Barbara Kline Pope is an American marketing executive responsible for publishing one of the most transphobic books ever written, The Man Who Would Be Queen by J. Michael Bailey.
Background
Pope was born on October 27, 1959 and grew up in York, Pennsylvania. Pope earned a bachelor’s degree from Indiana University of Pennsylvania in 1981 and a master’s degree from University of Maryland in 1990.
Pope held various marketing positions at the National Academies from 1983 until 2017, then was appointed Director of Johns Hopkins University Press.
Pope’s spouse Andrew M. “Andy” Pope (born 19500 has also worked at the National Academies, serving as Director of the Board on Health Sciences Policy and at the Institute of Medicine. They have adult children.
The Man Who Would Be Queen (2003)
In 2003 Pope was Executive Director of the National Academies Press (NAP) in Washington, DC. During the controversy, Pope was also named Executive Director of Communications, a post formerly held by Suzanne Woolsey.
Pope was responsible for training and direction of professional managers in all areas of publishing, including their trade arm Joseph Henry Press. Pope’s employees, editor Stephen Mautner and publicist Robin Pinnel, were key contributors in the decisions about editing, fact-checking, and promoting Bailey’s book. Pope’s major focus is marketing:
“Branding, marketing research, derivative products, and reputation management occupy her time as executive director of communications. She has studied consumer behavior and her published work examines business models for the digital publishing arena and the use of information sources among organizational buyers.”
Pope (2004)
Pope’s enthusiasm for generating revenue came at the expense of scientific integrity and basic editorial standards expected of an academic press.
The book Pope published has been widely condemned as a eugenic screed against sex and gender minorities. In it, author J. Michael Bailey claims that transgender women are really men who are “especially well-suited to prostitution” (page 185). Bailey also presents a case report of a child named “Danny Ryan” who was allegedly cured of being transgender. Pope and Mautner did not bother to confirm if this child actually exists. The book they put out helped the author get tenure.
When marketing trumps science and academic rigor
Pope wrote a widely-cited article on NAP’s successes in The Journal of Electronic Publishing. In it, she tells why the National Academy decided to give away its intellectual property, what happened, and why she thinks others might do the same.
Pope has also worked with The Oxford Publicity Partnership, a marketing service specially designed for nonfiction publishers and specialty presses. It is not clear if OPP is involved in the marketing of the Bailey book in the US or abroad.
Despite the outpouring of concern about Pope’s decision to market the Bailey book, NAP and Joseph Henry Press have made no efforts to rectify this decision. Pope has never made any public statements about the book or her responsibility.
Lynn Conway’s 2004 encounter with Pope
American engineer Lynn Conway is a member of the National Academy of Engineering and a prominent critic of the transphobic book Pope published. In 2004, Conway happened to be at National Academies headquarters for a meeting, where she spoke directly with Pope about the harm Pope’s work had caused to a vulnerable population. Conway’s report appears below.
The Silent Treatment Continues at the National Academies:
Report on encounters at the National Academies Press, July 22, 2004.
Copyright Ā© 2004, by Lynn Conway
On Thursday, July 22, 2004, I was in Washington, D.C. to participate in a meeting of one of the National Academiesā boards [the U.S. Air Force Science and Technology Board] of which I am a member.
The meeting was held in the Academiesā new Keck office building at 500 Fifth Street, NW. The Keck Building is a large metal and glass building with a security-guarded entrance. Itās one of those places in D.C. where visitors are screened and can only get in if they are cleared for entry.
That morning the idea crossed my mind that since I was already in the building that day, it would be interesting to introduce myself, at least informally, to the National Academies Press (NAP)/Joseph Henry Press (JHP) staff.
As an elected Academy member Iād often taken advantage of meeting breaks to interact opportunistically with Academy staff. In this case, I hoped to introduce myself to the NAP/JHP staff members responsible for editing, publishing and overseeing the promotion of The Man Who Would Be Queen: The Science of Gender-Bending and Transsexualism, a book by Northwestern University psychologist J. Michael Bailey.
