Fair Comment, Foul Play
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A Transsexual Woman-Centric Critique of Alice Dreger’S “Scholarly History” of the Bailey Controversy
1 The following essay is a “peer commentary” on Alice Dreger’s article “The Controversy Surrounding The Man Who Would Be Queen: A Case History of the Politics of Science, Identity, and Sex in the Internet Age.” Both Dreger’s article and my commentary will appear in the same upcoming issue of the journal Archives of Sexual Behavior. for the time being, this paper should be cited as: Serano, J. (in press). A Matter of Perspective: A Transsexual Woman-Centric Critique of Alice Dreger’s “Scholarly History” of the Bailey Controversy. Archives of Sexual Behavior. © 2008 Springer Science; reprinted with permission *************** A Matter of Perspective: A Transsexual Woman-Centric Critique of Alice Dreger’s “Scholarly History” of the Bailey Controversy by Julia Serano As someone who is both an academic scientist and a transsexual woman and activist, I would very much welcome a proper historical analysis of the controversy over J. Michael Bailey’s book The Man Who Would Be Queen: one that fully explores the many ethical issues raised by both the book and the backlash that ensued, one that thoughtfully articulates the perspectives of both researchers/gatekeepers and their transsexual subjects/clients while taking into consideration the institutionalized power that the former group holds over the latter. On paper, Alice Dreger seems well suited for the task given her experience as a science historian, ethicist and an advocate for sexual minorities in her past work with the Intersex Society of North America. Unfortunately, while Dreger describes her article “The Man Who Would Be Queen: A Case History of the Politics of Science, Identity, and Sex in the Internet Age” as a “scholarly history,” it fails in this regard for numerous reasons, several of which I will address here. -
Unconscionable and Unconstitutional: Bill C-8'S Attempt to Dictate Choices Concerning Sexuality and Gender
Unconscionable and Unconstitutional Bill C-8’s Attempt to Dictate Choices Concerning Sexuality and Gender May 12, 2020 Marty Moore, JD, and Jocelyn Gerke, BComm, MPP, JD (Student-at-Law) Mail: #253, 7620 Elbow Drive SW, Calgary, AB • T2V 1K2 Web: www.jccf.ca • Email: [email protected] • Phone: (403) 475-3622 CRA registered charity number 81717 4865 RR0001 CONTENTS Executive Summary ...................................................................................................................... 1 I. Bill C-8: An Act to Amend the Criminal Code (conversion therapy) .................................. 2 A. An overly broad definition of “conversion therapy” .............................................................. 2 B. Bill C-8 restricts children’s and adults’ access to care.......................................................... 3 C. Bill C-8 imposes an ideological view of sexuality and gender ............................................... 5 II. Bill C-8 Restricts Health Professionals’ Ability to Treat Children’s Gender Distress without Transition and Medicalization ....................................................................................... 7 A. Bill C-8’s imposition of a single treatment path for children ................................................. 7 B. Violation of practitioners’ and patients’ freedom of thought, opinion, belief and expression 9 C. Political interference with medical and scientific debate limits healthcare options .............. 9 III. Bill C-8’s Violation of the Charter Rights of Children and Parents -
PRESS KIT Baby Daddy OVERVIEW
PRESS KIT Baby Daddy OVERVIEW FILM TITLE ALEC MAPA: BABY DADDY SYNOPSIS Actor and comedian Alec Mapa (America's Gaysian Sweetheart) shares hilarious and heartfelt stories about how his life has changed since he and his husband adopted a five year old through the foster care system. No topic is off limits in this raunchy yet moving film of his award-winning one-man show: Alec's sex life, hosting gay porn award shows, midlife crisis, musical theatre, reality television, bodily functions, stage moms vs. baseball dads, and the joys, challenges, and unexpected surprises of fatherhood. Includes behind-the-scenes footage of his family's home life on a busy show day. " / / Thought Moment Media Mail: 5419 Hollywood Blvd Suite C-142 Los