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Maxine E. Petersen-Lee is a Canadian psychologist and prominent supporter of disease models of gender identity and expression. Petersen is transgender and is best known for being quoted by J. Michael Bailey in The Man Who Would Be Queen saying, “Most gender patients lie.”

Background

Petersen earned a master’s degree from University of Toronto in 1986 with a thesis titled “Male gender dysphoria and criminality.” Petersen then worked at Toronto’s notorious Clarke Institute, making a gender transition in 1991. Petersen worked closely with Ray Blanchard, Betty Steiner, and Robert Dickey at “Jurassic Clarke,” as the facility was known for its regressive views and policies. Petersen was called an “ace clinician” by Bailey. Petersen and spouse had two children before divorcing. Since starting a new relationship, Petersen sometimes uses the surname Petersen-Lee. Petersen has lived in Innisfil, Ontario and participated in motorsports competitions.

Biographer Zagria Cowan outlined just a few of the ways Petersen was involved in gatekeeping:

In 2000, she and Robert Dickey denied Synthia Kavanagh approval for SRS in that, being in prison, she could not do a Real Life Test. In the same year they were quoted in Vivian Namaste’s book defending the requirement that a trans person should do a year’s Real Life Test before starting hormones, and as critical of activists demanding hormones and surgery as a right. In September 2003 Maxine testified at an Ontario Human Rights Tribunal that government funding should be re-instated for SRS. In November 2003 she resigned from HBIGDA X (Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association, now WPATH) when her boss Ray Blanchard did because it criticized Michael Bailey’s book, The Man Who Would Be Queen, 2003, an act which she described as ‘political correctness’. She now lists her name as Maxine Petersen-Lee and offers private counselling.

Resignation from HBIGDA (2003)

Petersen was part of the committee that revised the HBIGDA Standards of Care in 1998. Petersen resigned from the organization when boss Ray Blanchard did.

From: Maxine Petersen
Sent: 11/5/03 8:10 AM
Subject: Letter of Resignation
November 4, 2003

Walter J. Meyer, III., M.D.
President, Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association
Department of Psychiatry
University of Texas Medical Branch
301 University Blvd.
Galveston, TX 77555-0189
USA

Bean Robinson, Ph.D.
Executive Director, Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association
1300 South 2nd St., #180
Minneapolis, MN 55454
USA

Dear Drs. Meyer and Robinson:

I am writing today regarding the letter sent on behalf of the Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association Board of Directors and Officers in response to a letter from a number of transsexual Internet activists who have taken exception to the work of Professor J. Michael Bailey.

As a transwoman and a member of the committee that was responsible for the 1998 revision of the Standards of Care, I am intensely saddened and shocked that the Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association has taken such an irresponsible action. I have worked for more than twenty-one years for the betterment of hundreds of transsexual patients/clients and have consistently supported healthcare funding for sex reassignment surgery in my home province. I have also published a number of papers on the treatment of transsexual individuals.

As recently as September of 2003 I testified against our government at a Provincial Human Rights Tribunal in support of a number of complainants seeking to have funding for sex reassignment surgery restored to our publicly funded Provincial healthcare plan.

The actions of the Board in this matter have tarnished the reputation of the Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association. By failing to grasp the importance of scientific research to be above the political correctness that is so pervasive in our society, you have perhaps unwittingly but clearly sent a signal to other researchers that they “dare not” explore certain areas of research for fear of the same or similar threat to their career. If there has been any breach of ethical standards, it is up to Northwestern University to investigate these allegations, and that is what they are in the process of doing.

I am certain not one of us wants to see the day when politics trumps scientific inquiry. I have noted recently the considerable justifiable concern expressed by scientists in the U.S. about the Federal Government interfering with or even hinting at withdrawal of funding for research in sexology and the chilling effect this appears to have had on researchers. It is ironic that the Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association seems to have taken a page out of the book of the Bush government and done exactly the same thing.

Regrettably, your actions leave me with no option but to resign my membership in the Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association.

Sincerely,

Maxine Petersen, MA, C. Psych. Assoc.
Coordinator, Gender Identity Clinic
Centre for Addiction and Mental Health
Lecturer, University of Toronto,
Faculty of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry

References

Zagria (July 4, 2011). Maxine Petersen (195?–) psychologist. A Gender Variance Who’s Who https://zagria.blogspot.com/2011/07/maxine-petersen-195-psychologist.html

Johnson, Micheline (2017). A History of Trans-People. In A History of Trans, a Canadian Perspective. https://web.ncf.ca/fm120/Trans/History/Chapter_2-Trans-People.pdf

Influx (June 2, 2008). CAMH Support Group, Part 2. I’m In Flux. http://iminflux.blogspot.com/2008/06/camh-support-group-part-2.html

Bailey JM (2003). The Man Who Would Be Queen: the science of gender-bending and transsexualism. Joseph Henry Press ISBN 978-0309084185

Namaste VK (2000). Invisible Lives: The Erasure of Transsexual and Transgendered People. University of Chicago Press, 199-201. ISBN 978-0226568102

Selected publications by Petersen-Lee

Petersen M, Stephens J, Dickey R, Lewis W (1996). Transsexuals within the Prison System: An International Survey of Correctional Services Policies. Behavioral Sciences & the Law, 14:219–229, 1996. https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1099-0798(199621)14:2<219::AID-BSL234>3.0.CO;2-N

Levine SB et al. (1999). The Standards of Care for Gender Identity Disorders. Journal of Psychology & Human Sexuality. Volume 11, 1999 – Issue 2Pages 1-34. https://doi.org/10.1300/J056v11n02_01

Petersen M (1998). Review: FTM: Female-to-Male Transsexuals in Society by Holly Devor. The Canadian Journal of Human Sexuality. Toronto Vol. 7, Iss. 2,  (Summer 1998): 166-169. https://www.proquest.com/openview/e3576898de87bae48504f288d189049e/1

Petersen ME, Dickey R (1995).  Surgical sex reassignment: A comparative survey of International centers. Archives of Sexual Behavior, volume 24, pages135–156 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01541578

[Publications under the name Leonard H. “Len” Clemmensen]

Stermac L, Blanchard R, Clemmensen LH, Dickey R (1991). Group therapy for gender-dysphoric heterosexual men, Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy, 17:4, 252-258. https://doi.org/0.1080/00926239108404349

Blanchard R, Steiner BW, Clemmensen LH (1989). Prediction of Regrets in Postoperative Transsexuals. The Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, February 1, 1989. https://doi.org/10.1177/070674378903400111

Blanchard R, Clemmensen LH (1988) A test of the dsm‐III‐R’S implicit assumption that fetishistic arousal and gender dysphoria are mutually exclusive. The Journal of Sex Research, 25:3, 426 432. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224498809551472

