Marta Meana is a Spanish-American psychologist and anti-transgender activist deeply involved in publishing and promoting disease models of gender identity and expression, with a focus on sexualized taxonomies of transgender people like “autogynephilia.”
Background
Meana was born in Madrid, Spain on December 1, 1957. Meana attended McGill University, earning a bachelor’s degree and master’s degree before earning a doctorate in 1996, writing a dissertation on dyspareunia. Meana had a post-doctoral research fellowship in women’s health at the University of Toronto.
Meana joined the psychology department at University of Nevada, Las Vegas in 1997. From 2018 to 2020, Meana was interim President of UNLV. Meana retired in 2024.
After years of following the developments surrounding the publication of TMWWBQ in real time, it was interesting to step back and read Dreger’s comprehensive reconstruction of events. The story that emerges is reminiscent of classical drama. It comes complete with a protagonist (Bailey), antagonists (Conway, James, McCloskey), characters caught in the crossfire (Kyeltika), and a balanced and half-detached chorus (Dreger) explaining to the audience (the rest of us) the lessons to be learned from the melee. Mercifully, this drama did not end up a tragedy, but it shares significant qualities with the latter. It features a well-meaning, though necessarily flawed, protagonist with the requisite amount of hubris and a group of antagonists whose sordid means nullify any possible empathy the audience may have had with their perceived injury. The chorus seems open-minded and fair, although perhaps a little naïve in her belief in the healing power of her narrative.
Meana, Marta (2013). Gender Identity Diagnoses: History and Controversies. In Gender Dysphoria and Disorders of Sex Development (pp.137-150). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7441-8_7
Gerulf Rieger is a psychologist best known for publishing “science” that claimed bisexual men don’t exist. After getting money from bisexual activist John Sylla at the American Institute of Bisexuality, Rieger suddenly “discovered” male bisexuality. Sylla was also an author on Rieger’s published “discovery,” an unethical conflict of interest.
Rieger is also infamous for “science” claiming no woman is “totally straight.”
Rieger has also published anti-trans “science” claiming that trans women exhibit “male arousal patterns.” Rieger is on the editorial board of anti-trans journal Archives of Sexual Behavior.
Background
Rieger was born in July 1972. Rieger earned a bachelor’s degree from University of Vienna in 1995, followed by a master’s degree from University of Zurich in 1999. Rieger then attended Northwestern University, earning a master’s degree in 2004 and a doctorate in 2006.
Rieger’s dissertation advisor was anti-trans psychologist J. Michael Bailey. Bailey is notorious for engaging in “science by press conference,” a way of getting money and attention for questionable research through carefully timed media manipulation. Bailey is also known for work in the field of eugenics. Bailey has made a career of controversial “findings” about minorities which are reported uncritically by inept journalists. Bailey’s “finding” is later called into question and/or retracted after the damage is done. By then Bailey is on to some new “finding,” and the pattern of using gullible journalists begins again.
Rieger did postdoctoral work at Cornell University before taking a Lecturer position at University of Essex in 2014. As of 2024, Rieger was no longer listed as a Reader on the University of Essex psychology staff. Rieger was then affiliated with Webster Vienna Private University in Vienna, Austria.
Rieger on bisexuality (2002–present)
Rieger became famous for parroting Bailey’s claims that “true bisexuality” does not exist in men, who are “gay, straight, or lying.” These claims were supported by plethysmograph quackery initially published by Rieger in 2002:
Recently, we finished our study on male sexual arousal and sexual orientation. We were most interested in figuring out whether putative bisexual men do really get aroused to both men and women. There has been a long-lasting skepticism as to whether bisexual men are really what they say they are. Some people suggested that they are closet gay men. Others said that they are confused heterosexual men. So what are they? We invited all heterosexual, gay, and bisexual men into our lab, and measured their sexual arousal with help of a penile strain gauge while showing them movies of naked men or of naked women. We found no obvious bisexual arousal trends for the bisexual men. Most of them showed arousal like gay men, and a few got aroused like heterosexual men. Here you will find a link to the poster, which was presented at the IASR conference in Hamburg in the Summer of 2002. (Rieger 2004, poster published via morov.com)
Rieger’s greatest media triumph was a 2005 puff piece by Benedict Carey in the New York Times. Titled “Straight, Gay, or Lying? Bisexuality Revisited,” it was one of the most widely shared stories from the Times website in the week following publication. Carey called Rieger’s claims “a new study” in an article timed to coincide with the opening of the International Academy of Sex Research conference, where the study had been presented three years earlier. The only apparent difference is the sample size. Carey’s report drew widespread criticism from media watchdog groups and civil rights groups including FAIR and GLAAD.
Rieger is also infamous for claiming no woman is “totally straight.” In a “science by press conference” piece for The Telegraph, Rieger said of women, “Our research shows that, when it comes to what turns them on they are usually bisexual or gay, but never totally straight”.
