The Man Who Would Be Queen
Encyclopedia
The Man Who Would Be Queen: The Science of Gender-Bending and Transsexualism is a 2003 book by J. Michael Bailey
, published by Joseph Henry Press
.
The first section of the book discusses gender-atypical behaviors and gender identity disorder
(GID) in children, emphasizing the biological determination of gender. The second section deals primarily with gay men, including the link between childhood GID and male homosexuality later in life. Bailey reviews evidence that male homosexuality
is congenital (a result of genetics and prenatal environment), and he argues for the accuracy of some stereotype
s about gay men. In the third section, Bailey summarizes evidence for a psychological typology of transwomen that says there are two forms of transsexualism
: one that he describes as an extreme type of male homosexuality and one that is a sexual interest in having a female body, called autogynephilia.
The book caused considerable controversy which led to a formal investigation by Northwestern University
, where Bailey was Chair of the Psychology Department until shortly before the conclusion of the investigation. A Northwestern University spokesperson said that his departure from the department chairmanship was not linked to the investigation. Bailey says that some of his critics were motivated by a desire to suppress discussion of the book's ideas about autogynephilia theory on transsexuals.
It starts with an anecdote about a child Bailey calls "Danny." Bailey writes of Danny's mother, who has been frustrated by other therapists she has seen about her son's "feminine" behavior. Bailey discusses psychologist and sexologist Kenneth Zucker
's work with children whose parents have noticed significant gender-atypical behaviors. Bailey uses the anecdote about Danny to describe gender identity disorder
, a label applied to males with significant feminine behaviors and females with significant masculine behaviors, such as cross-dressing
. For example, this class includes boys that prefer to play with dolls and regularly identify with female characters in stories or movies, and girls that prefer to play with toy cars and identify with male characters. This section of the book also discusses some case studies of men who were, for varying reasons, reassigned
to the female sex shortly after their birth, and emphasizes the fact that, despite this, they tended to exhibit typically male characteristics and often identified as men.
The second section deals primarily with gay men, including a suggested link between childhood GID and male homosexuality later in life. Bailey discusses whether homosexuality is a congenitally or possibly even genetically related phenomenon. This discussion includes references to Bailey's studies as well as those of neuroscientist Simon LeVay
and geneticist Dean Hamer
. He also discusses the behavior of gay men and its stereotypically masculine and feminine qualities.
In the third section, Bailey summarizes a taxonomy of transsexual women that was proposed by Ray Blanchard
about fifteen years earlier. According to Blanchard, there are two types of transsexual women: one described as an extreme form of male homosexuality, the other being motivated by a sexual interest in having a female body. Bailey also discusses the process by which transition from male to female occurs.
On the last page of the book, Bailey meets "Danny", who no longer has gender identity disorder, and is living as a gay man.
concluded: "Despite its provocative title, a scientific yet superbly compassionate exposition." The book received praise from gay sexual behavior scientist Simon LeVay
, from sex-differences expert David Buss
, and from research psychologist Steven Pinker
, who wrote: "The Man Who Would Be Queen may upset the guardians of political correctness on both the left and the right, but it will be welcomed by intellectually curious people of all sexes and sexual orientations." It also received praise from conservative journalist Steve Sailer
, as well as Fortune magazines Daniel Seligman
, and Mark Henderson. Conservative commentator John Derbyshire
said: "a wealth of fascinating information, carefully gathered by (it seems to me) a conscientious and trustworthy scientific observer." It also received a positive review from writer Ethan Boatner of Lavender Magazine and Duncan Osborne in Out
. Research psychologist James Cantor
also wrote a positive review of the book in the newsletter of APA
's Society for the Psychological Study of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Issues (Division 44).
, and its publication by the National Academies Press
, by whom it was "advertised as science" and marketed as "scientifically accurate," which they argued was untrue. They also claimed the book exploited children with gender dysphoria. Among those criticizing the book were computer scientist Lynn Conway
, biologists Joan Roughgarden
and Ben Barres
, physician Rebecca Allison
, economist Deirdre McCloskey
, psychologist Madeline Wyndzen, writers Dallas Denny
, Pauline Park
, Jamison Green
, Gwen Smith, and Andrea James
, as well as Christine Burns
of Press for Change, Karen Gurney of the Australian W-O-M-A-N Network, and Executive Director Monica Casper of the Intersex Society of North America
.