Blanchard R, Clemmensen LH, Steiner BW (1987). Heterosexual and homosexual gender dysphoria. Archives of Sexual Behavior. volume 16, pages139–152. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01542067

Blanchard R, Clemmensen LH, Steiner BW (1985). Social desirability response set and systematic distortion in the self-report of adult male gender patients. Archives of Sexual Behavior 14, 505–516. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01541751

Blanchard R, Steiner BW, Clemmensen LH (1985). Gender dysphoria, gender reorientation, and the clinical management of transsexualism. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 53(3), 295–304. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-006X.53.3.295

Blanchard R, Clemmensen LH, Steiner BW (1983). Gender reorientation and psychosocial adjustment in male-to-female transsexuals. Archives of Sexual Behavior 12, 503–509. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01542212

Clemmensen LH (1990). The “Real Life Test” for Surgical Candidates, in Blanchard R, Steiner BW (eds). Clinical management of gender identity disorders in children and adults (pp. 121-135). ISBN 978-0880481878

Clemmensen LH (1986). Male gender dysphoria and criminality. University of Toronto, Unpublished master’s thesis, 1986.

Blanchard R, Steiner BW, Clemmensen LH (July 1985). Gender Dysphoria, Gender Reorientation, and the Clinical Management of Transsexualism. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 53(3):295-304. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-006X.53.3.295

Blanchard R, Clemmensen LH, Steiner BW (1983). Gender reorientation and psychosocial adjustment in male-to-female transsexuals. Archives of Sexual Behavior 1983 Dec;12(6):503-9. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01542212

Resources

Maxine Petersen-Lee, M.A., C. Psych.

Facebook (facebook.com)

Madeline H. “Maddie” Wyndzen (born 1973) is the pen name of an American psychologist who wrote about gender identity and expression from both professional and personal perspectives between 1997 and 2008. Wyndzen wrote a number of important criticisms of disease models of sex and gender minorities.

Background

In 1997, Wyndzen created an early online gender transition resource on GeoCities called Gender Outside the Lines. The site was moved to the Gender Web domain in 1998. In 2001, Wyndzen changed the name to All Mixed Up and moved it to the domain genderpsychology.org. Wyndzen initially used the name Katherine Heather and Katie, switching to “Madeline H. Wyndzen” in 2004 for professional reasons:

I have found in more and more awkward not to have a last name. For example, in order to cite my essays in APA style, you would start with my last name. That is why I created a pen name, “Madeline H. Wyndzen.” Please use this name in all citations, publications, and correspondence with me. I also feel that separating my real name from this web-site can help me step away from transgender issues while I work on other priorities.

Correspondences http://www.genderpsychology.org/identity/mail.html

Comments on Ray Blanchard’s taxonomy

In 2003, Wyndzen published one of the first scientific critiques of the disputed diagnosis “autogynephilia” created in 1989 by Ray Blanchard. Blanchard’s ideas had just been popularized by J. Michael Bailey in the book The Man Who Would Be Queen and on Anne Lawrence’s website. Wyndzen mailed the following notification of the new website material on 13 May 2003:

Scientific critique of autogynephilia & psychopathology model of transsexualism

Hi Everyone,

Ray Blanchard’s Mis-Directed Sex-Drive model of transsexuality, including the controversial notion of autogynephilia, has received a great deal of attention recently. It has had a remarkable amount of success in pervading both general audience and professional medium: Anne Lawrence and J. Michael Bailey each wrote popular accounts, the DSM [Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders] and HB-SOC [Harry Benjamin Standards of Care] now include reference to Blanchard’s constructs, and I have heard that even textbooks have started to feature it.

I find this trend disconcerting as both a transsexual and a scientific psychologist. I feel the evidence for this theory is weak. Interpreting this theory to say that MtF [male-to-female] transsexuals are ‘really’ gay men or ‘really’ crossdressing men is insensitive. Many perspectives on this controversy have been expressed. Typically the scientific perspective has been held by those most supportive of Blanchard’s model. I would like to advance a scientific perspective that is skeptical of Blanchard’s model and the ability of any Psycho-pathological model to adequately understand transgenderism. Some of you may be interested in the following two new essays found on my web-site (links are below).

The Banality of Insensitivity: Portrayals of Transgenderism in Psychopathology

Though the mental health community intends to help transsexuals, embedded within psychopathology is an insensitivity towards the very people it seeks to help. Removal of the mental illness diagnostic categories “Gender Identity Disorder” and “Transvestic Fetishism” is recommended to allow for objective scientific work and to heal the divisive relationships between the mental health and transgender communities. Included in this essay is a discussion of the idea that we are ‘really’ our biological sex according to Blanchard’s model. Also included is a discussion of the claim that transsexuals who deny a sexual motivation for their gender dysphoria are lying.

WEB LINK: http://www.genderpsychology.org/psychology/mental_illness_model.html

“Blanchard’s Mis-Directed Sex-Drive Model of Transsexuality”

This essay provides a scientific critique of Blanchard’s model. It includes a summary of the model’s key points and the evidence supporting those points. It continues to address what may be numerous serious methodological flaws. The essay also addresses the clinical intuition that sexuality may be the only force powerful enough to explain transsexuality by showing how the psychological literature suggests identity is also a remarkably powerful mechanism.

WEB LINK: http://www.genderpsychology.org/psychology/blanchard/

Any feedback about these essays is always appreciated. I would very much appreciate if you would please forward this message to other transgender mailing lists where Blanchard’s model has been a significant or recent topic.

Best wishes,
[Madeline – signed “Katie” in the original]

American Psychological Association Division 44

In 2004, Wyndzen published an essay in response to a favorable book review written by Bailey friend James Cantor that appeared in the newsletter for Division 44 of the American Psychological Association.

A Personal & Scientific look at a Mental Illness Model of Transgenderism

http://www.apa.org/divisions/div44/2004Spring.pdf [archive]

Madeline H. Wyndzen, Ph. D. (pen name)

Editor’s Note: Ms. Wyndzen originally submitted a brief letter to the editor in response to a recent book review of The Man Who Would Be Queen in this Newsletter. I invited her to expand on that letter here.

If a man sought therapy due to unhappiness over his attraction to other men, a therapist would likely diagnose him with Depression. If a transsexual sought therapy due to unhappiness over his or her biological sex, a therapist would almost certainly diagnose him or her with Gender Identity Disorder. Whereas gay men and lesbian women are diagnosed for how they suffer, transsexuals are diagnosed for who they are. As a psychologist and transsexual, I find that the mental illness label imposed on transsexuality is just as disquieting as the label that used to be imposed on homosexuality.

