Miriam Ben-Shalom is an American educator and anti-transgender activist.
Background
Ben-Shalom was born May 3, 1948 in Waukesha, Wisconsin, one of six children in a Roman Catholic family. Ben-Shalom’s mother died when Miriam was six. After graduating high school in 1967, Ben-Shalom married and had a child. At 19, Ben-Shalom converted to Judaism, moved to Israel, joined the military, changed names, and remarried. In 1971, Ben-Shalom divorced and returned to the US, earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees from University of WisconsinâMilwaukee.
In 1974, Ben-Shalom enlisted in the United States Army Reserve. After coming out as lesbian in the media, Ben-Shalom was honorably discharged in 1976. Ben-Shalom sued, and after a lengthy court battle, lost in 1990. Ben-Shalom then co-founded the Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Veterans of America (GLBVA), now American Veterans for Equal Rights (AVER). Ben-Shalom continued protesting until “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy was repealed.
Ben-Shalom taught English at Milwaukee Area Technical College. Ben-Shalom has been in a relationship with Karen Weiss (born September 1947).
Anti-transgender activism
In 2017, Ben-Shalom testified at the Texas Senate Committee on State Affairs against trans rights and co-founded the Hands Across the Aisle Coalition with right-wing activist Kaeley Triller Haver. Ben-Shalom has worked with the Heritage Foundation to oppose trans rights.
John Bickley is a conservative American writer and anti-transgender activist. Bickley is editor of The Daily Wire and co-host of Morning Wire with Georgia Mae Howe.
Background
John Taylor Bickley was born on December 24, 1976 and grew up in Tallahassee, Florida. Bickley graduated from Leon High School.
Bickley earned a master’s degree from UNC-Chapel Hill and a doctorate from Florida State University. Bickley spent several years teaching college before moving into producing conservative propaganda. Bickley is personally, spiritually, and professionally responsible for The Daily Wire’s sustained attacks on America’s 300,000 trans and gender diverse children and adolescents.
Bickley’s spouse is Danielle “Dani” Su Armstrong Bickley (born 1980). They married in 2011. They have two children.
References
Staff report (Jul 19, 2021). The Daily Wire Enters The Daily Morning News Podcast Race.Inside Radio https://www.insideradio.com/podcastnewsdaily/the-daily-wire-enters-the-daily-morning-news-podcast-race/article_09e46eda-e8b6-11eb-a33b-e35aec9f2203.html
Jeremy Boreing is a conservative American media executive and anti-transgender activist. He is a founder of conservative news and opinion website The Daily Wire.
Background
Jeremy Danial Boreing was born on February 5, 1979 in Slaton, Texas. After working in local theater, he moved to Los Angeles and produced several film and television projects.
In 2013, Boreing and Ben Shapiro founded conservative media watchdog Truth Revolt. In 2015 Boreing and Shapiro founded The Daily Wire.
Boreing has been involved in conservative networking in the entertainment industry. Boreing has advised PragerU on production, including using animation to avoid use issues around images and video.
After Hershey’s Chocolate included Canadian trans activist Fae Johnstone in a campaign celebrating five women for International Women’s Day, Boreing launched Jeremy’s Chocolate, with wrappers that said HeHim and SheHer.
Michael Knowles is an American writer and anti-transgender extremist.
Background
Michael John Knowles was born March 18, 1990 in Bedford Hills, New York. He grew up in a Catholic family. As a teen he trained at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting. After he earned a bachelor’s degree from Yale University, he acted in Los Angeles.
He married Alissa Mahler in 2018 and has two children.
Anti-transgender activism
Knowles opposes marriage equality.
In 2019, Knowles gave a speech at the University of MissouriâKansas City titled “Men Are Not Women,” which led to protests.
In February 2023, Knowles called for the elimination of the concept of being transgender, arguing that those who identify as transgender are “laboring a delusion, and we need to correct that delusion”. At the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in March, he further stated that “there can be no middle way in dealing with transgenderism”, and that “for the good of society, transgenderism must be eradicated from public life entirely.”
Azeen Ghorayshi is an American writer and anti-transgender activist who has written about transgender healthcare for youth and other trans topics in several publications. Ghorayshi is a key historical figure in the oppression of trans and gender diverse youth.