The Man Who Would Be Queen (2003)
In 2003, Rieger’s dissertation advisor J. Michael Bailey published the transphobic book The Man Who Would Be Queen. After several academics expressed concerns about Bailey’s unscientific and exploitative lectures in support of the book at Emory on 8 April 2003 (reported by Dr. Saralyn Chesnut) and at Stanford on 23 April 2003 (reported by noted biologist Joan Roughgarden), Bailey complained about “irate transsexuals” in a terse response to Rieger [all links added for reference]:
From: Gerulf Rieger gerulf[at]northwestern.edu Date: Mon Apr 28, 2003 10:36:08 AM US/Central To: gluu[at]listserv.it.northwestern.edu Cc: rainbow[at]listserv.it.northwestern.edu Subject: Dr. Bailey’s reply: Prof. Michael Bailey’s lecture lacks sensitivity…
Here is a message from Professor Bailey, my advisor. Gerulf
Background: Roughgarden is a transsexual woman (who used to be a man), who is part of a group (I think a small one) who is extremely angry with me about my recent book, The Man Who Would Be Queen. For examples of vitriol (to the extent that one put dirty captions under pictures of my children) see:
The main complaint is that I do not believe that all transsexuals are “women trapped in men’s bodies” but instead, believe the scientific evidence that one type of male-to-female transsexual is, prior to transition, a man with a sexual obsession for being a woman. The other type can be conceived of as an extremely feminine type of gay man. I explain in the book why the first type of transsexual tends to be very threatened by this explanation of their behavior. I posted on this before here, so instead of doing so again, I refer interested people to a website where they can read the book: (available to read for free at)
The second section, on homosexuality, is what I lectured about at Stanford. The third section is the one that has Roughgarden mad. The transsexuals have been writing everyone possibly affiliated with the book, from the publisher (and someone in the upper echelon has a wife who is good friends with one Lynn Conway–see negative review #1 above–and this resulted in the book being taken off the publisher’s website for nearly 24 hours) to people who wrote positive blurbs on the cover (Steven Pinker and David Buss, for example) to my colleagues. I don’t have time for individual responses to irate transsexuals, so I’m writing something for my webpage.
In 2003, Rieger appeared in a short film by fellow Northwestern grad Jason Bolicki, titled “Twenty Gay Stereotypes Confirmed.” It was described as “a tongue-in-cheek look at gay stereotypes using the director’s childhood home movies.”
Rieger then solicited home movies that demonstrated stereotypes based on sexual orientation.
http:// www.gptforum.com/forum/Topic14319.htm
Men and Women Wanted in Paid Northwestern Study Reply to: gerulf[at]northwestern.edu Date: 2005-05-21, 5:55PM CDT
Men and Women wanted who have home movies from their childhood and are willing to be interviewed for a study on child development. Participation takes about two hours. Participants will be paid $50. Please call Gerulf Rieger at Northwestern University, The Human Sexuality Lab at 847 / 491-3820. You may also email gerulf[at]northwestern.edu . IRB#: 0108-016
Please note: in order to be eligible for this study, you must have a childhood home movie of yourself (approximately ages 0-10), and bring it with you during your interview.
* Job location is Evanston * Compensation: $50
Rieger’s mentor J. Michael Bailey previously misused clips of gender diverse children for the amusement of “academic” audiences.
In 2007 Bailey and Rieger appeared on CNN to support their claims about stereotypically “gay” walking style, with Bailey as the “straight” one (Cohen 2007). Never have two people been filmed walking more self-consciously.
Bond, Alison (September 22, 2005). Grad student’s study sparks criticism from bisexuals.Daily Northwestern https://dailynorthwestern.com/2005/09/22/archive-manual/grad-students-study-sparks-criticism-from-bisexuals/ original URL http://www.dailynorthwestern.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2005/09/23/43339007ed9b2 [archive]
Creager, Cyndi (July 7, 2005). New York Times Promotes Bisexual Stereotypes in “Straight, Gay or Lying?” GLAAD http://www.glaad.org/action/write_now_detail.php?id=3827&PHPSESSID=0b9e8b63af283601f7dc071e1a4c4568 [archive]
DeNoon, Daniel J. (August 30, 2005). Do Bisexual Men Really Exist?WebMD via CBS News, Reviewed by Brunilda Nazario, MD https://www.cbsnews.com/news/do-bisexual-men-really-exist/
Drier, Sarah; Anderson, Kevin (April 21, 2003). Prof’s book challenges opinions of human sexuality. Bailey tackles sensitive transsexuality issues; some find his views offensive. Daily Northwesternhttp://www.dailynorthwestern.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2003/04/21/3ea39785e6cef?in_archive=1 [archive]
Selected publications
Holmes L, Rieger G, Paulmann S (2024). The effect of sexual orientation on voice acoustic properties. Frontiers in Psychology (Vol. 15). https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1412372
Rieger G (2023). Genetically identical twins discordant for sexual orientation: potential reasons for their differences. Genetics and evolution of sexual orientation meeting at The Royal Society https://royalsociety.org/science-events-and-lectures/2023/03/sexual-orientation/ [archive]
About 75% of genetically identical twins who are homosexual have heterosexual co-twins, and it is largely unknown what causes their difference. However, the majority of past work with such twin pairs was based on self-reports, which can be biased, and how these twins truly differ remained uncertain. The author will summarise research from his lab showing that these twins differ in behavioural, physiological, and anatomical traits linked to sexual orientation: gender-nonconformity, genital arousal, and finger length ratios, respectively. Dr Rieger will then propose a mechanism that explains their different development. About 30% of identical twins develop with separate placentas. Maternal androgens or antibodies could diffuse differently through these placentas, affecting the differentiated development of the twins. The author will also propose a study design to indirectly test this hypothesis.