Negative responses came from outside the transgender community as well. Liza Mundy of the Washington Post thought the book exceptionally dull despite the potentially interesting topic. Psychologist Eli Coleman
referred to the book as "an unfortunate setback in feelings of trust between the transgender community and sex researchers," and his colleague, Walter Bockting, wrote that it was "yet another blow to the delicate relationship between clinicians, scholars, and the transgender community." Kinsey Institute Director John Bancroft referred to the book as "not science", later clarifying that "it promoted a very derogatory explanation of transgender identity which most TG people would find extremely hurtful and humiliating….Whether based on science or not we have a responsibility to present scientific ideas, particularly in the public arena, in ways which are not blatantly hurtful. But in addition to that, [Bailey] did not support his analysis in a scientific manner—hence my comment." Psychologist Randi Ettner
said of Bailey, "He's set back the field 100 years, as far as I'm concerned."
Originally, the Lambda Literary Foundation
nominated the book as a finalist in the transgender
award category for 2003. Transpeople
immediately protested the nomination and gathered thousands of petition signatures in just a few days. Under pressure from the petition, the Foundation withdrew the nomination.
Andrea James
, a transgender advocate, attacked Bailey by constructing a website with pictures of Bailey's children taken from his public website beside sexually explicit captions. James has said that she was echoing the disrespect that Bailey's work shows for vulnerable people, including children.
In 2008, Northwestern University professor of clinical medical humanities and bioethics
Alice Dreger commented on Bailey's response to the negative reactions: "Bailey may claim he was not insensitive, but given the number of people he offended with his prose, he is obviously, objectively wrong—being perceived as insensitive by this many people surely means you have been insensitive. (Especially if you don’t get that.)" Physician Charles Moser
, though, believes that Bailey caused his own controversy by being mean spirited. "To call a transsexual who denies Autogynephilia vigorously autogynephilic or an autogynephile-in-denial is also inflammatory and inappropriate. One can convey the same point with more cautious language. In general, researchers should avoid inciting hostility from their subjects. Stating that a subject is in denial or misleading the researcher usually leads to an angry reaction. Ridiculing someone for their beliefs, religious, political, or gender identification is never a good strategy. Ignoring these common courtesies will probably lead to an ugly confrontation, such as this “controversy.” Being a researcher does not confer immunity from the consequences of incivility. "
s do, or to write books with the resulting anecdotes.
According to bioethicist Alice Dreger, whether federal regulations required professors to obtain formal approval from a university Institutional Review Board
(IRB) before interviewing people was uncertain at the time; she points out that shortly after publication of this book, the US Department of Health and Human Services, in conjunction with the Oral History Association
and American Historical Association
, issued a formal statement that taking oral histories
, conducting interviews, collecting anecdotes, and similar activities do not constitute IRB-qualified research, and were never intended to be covered by clinical research rules, when such work is "neither systematic nor generalizable in the scientific sense."
Also as cited as harassment of Bailey were legal complaints that Bailey was practicing psychology without a license. The basis for these complaints was that sex-reassignment surgery in the US requires authorization letters from two psychologists, and Bailey had written a second letter, at no charge and upon request, for some individuals Bailey had spoken with while writing the book. Regulators dismissed the complaints.
's story in the New York Times, "To many of Dr. Bailey’s peers, his story is a morality play about the corrosive effects of political correctness
on academic freedom
." Interviewed by Carey, Alice Dreger said that "what happened to Bailey is important, because the harassment was so extraordinarily bad and because it could happen to any researcher in the field. If we’re going to have research at all, then we’re going to have people saying unpopular things, and if this is what happens to them, then we’ve got problems not only for science but free expression itself."
However, critics such as Deirdre McCloskey
think that the pointed criticism, including filing charges, was warranted: "Nothing we have done, I believe, and certainly nothing I have done, overstepped any boundaries of fair comment on a book and an author who stepped into the public arena with enthusiasm to deliver a false and unscientific and politically damaging opinion". The concern over academic freedom was dismissed by Charles Allen Moser
, who wrote: "The death of free speech and academic freedom has been highly exaggerated. Science is not free of politics, never has been, and never will be."
