After a barrage of national media attention, a constant stream of Internet invectives and a formal Northwestern investigation into his research on transsexuals, is psychology Prof. J. Michael Bailey ready for even more attention?
"I'm not sick of it, I'm relishing it," Bailey said.
That's because after four years of controversy, he's getting public support for what he's been saying all along: He did nothing wrong. NU ethics scholar Alice Dreger spent a year writing a report released this summer that concluded Bailey did nothing unethical in researching his 2003 book "The Man Who Would Be Queen."
In addition, the report charges that Bailey's critics, led by transsexual activists Lynn Conway, Andrea James and Deirdre McCloskey, conducted a smear campaign to "ruin" Bailey personally and professionally.
Dreger, a visiting associate professor in NU's Medical Humanities and Bioethics program and former president of Intersex Society of North America, said the excessive backlash against Bailey's work motivated her to research and write the lengthy report, titled "The Controversy Surrounding 'The Man Who Would Be Queen.' "
"I'm led by what I find to be true, not what I find to be popular," Dreger said. "I didn't say it because I wanted to be marshal of the queer rights parade."
Two transsexuals featured in Bailey's book - a woman identified as "Juanita" and Anjelica Kieltyka, who was referred to as "Cher" in the book - alleged that Bailey wrote about them without their consent. Juanita also claimed he had sexual relations with her while researching the book.
Dreger concluded that the subjects were aware of their role in the book and had even read drafts of it before publication. A university committee investigated Bailey on these charges, and though it never released its results, the members didn't formally reprimand him.
In her report, Dreger also asserted that Bailey's transsexual opponents tried to discredit him because they disagreed with his basic findings.
Bailey's book states that male-to-female transsexuals fall into one of two categories: "homosexual transsexuals," naturally feminine men attracted to men, or "autogynephilic transsexuals," men who are aroused by the fantasy of having a woman's body. Bailey rejects the belief that self-identified transwomen are simply "women trapped in men's bodies."
The report details efforts by Conway, James and McCloskey to get Bailey's book pulled from consideration for a lesbian, gay, bisexual transgender literature award and have the professor investigated by the Illinois Department of Professional Regulation for allegedly practicing psychology without a license.
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Viewing Comments 1 - 10 of 77
Prof. M. Italiano
posted 10/19/07 @ 10:09 AM CST
Dear Ms. Sumadi,
I read your article with interest. I am unaware that Alice Dreger was ever president of the Intersex Society of North America. I believe that this may be incorrect reporting on your part. (Continued…)
Willow
Willow Arune
posted 10/19/07 @ 10:54 AM CST
Regarding the comments quoted from Dr. Conway in this article, I find them to be false and misleading. Most of the material on her web site and that of Andrea James regarding the Bailey book share this fault. (Continued…)
Willow Arune
posted 10/19/07 @ 12:11 PM CST
A further note...
Reference is made to attacks mounted against Bailey *prior* to publication of his book. Conway now states she had read an article by Bailey and hence knew was the book would be about before attacking it:
"For example, the report contends that Bailey's opponents organized against him before reading his book. (Continued…)
Boo
posted 10/19/07 @ 2:51 PM CST
This article serves as an unintentionally good example of the way Bailey resorts to media manipulation instead of data to promote his "science." The title alone reveals the writer's bias by implying that Dreger's article was some kind of official "report" that could "clear" Bailey. (Continued…)
Brett Janecek
posted 10/19/07 @ 4:29 PM CST
I met this guy at SideTrak's.
Lisanne Anderson
posted 10/19/07 @ 8:07 PM CST
The book in question was released for publication four years ago. In the usual course of events it would have been mostly forgotten by now. However, a group of transsexual activists decided upon a course of public harassment of it's author. (Continued…)
Rupunzell
posted 10/19/07 @ 10:59 PM CST
Bailey's book is NOT science in anyway. If this book in the form it was written were ever published in any real scientific journal, it would be considered fiction at best. (Continued…)
Leah Peters
posted 10/20/07 @ 1:12 AM CST
Willow Arune, Lisanne Anderson and Alice Dreger are confused. They don't seem to know what Bailey is saying. He is saying ALL MtF transsexuals are men. (Continued…)
Leah Peters
posted 10/20/07 @ 2:00 AM CST
Willow I have read it. I read it back when it came out. You're missing the point. Her defense of him is read as an agreement with his ideas EVEN if she didn't say so. (Continued…)
Leah Peters
posted 10/20/07 @ 2:39 AM CST
Lisanne said:"2- Bailey, just as any other sane person, believes that transsexuals are born men but desire to become women. He respects that desire and the commitment to making it as close to an actuality as is currently possible. (Continued…)
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