Milani S, Zhang JY, Zdaniuk B, Bogaert A, Rieger G, Brotto LA (2022). Examining Visual Attention Patterns among Asexual and Heterosexual Individuals. Journal of Sex Research (Vol. 60, Issue 2, pp. 271–281). https://doi.org/10.1080/00224499.2022.2078768
Gruia DC, Holmes L, Raines J, Slettevold E, Watts-Overall TM, Rieger G (2022). Stability and Change in Sexual Orientation and Genital Arousal over Time. Journal of Sex Research (Vol. 60, Issue 2, pp. 294–304). https://doi.org/10.1080/00224499.2022.2060927
Holmes L, Watts-Overall TM, Slettevold E, Gruia DC, Rieger G (2022). The relationship between finger length ratio, masculinity, and sexual orientation in women: A correlational study. In L. Bartos (Ed.), PLOS ONE (Vol. 17, Issue 3, p. e0259637). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0259637
Holmes L, Watts-Overall TM, Slettevold E, Gruia DC, Rieger G (2021). Sex Differences in Sexual Arousal and Finger Length Ratio. Journal of Sex Research (Vol. 59, Issue 4, pp. 515–523). https://doi.org/10.1080/00224499.2021.1874262
Sanders AR, Beecham GW, Guo S, Dawood K, Rieger G, Krishnappa RS, Kolundzija AB, Bailey JM, Martin ER (2021). Genome-Wide Linkage and Association Study of Childhood Gender Nonconformity in Males. Archives of Sexual Behavior50, 3377–3383 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-021-02146-x
Holmes, L., Watts-Overall, T.M., Slettevold, E. et al. Sexual Orientation, Sexual Arousal, and Finger Length Ratios in Women. Archives of Sexual Behavior 50, 3419–3432 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-021-02095-5
Raines J, Holmes L, Watts-Overall TM, Slettevold E, Gruia DC, Orbell S, Rieger G (2021). Patterns of Genital Sexual Arousal in Transgender Men. Psychological Science (Vol. 32, Issue 4, pp. 485–495). https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797620971654
Rieger G, Holmes L, Watts-Overall TM, Gruia DC, Bailey JM, Savin-Williams RC (2020). Gender Nonconformity of Bisexual Men and Women. Archives of Sexual Behavior 49, 2481–2495 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-020-01766-z
Rieger G, Watts-Overall TM, Holmes L, Gruia DC (2020). Gender Nonconformity of Identical Twins with Discordant Sexual Orientations: Evidence from Video Recordings. Archives of Sexual Behavior49, 2469–2479 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-020-01709-8
Bailey, J.M., Rieger, G., Krishnappa, R.S. et al. Familiality of Gender Nonconformity Among Homosexual Men. Archives of Sexual Behavior49, 2461–2468 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-020-01626-w
Jabbour, J., Holmes, L., Sylva, D., Hsu, K. J., Semon, T. L., Rosenthal, A. M., Safron, A., Slettevold, E., Watts-Overall, T. M., Savin-Williams, R. C., Sylla, J., Rieger, G., & Bailey, J. M. (2020). Robust evidence for bisexual orientation among men. In Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (Vol. 117, Issue 31, pp. 18369–18377). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2003631117
Slettevold, E., Holmes, L., Gruia, D., Nyssen, C. P., Watts-Overall, T. M., & Rieger, G. (2019). Bisexual men with bisexual and monosexual genital arousal patterns. In Biological Psychology (Vol. 148, p. 107763). Elsevier BV. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsycho.2019.107763
An Erratum for this article was reported in Vol 48(3) of Archives of Sexual Behavior (see record 2018-64336-001).