J. Michael Bailey
John Michael Bailey is an American psychologist and professor at Northwestern University. He is best known among scientists for his work on the etiology of sexual orientation, from which he concluded that homosexuality is substantially inherited...
, published by Joseph Henry Press
Joseph Henry Press
Joseph Henry Press is an American publisher which is an imprint of the National Academies Press, publisher for the United States National Academy of Sciences. The imprint is named after American scientist Joseph Henry....
.
The first section of the book discusses gender-atypical behaviors and gender identity disorder
Gender identity disorder
Gender identity disorder is the formal diagnosis used by psychologists and physicians to describe persons who experience significant gender dysphoria . It describes the symptoms related to transsexualism, as well as less severe manifestations of gender dysphoria...
(GID) in children, emphasizing the biological determination of gender. The second section deals primarily with gay men, including the link between childhood GID and male homosexuality later in life. Bailey reviews evidence that male homosexuality
Homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
is congenital (a result of genetics and prenatal environment), and he argues for the accuracy of some stereotype
Stereotype
A stereotype is a popular belief about specific social groups or types of individuals. The concepts of "stereotype" and "prejudice" are often confused with many other different meanings...
s about gay men. In the third section, Bailey summarizes evidence for a psychological typology of transwomen that says there are two forms of transsexualism
Transsexualism
Transsexualism is an individual's identification with a gender inconsistent or not culturally associated with their biological sex. Simply put, it defines a person whose biological birth sex conflicts with their psychological gender...
: one that he describes as an extreme type of male homosexuality and one that is a sexual interest in having a female body, called autogynephilia.
The book caused considerable controversy which led to a formal investigation by Northwestern University
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....
, where Bailey was Chair of the Psychology Department until shortly before the conclusion of the investigation. A Northwestern University spokesperson said that his departure from the department chairmanship was not linked to the investigation. Bailey says that some of his critics were motivated by a desire to suppress discussion of the book's ideas about autogynephilia theory on transsexuals.
Summary
The Man Who Would Be Queen is divided into three sections: The Boy Who Would Be Princess, The Man He Might Become, and Women Who Once Were Boys.It starts with an anecdote about a child Bailey calls "Danny." Bailey writes of Danny's mother, who has been frustrated by other therapists she has seen about her son's "feminine" behavior. Bailey discusses psychologist and sexologist Kenneth Zucker
Kenneth Zucker
Kenneth J. Zucker is a Jewish American-Canadian psychologist and sexologist, and head of the child and adolescent gender identity clinic at Toronto's Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. Based on his collaboration with Susan Bradley, Zucker is considered an international authority in the field...
's work with children whose parents have noticed significant gender-atypical behaviors. Bailey uses the anecdote about Danny to describe gender identity disorder
Gender identity disorder
Gender identity disorder is the formal diagnosis used by psychologists and physicians to describe persons who experience significant gender dysphoria . It describes the symptoms related to transsexualism, as well as less severe manifestations of gender dysphoria...
, a label applied to males with significant feminine behaviors and females with significant masculine behaviors, such as cross-dressing
Cross-dressing
Cross-dressing is the wearing of clothing and other accoutrement commonly associated with a gender within a particular society that is seen as different than the one usually presented by the dresser...
. For example, this class includes boys that prefer to play with dolls and regularly identify with female characters in stories or movies, and girls that prefer to play with toy cars and identify with male characters. This section of the book also discusses some case studies of men who were, for varying reasons, reassigned
Sex assignment
Sex assignment refers to the assigning of the biological sex at the birth of a baby. In the majority of births, a relative, midwife, or physician inspects the genitalia when the baby is delivered, sees ordinary male or female genitalia, and declares, "it's a girl" or "it's a boy" without the...
to the female sex shortly after their birth, and emphasizes the fact that, despite this, they tended to exhibit typically male characteristics and often identified as men.