Ghorayshi is the point person laundering anti-transgender extremism into the New York Times, similar to Times health reporters in the 1970s who helped get adult care shut down as “experimental.”
Ghorayshi believes that affirmative models of care for trans and gender diverse youth are an unfolding medical scandal, echoing Times colleagues and contributors in the late 1970s who helped set the trans rights movement back for 25 years. The real medical scandal is that trans and gender diverse youth have never been able to receive appropriate care, and Ghorayshi’s reporting is a major factor in making this care unavailable to hundreds of thousands of minors.
Each year, thousands of American cisgender youth receive gender-affirming treatments like surgeries for unwanted breast tissue, but Ghorayshi is focused exclusively on banning the same procedures for transgender youth.
Ghorayshi’s anti-trans views are colored by disease models of gender identity, particularly psychopathology models. Ghorayshi is a strong proponent of gatekeeping trans healthcare via psychology and psychiatry, especially for minors.
Background
Azeen M. Ghorayshi was born in October 1988 and earned an undergraduate degree in biology from University of California, Berkeley in 2010. While there, Ghorayshi interned in UC Berkeley’s notoriously conservative and transphobic psychology department and in the neurobiology department. Ghorayshi then earned a master’s degree in science communication from Imperial College London.
Ghorayshi began writing as an Editorial Fellow at Mother Jones, then worked at the weekly East Bay Express in the Bay Area. Ghorayshi freelanced from 2013 to 2015, placing stories in New Scientist, The Guardian, Newsweek, Wired UK, and other outlets.
Ghorayshi co-founded Method Quarterly, a publication about science with Christina Agapakis. Other personnel included:
Ellie Harmon (editor in 2014)
Rose Eveleth (editor – presence scrubbed from site)
Ghorayshi joined BuzzFeed in 2015 as a science reporter, rising to science editor prior to departing.
Ghorayshi joined the New York Times in 2021, brought in by former Buzzfeed colleague Virginia Hughes.
Shortly after expressing this love, Ghorayshi presented Dreger as a “liberal” academic instead of an inaugural member of the intellectual dark web, a gateway to the far right. In a “both sides” piece about trans healthcare for youth, Ghorayshi also presented transphobic psychologist J. Michael Bailey and geneticist Eric Vilain as objective or centrist scientists in the middle of the non-affirming coalition, and the transphobic American College of Pediatricians as “religious conservatives.” Ghorayshi also uncritically presented Jesse Singal’s false version of why Kenneth Zucker was fired (Zucker’s practices were outlawed in 2015 under Bill 77), and showcases Debra Soh’s claim that the affirmative model of care “reinforces outdated stereotypes.” Ghorayshi then cites a conservative Breitbart piece that quotes Zucker, summarizing their view that affirmative care is a dangerous new fad in parenting.
New York Times transgender articles
In the New York Times, Ghorayshi also published “cisgender person under siege” profiles featuring hospital CEO John Warner, surgeon Sidhbh Gallagher, and gender affirming healthcare critic Jamie Reed.
The Warner piece was about the closure of Genecis Childrenâs Medical Center in Dallas following abortion clinic protest tactics targeting practitioners and leaders. Ghorayshi had described Genecis in the 2016 BuzzFeed piece.
The Gallagher piece was favorably shared by many fascist, gender critical, and cis journalist accounts, including white nationalist Richard Spencer and Daily Wire writer Christina Buttons, as well as gender critical activists Katie Herzog, Jesse Singal, Kenneth Zucker, Cathy Brennan, Julia Mason, and Helen Lewis. It was also shared by a number of Ghorayshi’s current and former colleagues, including Virginia Hughes, Cliff Levy, Christina Jewett, Jessica Silver-Greenberg, Ken Bensinger, Oliver Whang, Dan Saltzstein, Judy Rudin, Paul McLeod, Kadia Goba, Josh Barro, Ellie Hall, Derek Robertson, Alison Griffiths, Kinnon Ross MacKinnon, Tina S. Fondeles, Benjamin Goggin, Yeganeh Torbati, Steven Meiers, Jessica Garrison, Mark Yarm, Shannon Palus, Megan Twohey, and Michael Marshall.