Sanders, A., Beecham, G., Guo, S., Dawood, K., Rieger, G., Krishnappa, R., Kolundzija, A., Bailey, J. M., & Martin, E. (2019). S67GENOME-WIDE LINKAGE STUDY OF CHILDHOOD GENDER NONCONFORMITY IN MALES. In European Neuropsychopharmacology (Vol. 29, p. S148). Elsevier BV. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.euroneuro.2019.08.068
Booker CL, Rieger G, Unger JB (2017). Sexual orientation health inequality: evidence from understanding society, the UK longitudinal household study. Preventive Medicine 101, 126-132 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2017.06.010
Rieger G, Bailey JM (2005). The misfit of sex atypicality (IASR conference paper) iasr.org/meeting/2005/abstracts2005.doc [archive]
Homosexual people tend to reject sex-atypical partners: Homosexual men tend to find feminine men less attractive, and conversely, lesbians tend to find masculine women less attractive. We investigated what traits could trigger this disadvantage. Ten-second video clips of 95 targets, ages 18 to 30, were judged on sex atypicality of their movements, voice patters and appearances by 58 raters of both sexes and sexual orientations without explicit information on the targets’ sexual orientation. Another sex of 121 raters of both sexes/sexual orientations would rate targets on attractiveness, rating their preferred sex, again without explicit information on the targets’ sexual orientation. Homosexual targets of both sexes were, on average, rated as having more sex-atypical movements, voices, and appearance (ds = .6 to 1.5, ps < .01). The expressions of these traits were significantly related to each other (rs = .4 to .7, ps < .05) and we thus computed one factor of sex atypicality. Using a multi-factorial design, including raters as random factor, we would then assess the relation between sex atypicality and attractiveness. In men, only the most sex-atypical targets were judged to be less attractive (b = -.11, p < .0001). In women, however, both moderate and strong expressions of sex atypicality seemed to affect attractiveness negatively (b = -.12, p < .0001). Independent of their sex atypicality, homosexual men were less attractive than same sex heterosexuals (b = -.12, p < .0001), and lesbians were rated to be less attractive than heterosexual women (b = -.09, p < .0001). Thus a yet unknown parameter related to homosexuality seemed relevant to raters. Attraction patterns were mostly unaffected by the raters’ sex or sexual orientation, and self reported gender identity and homophobia.
Siler-Knogl AK, Rieger G, Bailey JM. Sex Atypicality and Attractiveness in Gay and Heterosexual People. Psychological Science 2004. Later ASB paper https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-009-9512-8
Gay people are more sex-atypical (e.g. feminine men, masculine women), yet they don’t seem to seek sex-atypical partners. However, this study suggests that while sex atypicality enhances attractiveness, independently, homosexuality has a negative effect, especially for men. Thus, a yet undefined factor seems to detriment the attractiveness of gay people.
Chivers ML, Rieger G, Latty E, Bailey JM (2004). A Sex Difference in the Specificity of Sexual Arousal. Psychological Science, 15(11), 736-744. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0956-7976.2004.00750.x
Chivers ML, Rieger G, Latty EM, Bailey JM (2003). A Sex Difference in the Specificity of Sexual Arousal. Psychological Science conference 2003.
Sexual arousal is category-specific in men; heterosexual men are more aroused by female than by male sexual stimuli, while homosexual men show the opposite pattern. There is reason to believe that female sexual arousal is altogether differently organized. We assessed genital and subjective sexual arousal to male and female sexual stimuli in women, men, and postoperative male-to-female transsexuals. In contrast to men, women showed little category-specificity on either genital or subjective measures. Both heterosexual and homosexual women experienced strong genital arousal to both male and female sexual stimuli. Transsexuals showed a category-specific pattern, demonstrating that category specificity can be detected in the neovagina using a photoplethysmographic measure of female genital sexual arousal. In a second study, we showed that our female results are unlikely to be explained by ascertainment biases. These findings suggest that sexual arousal patterns play a fundamentally different role in male and female sexuality.
Rieger G (2003). Research interests. J. Michael Bailey faculty website http://www.psych.nwu.edu/psych/people/faculty/bailey/rieger.html [archive]
Rieger G, Chivers ML, Bailey JM (2002), Who are bisexual men? Sexual orientation and sexual arousal in men. International Academy of Sex Research conference http://www.iasr.org/meeting/2002/abstracts_2002.pdf [archive]
Media
Cara Delevingne (2022). Planet Sex with Cara Delevingne. BBC 3 https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/p0df24z1/planet-sex-with-cara-delevingne
Brittany Blockman and Josephine Decker (2008). Bi the Way. [featuring Ritch Savin-Williams, Dan Savage, Gerulf Rieger, Pepper Schwartz, Meredith Chivers, J. Michael Bailey]
Lesley Stahl (August 27, 2006). “Gay or Straight?” [featuring J. Michael Bailey, Gerulf Rieger, and Marc Breedlove] 60 Minutes S38E25 CBS
“Recently, we finished our study on male sexual arousal and sexual orientation. We were most interested in figuring out whether putative bisexual men do really get aroused to both men and women. There has been a long-lasting skepticism as to whether bisexual men are really what they say they are. Some people suggested that they are closet gay men. Others said that they are confused heterosexual men. So what are they? We invited all heterosexual, gay, and bisexual men into our lab, and measured their sexual arousal with help of a penile strain gauge while showing them movies of naked men or of naked women. We found no obvious bisexual arousal trends for the bisexual men. Most of them showed arousal like gay men, and a few got aroused like heterosexual men. Here you will find a link to the poster, which was presented at the IASR conference in Hamburg in the Summer of 2002.” [published 2003]
I am interested in human behavior, especially non-verbal behavior that does not depend on self-reports. Right now I am of course interested in human sexuality. What are the causes and the effects of a person’s sexual orientation? Could there be any adaptive qualities to being gay? Is sexual orientation correlated with any other personality traits, and if so, what can they tell us about the development of sexual orientation?