Angeles, CA 90027 Phone: 323-380-8662 Jamison Hebert | Executive Producer [email protected] Andrea James | Director [email protected] / Ê " TRT: 78 minutes Exhibition Format: DVD, HDCAM Aspect Ratio: 16:9 or 1.85 Shooting Format: HD Color, English ," -/ÊEÊ -/, 1/" Ê +1, - For all inquiries, please contact Aggie Gold 516-223-0034 [email protected] -/6Ê- , Ê +1, - For all inquiries, please contact Jamison Hebert 323-380-8662 [email protected] /"1/Ê" /Ê ÊÊUÊÊ/"1/" /° "ÊÊUÊÊÎÓÎÎnänÈÈÓÊÊ Baby Daddy KEY CREDITS Written and Performed by ALEC MAPA Directed by ANDREA JAMES Executive Producers JAMISON HEBERT ALEC MAPA ANDREA JAMES Director of Photography IAN MCGLOCKLIN Original Music Composed By MARC JACKSON Editors ANDREA JAMES BRYAN LUKASIK Assistant Director PATTY CORNELL Producers MARC CHERRY IAN MCGLOCKLIN Associate Producers BRIELLE DIAMOND YULAUNCZ J. DRAPER R. MICHAEL FIERRO CHRISTIAN KOEHLER-JOHANSEN JIMMY NGUYEN MARK ROSS-MICHAELS MICHAEL SCHWARTZ & MARY BETH EVANS RICHARD SILVER KAREN TAUSSIG Sound Mixer and Sound Editor SABI TULOK Stage Manager ERIKA H. -
Transsexuals Protest Academic Exploitation
From Great Events from History: Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Events, 1848-2006. Lillian Faderman, ed. Salem Press, 2007, ISBN 9781587652639 [p. 700] Transsexuals Protest Academic Exploitation Transsexual women accused a Northwestern university psychology professor of using them as research subjects without their consent for his controversial 2003 book on transsexuality, The Man Who Would Be Queen. For the first time, transsexual activists succeeded in speaking out publicly against academic exploitation. Locale: Evanston, Illinois Categories: Publications; transgender/transsexuality; marches, protests and riots Key figures Lynn Conway (b. 1938), professor emerita, University of Michigan Becky Allison (b. 1946), medical doctor Andrea James, transsexual activist and writer Joan Roughgarden (b. 1946), biology and geophysics professor Charlotte Anjelika Kieltyka (b. 1951), artist, photographer, and research subject known as “Cher Mondavi” in The Man Who Would Be Queen J. Michael Bailey (b. 1957), professor and author of The Man Who Would Be Queen Summary of Event In March, 2003, J. Michael Bailey published The Man Who Would Be Queen: The Science of Gender- Bending and Transsexualism, a book that immediately became the center of a debate over the origins of male-to-female transsexualism and its relationship to sexuality. Employing a theory first advanced in the 1980’s by Ray Blanchard, a researcher and head of the clinical sexology program at the Clarke Institute of Psychiatry in Toronto, Canada, Bailey stated that there are two types -
The Paradox of Authenticity: the Depoliticization of Trans Identity
The Paradox of Authenticity: The Depoliticization of Trans Identity THESIS Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Meredith Cecilia Lee Graduate Program in Women's Studies The Ohio State University 2012 Master's Examination Committee: Professor Shannon Winnubst, Advisor Professor Mary Thomas Professor Jian Chen Copyright by Meredith Cecilia Lee 2012 Abstract The language of authenticity that valorizes the mind over the body is embedded in Cartesian dualism, which thereby inspires an entirely personal understanding of self- fulfillment. Within the trans community, this language depoliticizes trans issues by framing nonnormative gender presentation as a personal issue. This paper examines the relationship of Cartesian dualism to the paradoxes of authenticity in trans medico- scientific discourse. For example, to express authenticity and gain social recognition within the medical model of trans identity, an individual must articulate her/his desire within the normative language of the medical establishment; therefore, the quest for authenticity is already foreclosed through the structures of normalization. This paper argues that, while medical procedures typically normalize one’s body to “pass” as the other sex, these procedures are also necessary for many trans individuals to gain social recognition and live a bearable life. The notion that trans individuals are “trapped” in the wrong body has been the dominant paradigm since at least the 1950s. This paper argues that centering gender in the body constructs gender as ahistorical and thereby erases the political, economic, and cultural significance of trans oppression and struggle. This paper concludes that the systematic pathologization of nonnormative sex/gender identification has historically constituted the notion that gender trouble is indeed a personal problem that should be cured through medical science. -