Similar to antiquated ideas suggesting that homosexuality is a deviant sex-drive, Ray Blanchard (1989, 1991) proposed that transsexuality is a mis-directed form of either heterosexuality (named “autogynephilia”) or homosexuality. Rather than asking the scientifically neutral question, “What is transgenderism?” Blanchard (1991) asks, “What kind of defect in a male’s capacity for sexual learning could produce 
 autogynephilia, transvestitism 
?” (p. 246).

Blanchard’s model is featured prominently and uncritically in J. Michael Bailey’s (2003a) recent book, The Man who would be Queen: the Science of Gender-Bending and Transsexualism. A balanced portrait of Blanchard’s key empirical findings (1989) would reveal that they: (1) have never been replicated, (2) failed to include control groups of typically-gendered women, (3) failed to covary the acknowledged age-differences from ANOVA, and (4) drew conclusions about causality from entirely observational data.

Inconsistencies between transsexuals’ self-portraits and Blanchard’s model are reconciled by Bailey (2003a) with the suggestion that some transsexuals are deceptive: “There is one more reason why many autogynephiles provide misleading information about themselves that is different than outright lying. It has to do with obsession” (p. 175). Aware of concerns that some may be troubled by his portrayal of them, Bailey has said, “I cannot be a slave to sensitivity” (quoted in Wilson, 2003), and “ There is good scientific evidence that says you should believe me and not them” (quoted in Dreier & Anderson, 2003). In a critique of Bailey’s book available on my website, I provide alternate interpretations of this evidence: http://www.genderpsychology.org/autogynephilia/

Bailey (2003b) contends that negative reactions to his book are merely “identity politics” that are a “hindrance” to “scientific truth” (Bailey, 2003b). Contrasting his objectivity with others’ politics reminded me of “81 Words,” a radio documentary about the removal of homosexuality from the DSM (Spiegel, 2002). Those who diagnosed ‘homosexuality’ as a mental illness genuinely felt that they were helping their clients. I know that Ray Blanchard, J. Michael Bailey, and others are similarly concerned about the welfare of transsexuals. I only wish they would see the bias in their theories and diagnoses. When I listened to “81 Words,” I was struck by how foreign it sounded to talk about being gay or lesbian as a disorder. I am too young to remember that time. My hope is that someday my children will think it just as unfathomable that I was once diagnosed and treated for “Gender Identity Disorder.”

References

Bailey, J. M. (2003a). The Man who would be queen: the science of genderbending and transsexualism. Joseph Henry Press, Washington DC.

Bailey, J. M. (2003b, July 19). Identity politics as a hindrance to scientific truth, presented at the conference of the International Academy of Sex Research. Abstract retrieved July 16, 2003, from http://www.iasr.org/meeting/2003/ABSTRACTS2003.doc

Blanchard, R. (1989). The Concept of Autogynephilia and the Typology of Male Gender Dysphoria. The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 177(10), 616-623.

Blanchard, R. (1991). Clinical Observations and systematic studies of autogynephilia. Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy, 17(4), 235-251.

Dreier, S. and Anderson, K. (2003, April 21). Prof’s book challenges opinions of human sexuality. The Daily Northwestern, retrieved December 31, 2003, from http://www.dailynorthwestern.com/

Spiegel, A. (2002, January 18). 81 words. This American Life, retrieved January 18, 2002 from http://www.thislife.org/pages/descriptions/02/204.html

Wilson, R. (2003, June 20). Dr. Sex’: A human-sexuality expert creates controversy with a new book on gay men and transsexuals. Chronicle of Higher Education, retrieved June 27, 2003, from http://chronicle.com/free/v49/i41/41a00801.htm

Comments on J. Michael Bailey’s book

In 2005, Wyndzen expanded earlier online materials to summarize the controversy and criticisms of Bailey from professional and personal perspectives.

The World according to J. Michael Bailey inside “The Man who would be Queen: The Science of Gender Bending and Transsexualism”

J. Michael Bailey’s book, “The Man who would be Queen: The Science of Gender Bending and Transsexualism” has disrupted the lives of transgendered persons and the lives of mental health professionals who work with them. Some psychologists question the truthfulness of their transgendered clients. Some transgendered persons question if the therapists conceal a dismissive cynicism underneath an exterior of unconditional acceptance. It has become acceptable for transgendered persons to dismiss each others feelings as deception. And it has become acceptable for psychological researchers to regard the feelings of transsexuals as merely politics getting in the way of important work.

As a psychological scientist and a transsexual I find myself both deeply affected by this controversy and in a unique position to interpret it. The following essays are my attempt to make sense of Bailey’s book and the controversy surrounding it.

http://www.genderpsychology.org/autogynephilia/j_michael_bailey/

Comments on DSM

Wyndzen has written about how gender identity and expression are covered in the 4th edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV):

In 1994, the DSM-IV committee replaced the diagnosis of Transsexualism with Gender Identity Disorder. Depending on their age, those with a strong and persistent cross-gender identification and a persistent discomfort with his or her sex or a sense of inappropriateness in the gender role of that sex were to be diagnosed as Gender Identity Disorder of Childhood (302.6), Adolescence, or Adulthood (302.85). For persons who did not meet the criteria, Gender Identity Disorder Not Otherwise Specified (GIDNOS)(302.6) was to be used. 

DSM IV http://www.genderpsychology.org/transsexual/dsm_iv.html

That version also listed “Transvestic Fetishism” (302.3) under paraphilias.

Comment on Alice Dreger’s target article

In 2008, Wyndzen published a peer commentary responding to a target article by historian Alice Dreger. The article was published by Kenneth Zucker in Archives of Sexual Behavior, a sexology journal where Bailey served on the editorial board. Zucker had been praised throughout Bailey’s book, so many Zucker critics saw this as a conflict of interest. Dreger had also given a draft to anti-trans activist Benedict Carey at the New York Times a year before publication. Carey had given favorable coverage to Bailey before with his 2005 piece “Gay, Straight, or Lying: Bisexuality Revisited.” That piece uncritically repeated Bailey’s claims that male bisexuality does not exist. Carey’s 2007 favorable coverage of Dreger painted Bailey as a “scientist under siege.” In 2008, Wyndzen’s commentary was published with a number of others:

A social psychology of a history of a snippet in the psychology of transgenderism.

