the bias of your opponents. LessWrong https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/RwgNd9vXL5A687dCG/apparently-winning-by-the-bias-of-your-opponents

Dybdahl, Carl (July 9, 2021). Statements on post by /r/AgainstHateSubreddits. https://www.reddit.com/r/Blanchardianism/comments/oguobs/statements_on_post_by_ragainsthatesubreddits/ [archive]

Dybdahl, Carl (July 1, 2021). Why do trans women transition? https://surveyanon.wordpress.com/2021/07/01/why-do-trans-women-transition/

Dybdahl, Carl (June 25, 2021). Autogynephilia is not a natural abstraction (but transgender identity is?!). https://surveyanon.wordpress.com/2021/06/25/autogynephilia-is-not-a-natural-abstraction-but-transgender-identity-is/

Dybdahl, Carl (August 11, 2020). Contra Blanchard and Dreger on Autogynephilia in Cis Women. https://surveyanon.wordpress.com/2020/08/11/contra-blanchard-and-dreger-on-autogynephilia-in-cis-women/

Dybdahl, Carl (July 7, 2020). A dataset of common AGP/AAP fantasies. https://surveyanon.wordpress.com/2020/07/07/a-dataset-of-common-agp-aap-fantasies/

Dybdahl, Carl (May 5, 2020). Using instrumental variables to test the direction of causality between autogynephilia and gender dissatisfaction. https://surveyanon.wordpress.com/2020/05/05/using-instrumental-variables-to-test-the-direction-of-causality-between-autogynephilia-and-gender-dissatisfaction/

Dybdahl, Carl (October 27, 2019). The mathematical consequences of a toy model of gender transition. https://surveyanon.wordpress.com/2019/10/27/the-mathematical-consequences-of-a-toy-model-of-gender-transition/

Dybdahl, Carl (September 10, 2019). Meta-attraction cannot account for all autogynephiles’ interest in men. https://surveyanon.wordpress.com/2019/09/10/meta-attraction-cannot-account-for-all-autogynephiles-interest-in-men/

Dybdahl, Carl (December 4, 2019). Data on behavioral autogynephilia in cis women from /r/IAF suggests similar rates as in trans women. https://surveyanon.wordpress.com/2019/12/04/data-on-behavioral-autogynephilia-in-cis-women-from-r-iaf-suggests-similar-rates-as-in-trans-women/

Media

The Bayesian Conspiracy with Steven Zuber, Eneasz Brodski, and Carl Dybdahl (September 21, 2022). 171 – All About AGP. https://www.thebayesianconspiracy.com/2022/09/171-all-about-agp/