The second section deals primarily with gay men, including a suggested link between childhood GID and male homosexuality later in life. Bailey discusses whether homosexuality is a congenitally or possibly even genetically related phenomenon. This discussion includes references to Bailey's studies as well as those of neuroscientist Simon LeVay
Simon LeVay
Simon LeVay is a British-American neuroscientist. He is known for his studies about brain structures and sexual orientation.-Personal life:LeVay was born on August 28, 1943 in Oxford, England...
and geneticist Dean Hamer
Dean Hamer
Dr. Dean Hamer is an American geneticist, author, and filmmaker. He is known for his contributions to biotechnology and AIDS prevention, his research on the genetics of human behavior including sexual orientation and spirituality, and his popular books and documentaries on a wide range of...
. He also discusses the behavior of gay men and its stereotypically masculine and feminine qualities.
In the third section, Bailey summarizes a taxonomy of transsexual women that was proposed by Ray Blanchard
Ray Blanchard
Ray Milton Blanchard is an American-Canadian sexologist, best known for his research studies on pedophilia, gender dysphoria, and sexual orientation. He has also published research studies on phallometry and several paraphilias, including transvestism and autoerotic asphyxia.-Education and...
about fifteen years earlier. According to Blanchard, there are two types of transsexual women: one described as an extreme form of male homosexuality, the other being motivated by a sexual interest in having a female body. Bailey also discusses the process by which transition from male to female occurs.
On the last page of the book, Bailey meets "Danny", who no longer has gender identity disorder, and is living as a gay man.
Controversy
The book elicited both strongly supportive and strongly negative reactions. Among the controversial aspects were not only the contents of the book, but whether the research was conducted ethically, whether it should have been published by the National Academies Press, and whether it should have been promoted as a scientific work.Positive reactions
Kirkus ReviewsKirkus Reviews
Kirkus Reviews is an American book review magazine founded in 1933 by Virginia Kirkus . Kirkus serves the book and literary trade sector, including libraries, publishers, literary and film agents, film and TV producers and booksellers. Kirkus Reviews is published on the first and 15th of each month...
concluded: "Despite its provocative title, a scientific yet superbly compassionate exposition." The book received praise from gay sexual behavior scientist Simon LeVay
Simon LeVay
Simon LeVay is a British-American neuroscientist. He is known for his studies about brain structures and sexual orientation.-Personal life:LeVay was born on August 28, 1943 in Oxford, England...
, from sex-differences expert David Buss
David Buss
David M. Buss is a professor of psychology at The University of Texas at Austin, known for his evolutionary psychology research on human sex differences in mate selection.-Biography:...
, and from research psychologist Steven Pinker
Steven Pinker
Steven Arthur Pinker is a Canadian-American experimental psychologist, cognitive scientist, linguist and popular science author...
, who wrote: "The Man Who Would Be Queen may upset the guardians of political correctness on both the left and the right, but it will be welcomed by intellectually curious people of all sexes and sexual orientations." It also received praise from conservative journalist Steve Sailer
Steve Sailer
Steven Ernest Sailer is an American journalist and movie critic for The American Conservative, a blogger, a VDARE.com columnist, and a former correspondent for UPI. He writes about race relations, gender issues, politics, immigration, IQ, genetics, movies, and sports.-Personal life:Sailer grew up...
, as well as Fortune magazines Daniel Seligman
Daniel Seligman
Daniel Seligman was an editor and columnist at Fortune magazine from 1950 to 1997. He also wrote for Forbes,Commentary, The American Mercury, Commonweal, and The New Leader.-Biography:...
, and Mark Henderson. Conservative commentator John Derbyshire
John Derbyshire
John Derbyshire is a British-American writer. His columns in National Review and cover a broad range of political-cultural topics, including immigration, China, history, mathematics, and race. Derbyshire's 1996 novel, Seeing Calvin Coolidge in a Dream, was a New York Times "Notable Book of the...
said: "a wealth of fascinating information, carefully gathered by (it seems to me) a conscientious and trustworthy scientific observer." It also received a positive review from writer Ethan Boatner of Lavender Magazine and Duncan Osborne in Out
Out (magazine)
Out is a popular gay and lesbian fashion, entertainment, and lifestyle magazine, with the highest circulation of any gay monthly publication in the United States. It carries itself in a similar editorial manner to Details, Esquire, and GQ. Out was published by PlanetOut Inc...
