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Academics, Transsexuals Try to Ruin Psychology Prof Over Book on Transsexualism

Vehemently object to book's explanation that transsexual desires based on "idea of being a woman"

By Elizabeth O'Brien

EVANSTON, Illinois, August 22, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Academics and transsexual activists turned on a psychology professor after he published a highly controversial explanation that transsexual desires are eroticism based on the "idea of being a woman".

In his book "The Man Who Would be Queen," Professor J. Michael Bailey of Northwestern University explained that a man's desire to be a woman is based on a sexual desire called "autogynephilia," which he describes as "sexual arousal at the idea of being a woman." He also explained that the term "women trapped in men's bodies" is a misleading way of explaining the condition.

Transsexual activist Lynn Conway launched a protest against the book, saying, "This book will in time be viewed as very analogous to the Nazi propaganda films about Jews in WWII." Clearly indicating the real objections that transsexuals have to Bailey's ideas, she said, "It paints transsexual women as deviant, bizarre, pitiful figures and never shows the diverse reality of our true lives."

The Lambda Literary Foundation, an organization that promotes homosexual and transgender literature, rescinded its previous award of the book and called the work "transphobic."

Dr. Bailey referred to the two years following the controversy's outbreak as the "hardest of my life." Not only was his book torn apart as discriminatory, but he was also personally accused of sexual misconduct, conducting research without informing the objects of his study and practicing psychology without a license.

Dr. Alice Dreger, an advocate for transsexuals and scholar at Northwestern, who assumed Bailey was guilty until she viewed the actual facts, argued his essential innocence and stated, "The bottom line is that they tried to ruin this guy, and they almost succeeded."

Referring to the bitter controversy surrounding the work, Bailey stated on his website "Although the critics have produced a litany of alleged sins, their main complaint is something that I actually do write, and believe."

Bailey, who himself says on his website that there is nothing bad about "autogynephilia," pointed out the heart of the controversy, saying, "The idea that non-homosexual transsexuals are motivated by autogynephilia is the main sore spot for the transsexual critics of my book."

Commenting on the situation, Dreger stated, "What happened to Bailey is important, because the harassment was so extraordinarily bad and because it could happen to any researcher in the field."

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