Alice Dreger wrote an oral history for the Archives of Sexual Behavior, “The Controversy Surrounding ‘The Man Who Would Be Queen: A Case History of the Politics of Science, Identity, and Sex in the Internet Age. Though Dreger suggests disagreeing with autogynephila is the focal point of the backlash against J. Michael Bailey, I suggest from the historical pattern that Bailey experienced a backlash because he accused those who disagree with him of lying. Merely acknowledging autogynephilia or opposing a “feminine essence model” provoked little controversy. I explain Dreger’s misconstrued historical account and Bailey, Anne Lawrence, and Ray Blanchard’s over-simplified psychological accounts with common biases described by social psychology: fundamental attribution error, group polarization, groupthink, stereotyping, representativeness heuristic, base-rate neglect, framing effects, and the correspondence bias. Journal editor Kenneth Zucker offered the opportunity to write responses. Though we have very different perspectives on autogynephilia and the way transgendered persons are understood by psychology, he graciously agreed to include my response.

http://www.genderpsychology.org/autogynephilia/alice_dreger.html

Wikipedia controversy

In 2008, Canadian anti-trans extremist James Cantor began editing Wikipedia under the pseudonyms MarionTheLibrarian and WriteMakesRight. Cantor quickly began self-promoting and removing criticisms. It soon became clear that Cantor was behind the accounts, and Cantor was ultimately banned from Wikipedia.

Among Cantor’s early edits were attempts to remove all references to Wyndzen’s work from Wikipedia.

I told Wyndzen about Cantor’s activities, and Wyndzen wrote the letter below to Wikipedia editors on July 31, 2008 in hopes of having Cantor’s suppression reverted. Despite a year of effort by Wyndzen, Cantor prevailed in keeping Wyndzen from being cited on Wikipedia. This controversy marked the end of Wyndzen’s public writings about gender.

Dear Andrea James,

Thank you for letting me know about James Cantor’s effort to remove reference to my work from Wikipedia.  Though disappointing, it is also flattering that he considers this worth his time.  Perhaps he recognizes the accuracy of my critique of autogynephilia and he worries that when other behavioral scientists read it (especially those not already committed to a side), they will recognize how weak Ray Blanchard’s model is.  James Cantor and his colleagues may also be starting to recognize the larger problem of beginning their account with the assumption of a mental illness model and how it results in stereotypes of transgender persons.  They may be worried about the ongoing debate about including transgendered persons in the DSM for being who they are; censoring Wikipedia so it only showcases their side as reliable might delay uncommitted psychiatrists and psychologists from readily finding the scientific accounts on the other side.  It’s a clever manipulation of our scientific heuristic that peer-reviewed journals contain more credible information.  Like all heuristics that usually work, it sometimes fails.  It fails in this case because the journals are part of a mental health community that begins with the assumption that we are mentally ill for being who we are.  Those who begin from a neutral or positive perspective on transgenderism lack journals of their own.

Imagine what James Cantor’s life as a gay man would be like today if those at the American Psychiatric Association dismissed Dr. Anonymous as “unreliable” because he did not publish against the mental illness model of homosexuality in a peer-reviewed journal or because he protected his identity.  As psychology professors, James Cantor and I both know that it’s the quality of our arguments that matter – not our names, credentials, or the sources in which we publish.  Perhaps the transgender community should gently remind him that you cannot raise yourself up by pushing others down.  Even if he continues to behave unscientifically, I am not sure why this persuades other Wikipedia editors?  I thought the spirit of Wikipedia was to be neutral, present all sides, and let readers judge for themselves?  It’s a spirit I agree with.  When Anne Lawrence introduced autogynephilia to the transgender community, I discussed with Ray Blanchard exposing a wider audience to his original work and he graciously allowed me to post some of his writing on my website.  Maybe James Cantor feels better believing I am unreliable.  Maybe others will feel that I am credible because of my decade of involvement in the trans-community and my numerous efforts to bridge the divide between transgender and psychological communities.  If it may help, please feel free to post this message.  I hope you are successful in preserving Wikipedia’s principled neutral stance.

Best wishes,
Madeline Wyndzen
http://www.GenderPsychology.org/

References

Wyndzen MH (2004). A Personal and Scientific Look at a Mental Illness Model of Transgenderism,” American Psychological Association Division 44 Newsletter (Spring 2004). http://www.genderpsychology.0rg/autogynephilia/apa_div_44.html [PDF]

Wyndzen MH (2008). A social psychology of a history of a snippet in the psychology of transgenderism. Arch Sex Behav. 2008 Jun;37(3):498-502; discussion 505-10. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-008-9340-2. [link]

Resources

All Mixed Up (genderpsychology.org)

Gender Web (genderweb.org)

  • http://www.genderweb.org/~katherine/ [archive]

Willow Arune is a Canadian former lawyer and transgender troll. Arune was the most notorious USENET troll of all time on transgender newsgroups.

Background

Willow Cheryle Arune was born December 20, 1946. Arune practiced law before becoming a nudist who lives on disability. Arune claims to be an â€œescaped person under Thai law.” [1]

“Autogynephilia” activism

Arune is also a frequent defender of Ray Blanchard, formerly of Canada’s infamous Clarke Institute (now CAMH), and Arune is a prominent supporter of a disease model of gender variance called “autogynephilia,” made up by Blanchard in 1989. [2] Blanchard defines this sex-fueled mental illness as “a man’s paraphilic tendency to be sexually aroused by the thought or image of himself as a woman.” [3] Blanchard claims this disease explains gender variant behavior among “nonhomosexuals.” Many believe it is a spurious diagnosis akin to “nymphomania” and other discredited illnesses made up to pathologize socially unacceptable behavior.

Blanchard and his proteges J. Michael Bailey and Anne Lawrence frequently suggest that a “handful” or “subgroup” of trans people have concerns about describing this behavior as a psychosexual pathology. This is a blatant distortion. In reality, the opposite is true. Most gender-variant people, their service providers, and experts on gender variance have expressed concern about this diagnosis. The tiny but vocal minority who base their identities on this diagnosis are a small group, typically older divorced people who can’t or won’t adapt to culturally proscribed appearance and behavior based on gender roles. Most also identify through metaphors of disease and impairment, which is why this concept appeals to them.

Beyond Arune and about ten people on an â€œautogynephilia” support group Arune started in 2003 (and inadvertently destroyed in 2005 due to Arune’s incompetence), there is little community support for this diagnosis. Arune was one of the three people responsible for about two-thirds of all the content on the group. In fact, about one in three posts on that forum were Arune’s, mostly unoriginal cut-and-paste jobs from other publications and newsgroups and attacks on people Arune didn’t like.

Arune is well-known both on and off the internet as a prodigious kook. Arune has probably been kicked off more email lists and out of more moderated transgender groups than any other person in North America. Arune enjoys trolling and baiting people online “to get a quotable quote,” [4] which then gets used as evidence that Arune is being attacked.