Since the publication of that book in early 2003, it has been widely condemned. By now those staff members must certainly be aware of the awful impact its publication has had on the trans community. After all, the author was by now widely discredited in the court of public opinion for his sloppy science and defamatory caricatures of trans women.
However, up to now Academy leadership and NAP/JHP staff had stonewalled the community, giving us the āsilent treatmentā by never responding directly to our many complaints and requests to meet with them. It was as if we were invisible as they dismissed us as apparently powerless, friendless and of little consequence to them.
I thought to myself, āThe Academy folks must sense that they should reach out to us a bit and try to build some bridges with the trans community if they are to have any hope of saving face as Bailey and his supporters go down in infamy…ā
With that thought in mind, I walked out to the lobby area during the morning break and asked the receptionist for office locations for Stephen Mautner (Executive Editor of the JHP) and Robin Pinnel (publicist for the Bailey book). She looked up the room numbers for me, and I went upstairs to see if they were in.
The NAP offices are on the third floor of the building, which is also the ground floor of a big multi-story atrium that runs up through the middle of the building. The architecture is consistent with the antiseptic style of the remainder of the building Ā spare and colorless, and yet somewhat pretentious in its visual display of bright metal and glass. As in the rest of the building few people are seen moving about. Itās very quiet everywhere there, and seems as if most staff members are simply ānot inā on any given day.
I walked through the atrium and wandered on into the NAP area. The offices were very nice and many had wonderful outside views. However, even here almost no one seemed to ābe inā except for an administrative assistant down at one end of the hall.
I wandered the NAP corridor for a while, looking for Stephen Mautnerās office. I found a sign for Joseph Henry Press on the wall, marking off the offices for this function of the National Academy Press. Mautnerās office was there, but he wasnāt in.
Just then the assistant to the NAPās director, a very pleasant lady named Olive Schwarzschild, walked up to me and asked if I needed any assistance.
I introduced myself, and said I was on a break from a board meeting and thought Iād check to see if Stephen Mautner and Robin Pinnel were in. I mentioned that they were involved in publishing a book that I was interested in Āand that Iād hoped to briefly introduce myself to them and say hi while I was here.
Olive seemed nicely surprised by having an elected member of the National Academies stop in at the NAP offices, and she went out of her way to be very polite and helpful. She checked her notes and said that Mautner was away that day but that maybe Robin Pinnel would be in. She called over to Ms. Pinnelās office (which apparently was in another section of the floor), but it turned out that Pinnel wasnāt in at work that morning either.
While standing by Oliveās desk I noticed out of the corner of my eye a well-dressed middle-aged woman seated at a desk in the large nearby corner office. She was looking at me and listening to what I was saying. I turned my head slightly and read the name on the outside office wall. It was the office of Barbara Kline Pope, the Director of the NAP.
I mentioned to Olive that although Mr. Mautner and Ms. Pinnel werenāt in, it would be nice to be able to briefly introduce myself to Ms. Pope while I was there. I said it just loudly enough for Ms. Pope to hear me, hoping that sheād acknowledge my presence and weād get a chance to introduce ourselves.
Just then, Ms. Pope picked up the phone and called someone. It was 10:45 am.
Olive asked if Iād like to sit down somewhere to wait for a few minutes, but I said āno, thatās OK, Iāll just hang out here in hopes of having a couple of minutes to meet Barbara.ā Olive assured me that Ms. Pope knew that I was there, saying that she had mentioned to her who I was shortly after Iād first introduced myself.
I stood outside Ms. Popeās office and waited – and waited.
Suddenly, a little after 11:00, Ms. Pope hung up the phone, walked towards the office door and, without looking at me, said quite loudly to Olive āI have a meeting at 11:00.ā
This seemed odd to me, because Olive apparently didnāt know about any meeting, and there was no one else waiting outside Ms. Popeās office (plus, as things would turn out, Ms. Pope didnāt leave the area after I had left nor did any other visitors enter the areaā¦).
Anyways, by now Ms. Pope was standing in the middle of the office a few yards away from me, and she started to turn back towards her desk.
I turned towards the office door and said āHi Barbara, Iām Lynn Conwayā.