“Low-quality evidence”
Ghorayshi wrote a piece about the American Academy of Pediatrics that prominently featured their critics, including anti-trans activist Julia Mason of the hate group Society for Evidence-Based Gender Medicine. Ghorayshi also parrots the “low-quality evidence” claim put forth by anti-trans activists, based on a scale devised by Gordon Guyatt. Federal judge Sarah E. Geraghty rejected these claims in a 2023 Georgia case where anti-trans activists Paul Hruz, Michael Laidlaw, and James Cantor testified against Yale University professor of pediatrics Meredithe McNamara:
The undisputed record shows that clinical medical decision-making, including in pediatric or adolescent medicine, often is not guided by evidence that would qualify as âhigh qualityâ on the scales used by Defendantsâ experts. 30 (Doc. 70-1, McNamara Decl. ¶¶ 23â28; Tr. 74:11â75:1 (McNamara Testimony); Tr. 133:614 (Hruz Testimony).) In fact, the record shows that less than 15 percent of medical treatments are supported by âhigh-quality evidence,â or in other words that 85 percent of evidence that guides clinical care, across all areas of medicine, would be classified as âlow-qualityâ under the scale used by Defendantsâ experts. (Doc. 70-1, McNamara Decl. ¶ 25; Tr. 74:11â75:1.) Defendants do not refute Dr. McNamaraâs testimony on this point, and indeed they âconcedeâ that âlow-qualityâ evidence âcan be considered.â 31
Geraghty also noted the obvious biases of Hruz, Laidlaw and Cantor:
Defendantsâ expertsâ insistence on a very high threshold of evidence in the context of claims about hormone therapyâs safety and benefits, and on the other hand their tolerance of a much lower threshold of evidence for claims about its risks, the likelihood of desistance and/or regret, and their notions about the ideological bias of a medical establishment that largely disagrees with them. That is cause for some concern about the weight to be assigned to their views, although the Court does not doubt that those they express are genuinely held.
(âDr. [Paul] Hruz fended and parried questions and generally testified as a deeply biased advocate, not as an expert sharing relevant evidence-based information and opinions. I do not credit his testimony.â); Eknes-Tucker v. Marshall, 603 F. Supp. 3d 1131, 1142â43 (M.D. Ala. 2022) (explaining that the court gave Dr. James Cantorâs âtestimony regarding the treatment of gender dysphoria in minors very little weightâ); C. P. by & through Pritchard v. Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois, No. 3:20-CV-06145-RJB, 2022 WL 17092846, at *4 (W.D. Wash. Nov. 21, 2022) (noting that it was a âclose questionâ as to whether Dr. Michael Laidlaw was qualified to testify about the medical necessity of gender-affirming care because he has treated only two patients with gender dysphoria and has done no original research on gender identity).
Ghorayshi also wrote an article centered on Jamie Reed, an activist who supports “a national moratorium on the medicalization of kids.” Reed is represented by anti-trans lawyer Vernadette Broyles, who has stated the transgender rights movement poses an “existential threat to our culture.”
Urquhart, Evan (September 3, 2023). âYou Betrayed Us, Azeenâ: A story on the allegations of former St. Louis gender clinic staffer Jamie Reed left parents who spoke with NYT reporter Azeen Ghorayshi crushed. Assigned https://www.assignedmedia.org/breaking-news/you-betrayed-us-azeen-parents-of-trans-youth-reeling-after-speaking-to-the-nyt
Sapir Leor (August 25, 2023). A Slow Trek Back to Truth?City Journal https://www.city-journal.org/article/a-slow-trek-back-to-truth
Clark-Callender, Rebecca (August 11, 2023). How the Times Covers Trans Rights. On the Media https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm/segments/what-we-missed-how-press-covers-trans-rights-on-the-media
Ghorayshi, Azeen (April 18, 2024). Scotland Pauses Gender Medications for Minors.New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/18/health/scotland-pauses-hormones-puberty-blockers-transgender.html
Ghorayshi, Azeen (April 20, 2022). When Texas Went After Transgender Care, Part 1. New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/20/podcasts/the-daily/transgender-teenagers-clinic-texas.html
Ghorayshi, Azeen (November 2015). Conversations With Anne Fausto-Sterling.Method Quarterly http://www.methodquarterly.com/2015/11/conversations-with-anne-fausto-sterling/
Note: In 2025, this site phased out AI illustrations after artist feedback. The previous illustration is here.