. Research psychologist James Cantor
James Cantor
James M. Cantor is a clinical psychologist specializing in sexology. He is an associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry of the University of Toronto's Faculty of Medicine, and the Head of the Law and Mental Health Research Section of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.He is...
also wrote a positive review of the book in the newsletter of APA
American Psychological Association
The American Psychological Association is the largest scientific and professional organization of psychologists in the United States. It is the world's largest association of psychologists with around 154,000 members including scientists, educators, clinicians, consultants and students. The APA...
's Society for the Psychological Study of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Issues (Division 44).
Negative reactions
The public response of members of the transgender community was almost entirely negative. Among other things, they opposed the book's endorsement of Blanchard's taxonomy of male-to-female transsexualismBlanchard, Bailey, and Lawrence theory
Blanchard's transsexualism typology is a psychological typology of male-to-female transsexualism created by Ray Blanchard through the 1980s and 1990s, building on the work of his colleague, Kurt Freund...
, and its publication by the National Academies Press
National Academies Press
National Academies Press was created by the United States National Academies, to publish the reports issued by the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, the Institute of Medicine, and the National Research Council. It publishes nearly 200 books a year on a wide range...
, by whom it was "advertised as science" and marketed as "scientifically accurate," which they argued was untrue. They also claimed the book exploited children with gender dysphoria. Among those criticizing the book were computer scientist Lynn Conway
Lynn Conway
Lynn Conway is an American computer scientist, electrical engineer, inventor, trans woman, and activist for the transgender community....
, biologists Joan Roughgarden
Joan Roughgarden
Joan E. Roughgarden is an American evolutionary biologist.- Biography :...
and Ben Barres
Ben Barres
Ben A. Barres M.D., Ph.D. is an American neurobiologist who teaches at Stanford University. His research focuses on the interaction between neurons and glial cells in the nervous system...
, physician Rebecca Allison
Rebecca Allison
Rebecca Anne "Becky" Allison is an American cardiologist and incoming President of the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association . In 2008 she was elected Chair of the American Medical Association Advisory Committee on Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Issues...
, economist Deirdre McCloskey
Deirdre McCloskey
Deirdre N. McCloskey is an American economics professor. Her job title at the University of Illinois at Chicago is Distinguished Professor of Economics, History, English, and Communication...
, psychologist Madeline Wyndzen, writers Dallas Denny
Dallas Denny
Dallas Denny Dallas Denny Dallas Denny (born August 18, 1949 in Asheville, North Carolina is a writer, editor, behavior analyst, and leader in the transgender rights movement.-Education and Professional:...
, Pauline Park
Pauline Park
-Early life and education:Born in Korea, Park was adopted by European American parents and raised in the United States. As a child, she attended public schools in Milwaukee. Park received a B.A. in philosophy from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, an M.Sc. in European studies from the London...
, Jamison Green
Jamison Green
Jamison "James" Green is a leader in the transgender rights movement.-Activism:Green is known as an activist for the legal protection, medical access, safety, civil rights and dignity of transgender and transsexual people. He has published several essays and articles, and writes a column for...
, Gwen Smith, and Andrea James
Andrea James
Andrea Jean James is an American film consultant, actress, LGBT rights activist, and transsexual woman.-Career:In 2003, James co-founded Deep Stealth Productions with her business partner Calpernia Addams, to create educational materials for transsexual women, to raise awareness about the epidemic...
, as well as Christine Burns
Christine Burns
Christine Burns MBE is a British political activist best known for her work with Press for Change. Burns was awarded an MBE in 2004 in recognition of work representing transgender people.-Career:...
of Press for Change, Karen Gurney of the Australian W-O-M-A-N Network, and Executive Director Monica Casper of the Intersex Society of North America
Intersex Society of North America
The Intersex Society of North America was a non-profit advocacy group founded in 1993 by Cheryl Chase to represent the interest of intersex people. Their objective was to end shame, secrecy, and unwanted genital surgeries...
.