Shortly after publication of J. Michael Bailey’s defamatory book The Man Who Would Be Queen in 2003, Arune began a quest to replace Anne Lawrence as the poster child for “autogynephilia.” Both seek validation from clinical diagnoses, because neither get much approval beyond “approval” letters they sought and received from therapists to qualify for vaginoplasty. Like Anne Lawrence, Arune has an interest in nudism, and both appear to have other erotic interests considered unusual or socially unacceptable in many places. Given Arune’s more florid behavior, it is more likely that the people promulgating this diagnosis will choose Arune over Lawrence as exemplifying this spurious disease. Lawrence’s only saving grace for retaining the crown may be a combination of florid behavior and academic credentials.

Of special interest to Arune are matters in Thailand, where Arune claims to have spent time in jail on a forgery charge. My guess is that there is more to be learned about Arune’s alleged illegal misadventures in Thailand, which also includes an alleged sexual assault. Arune told a reporter in 1999 that after returning from being jailed in Thailand, “his therapist suggested becoming a woman.” [5] Following this suggestion, Arune was able to manipulate the Canadian health system to indulge an erotic interest in vaginoplasty. Arune is apparently drawing Canadian welfare, while being able-bodied enough to spend 12 to 16 hours a day devouring and regurgitating anything related to transgender issues. Arune seems to have a compulsion toward hoarding, especially with online materials, books about transgender topics, and animals. This hoarding impulse seems connected to the amount of energy Arune spends on this topic, and Arune’s identification with a disease that characterizes Arune’s behavior as a sexual compulsion.

Arune attacks critics

As the controversy around Bailey’s book unfolded in 2003, Arune and I had agreed to carry on private correspondence after the Bailey book came out. Arune stopped honoring this agreement once Arune got a “quotable quote” from me. I asked Arune to confirm or deny allegations that Arune is a registered sex offender. Arune immediately published this far and wide as evidence of something or another, prompting me to ignore this type of trolling from that point on. As expected, Arune’s trolling continued to escalate the insults in hopes of regaining the attention I’d been giving Arune, including comparing me to Osama bin Laden [6] as well as all sorts of other inflammatory personal attacks.

Arune has tried to get a number of other prominent transwomen to pay attention to various rants, goading Professor Dierdre McCloskey and other critics of Bailey’s book with childish taunts and mockery.

Arune also appears to have a vendetta against Professor Lynn Conway for presenting a wide array of Transsexual Women’s Successes from around the world. In November 2002, about four months before Bailey’s book came out, Arune sent the following complaint to Professor Conway, stating that post-transition success is “not typical” and that most people who contact Arune “are not great scholars” who lack the intellect to have realistic expectations:

While I appreciate your website and believe that it is good to have success stories available for these people, I truly believe a big warning should be attached. Such would state that the TS women shown are *not typical* and any financial success after transition is rare.

Not only from my own personal experience, but also on the few statistical reports available, TS women suffer from great prejudice in the workplace. This is acknowledged in every book on transsexuality. Generally, I advise those that seek me out that they should be prepared to loose everything – their families and friends, their job and career, their assets and more. Only if their need is great enough to risk all of that should they go forward. I also advise them that the chances of “passing” totally are minimal as is the case in the majority of transsexual women that I know. So after I dampen their enthusiasm and get them thinking, they head off and find your site. “Willow, you are all wrong!!!,” they say. “We can pass and still be successful. We saw Lynn’s page on the Web”.

Please, amend your site so that potential TS patients are not lured into transition by unrealistic dreams. Many of these people are not great scholars; they need a caution in big, bold letters. [7]

In what appears to be a case of narcissistic projection, Arune’s “personal experience” with failure post-transition becomes the standard trajectory, when in fact by any objective standard, Arune is near the lower bound of what anyone might realistically expect after transition.

Since Professor Conway disregarded Arune’s suggestion in 2002, Arune has resorted to a series of lies and misrepresentations, including claims that Professor Conway had allegedly suggested that a woman who started transition over a certain age was an aging crossdresser. Professor Conway has stated many times that this is a bogus accusation on Arune’s part.

Here’s an example where Arune claims Professor Conway transitioned at the same age as Arune:

They had maybe 50 years of being males and being forceful and aggressive and shouting to get what they want as men. They’re only a few years, relatively, into their lives as women when they have these strong feelings that Bailey is wrong, but they don’t yet know how to control feelings the way a woman would, so they go about arguing against him in a very male way. I know that’s the worst insult I can aim at a fellow tranny, but look, these people like McCloskey and Conway are used to being powerful in their respective occupations, and they demand to be listened to. [8]

This is typical of Arune’s tactics. Lynn Conway began transition in her 20’s and finished by age 30, after which she started over in her field in steath, because of the staggering prejudice at the time. Professor Conway had been summarily fired by IBM when she transitioned in 1968, despite being one of their most promising researchers. Luckily, she was able to successfully move on into her new life after that, and then make many of the advances in computing for which she is now famous.

Getting back to the quotation, it was of course Arune who had maybe 50 years of being male before “his therapist suggested becoming a woman.” Much of the rest of the quotation also sounds like projection on Arune’s part: only a few years into transition, arguing in a “very male way” (whatever that means), demanding to be listened to


Professor Conway has also prepared a report describing Arune’s involvement in this matter, which exposes the type of sleazy, dirty tricks Arune uses to lash out at perceived enemies.

Arune’s collaborations with other kooks

In May 2003, Arune teamed up with Lisanne Anderson, aka Lori Anjou, to create their online â€œautogynephilia” support group. See those pages for more on the similarities in behavior and outlook between these two. Arune and this group were both kicked off Yahoo for violations of Terms of Service in 2005, allowing Arune to retain the crown of biggest transgender netkook, and adding another group to the long list of groups and services which had to remove Arune for trolling and baiting.

In December 2004, Arune teamed up with yet another unstable kook named Kimberly Williams, a deeply troubled person who became obsessed with the idea that I was “pagejacking” Williams’ website, despite my attempts by phone and email to explain that Williams was very confused. Arune and Williams began working together, spreading lies that I had filed for bankruptcy and had fabricated my academic degrees. Williams may actually be even more incompetent and obnoxious than Arune, which is no small feat. Williams has referred to me with Nazi epithets and claims I am using several aliases. Williams also brags in a self-published autobiography about terrorizing an immobilized hospital patient, snatching the patient’s wig off and swirling it in the toilet before putting it back on the patient’s head. Williams then brags about moving the call button just out of reach, leaving the patient helpless. [9] Arune and Williams are certainly cut from the same cloth, so it was no surprise when they began working together to attack me, nor is it a surprise that Arune continues to cite Williams as a reliable source of corroborating information. This incompetent and libellous collaboration led to the demise of Arune’s support group on Yahoo in 2005.

