The International Academy of Sex Research (IASR) is a trade group responsible for promoting a multitude of unethical theories and practices affecting sex and gender minorities, most notably “reparative therapy” of gay and gender diverse children. Since 1971, their journal Archives of Sexual Behavior has been the house organ for people associated with sexual orientation and gender identity change efforts.
History
The organization is been infested with people formerly connected with CAMH, including Kenneth J. Zucker as Secretary-Treasurer, who was replaced by J. Michael Bailey in 2001. Zucker moved on to be editor of the Archives of Sexual Behavior, the official journal of the International Academy of Sex Research. Managing Editor Laurel L. Johnson was also from CAMH.
The IASR has plenty of members who don’t buy into disease models of gender identity and expression and want to distance themselves from Zucker. Famed researcher Milton Diamond resigned from the Archives of Sexual Behavior Editorial Board.
2003 conference
Trans activists staged protest events at the IASR conference following the publication of J. Michael Bailey’s transphobic book The Man Who Would Be Queen. Book subject Anjelica Kieltyka brought flyers and spoke to people in attendance.
The IASR 2003 Conference was held at Indiana University Bloomington July 16-19, during the 50th anniversary of the Kinsey Institute.
The abstracts for all the rest of the papers were available prior to the conference except Bailey’s, which simply said “To be written.” Later, the brief blurb below appeared five days after the conference:
IDENTITY POLITICS AS A HINDRANCE TO SCIENTIFIC TRUTH
Bailey, J. M., Department of Psychology, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208 USA (email: jm-baileyatnorthwestern.edu)
My book, The Man Who Would Be Queen, has provoked a furious reaction among a subgroup of transsexual women. I will discuss the science behind the transsexualism section of the book and detail the controversy that has occurred. I will also speculate about why these women are so angry. Identity politics is a serious threat to research on groups and individuals with important beliefs or self-presentational biases that conflict with scientific hypotheses.
2023 “ROGD” investigation
Meredith Chivers was named President of IASR in 2023. She opened an investigation into the publication of J. Michael Bailey’s questionable 2023 paper on “rapid-onset gender dysphoria” (ROGD).
- 1/Dear IASR members, In the interest of transparency, we want to communicate to the Membership about recent concerns regarding a publication in our official journal, the Archives of Sexual Behavior. On March 29th, the journal published an article authored by …
- 2/…Suzanna Diaz & J. Michael Bailey entitled, “Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria: Parent Reports on 1655 Possible Cases.” Since its publication, significant concerns about the ethical conduct and integrity of the editorial process have been raised about this study, by both…
- 3/…members and nonmembers of the Academy, including Editorial Board members. The IASR recognizes the sensitivity and controversy of the study topic, and we deeply value ethical and scientific integrity. (…)
- 4/ While the Archives of Sexual Behavior has editorial independence and IASR is not involved in determining what is published in the journal, Archives is our flagship journal. The IASR Executive is currently learning more about this matter, consulting with both …
- 5/…the Archives of Sexual Behavior’s Editor and our publisher Springer Nature, and will update the membership appropriately. Kind regards, The IASR Executive Committee
On May 5, hundreds of professionals, including academics and researchers who had published in Archives of Sexual Behavior, signed an open letter saying “we will no longer submit to the journal, act as peer reviewers, or serve in an editorial capacity until Dr Zucker is replaced with an editor who has a demonstrated record of integrity on LGBTQ+ matters and, especially, trans matters.”
References
See the references and notes page
Resources
IASR (iasrsite.org)
- iasr.org (2002–2016) [archive]
Twitter (twitter.com)
Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)