Debating DSM 5 Zowie Davy Phd, Senior Lecturer in C
Commentary on the construction of Gender Dysphoria at Classifying Sex: Debating DSM 5 Zowie Davy PhD, Senior Lecturer in Community Care, University of Lincoln, UK. Context to the commentary On the American Psychiatric Association’s (APA) website the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM‐5), is promoted as the “most comprehensive, current, and critical resource for clinical practice available to today's mental health clinicians and researchers of all orientations” (American Psychiatric Association, 2012a). The manual is ‘comprehensive,’ indeed; it has grown in size since its first edition to over 900 pages in its current DSM 5 incarnation. We could argue as Farley, the former president of the American Psychological Association, does that the DSM authors are contributing to an increase in “the relentless production of disorders and pathologizing of normal extremes” (Gornall, 2013: no page no.) and the facilitating of mental illnesses. In response to the publication of the DSM‐5, a two‐day conference at the University of Cambridge took place: Classifying Sex: Debating DSM‐5, at which discussants debated the potential impact of the manual’s criteria for pathological, paraphilic and by default ‘normal’ sexualities, gender identities, and psychiatric practice. The delegates considered amongst many other topics the role of power and evidence, at least that is how I understood many of the contributions to the debate. The panel that I was invited to contribute to featured Kenneth Zucker (Chair of the Sexual and Gender Identity Disorders workgroup of DSM‐5) to whom I was to critically respond. In this reflective commentary I would like to focus on power and evidence because Zucker has previously described the DSM’s international influence as spreading from clinical care, clinical training to clinical research (Zucker, 2010b). -
A Case Study in Unethical Transgressive Bioethics: "Letter of Concern from Bioethicists" About the Prenatal Administration of Dexamethasone
Thomas Jefferson University Jefferson Digital Commons Department of Pediatrics Faculty Papers Department of Pediatrics 9-1-2010 A case study in unethical transgressive bioethics: "Letter of concern from bioethicists" about the prenatal administration of dexamethasone. Laurence B McCullough Baylor College of Medicine, Frank A Chervenak Weill Medical College of Cornell University Robert L Brent Thomas Jefferson University Benjamin Hippen FCarollowolinas this Medical and additional Center works at: https://jdc.jefferson.edu/pedsfp Part of the Bioethics and Medical Ethics Commons Let us know how access to this document benefits ouy Recommended Citation McCullough, Laurence B; Chervenak, Frank A; Brent, Robert L; and Hippen, Benjamin, "A case study in unethical transgressive bioethics: "Letter of concern from bioethicists" about the prenatal administration of dexamethasone." (2010). Department of Pediatrics Faculty Papers. Paper 34. https://jdc.jefferson.edu/pedsfp/34 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Jefferson Digital Commons. The Jefferson Digital Commons is a service of Thomas Jefferson University's Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL). The Commons is a showcase for Jefferson books and journals, peer-reviewed scholarly publications, unique historical collections from the University archives, and teaching tools. The Jefferson Digital Commons allows researchers and interested readers anywhere in the world to learn about and keep up to date with Jefferson scholarship. This article has been accepted for inclusion in Department of Pediatrics Faculty Papers by an authorized administrator of the Jefferson Digital Commons. For more information, please contact: [email protected]. As submitted to The American Journal of Bioethics And later published as: A Case Study in Unethical Transgressive Bioethics: “Letter of Concern from Bioethicists” About the Prenatal Administration of Dexamethasone Volume 10, Issue 9:35-45, 2010 DOI: 10.1080/15265161.2010.499745 Laurence B. -
ALICE in BLUNDER LAND a Review of Galileo’S Middle Finger: Heretics, Activists, and the Search for Justice in Science by Alice Dreger