In March 2005, Arune’s continued escalation of personal attacks on me led to yet another incompetent decision. Arune set up a Yahoo group devoted to insulting, harassing and cyberstalking me, so Yahoo removed both this new group and Arune’s older group for violations of their Terms of Service. Though Arune was obviously the only person to blame for this incident, Arune was unable to see that this was yet another instance where Arune’s incompetence led to a bad decision, just like the fateful trip to Thailand that landed Arune in jail and subsequently triggered Arune’s belief that Arune is a transsexual. I had not had much interaction with people at this level of incompetence previously, and it is remarkable how many of them I have come into contact with as a result of their support of Bailey and his book. In many ways, it’s probably good that they don’t understand how they appear to others. Arune has vowed to bring this “support” site back on another service, but for now, it’s just more evidence of Arune’s incompetence.

As with most of these fringe element kooks and trolls, Arune’s personal attacks are better left ignored. Some of these kooks will escalate things to cyberstalking and violence when provoked. The Registrar’s Office at my alma mater had to update their cyberstalking policy because of Arune’s activities [10]. I recommend only countering the misinformation Arune and friends spread. They crave attention, even if it’s negative attention, from those who are “respected authorities,” as a way to compensate for their own incompetence. Ignore them, and they will find some other compulsion to indulge in time.

Identifying with metaphors of disease and impairment

As I discuss on my page about disease models of gender identity, some gender-diverse people agree with “experts” who consider them diseased and sexually disordered.

As an aside, it’s interesting to note that the clinical literature is is full of references about people like Arune, who normally defers to clinicians as experts. People like Arune have been described by so-called experts as “transvestitic applicants for sex reassignment” [11] who are “aging” [12] and “distressed,” [13] suffering from “pseudotranssexualism,” [14] a “non-transsexual” variant of “gender identity disorder” (GIDAANT), [15] and “iatrogenic artifact.”[16]

Arune is especially fond of claiming that we are mentally ill, asserting that without a mental illness diagnosis, there is no way to get trans health services through government health programs. Unfortunately for Arune, this is simply untrue in many countries. Had Arune read the GIRES materials available on this site since Bailey’s book came out, Arune would know that the UK goverment among others do not consider this a mental illness and continue to fund trans health services. Arune defends the alleged “experts” at one regressive Canadian clinic, while the rest of the community looks to the current consensus of 24 world-renowned experts who are signatories to the document on causes of transsexualism, the final draft of which was provided to this site via lead investigator Milton Diamond. [17]

Arune dismisses the 2002 UK policy that allows funding of trans health services without the stigma of mental illness, because it badly undermines Arune’s identity as a mentally ill man. Arune claims the UK policy “merely serves a political role and distorts any scientific judgement in favour of appeasement.” [18] Because Arune’s incompetence clouds rational judgment, Arune can only view this policy as a problem, rather than a major step forward brought about by progressive transactivists.

As seen with the “forced feminization” script played out by Arune with Arune’s own therapist, the deference to an expert for validation is an important part of Arune’s identity. “Let’s face it, honey
 We’re the patients in this exercise. We’re not the experts.” [19]

Arune needs an “expert” diagnosis to maintain a legitimate identity as a type of diseased man. Some of us feel that we are in a better position to define and describe ourselves, and we feel that Arune’s bizarre outlook and self-identity is different than a transsexual identity. People like Arune will go down in history as similar to the gays and lesbians who consider themselves diseased, or other oppressed groups who buy into the idea they are biologically inferior. Those folks defer to experts, too– many of the same “experts” Arune defends.

In a newspaper interview, Ray Blanchard called Arune a “man without a penis.” [20] If Arune wants to defend someone who says that about all of us, I personally can’t fight for Arune’s rights.

Resources

Transgender Tapestry ()

Elizabeth (2004). On the Science of Bonerism and the Identity Politics of “Single Heterosexual Men,” originally published in Transgender Tapestry #107, Fall/Winter 2004, pp. 45-51 {archive]

Lynn Conway (lynnconway.com)

Datenbank ĂŒber TranssexualitĂ€t (transray.com)

  • Willow Arune bibliography [archive]

CEN-TA (centa.com)

The Autogynephilia Resource (autogynephilia.org) [archive]

References

1. Kruger J, Dunning D (1999). Unskilled and unaware of it: How difficulties in recognizing one’s own incompetence lead to inflated self-assessments. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. December 1999 Vol. 77, No. 6, 1121-1134 
http://www.phule.net/mirrors/unskilled-and-unaware.html

2. Blanchard (1989). The concept of autogynephilia [ sic ] and the typology of male gender dysphoria. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease . 1989 Oct;177(10):616-23. 
http://www.genderpsychology.org/autogynephilia/male_gender_dysphoria/ (full text)

3. Bailey JM (2000). Phenomenology and classification of male-to-female transsexualism. Symposium conducted at the meeting of the International Academy of Sex Research , Paris. June, 2000. Slide 38. 
http://www.psych.nwu.edu/psych/people/faculty/bailey/Blanchard’s%20Paris%20Talk.ppt (requires reader)

4. Arune WC (2004). USENET post 11 April 2004. 
http://groups.google.com/groups?q=g:thl101135305d&dq=&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&c2cof f=1&safe=off&selm=Kxoec.84223%24Ig.10853%40pd7tw2no

5. Plant D (1999). Willow sculpts a life. Kelowna Daily Courier January 27, 1999. For more on Arune’s incarceration in Thailand, see: 
http://www.tsroadmap.com/info/bailey-willow-arune.html

6. Arune W (2004). “Autogynephilia” support, 21 August: “The same reason as Ben Laden – able to justify any act due to belief and faith”
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/autogynephiliasupport/message/3570

7. Arune W (2002). Letter to Professor Lynn Conway, 20 November. Reprinted with permission of recipient.

8. Rodkin D (2003). “Sex and Transsexuals.” Chicago Reader, 12 December 2003.
http://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/conway/TS/Bailey/Reader/Chicago%20Reader.12-12-03.html

9. Williams K, Killeen MJ (2004). The Transsexual Gladiator: The Sword of Apodictic and The Shield of Woe. Apodictic, Inc., p. 258.