James Damore is an American software engineer and conservative activist. Damore was fired from Google after writing a memo criticizing Google’s diversity policies, specifically about sex differences in cognitive ability.
Damore is considered part of the so-called intellectual dark web, a gateway to the far right. Damore was represented by anti-trans lawyer Harmeet Dhillon in subsequent legal matters. Damore was supported by many anti-trans activists and appeared on several shows connected to the alt-right.
Background
James Anthony Damore was born on April 24, 1989, in Romeoville, Illinois.
Damore earned a bachelor’s degree from University of Illinois and a master’s degree form Harvard. Damore left the Harvard doctoral program in 2013 to work at Google. Damore was determined to be autistic as an adult.
In 2017, after attending a diversity training that solicited feedback, Damore wrote a memo titled “Google’s Ideological Echo Chamber,” which asserted that due to sex differences, men are more suited to working in technology.
Activism
Damore gave interviews to numerous outlets, including many conservative and anti-trans people associated with the intellectual dark web:
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a Nigerian author whose comments about transgender people have been criticized as transphobic.
Background
Adichie was born 15 September 1977 Enugu in Nigeria. Adichie’s seminal parent was a professor, and Adichie’s birth parent served as a college registrar. Their family is Catholic, and Adichie has five siblings.
Adichie studied medicine and pharmacy at the University of Nigeria before coming to the US and enrolling at Drexel University before transferring to Eastern Connecticut State University, where Adichie earned a bachelor’s degree in 2001. Adichie then earned master’s degrees at both Yale and Johns Hopkins before winning a MacArthur Fellowship that took Adichie to Harvard.
Adichie began publishing work in 1997 and has since written many poems, short stories, and books that have earned a number of awards and prizes. Adichie gave a TED Talk in 2009 and a TEDx talk in 2012 that were well received.
Views on transgender issues
2017 comments
Although Adichie has criticized anti-LGBT laws in Nigeria, Adichie was accused of transphobia in 2017 when asked if trans women are women. Adichie said, “My feeling is trans women are trans women.”Â
Adichie later clarified on March 13:
Perhaps I should have said trans women are trans women and cis women are cis women and all are women. Except that ‘cis’ is not an organic part of my vocabulary. And would probably not be understood by a majority of people. Because saying ‘trans’ and ‘cis’ acknowledges that there is a distinction between women born female and women who transition, without elevating one or the other, which was my point. I have and will continue to stand up for the rights of transgender people.
2020 comments
In 2020, Adichie voiced support for J.K. Rowling after Rowling complained about the “new trans activism” that had labeled Rowling a TERF and a transphobe. After Adichie got criticism for calling Rowling’s piece “perfectly reasonable,” Adichie complained about “cancel culture” and “the American liberal orthodoxy.“
Thereâs a sense in which you arenât allowed to learn and grow. Also forgiveness is out of the question. I find it so lacking in compassion. How much of our wonderfully complex human selves are we losing?
I think in America the worst kind of censorship is self-censorship, and it is something America is exporting to every part of the world. We have to be so careful: you said the wrong word you must be crucified immediately.
[…] The orthodoxy, the idea that you are supposed to mouth the words, it is so boring. In general, human beings are emotionally intelligent enough to know when something is coming from a bad place.
2022 comments
In 2022, Adichie expanded on these views about “this whole trans thing” in The Guardian:
This is the driving logic of her fear for free speech: that she canât say biological sex is inalienable without sparking a storm. âSo somebody who looks like my brother â he says, âIâm a womanâ, and walks into the womenâs bathroom, and a woman goes, âYouâre not supposed to be hereâ, and sheâs transphobic?â
When the interview countered that if her sibling really were trans, “Youâd probably think treating him with dignity and respect was more important than where he went to the toilet?”
[Adichie] âBut why is that?â she asks. âWhy canât they be equal parts of the conversation?â
[reporter] âMaybe because dignity is more important?â
[Adichie] âNot if you consider womenâs views to be valid. This is what baffles me. Are there no such things as objective truth and facts?â
Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi. Clarifying. Facebook Archived from the original on 26 February 2022.