Right now, we are working on a study on the butch and femme behavior of gay people and at its effects on the mate value of the individual. We do know that gay men tend to prefer masculine men as partners and claim that they want “no femmes”. Lesbians on the other hand seek feminine partners and want “no butches” (link to Mike’s butch, femme study). Despite this tendency towards attraction for gender conforming traits, we also know that gay men are on average more feminine than heterosexual men and that lesbians are, on average, more masculine than heterosexual women (link to Mike’s unpublished study). However, we do not yet know what specific characteristics gay men mean when they say “no femmes” and what do lesbians mean when they want “no butches.
Recently, we finished our study on male sexual arousal and sexual orientation. We were most interested in figuring out whether putative bisexual men do really get aroused to both men and women. There has been a long-lasting skepticism as to whether bisexual men are really what they say they are. Some people suggested that they are closet gay men. Others said that they are confused heterosexual men. So what are they? We invited all heterosexual, gay, and bisexual men into our lab, and measured their sexual arousal with help of a penile strain gauge while showing them movies of naked men or of naked women. We found no obvious bisexual arousal trends for the bisexual men. Most of them showed arousal like gay men, and a few got aroused like heterosexual men. Here you will find a link to the poster, which was presented at the IASR conference in Hamburg in the Summer of 2002.
My next project will have a closer look at the possible genetic contribution to sexual orientation. We plan to work with discordant twins. These are identical twins, who differ on a specific trait. In our case, this will be their sexual orientation. For example, one twin is a gay man, but his brother is heterosexual. This could support the idea that sexual orientation is not solely genetically determined. However, no one has to our knowledge ever systematically tried to explore the twins’ sexual orientation by other means than pure self-report. There are several traits that we know gay and heterosexual people differ. We can use these traits to study our twins. How different or similar are these discordant twins in their psychology, their voices, their movements, or less subtle, their sexual arousal, and their brain activity while sexual aroused?
Personal Information
On a personal note, I seem to be a person who likes to move. I started in Biology in Vienna then moved to Biological Anthropology in Zurich and now I am here at Northwestern in the Psychology Department.
Here’s a picture of me & Marcel, [http://www.psych.northwestern.edu/psych/people/faculty/bailey/pictures/gerulf&marcel.jpg archive] and one of me and some people from the lab [http://www.psych.northwestern.edu/psych/people/faculty/bailey/pictures/gerulfparty.jpg archive] at a party.
Cornell University Sex and Gender Lab (sexgenderlab.human.cornell.edu) [archive]
“Research interests: My work focuses on sexual orientation: how it is organized, how it develops, and how it affects a persons life. I use a diversity of methodologies, including self-report, behavioural observations, physiological activity and neurological correlates, and employ an array of quantitative skills in order to pursue my research. I use videos and photos from childhood to examine whether masculine and feminine behaviours during early development predict adult sexual orientation. I also investigate the social impact of these signals. I have used large data sets of family members to investigate potential evolutionary reasons for sexual orientation. In another line of research, I study the association of sexual orientation with physiological sexual arousal in order to illuminate sex differences in sexual response. With a different methodology, pupil dilation, I am currently conducting research that will aid in explaining how early sex and sexual orientation differences in sexual attraction emerge. These studies have broad relevance for understanding how people perceive themselves and others, for the consequences of these perceptions, and for the development of differences between and within the sexes.”
Note: The original 2003 URL for this article was http://www.tsroadmap.com/info/gerulf-rieger.html [archive]
John Michael “Mike” Bailey (born 1951) is an American psychologist, considered one of the most unethical sexologists in history. Bailey’s checkered career is a series of ethics scandals and controversies.
Since 2003 this site has documented Bailey’s central role in the academic exploitation of sex and gender minorities. One history book says my work coordinating the community response to anti-trans academics “represented one of the most organized and unified examples of transgender activism seen to date.” In 2021 the United States Library of Congress selected this site for archiving because it is “an important part of this collection and the historical record.”
Bailey’s notable ethical scandals
Children and sex
supporting “many offending pedophiles who are usually punished far more harshly than research suggests is warranted by the harm they cause.”
supporting leniency for a rapist whose victims are infants and young children: “if he didn’t physically hurt them, and if they didn’t remember traumatically, his actions should be penalized less than had he physically hurt them and they did remember.”
promulgating the concept of “pre-homosexual” children: “pre-homosexual children tend to be relatively gender nonconforming.”
claiming to know the sexual orientation of children
supporting fired sexologist Kenneth Zucker, whose “therapy” of gender diverse children has been widely outlawed and described as “child abuse”
supporting penile plethysmography, a controversial device for measuring genital arousal; some sexologists have attached plethysmographs to the penises of children to measure their erections for “research”
Supporting convicted serial child rapist Jerry Sandusky: “In an exchange with Wright County Circuit Court Judge Craig Carter, Bailey affirmed his belief that Sandusky’s accusers had lied. ‘You believe the people testifying against Jerry Sandusky are lying?’ Carter asked. Bailey responded, ‘I can see that if you are not familiar with the evidence that I am familiar with, you would be shocked.'”