10. Arune W (2005). “A matter of degree.” “Autogynephilia” Support, 12 January.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/autogynephiliasupport/message/4699

11. Wise TN, Meyer JK (1980). The border area between transvestism and gender dysphoria: transvestic applicants for sex reassignment. Archives of Sexual Behavior . 1980 Aug;9(4):327-42. 
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=7416946

12. Lothstein LM (1979). Psychological treatment of transsexualism and sexual identity disorders: some recent attempts. Archives of Sexual Behavior . 1979 Sep;8(5):431-44 
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=496624

13. Wise TN, Dupkin C, Meyer JK (1981). Partners of distressed transvestites. American Journal of Psychiatry . 1981 Sep;138(9):1221-4. 
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=7270729

14. Wise TN, Lucas J (1981). Pseudotranssexualism: iatrogenic gender dysphoria. Journal of Homosexuality . 1981 Spring;6(3):61-6. 
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=pubmed&dopt=Abstract&list_uids=7341667

15. American Psychiatric Association (1987). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM III-R). 
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0871400499/qid=1094416834/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/002-8778638-7938457?v=glance&s=books

16. Moser C, Kleinplatz PJ (2002). Transvestic fetishism: psychopathology or iatrogenic artifact? New Jersey Psychologist , 52 (2) 16-17. 
http://home.netcom.com/~docx2/tf.html

17. Diamond M (2003). Personal correspondence with the author, 16 July 2003.18. Arune W (2004). “Autogynephilia” support, 10 November.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/autogynephiliasupport/message/4243

19. Rodkin D (2003). “Sex and Transsexuals.” Chicago Reader, 12 December 2003.
http://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/conway/TS/Bailey/Reader/Chicago%20Reader.12-12-03.html

20. Armstrong J (2004). The body within, the body without. Globe and Mail, 12 June 2004, p. F1. 
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/TPStory/LAC/20040612/COVER12/TPComment/TopStories

Willow Arune: harassment and cyberstalking

This is a subpage for the main article on Willow Arune. Please start at the main article for an overview.

“It is easy to be a bully on Usenet – all it takes is a computer, a modem, and an ugly being. Suddenly you are a hero in your own mind.”

— Willow Arune

Willow Arune is a notorious eccentric who posts primarily on USENET, because Arune has been kicked off almost every moderated online forum due to trolling and baiting. Checking the statistics for the USENET group alt.support.srs will show Arune (as [email protected]) among the top ten posters in any given month. Many of the posts will be cut and paste jobs from other publications (usually marked FYI), but the rest will be flames and trolls aimed at Arune’s perceived enemies.

Despite claims to the contrary, Arune sends a steady stream of emails to me, including four on 2 June 2005 alone. Arune mentions me at least once a week on alt.support.srs and is clearly obsessed with me. In early 2005, Arune started a Yahoo group called “Survivors Support Group” about me (AJSSG):http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AJSSG

This was a members-only clearinghouse of personal information about me, created by several people harassing and cyberstalking me. This incompetent decision by Arune led Yahoo to terminate all of Arune’s accounts, which subsequently led to the demise of another “support” group Arune used to publish various rants. Now that Arune is limited primarily to USENET, the attacks there have escalated, to the point that Arune is responsible for much of the content on that nearly defunct forum, long ago abandoned by most to the kooks.

Below are some selected emails to me during the time Arune was “leaving me alone.” Since no one is going to be interested in slogging through all these rants, I have put a short summary in front of each one.


Here’s one where someone quotes this site and is equated with a murderer.

From: Willow Arune <[email protected]>
Date: Sat, 05 Feb 2005 17:40:41 -0800
To: Andrea <[email protected]>
Subject: Fw: Bailey resigns!

There you go – one of your most avid readers


Like the minister who preaches hatred of gays, and then says “I did nothing” when two of his congregation go out and murder one.  You bred Jenny and others like her


Such a sweetie


W.


Here’s an excerpt from one citing Arune’s collaborator Kimberly Williams.

From: Willow Arune <[email protected]>
Date: Fri, 18 Feb 2005 17:26:21 -0800
To: [email protected], [email protected]
Cc: Andrea <[email protected]>, [email protected], Kimberly Williams <[email protected]>
Subject: Fw: False Statements

A new site contains a bit more concerning Ms. James.  One wonders how she supports all those web pages?  Go here:
 
http://www.bostonelectrolysis.com/index.php  
 
(The University of Chicago has confirmed that it has never awarded a degree of Masters in English to Andrea James, by the way).  After she accused Mike Bailey of living too close to Boystown in Chicago, guess where she lived and partied???  You got it – next to Boystown.  Proof is found on her former web pages, easily available:  
 
http://web.archive.org/web/20010604130122/www.andreajames.com/imageindex.html
 
Bankruptcy court records might show how AJ “paid” for her Full Facial Surgery.  Not included in her helpful hints.  If indeed her family is rich, they most certainly did not assist in that aspect of her life.  A soon to be breaking story, in the mode of James/Conway

 
Loathing is a mild word.  James has attacked others in the same fashion.  Unhappily, as with her vaulted “Masters in English” few think to challenge her assertions.  
 
Willow


Arune’s incompetence has led Arune to believe I do not have a Master’s Degree in English from University of Chicago, which can be easily confirmed by following the instructions at the Registrar’s Office. Arune emailed two department secretaries who do not keep official records, and in Arune’s incompetent mind, that constitutes proof.

From: Willow Arune <[email protected]>
Date: Tue, 01 Mar 2005 17:37:21 -0800
To: Andrea <[email protected]>
Subject: Web Changes

Ah yes, Andrea,

The modifications to your web site have been brought to my attention.

Strange.  The University of Chicago has no record of you, at least for a Masters in English.  Not the English Department, nor Graduate Studies, and not the Registrar.  At this point, as the saying goes, the onus moves to you.  Would you care to provide particulars??  I can, of course, easily provide copies of e-mails from the University.

As to Kimberly Williams, I fear you have hurt a great many over the years with your standard tactics of ducking behind the web site.  Kimberly is definitely not alone.  Even I was astounded at the number of those who do not like you at all.  Your recent effort to demean the Transkids was a farce.  Placing Christine Burns in the position of having to issue an apology and retraction on the eve of her award from the Queen was a callous thing to do.  

The bankruptcy?  An innovative way to pay for FFS, I agree.  One more step and that public record shall be available, and I fear some might wish to publish it on a web site given what you have done to them.  Not me, mind.

This is rather silly.  As is normal with things of this nature, no doubt certain matters will surface when you least wish them to do so.  While I cannot claim the number of investigators you seem to have, there are not that many US states and areas north of Chicago where mobile homes, especially converted buses, are not that common.  It is not the numbers that are important, but more the placement – one clerk in a government office is better than fifty amateurs lurking in bushes.

TTFN,

Willow          

From: Willow Arune <[email protected]>
Date: Sat, 19 Mar 2005 18:42:01 -0800
To: Andrea <[email protected]>
Subject: Tsk, Tsk


Gee, Andrea – you do write the strangest things on your web page

 
If there were an award for inaccurate reporting, I am sure you would make the finals.  
 
As to the University of Chicago, the *fact* remains that I have three posts from them, each of which officially denies that you ever obtained a Masters in English.  As you asked me on Dec. 24, 2003, will you affirm or deny that you have the degree you have claimed?  This is much easier than similar question post to me.  I do so hope you, as a good alumni, donated funds to Chicago.  I would love to think that some of the monies they are paying me came from you.  Stay tuned – oh, so sorry.  You are not on the new list are you?  So sad.
 
