Amy Beth Bloom (born June 18, 1953) is an American author, producer, and therapist. She is author of the 2002 nonfiction book Normal: Transsexual CEOs, Cross-dressing Cops, and Hermaphrodites with Attitude.
Background
Bloom’s mother Sydelle was a psychotherapist and writer. Her father Murray was an author of books and magazine articles.
Bloom earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Theater/Political Science from Wesleyan University in 1975 and her Masters Degree in Social Work from Smith College in 1978.
She has authored several fiction books and was creator of the 2007 television drama State of Mind.
Normal (2002)
The book is expanded from her April 2002 Atlantic Monthly article “Conservative Men in Conservative Dresses.” Bloom has several points of contact with the community.
- A Dignity Cruise to Catalina Island
- The Fall Harvest 2000 gender convention in St. Louis
- Tri-Ess leaders Jane Ellen and Mary Francis Fairfax
She quotes psychologist Ray Blanchard, who says: “They emulate the women they want to be – some kind of confusion between attraction to a sexual object and being the object.” When Bloom mentioned that she’s been told that crossdressing is relaxing for its practitioners, Blanchard was quick to shut that down:
‘Of course it’s not relaxing,’ Blanchard says, with some heat. ‘Heels and makeup and a wig and a corset? It’s preposterous. Even women don’t find that relaxing. Relaxing is a pair of sweatpants, clothing that doesn’t even feel like clothing. Cross-dressers want to normalize this, to have it seen as relaxation and self-expression.’
Bloom seems to agree:
Crossdressers wear their fetish, and the gleam in their eyes, however muted by time or habit, the unmistakable presence of a lust being satisfied or a desire being fulfilled in that moment, in your presence, even by your presence, is unnerving. The mix of the crossdressers’ own arousal and anxiety and our responsive anxiety and discomfort is more than most of us can bear.
Bloom concludes of the crossdressers she met:
There is no innate grasp of female friendship, of the female insistence on relatedness, of the female tradition of support and accommodation for one’s partner and of giving precedence to the relationship overall.
Nancy Nangeroni complained in an open letter to The Atlantic that the piece was a “glib caricature.” J. Michael Bailey recommended it in his book The Man Who Would Be Queen because it “angered many autogynephiles.”
References
Bloom, Amy (2002) Conservative Men in Conservative Dresses. The Atlantic; April 2002, Vol. 289 Issue 4, p. 94.
Nangeroni, Nancy (April 15, 2002). An open letter to the editor of The Atlantic Monthly. https://www.gendertalk.com/open-letter-bloom/
Bloom, Amy (2002). Normal: Transsexual CEOs, Cross-dressing Cops, and Hermaphrodites with Attitude. Random House ISBN-13: 978-0679456520
Staff report (May 1, 1977). Amy Bloom Fiancee Of Dr. James D. Moon. New York Times.
Staff report (September 16, 2007). Amy Bloom and Brian Ameche. New York Times.
Resources
Amy Bloom (amybloom.com)
IMDb (imdb.com)
David L. Wheeler is an American journalist. He covered psychologist J. Michael Bailey‘s hereditarian views about sexual orientation in the Chronicle of Higher Education.
Background
Wheeler earned a bachelor’s degree in English and Psychology from University of Massachusetts Boston in 1978 and a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University in 1980. He contributed to the Chronicle of Higher Education before becoming International Editor in 2000 and Managing Editor of the Global Chronicle in 2006. He was named Editor of Al Fanar Media in 2012 and has been based in London.
Resources
Alexandria Trust (alexandriatrust.org)
Media Matters for America (MMFA) is an American media watchdog organization that monitors and reports on media issues.
Resources
Media Matters for America (mediamatters.org)
Columbia Journalism Review (CJR) is an American media watchdog organization that monitors and reports on media issues.
Transgender topics
CJR has published a number of pieces involving opinion, criticism, and analysis of transgender coverage in the media, like this piece from Alexandria Neason:
Controversial stories like Jesse Singal’s cover story for The Atlantic, on how parents of transgender teens approach their desire to personally or medically transition, come to mind. The story was fact checked, but according to many readers, journalists, and activists in the trans community, was transphobic—and all wrong. The difference between fact and truth is yet another example of why newsrooms, and publishing houses, desperately need to invest in employing and representing diverse writers, editors, agents, and fact checkers alike.
References
Neason, Alexandria (January 25, 2019). The perils of publishing without a fact-checking net. Columbia Journalism Review https://www.cjr.org/analysis/journalism-book-fact-checking-jill-abramson.php
Resources
Columbia Journalism Review (cjr.org)
SourceWatch is an American media watchdog organization that monitors and reports on media issues.
Resources
SourceWatch (sourcewatch.org)
Media Bias/Fact Check (MB/FC) is an American media watchdog organization that monitors and reports on media issues.
Owner Dave Van Zandt divides organizations based on non-scientific criteria into five political categories:
- Left
- Left-Center
- Least Biased
- Right-Center
- Right
Other categories include:
- Pro-Science
- Conspiracy-Pseudoscience
- Questionable Sources
- Satire
- Retired/Offline
He also rates organizations based on six Factual/Sourcing scores:
- Very High
- High
- Mostly Factual
- Mixed
- Low
- Very low
Resources
Media Bias/Fact Check (mediabiasfactcheck.com)
On the Media is an American media watchdog audio program that monitors and reports on media issues.
Their coverage of transgender topics in the media has been minimal.
Resources
On the Media (wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm)
Health On the Net is a Swiss media watchdog organization that monitors and reports on media issues related to health. Their HONcode rating system certifies sites which HON determines are “reliable, transparent and ethical health information.”
Resources
HONCode (hon.ch/HONcode)
Pew Research Center project on Journalism & Media is an American media watchdog organization that monitors and reports on media issues. Previously called the Project for Excellence in Journalism (PEJ).
Resources
Pew Research Center: Journalism & Media (journalism.org)
Media Research Center (MRC) is a conservative American media watchdog organization that monitors and reports on media issues.
MRC states their goal is “to expose and neutralize the propaganda arm of the Left: the national news media.”
Their transgender coverage is overwhelmingly gender-critical.
Resources
Media Research Center (mrc.org)
Twitter (twitter.com)