Negative responses came from outside the transgender community as well. Liza Mundy of the Washington Post thought the book exceptionally dull despite the potentially interesting topic. Psychologist Eli Coleman
Eli Coleman
Eli Coleman, Ph.D., L.P. is the director of the Program in Human Sexuality at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is a professor in the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health...
referred to the book as "an unfortunate setback in feelings of trust between the transgender community and sex researchers," and his colleague, Walter Bockting, wrote that it was "yet another blow to the delicate relationship between clinicians, scholars, and the transgender community." Kinsey Institute Director John Bancroft referred to the book as "not science", later clarifying that "it promoted a very derogatory explanation of transgender identity which most TG people would find extremely hurtful and humiliating….Whether based on science or not we have a responsibility to present scientific ideas, particularly in the public arena, in ways which are not blatantly hurtful. But in addition to that, [Bailey] did not support his analysis in a scientific manner—hence my comment." Psychologist Randi Ettner
Randi Ettner
Randi Joy Cahan Ettner is an American clinical and forensic psychologist known for her work with transgender people.-Life and career:...
said of Bailey, "He's set back the field 100 years, as far as I'm concerned."
Originally, the Lambda Literary Foundation
Lambda Literary Award
Lambda Literary Awards are awarded yearly by the US-based Lambda Literary Foundation to published works which celebrate or explore LGBT themes. Categories include Humor, Romance and Biography. To qualify, a book must have been published in the United States in the year current to the award...
nominated the book as a finalist in the transgender
Transgender
Transgender is a general term applied to a variety of individuals, behaviors, and groups involving tendencies to vary from culturally conventional gender roles....
award category for 2003. Transpeople
Transgenderism
Transgenderism is a social movement seeking transgender rights and affirming transgender pride.-History:In her 1995 book Apartheid of Sex, biopolitical lawyer and writer Martine Rothblatt describes "transgenderism" as a grassroots social movement seeking transgender rights and affirming transgender...
immediately protested the nomination and gathered thousands of petition signatures in just a few days. Under pressure from the petition, the Foundation withdrew the nomination.
Andrea James
Andrea James
Andrea Jean James is an American film consultant, actress, LGBT rights activist, and transsexual woman.-Career:In 2003, James co-founded Deep Stealth Productions with her business partner Calpernia Addams, to create educational materials for transsexual women, to raise awareness about the epidemic...
, a transgender advocate, attacked Bailey by constructing a website with pictures of Bailey's children taken from his public website beside sexually explicit captions. James has said that she was echoing the disrespect that Bailey's work shows for vulnerable people, including children.
In 2008, Northwestern University professor of clinical medical humanities and bioethics
Bioethics
Bioethics is the study of controversial ethics brought about by advances in biology and medicine. Bioethicists are concerned with the ethical questions that arise in the relationships among life sciences, biotechnology, medicine, politics, law, and philosophy....
Alice Dreger commented on Bailey's response to the negative reactions: "Bailey may claim he was not insensitive, but given the number of people he offended with his prose, he is obviously, objectively wrong—being perceived as insensitive by this many people surely means you have been insensitive. (Especially if you don’t get that.)" Physician Charles Moser
Charles Allen Moser
Charles Allen Moser is an American physician specializing in internal medicine and focusing on sexual medicine. Moser is based in San Francisco and focuses his research and practice on individuals in the LGBT, kink, and fetish communities...
, though, believes that Bailey caused his own controversy by being mean spirited. "To call a transsexual who denies Autogynephilia vigorously autogynephilic or an autogynephile-in-denial is also inflammatory and inappropriate. One can convey the same point with more cautious language. In general, researchers should avoid inciting hostility from their subjects. Stating that a subject is in denial or misleading the researcher usually leads to an angry reaction. Ridiculing someone for their beliefs, religious, political, or gender identification is never a good strategy. Ignoring these common courtesies will probably lead to an ugly confrontation, such as this “controversy.” Being a researcher does not confer immunity from the consequences of incivility. "
Allegations against Bailey
Two of the transsexual people in Bailey's book, two people who mistakenly thought they were represented in the book, and several organizations have accused him of ethical breaches in his work by talking to them about their life stories without obtaining formal written consent. All of the people were aware that Bailey was writing a book about transwomen at the time of the interviews, and some of them read the drafts of the book before publication. Bailey has denied that it is unethical for a university professor to talk to people in the same manner that journalistJournalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
s do, or to write books with the resulting anecdotes.