Eugenics
dissertation advisor and mentor Lee Willerman was a member of the American Eugenics Society
stating it is “morally acceptable” to screen for and abort gay fetuses: “selection for heterosexuality may benefit parents and children and is unlikely to cause significant harm.”
arguing that “offering sex offenders the opportunity to be castrated in return for a reduced sentence is not ethically problematic coercion.”
Signing a 2018 letter from hate group American College of Pediatricians to the Trump Administration. Bailey demanded “upholding the scientific definition of sex in law and policy,” adding “an individual who identifies as transgender remains either a biological male or female.”
Meredith Chivers is a Canadian psychologist who researches women’s sexuality. Chivers has also published harmful work about transgender people. This page of notes and references supplements the overview of her work and the harm she’s caused.
Catherine C Classen, Meredith L Chivers, Sara Urowitz, Lisa Barbera, David Wiljer, Susan O’Rinn, Sarah E Ferguson, Saskia Poels, Jos Bloemers, Kim van Rooij, Irwin Goldstein, Jeroen Gerritsen, Diana van Ham, Frederiek van Mameren, Meredith Chivers, Walter Everaerd, Hans Koppeschaar, Berend Olivier, Adriaan Tuiten, Richard Pittini, Sophie Grigoriadis, Laura Villegas, Lori E Ross
SageLab members
Meredith L. Chivers
Anna Chouchkova
Kaylee Clark
Samantha Dawson
Deryn Duesbery
Katherine Fretz
Shawna Girard
Lucas Hildebrand
Jackie S. Huberman
Graham Hutchings
Matthew Kan
Emily McBride
Michelle McCowan
Meghan McInnis
Nicole Persall
Kelly Suschinsky
Amanda Timmers
Samuel Yoon
References
Chivers, ML (August 30, 1999). Question about porn preferences. http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&edition=&selm=1.-yri-24*1%40panix.com
This week, the Kinsey Institute will play host to the 29th annual conference for the International Academy of Sex Research. […] Meredith Chivers, who studies female sexuality at Northwestern University and traveled to the conference from Toronto, said she is particularly interested in the exploration of this topic.
“What I’m most looking forward to is having an opportunity to see where research in female sexuality is in lots of disciplines,” Chivers said. “I’m interested in seeing the contributions being made in the field of female sexuality and enriching my own ideas.”
Chivers said conferences like this are important because it is a chance to come face to face with other people in the field and see who is behind the research they have been reading.
“Sitting down and shooting ideas to each other is the real exciting part of conferences,” Chivers said.
Real (2003)
Everyone else took this as an opportunity to bash me, my advisor, and the research I do. It’s really a shame. Neither I, nor Mike Bailey, has any agenda. If folks took the time to read this research without negative preconceptions, they might see this. We know so little about female sexual arousal and I hope that this project might illuminate some of the misconceptions out there. Given the hostile reception, I think I’ll stop posting on this list.
Leopoldt, Jennifer and Jinna Yun (July 10, 2003). Sexuality research funding draws critics. Daily Northwestern http://www.dailynorthwestern.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2003/07/10/3f0cfb88ad9b7 [archive]
A Northwestern Ph.D. candidate will present results of sexual arousal research she conducted with NU Prof. J. Michael Bailey — which has drawn criticism from the Republican wing of Congress — when she speaks at a federally-funded sexuality conference next week. […] But Meredith Chivers, a Ph.D. candidate in clinical psychology at NU who will speak about sexual arousal research she conducted with Bailey, said the conference does merit funding.
“Sexuality is an intrinsic part of being human and it’s a major oversight not to encourage research in this area and to support it,” Chivers said.
Bailey, a psychology professor who teaches human sexuality at NU, also defended the need for researchers to study sexuality.
Like the conference, Bailey and Chivers’ sexual arousal study also encountered criticism for obtaining government funding.
A $147,000 National Institutes of Health grant funded the research, which studied the effect of pornography on females to determine whether sexual arousal is as category specific for women as it is for men. […] Chivers said she was surprised at the controversy over funding for Bailey’s research and the sexuality conference. Bailey said he thought politicians singled out his and Chivers’ research because “it was easy for them to mischaracterize and make fun of.”
“They used our research to make their argument, but in fact I think our research is important and interesting, and scientists who know about the issues and what we’re doing have found it really cool,” he said.