Ms. Pope turned back slightly towards me, but was silent.
I then said, āIād like to introduce myselfā¦ā
Thinking that she would at least briefly invite me into her office, I started to bring my right hand up to invite a friendly handshake.
However, she cut me short by saying āI know who you are!ā in a rather firm tone and with heavy emphasis on the āyouā. This response stunned me, since Iād never met or communicated with her, but had only criticized one of the books she had published.
I then said in as nice and calm a voice as possible: āIām in a board meeting here and thought Iād stop by and see if Stephen and Robin were here ĀI thought it might be helpful to put names on faces so weād all feel we knew each other a bit better, and itās nice to have this chance to see you while Iām here, tooā.
Ms. Pope was expressionless and silent, and made no move whatsoever to greet me or respond to me, much less invite me into her office. This was a long and awkward silence.
At this point I decided to shift gears and ask some questions while I had Ms. Popeās attention. After all, sheād set the tone for the interaction by her odd refusal to acknowledge my initial gesture of openness towards her.
āYou are aware of what a horror you folks have caused out there?ā I asked, as politely and calmly as possible.
āWeāve learned a lotā, Ms. Pope responded rather quickly, blankly and off-handedly.
āThen why are you continuing to so heavily promote Baileyās book?ā I asked.
āBecause we have a responsibility to the author!ā she asserted very strongly.
I was absolutely stunned by this response, and stood silent for a while.
Recalling the Southern Poverty Law Centerās expose of the violence against young trans women in D.C. and the role of hate science in fueling such violence, I asked her:
āBut didnāt you feel any responsibility towards a very large, endangered community?ā
This led to another, very awkward silence.
Ms. Pope stared blankly at me for quite a while, clearly not knowing what to say Āand possibly oblivious to what I was even referring to.
I didnāt know what to say to break the silence either.
Sensing that the interaction was over, I simply said, āWell, good luck to you.ā
She then turned away. The interaction was over.
Olive had been right there during all this, and seemed quite taken aback that Ms. Pope had not greeted me, had not shaken my hand and had acted so strangely during the interaction. I felt sorry about Olive being put in this unexpected position, especially since sheād been so polite and welcoming to me as a member of the Academies.
Not wanting Olive to think that she had somehow done something wrong, I mentioned to her that the NAP/JHP had published a book that is causing lots of angst in an endangered social community, and that was probably why Ms. Pope was uncomfortable, i.e., that Ms. Pope was likely feeling a bit on the defensive about that book. Olive didnāt appear to have heard of the controversy, but now sensed Ms. Popeās uneasiness was simply due to some kind of ideological problem with a publication, and I think this made her feel better. I thanked her for her help and left the NAP office area.
Although I was running late returning from my board-meeting break, I took my time heading back through the atrium towards the elevators. Sitting down in the cafeteria, I jotted down key details of these interactions while they were fresh in my mind.
Meanwhile, I kept an eye out for possible visitors going into the NAP office area to meet with Ms. Pope. No one went into that area while I was sitting there, and at around 11:25 I headed back downstairs to the board meeting.
And so the āsilent treatmentā continues at the National Academiesā¦
Lynn Conway
September 19, 2004
References
Pope BK (2004). Conference biography. http://www.rhsmith.umd.edu/netconference/chairs.html [archive]
Pope BK (1999). How to Succeed in Online Markets: National Academy Press: A Case Study. Journal of Online Publishing, 4;4 (May 1999). https://doi.org/10.3998/3336451.0004.408
Bailey JM (2003). KOOP radio interview.Ā http://www.donnarose.com/JMBInterview.html [archive]
Bailey JM (1999). Homosexuality and mental illness. Archives of General Psychiatry, 1999 Oct;56(10):883-4.Ā https://doi.org/10.1001/archpsyc.56.10.883
Bailey JM (2003). The Man Who Would Be Queen: The Science of Gender-Bending and Transsexualism. Joseph Henry Press.Ā ISBN 978-0309084185
http://www.nap.edu/books/0309084180/html/ [archive]
Resources
LinkedIn (linkedin.com)