Evolution, Mind and Behaviour 13(2015), 47–51 DOI: 10.1556/2050.2015.0004 ALICE IN BLUNDER LAND A review of Galileo’s Middle Finger: Heretics, Activists, and the Search for Justice in Science by Alice Dreger. New York, NY: Penguin (2015), 352 pages. ROBERT KING School of Applied Psychology UCC “‘Begin at the beginning,’ the King said, very gravely, ‘and go on till you come to the end: then stop.’” Alice Dreger is a bioethicist employed, until very recently, at Northwestern University. The fact that she felt compelled to resign over a point of ethical principle just underscores the points she makes in the book. She has long been a champion of two things. First: that driving spirit in science – the Galilean one – that sees truth as a spiritual goal and raises a middle finger to those that dis- agree. Second: The just treatment of those typically marginalized and ignored because their needs are inconvenient to wider society (Dreger, 1998). Galileo’s Middle Finger (Dreger, 2015) is therefore a series of gripping de- tective stories exploring the various blunders of scientists who did not see what was coming when they published, of pusillanimous bureaucrats terrified of their University brand being tarnished, of the politically over-zealous, and the per- sonally affronted. Dreger also fearlessly takes on some outright frauds. She is conspicuously thorough and fair-minded throughout a book that, in places, reads like a thriller. It should be required reading on any science course and will serve partly as a survival manual to those who publish in contentious fields. -
The Dissidents
CHAPTER SEVEN THE DISSIDENTS ntil the 2015 controversy that cost him his job, Kenneth Zucker was Uuniversally recognized as an international expert on child and ado- lescent gender dysphoria. As psychologist-in-chief of Toronto’s Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) and head of its Gender Identity Service, he spent decades conducting research and practicing what he had trained to do—help children and adolescents with gender dysphoria grow more comfortable in their bodies. In 2007, Dr. Zucker oversaw the writing of the definition of “gender dysphoria” for the DSM-5.1 He also helped write the “Standards of Care” guidelines for the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH).2 Until transgender activists rallied against him, most health professionals practicing in this area regarded Dr. Zucker as an international authority on what “gender dysphoria” was. His philosophy was simple, though his understanding of gender dysphoria was anything but: a child or adolescent in distress is not reduc- ible to one problem. To reach an accurate diagnosis, Dr. Zucker believes mental health professionals need to look at the whole kid. 123 124 IRREVERSIBLE DAMAGE Some children latch onto gender dysphoria as a way of coping with trauma or other distress. A therapist needed to question the patient’s understanding of gender in order to determine why the patient might have fixated on that as a source of their problems. What beliefs did the patient have about boys or girls? Why did the child or adolescent come to believe changing gender would lead to a happier life? The goal of the questioning was often to challenge the notion that biological sex was the source of the patient’s problem and, wherever possible, to alleviate the dysphoria. -
The Transgender Tipping Point: It Is Not the Transperson Who Is Disordered but the Society in Which S/He Lives1 by Joelle Ruby Ryan, Ph.D
The Transgender Tipping Point: It is Not the Transperson Who is Disordered but the Society in which S/he Lives1 By Joelle Ruby Ryan, Ph.D. Candidate, Bowling Green State University Presented at the International Foundation for Gender Education Conference (IFGE-2009): Alexandria, Virginia: February 6, 2009 [This paper is in preparation for publication. V: 2-20-09 I am seeking peer commentary prior to publication. Kindly email feedback to [email protected] ] In sociology, a tipping point, or angle of repose, is when a previously rare phenomenon becomes speedily, considerably and vividly more common. In this paper, it is my assertion that the previously rare phenomenon which has materialized into extensive and exciting commonality is the emergence of multiple forms of transgender advocacy: grass-roots activism, political lobbying, emancipatory internet and print publishing, and speaking truth to power. In his influential 2000 book The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference,2 Malcolm Gladwell describes the tipping point as the moment of critical mass, the threshold, the boiling point. 