Flood, Alison (16 June 2021). ‘It is obscene’: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie pens blistering essay against social media sanctimony. The Guardian. Retrieved 30 June 2021. we have a generation of young people on social media so terrified of having the wrong opinions that they have robbed themselves of the opportunity to think and to learn and to grow. I have spoken to young people who tell me they are terrified to tweet anything, that they read and re-read their tweets because they fear they will be attacked by their own. The assumption of good faith is dead. What matters is not goodness but the appearance of goodness. We are no longer human beings. We are now angels jostling to out-angel one another. God help us. It is obscene.
Choire Sicha is an American writer and anti-transgender activist.
While running the New York Times Style section, Sicha claimed, “We will aggressively cover politics, gender, sexuality, health, crime, shoes and contouring,” but the only notable gender coverage was a piece by John McDermott sympathetically profiling numerous anti-transgender public figures.
Background
Choire Arthur Sicha was born November 19, 1971 and grew up in Southern California, according to self-reports.
Parent Jeffrey Sicha (born 1940) is a Rhodes Scholar and philosopher who currently lives in Atascadero, California with Sadie Kendall, creator of Kendall Farms CrĂšme FraĂźche. The elder Sicha occasionally publishes philosophical texts. Sicha’s other birth parent is often mythologized in various origin stories and appears to have been the primary caregiver. Sicha graduated from Evanston Township High School in Illinois in 1989.
From 1991 to 1997, Sicha did HIV/AIDS activism at organizations including Larkin Street Youth Services, People with AIDS Coalition, HIV Law Project, and Visual AIDS. From 1997 to 2003 Sicha was director of Manhattan art gallery Debs & Co. During that time Sicha reportedly shared a “shitty East Village rabbit warren with Dale Peck” and was a key figure in developing “blog voice,” the snarky Gen X tone that further metastasized into millennial Twitter and Tumblr voice.
On October 22, 2011, Sicha married commercial real estate executive David Michael Valdez. They spend much of their time in the Hudson Valley north of New York City.
Gawker
Nick Denton founded Gawker in 2002 and appointed Elizabeth Spiers editor. When Spiers left, Sicha served as editor for a year before Jessica Coen replaced Sicha in August 2004. While Sicha was editing at Jared Kushner’s New York Observer from 2005 to 2007, then writing for Radar, the Gawker feature “Gawker Stalker” became more and more invasive. Sicha returned to Gawker and continued ramping it up:
Sicha later called Gawker Stalker “the bane of my existence.”
Libertarian anti-trans activist Nick Gillespie named Sicha one of the “50 Most Loathsome NYers.”
When Spiers left, […] she handed the reins to Choire Sicha (yes, folks, that’s pronounced “Cory”, and yes, it’s a dude) who turned Gawker into an unreadable circle-jerk for the cream of New York City’s wannabe media asshole crop. To read Gawker now is no longer an enjoyable five minutes in the morning; it’s stumbling into a horrifying online cocktail party hosted by a humorless, obnoxious prick and attended by his even less interesting obnoxious prick friends.
The Awl and 2013 book
Sicha co-founded The Awl with David Cho and Alex Balk in 2009 and edited there until taking the Style section job at the New York Times. The Awl folded in 2018.
Sicha authored the 2013 book Very Recent History.
2019 New York Times piece
Sicha claimed on many occasions that gender would be covered at the Times:
â[The] Style desk covers change, it covers generational change, it covers change in how we talk about gender, it covers young people. It covers technology, and it covers love, marriage and how we look. Those are all things that are incredibly fraught at this time, and theyâre supposed to upset people.â
Gender was conspicuously absent from subsequent coverage, with one notable exception. Sicha greenlit and published John McDermott’s 2019 puff piece about gender critical media figures. Sicha and McDermott interviewed zero trans people or media watchdogs critical of these bigots.
Conspicuously absent from the Times piece are quotes and stories from the people who have been deemedâboth by the canceled and their chroniclersâsupporting players in the culture war debate: the trans individuals the canceled have concerned themselves with, and whose lives and health are at stake.
People Sicha and McDermott profiled sympathetically include:
Katie Herzog: âHerzog became a member of a unique emerging class of people â journalists, academics, opinion writers â canceled for bad, conservative or offensive opinions.â
Jesse Singal âMr. Singal has written frequently on trans people in ways that have upset vocal members of that community. His stature has only grown, including on Twitter, where he mocks woke culture and identity politics. He is one of many who simultaneously talk about their cancellation experience while also noting that they also havenât really been canceled.â
Sicha has had a relationship with Vox Media starting in 2016, returning to their property New York after the stint at the New York Times. Sicha profiled Daniel and Grace Lavery and their partner, Lily Woodruff in 2024.