Real, Bonnie (July 17, 2003). IU’s Kinsey Institute at center of sex research in week’s conference: Annual seminar gives researchers chance to discuss face-to-face. IDS News http://www.idsnews.com/story.php?id=17388
Lemonick, Michael D. (January 19, 2004). Biology: The chemistry of desire.TIME 163(3):68-72, 75. https://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,993148,00.html
Carey, Benedict (2005-07-05). “Straight, Gay or Lying? Bisexuality Revisited”. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/05/health/straight-gay-or-lying-bisexuality-revisited.html
Denizet-Lewis, Benoit (2014-03-20). The scientific quest to prove bisexuality exists. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/23/magazine/the-scientific-quest-to-prove-bisexuality-exists.html
Mick, Hayley (January 5, 2010). Female desire more complicated. The Globe and Mail https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health-and-fitness/health/conditions/study-female-desire-more-complicated/article572656/
Bergner, Daniel (2009, Jan. 25). What do women want?The New York Times Magazine, p. 28. https://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/25/magazine/25desire-t.html
McIlroy, Anne (February 27, 2009). Hot and bothered.The Globe and Mail https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/hot-and-bothered/article714183/
Amy E. Sousa is an American anti-transgender extremist. Sousa is an unlicensed therapist, according to self-reports. Do not go to Sousa for therapy of any kind.
A search for Sousa’s therapy license in the State of Washington database did not show any results in 2023.
Background
Amy Elizabeth Sousa was born February 26, 1976. Sousa earned a bachelor’s degree from New York University and a master’s degree from Pacifica Graduate Institute. After living in New York for 15 years, Sousa moved to Port Townsend, Washington in 2009. Sousa was formerly involved in Key City Public Theatre. Sousa as also been involved in Sootsprites Productions and has volunteered for the local film festival.
“My activism has included organizing multiple protests: Against Biden’s EO in Washington DC, against the UN in New York City, against swimmer Lia Thomas at the NCAA championships in Atlanta, against child gender clinics in Seattle, free speech events, speaking at state legislature in defense of women/girl’s sports and in defense of single sex prisons for women, as well as speaking at school board meetings to protect kids from indoctrination by sex denying curriculum.”
When Sousa’s friend Julie Jaman was permanently banned from the local YMCA pool following an anti-trans encounter in 2022, Sousa organized those protests as well.
Sousa has been involved in additional protests against Marci Bowers and others who provide gender affirming care.
RevFoXX
Sousa is a member of anti-transgender group RevFoXX (“Reality Encompassed Values” for XX). They claim they are “advocating for the safeguarding of women & children, observing objective reality in solidarity, and countering the narrative of the gender lobby in the United States.” Members include:
Diana Fleischman is a Brazilian-American evolutionary psychologist and anti-transgender activist. Anti-trans activism is a family business; Fleischman’s spouse Geoffrey Miller also holds harmful views about sex and gender minorities.
Background
Diana Santos Fleischman was born in São Paulo, Brazil and grew up in the United States. Fleischman earned a bachelor’s degree from Oglethorpe University. Under advisor David Buss, Fleischman earned a doctorate from the University of Texas at Austin 2009, then did postdoctorate work at UNC Chapel Hill.
In addition to evolutionary psychology, Fleischman is also a proponent of effective altruism, a philanthropic movement with a disproportionate number of anti-trans activists. The movement is best exemplified by cryptocurrency scammer Sam Bankman-Fried.
Fleischman is also a proponent of various aspects of eugenics, including polygenic embryo screening. Fleischman characterizes this as an aspect of transhumanism.
Fleischman and Geoffrey Miller married in 2019 and have one child.
Sex segregationism
Fleischman’s life’s work is shoring up the idea of a sex binary in humans. In a 2021 online course on “sex differences,” the syllabus included most of the key sex segregationists in academia.
The Distance Between Mars and Venus: Measuring Global Sex Differences in Personality with Tom Booth and Paul Irwing
Sex Differences in Brain and Behavior: Eight Counterpoints with David A. Puts, David C. Geary, and David P. Schmitt
Peter Fitzgerald
Biological sex differences relevant to mental health with Timothy G. Dinan
Diana Fleischman:
“Most people miss this reason women don’t want casual sex”
(2014). Women’s disgust adaptations. In Weekes-Shackelford VA, & Shackelford TK (Eds.), Evolutionary perspectives on human sexual psychology and behavior
David C. Geary
The Gender-Equality Paradox in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Education. with Gijsbert Stoet
Sex Differences in Children’s Play
Sex differences in social development from Male, Female by David Geary
Sex Differences in Brain and Behavior: Eight Counterpoints – Marco Del Giudice, David A. Puts, David C. Geary, and David P. Schmitt
His Standards or Hers? How Men and Women Define Success
Matt Ridley
Red Queen hypothesis in The Red Queen
Stuart Ritchie
Cordelia Fine’s “Testosterone Rex” — A Review
David P. Schmitt
Would you agree to sex with a total stranger?
The Truth about Sex Differences
Sex Differences in Brain and Behavior: Eight Counterpoints – Marco Del Giudice, David A. Puts, David C. Geary, and David P. Schmitt
Aurora Sola
The science of sex differences is nothing for feminists to be afraid of
Steve Stewart-Williams
Men women and STEM with Lewis G Halsey
Larry Summers
President Summers’ Remarks at the National Bureau of Economic Research, Jan. 14 2005
Bo Winegard
The Myth of Pervasive Misogyny with Corey Clark
Unlike most of these people, Fleischman at least mentions a few people who disagree with this ideology, most notably Cordelia Fine, Daphna Joel, and Gina Rippon.