3 Gladwell also writes: The possibility of sudden change is at the center of the idea of the Tipping Point and might well be the hardest of all to accept. 4 Since the early to mid 1990s, there has been a formidable and unstoppable wave of committed, militant and subversive transgender activism. Here in 2009, I truly believe we are rapidly approaching a revolutionary threshold from which no malevolent entity can force us backwards. However, in order to reach a veritable tipping point, it will require continued vigilance, action, perseverance and existential courage. -
Gender and Sexuality, 8(3), 269-302
Annual Review of THE GOVERNANCE OF GENDER Critical Psychology 11, 2014 NON-CONFORMING CHILDREN: A DANGEROUS ENCLOSURE Gender Jake Pyne Jake Pyne and McMasterMcMaster SchoolSchool ofof Social Social Work, Work, HamiltonToronto, ,Canada Canada Sexuality Abstract Since the 1960’s, children who fail to conform to expected gender roles (gender non-conforming children) have been the recipients of trou- ! bling psychological treatments designed to bring their gender expres- sion in line with social norms. Proponents of these programs deem them necessary to alleviate children’s “distress” and “discomfort” while critics charge clinicians with doing harm to children through a repre- hensible practice. In this paper, I apply Foucauldian theories of power to the work of two clinicians (George Rekers and Kenneth Zucker) to explore how families with gender non-conforming children are gov- erned in corrective treatment programs. While it is frequently noted that gender non-conforming children face rejection and exclusion, I argue for consideration of corrective treatment programs as a calcu- lated and dangerous form of inclusion – an ensemble of disciplinary techniques drawing these children and their families into an enclosure of dangerous power relations. I propose that these treatments are re- fective of the historical shift in the exercise of power in modern liberal democracies whereby populations are increasingly governed through expert knowledge, the administration of shame and the exploitation of the desire for success and normality. I outline a politic of response based on Butler’s concept of intelligibility and the goal of doing justice to someone. Keywords: gender non-conforming; transgender; children; gen- der identity disorder; psychiatry. -
The Tavistock's Experiment with Puberty Blockers* Michael Biggs
The Tavistock’s Experiment with Puberty Blockers* Michael Biggs Department of Sociology and St Cross College, University of Oxford (version 1.0.1, 29 July 2019) In 1994 a 16-year-old girl who wished to be a boy, known to us as B, entered the Amsterdam Gender Clinic. She was unique for having her sexual development halted at the age of 13, after an adventurous paediatric endocrinologist gave her a Gonadotropin-Releasing Hormone agonist (GnRHa). Originally developed to treat prostate cancer, these drugs are also used to delay puberty when it develops abnormally early: in girls younger than 8, and boys younger than 9. The endocrinologist’s innovation was to use the drug to stop normal puberty altogether, in order to prevent the development of unwanted secondary sexual characteristics—with the aim of administering cross-sex hormones in later adolescence. Dutch clinicians used B’s case to create a new protocol for transgendering children, which enabled physical intervention at an age far below the normal age of consent (Cohen-Kettenis and Goozen 1998). The Dutch protocol promised to create a more passable simulacrum of the opposite sex than could be achieved by physical intervention in adulthood. It was therefore embraced by trans-identified children and their parents, by older transgender activists, and by some clinicians specializing in gender dysphoria. The Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS), part of the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust, treats children with gender dysphoria from England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. It launched an experimental study of “puberty blockers”—the more friendly term for GnRHa when administered to children with gender dysphoria—in 2011.