Sicha has wisely deleted almost all tweets interacting with anti-trans media figures. Those have been left out for now as a courtesy. In 2024, Sicha scrubbed the account, noting for a time “find me on other less transphobic platforms.”
Chafin, Chris (June 3, 2014). The Awl and the rise of downtown Brooklyn. Brooklyn Magazine http://www.bkmag.com/2014/06/03/the-awl-and-the-rise-of-downtown-brooklyn/
Gregory, Alice (August 13, 2013). Choire Sicha, the anti-blogger. The New Yorker http://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/choire-sicha-the-anti-blogger
Jenn Burleton is an American musician and activist whose later work focuses on trans and gender diverse youth. Burleton is the program director for TransActive Gender Project.
Background
Jennifer Eileen “Jenn” Burleton was born in November 1953 and grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Burleton’s parent Hugh “Eddie” Burleton (1914â1984) was also a musician. Jenn Burleton has a sibling Hugh, Jr. (born 1940).
After graduating from Milwaukee’s Washington High School in 1970, Burleton was involved with progressive musical organizations Sing Out and Up With People.
In 1983 Burleton married Cheryl Ann Noonan (born 1957). Burleton made a gender transition in the 1980s and began working in community activism.
In 2006 Burleton was involved in founding TransYouth Family Allies. Burleton soon left and founded TransActive Education and Advocacy in 2007. That organization later became affiliated with Lewis & Clark University.
The piece summarizes Burleton’s activism after attending endocrinologist Norman Spack’s presentation on puberty blockers at the 2006 Philadelphia Trans Health Conference.
Transgender activists across the country pushed for early and easy access to the treatment. At a 2006 Philadelphia medical convention, Jenn Burleton, an advocate from Oregon, heard Dr. Spack describe his experience starting to treat adolescents with blockers. Like others of her generation, Ms. Burleton, now 68, could not medically transition until adulthood, and puberty had been traumatic. Treating adolescents with blockers was âgame-changing,â she said. Back home, Ms. Burleton prodded pediatric endocrinologists to adopt the practice for their patients. âWe have a chance to prevent them from being emotionally broken,â she recalled saying.
Shortly after the piece was published, Burleton said on Facebook:
I stand by my comments quoted in this article. The truth and evidence is out there, as are examples of objective journalism about transgender lives. Sadly, “out there” does not include the New York Times.
Kowalska, Monika (May 29, 2014). Interview with Jenn Burleton.The Heroines of My Life https://theheroines.blogspot.com/2014/05/interview-with-jenn-burleton.html
Twohey, Megan; Jewett, Christina (November 14, 2022). They Paused Puberty, but Is There a Cost?New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/14/health/puberty-blockers-transgender.html [archive]
Since 2008, Latty has been a clinical psychologist with the US Department of Veterans Affairs, specializing in post-traumatic stress treatments. Latty is currently based in Oregon.
Background
Elizabeth Marie Latty was born in July 1975. Latty earned a doctorate from Northwestern University in 2009. Latty discussed research interests as a graduate student:
In a broad sense, my research interests lie in the broad category of sexual arousal and sexual orientation, along with those of my advisor. My first year project involved studying the sexual arousal patterns of post-operative male-to-female transsexuals. Our lab was able to use the results we obtained to further support results we found for natal women, as reported in our controversial combined study including work done by Meredith Chivers, Gerulf Rieger, Mike Bailey and myself. (Latty 2004)
Anti-trans research
Latty and friends make sweeping unsubstantiated claims about sexuality in gender diverse women based on plethysmographic guesswork (Latty 2003):
To rule out the possibility that the differences between menâs and womenâs genital sexual arousal patterns might be due to the different ways that genital arousal is measured in men and women, the Northwestern researchers identified a subset of subjects: postoperative transsexuals who began life as men but had surgery to construct artificial vaginas.
In a sense, those transsexuals have the brains of men but the genitals of women. Their psychological and genital arousal patterns matched those of men â those who like men were more aroused by male stimuli and those who like women were more aroused by the female stimuli â even though their genital arousal was measured in the same way womenâs was.