Anti-LGBT activism
Fleischman is associated with Aporia, formerly known as Ideas Sleep Furiously. Matthew Archer helped found it in 2021. In 2023 Bo Winegard joined after a long run as a Quillette contributor, and Fleischman became a podcast host.
Fleischman appeared with Louise Perry to discuss sex robots.
Mike Abrams is an American evolutionary psychologist who authored a college textbook which catalogs a number of “disorders” about sex and gender minorities.
Note: for the American journalist involved in the New York Times’ anti-trans coverage crisis in the 2020s, see Mike Abrams.
Background
Abrams is a Supervisor, Fellow and Diplomate of the Albert Ellis Institute.
Abrams and spouse Lidia Dengelegi Abrams (born October 1960) both practice at Psychology for New Jersey.
Transgender
In 2016, he mourned the firing of anti-transgender activist Kenneth Zucker:
“The accomplished researcher & clinician in transgender studies Ken Zucker was lost to false accusations of conversion therapy. Very sad.”
Jonathan Haidt is an American psychologist and anti-transgender activist.
In 2015 Haidt co-founded Heterodox Academy to promote “intellectual diversity” and challenge “enforced orthodoxies” in academia. These are buzzwords for people who want academic freedom without academic responsibility or accountability. The organization and its conference are popular among anti-transgender activists.
Background
Jonathan David Haidt was born October 19, 1963 in New York City and grew up in Scarsdale, New York.
Haidt earned a bachelor’s degree from Yale University in 1985, then attended University of Pennsylvania, earning a master’s degree in 1988 and a doctorate in 1992. Following postdoctoral work and time working in India, Haidt took an appointment at University of Virginia in 1995. While there, Haidt published several works on positive psychology and moral psychology.
Haidt and spouse Jayne K. Riew (born 1971) have two children, Max and Francesca.
Lukianoff, Greg; Haidt, Jonathan (2019). The Coddling of the American Mind How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure. Penguin, ISBN 9780735224919
Much of Berenbaum’s work is involved in shoring up the concept of “sex differences.”
Background
Sheri Ann Berenbaum was born on May 1, 1950.
Berenbaum earned a bachelor’s degree from The City College of New York, followed by a doctorate from the notoriously transphobic and conservative psychology department at University of California, Berkeley in 1977. Berenbaum’s dissertation focused on maintaining sex segregation. Berenbaum did a postdoctoral fellowship in behavioral genetics at University of Minnesota.
Berenbaum then taught at University of Health Sciences / Chicago Medical School. Berenbaum was affiliated with Southern Illinois University prior to joining PennState in 2001. Chicago Medical School
Much of Berenbaum’s work is about hormones and behavior and has been cited as a reason to force adolescents through unwanted puberty.
Anti-transgender activism
Some researchers, such as Kenneth J. Zucker, PhD, a psychologist and the head of the child and adolescent gender identity clinic at Toronto’s Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, applaud Reiner’s study for renewing interest in the biological determinants of gender and calling into question the notion of some that gender identity is mainly socially constructed and determined by socialization.
That’s not to say, however, that socialization isn’t still a major or important factor, Zucker emphasizes. “The debate is still up in the air because there are other centers who have studied kids with the same diagnosis, and the rate of changeover from female to male is nowhere near what Reiner is reporting,” he explains. “It must be something about their social experience that is accounting for this difference.”
Contradictory evidence
Backing Zucker’s belief that socialization still plays a major role–and biology is only part of the story–is research by Sheri Berenbaum, PhD, a psychologist at Pennsylvania State University, and J. Michael Bailey, PhD, a psychologist at Northwestern University.
Berenbaum was quoted by Megan Twohey and Christina Jewett in their 2022 New York Times piece on puberty blockers for gender diverse youth. That fearmongering piece came out amid the Times’ transphobic coverage crisis on the 2020s.
References
Bailey JM, Bechtold KT, Berenbaum SA (2002). Who are tomboys and why should we study them? Archives of Sexual Behavior10.1023/A:1016272209463
Berenbaum SA, “Beyond Pink and Blue: The Complexity of Early Androgen Effects on Gender Development,” Child Development Perspectives 12, no. 1 (2018): 58.
Berenbaum SA, Bailey JM (2003). Effects on gender identity of prenatal androgens and genital appearance: evidence from girls with congenital adrenal hyperplasia. The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, Volume 88, Issue 3, 1102–1106, https://doi.org/10.1210/jc.2002-020782
Berenbaum SA (1999). Effects of Early Androgens on Sex-Typed Activities and Interests in Adolescents with Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia. Hormones and Behavior Volume 35, Issue 1, February 1999, Pages 102-110
Chen, D. et al. (2020). Consensus Parameter: Research methodologies to evaluate neurodevelopmental effects of pubertal suppression in transgender youth. Transgender Health, 5, 246-257.
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