According to bioethicist Alice Dreger, whether federal regulations required professors to obtain formal approval from a university Institutional Review Board
Institutional review board
An institutional review board , also known as an independent ethics committee or ethical review board , is a committee that has been formally designated to approve, monitor, and review biomedical and behavioral research involving humans with the aim to protect the rights and welfare of the...
(IRB) before interviewing people was uncertain at the time; she points out that shortly after publication of this book, the US Department of Health and Human Services, in conjunction with the Oral History Association
Oral History Association
The Oral History Association is a professional association for oral historians and others interested in oral history. It is based in the United States but has international membership. Its mission is "to bring together all persons interested in oral history as a way of collecting and interpreting...
and American Historical Association
American Historical Association
The American Historical Association is the oldest and largest society of historians and professors of history in the United States. Founded in 1884, the association promotes historical studies, the teaching of history, and the preservation of and access to historical materials...
, issued a formal statement that taking oral histories
Oral history
Oral history is the collection and study of historical information about individuals, families, important events, or everyday life using audiotapes, videotapes, or transcriptions of planned interviews...
, conducting interviews, collecting anecdotes, and similar activities do not constitute IRB-qualified research, and were never intended to be covered by clinical research rules, when such work is "neither systematic nor generalizable in the scientific sense."
Also as cited as harassment of Bailey were legal complaints that Bailey was practicing psychology without a license. The basis for these complaints was that sex-reassignment surgery in the US requires authorization letters from two psychologists, and Bailey had written a second letter, at no charge and upon request, for some individuals Bailey had spoken with while writing the book. Regulators dismissed the complaints.
Academic freedom
According to Benedict CareyBenedict Carey
Benedict Carey is an American journalist and reporter on medical and science topics for The New York Times.-Biography:He was born in 1960 and graduated from the University of Colorado with a degree in mathematics in 1983...
's story in the New York Times, "To many of Dr. Bailey’s peers, his story is a morality play about the corrosive effects of political correctness
Political correctness
Political correctness is a term which denotes language, ideas, policies, and behavior seen as seeking to minimize social and institutional offense in occupational, gender, racial, cultural, sexual orientation, certain other religions, beliefs or ideologies, disability, and age-related contexts,...
on academic freedom
Academic freedom
Academic freedom is the belief that the freedom of inquiry by students and faculty members is essential to the mission of the academy, and that scholars should have freedom to teach or communicate ideas or facts without being targeted for repression, job loss, or imprisonment.Academic freedom is a...
." Interviewed by Carey, Alice Dreger said that "what happened to Bailey is important, because the harassment was so extraordinarily bad and because it could happen to any researcher in the field. If we’re going to have research at all, then we’re going to have people saying unpopular things, and if this is what happens to them, then we’ve got problems not only for science but free expression itself."
However, critics such as Deirdre McCloskey
Deirdre McCloskey
Deirdre N. McCloskey is an American economics professor. Her job title at the University of Illinois at Chicago is Distinguished Professor of Economics, History, English, and Communication...
think that the pointed criticism, including filing charges, was warranted: "Nothing we have done, I believe, and certainly nothing I have done, overstepped any boundaries of fair comment on a book and an author who stepped into the public arena with enthusiasm to deliver a false and unscientific and politically damaging opinion". The concern over academic freedom was dismissed by Charles Allen Moser
Charles Allen Moser
Charles Allen Moser is an American physician specializing in internal medicine and focusing on sexual medicine. Moser is based in San Francisco and focuses his research and practice on individuals in the LGBT, kink, and fetish communities...
, who wrote: "The death of free speech and academic freedom has been highly exaggerated. Science is not free of politics, never has been, and never will be."
External links
- Men Trapped in Men's Bodies Chapter 9 of the book in HTML (about autogynephilia)
- Book Controversy FAQ by author J. Michael Bailey
- The World according to J. Michael Bailey inside "The Man who would be Queen: The Science of Gender Bending and Transsexualism" by Madeline H. Wyndzen