âThis shows that the sex difference that we found is real and almost certainly due to a sex difference in the brain,â said Bailey. (Tremmel 2003)
The authors of âMen Trapped in Menâs Bodiesâ (Lawrence 1998) and The Man Who Would Be Queen (Bailey 2003) did not choose their titles just for provocation. They seek to prove that trans and gender-diverse women are really men, with âbrains of menâ (Tremmel 2003) who display âmale-typicalâ sexual arousal (Lawrence 2003). They also want to use us to claim that sexual orientation is immutable by asserting trans women who change their dating preferences after transition didnât really change their orientation.
The results from Lattyâs 11 transgender women are heralded as proof of several theories held by Bailey, Blanchard, and Lawrence, but the sample size and questionable methodology makes these claims hardly supportable.
In May 2004, Latty presented a paper with Bailey and Liz Sullivan at Rosalind Franklin University:
Sexually explicit images were used in conjunction with the International Affective Picture System (IAPS). Self report ratings of these images resulted in significant differences for gender and sexual orientation in undergraduates. These results support previous research demonstrating category-specificity for men and provide further evidence of a more complex pattern of sexual arousal in women. (Latty 2004)
Latty was caught up in the publicity Bailey generated at the time The Man Who Would Be Queen came out. Below is a passage where Latty discusses the plethysmograph devices on which they base their claims.
At Baileyâs sex lab, really a tiny office on the second floor of a tiny addition to Northwesternâs Swift Hall, Elizabeth Latty , one of his graduate students, shows clips of explicit seventies-era porn, intercut with more neutral stimuli like landscapes. Latty shows the vaginal probe used to measure lubrication during the female arousal study, then the penile gauge for the male portion. âItâs kind of like a fancy rubber band,â she says. Over the course of two years, Bailey and his team of Ph.D.s have run subjects, solicited first from ads in the paper, then drawn from Northwestern students, to test how much genital arousal plays in sexual orientation. The female portion of the study was funded through a controversial $147,000 grant from the federal National Institutes of Child Health and Human Development, paying women up to $75 to watch porn. (Zambreno 2003)
Bailey JM. The Man Who Would Be Queen: The Science of Gender-Bending and Transsexualism. Joseph Henry Press, ISBN 978-0309084185
Drier S, Anderson K (April21, 2003). Profâs book challenges opinions of human sexuality. Daily Northwestern http://www.dailynorthwestern.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2003/04/21/3ea39785e6cef?in_archive=1 [archive]
James AJ. Plethysmograph: a disputed device. tsroadmap.com version of 16 May 2004. https://web.archive.org/web/20050206090753/http://tsroadmap.com/info/plethysmograph.html [archive]
Latty EM, Bailey J (unpublished, 2003). Sexual arousal of male-to-female transsexuals: male-typical or temale-typical patterns? http://apsychoserver.psych.arizona.edu/SPRStudent/%20Awards/2002/latty.pdf [archive]
Latty EM. Research interests. J. Michael Bailey faculty website. Retrieved 17 May 2004. http://www.psych.nwu.edu/psych/people/faculty/bailey/latty.html [archive]
Latty EM, Sullivan EA, Bailey JM (May 28, 2004). Gender and Sexual Orientation Differences in Self-report Arousal to Sexually Explicit Images. American Psychological Association meeting, 28 May 2004. http://www.psychologicalscience.org/convention/program/search/viewProgram.cfm?Abstract_ID=5940&AbType=&AbAuthor=40334&Subject_ID=&Day_ID=all&keyword= [archive]
Lawrence AA (online, 1999). Men trapped in menâs bodies: an introduction to the concept of autogynephilia. Originally at annelawrence.com http://home.swipnet.se/~w-13968/autogynephilia.html [archive]
Lawrence AA, Latty, EM., Chivers M, Bailey, JM (2003). Measuring sexual arousal in postoperative male-to-female transsexuals using vaginal photoplethysmography. International Academy of Sex Research conference http://www.iasr.org/meeting/2003/Program%20booklet.pdf [archive]
Tremmel, PV (June 12, 2003). Study suggests difference between female and male sexuality. Northwestern University press release http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2003-06/nu-ssd061203.php [archive]
Zambreno K (April 3, 2003). Dr. Sex: Michael Bailey gets into gay genes. New City Chicago http://www.newcitychicago.com/chicago/2392.html [archive]