In the meantime, please remember that Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville were followed by Gettysburg.  One small victory, even two, do not a war win.
 
You see, honey, the world has passed you by – perhaps me too for that matter.  Save for the Internet, and even major portions of that, nobody cares.  Sycophants you may have, but step outside that circle and nobody knows or cares about transexuality or autogynephilia.  Many, probably most, have not even hear of you, me or the term itself.  The great last campaign for civil rights you claimed to represent is a group of huddled silly types gathered around a dwindling fire in the cold.  You had your fifteen minutes; that time has passed.
 
Have a great day and if you have some time, read either of Colette Chiland’s books.  Not all of the world is as caught up “professional transsexuality” as you are.  Some sanity remains.
 
Until we meet again, I shall take great delight in imagining all the truly stealth types wearing your tee-shirts and using your mugs at work.  And some thought wearing a TS Menace Tee was bad!!!  
    
Hugs,
Willow


This one is my favorite. Arune writes to tell me Arune is not thinking about me.

From: Willow Arune <[email protected]>
Date: Fri, 08 Apr 2005 20:01:00 -0700
To: Lisanne <[email protected]>
Cc: Andrea <[email protected]>
Subject: It is



nice

 
I realized today that I have not thought or spoken or written the name Andrea James for days, weeks even

 
Who says you have to die before you go to heaven???
 
Hugs,
Willow


This one is to remind me of my irrelevance, and to let me know Arune has decided “enough is enough” and will no longer be involved in any of this.

From: Willow Arune <[email protected]>
Date: Sat, 21 May 2005 19:08:22 -0700
To: Andrea James <[email protected]>
Subject: Fw: I Want What I Want

Time to crow, honey.  You pages on me are totally irrelevant, part of history.

The new freedom is wonderful.  Keep on with the professional transsexual route – it suits you.  Others have better things to do.

Willow  

—– Original Message —– 
From: Willow Arune <mailto:[email protected]>  
To:
Sent: Saturday, May 21, 2005 7:05 PM
Subject: Re: I Want What I Want

Hi Rosie,

It was fun to collect – and read – the books that frame our history.  Given the nature of TS people, what I got most was insults – AndrĂ©a James determined I was hoarding or worse, and most simply did not care.

It got so bad that one night, I looked and the collection and said enough is enough.  I kept the Brown and a few early ones, but most are now at the University if Chicago and I am happily doing more renovations to my home.  

I have retreated.  No TS meetings, no TS internet, no TS counselling.   Being up north in Canada, there is not any interaction save former clients and now a few of us are friends.  No more reviews of books and such either.  Simply, the bad of dealing with other TS was too great.  Too many are, at best, dysfunctional and delusional.  A few are downright dangerous and others are simply evil – Andrea James I put in that category.

Fine.  Others can follow like little sheep, telling themselves that myths are true.  One cannot create a fiction, unsupported by anything really and demand all others in society follow it.  Perhaps the best view is that of Dr. Colette Chiland, and two of her books have been translated and are available in the US.

Coddled.  Those private types who “help” are – I am convinced – in it for the money.  That includes surgeons.  The university approach demanded by Stoller was indeed the best – now we have paid types advising those who want to get what they want.  Bah!  

Anyway, good luck with all.  Best advise – avoid other tS like the plague


Hugs,
Willow


Of course, Arune was back to “leaving me alone” five days later.

From: Willow Arune <[email protected]>
Date: Thu, 26 May 2005 08:14:07 -0700
To: Andrea James <[email protected]>
Subject: Ah Yes, Your Site

A friend brought the recent changes to your web pages to my attention.

Silly and stupid, as always.  I seem to be your boogieman, hiding in hallways ands under beds to do battle.  In fact, as you well know, I have withdrawn from the lists (used in an historic context) and no longer care – with one exception.

As you well know, your site is both insulting and libellous.  At this point, there is no reason to proceed with legal action as that would result in costs but no recovery – you have no assets to speak of as we all know.  Thus, I continue to request that you delete the libel immediately and reserve the right to proceed with legal action if and when I elect so to do.

Of course, each time you add to the defamation, you extend the time for filing, which suits me just fine.

Your pawn almost lost her job and certainly has been effectively muzzled but that was no doubt your plan when you egged her on.  As to Christine Burns, you lies got her in trouble at the worst possible moment yet you continue with those lies as well, I note.  You hurt the Transkids merely to hurt – the mark of a psychopath.  And you did that from cover, the mark of a coward.  

You truly are the ugliest being I have met in this lifetime.  A soul so retched that you simply love to add lies after lie even after the supposed foe is no longer on the field. 

No doubt this response pleases you, in your own sick way.  From my viewpoint, I have moved on.  You remain as you were – a professional, but flawed, transsexual.

Willow Arune    

Hugs,
Willow


I got half a dozen emails from Arune in a 24-hour period in early June 2005. These two give the flavor.

From: Pangarune Corner <[email protected]>
Date: Thu, 02 Jun 2005 18:23:39 -0700
To: [email protected]
Subject: Fw: An Observation about Will Orobko

You should be soooooo happy.  Why, having a surrogate like Diane is only bettered by having both Diane and Jenny Usher.

You must be so proud.  Quoted so often by your peers – and they are indeed *your* peers.  Every time one of your idiots quotes your lies it reflects on your personality.

Willow.

From: Pangarune Corner <[email protected]>
Date: Thu, 02 Jun 2005 20:20:32 -0700
To: [email protected]
Subject: Fw: alt.support.will.orobko

You see, your followers are so loyal


I really think you should contact Diane and give her a medal – she is using your material just as you wanted it to be done


W.


Here’s a long one about Arune’s most recent paramour. Not sure why I got this one.

From: Willow Arune <[email protected]>
Date: Tue, 21 Jun 2005 19:42:06 -0700
To: Andrea James <[email protected]>
Subject: Re: Will Orobko is a very fat man

Sonia, cur was married in Singapore, separated, came to Canada and served as a registered nurse for many years.  She was disabled due to back problems. During that time, she raise four daughters, without any financial assistance from hubby, of whom three are now registered nurses, two with advanced degrees, and one computer whiz who after university has gained a top job with a stock brokerage firm.  For her work during the initial AIDS crisis, she is regarded as almost a saint by the Vancouver Gay community; She was with over 50 of those who died, who otherwise would have died alone.  In one one case, the fellow was denied medicine due to our former premier.  Sonia married him solely to get him medical coverage.  He was one of those that died.

You are not fit to even grovel at her feet.  As expected, you place total emphasis on appearance, and none on soul and spirit.  That is why you are such a callow thing – and thing is one good word to describe you. As with your mentor, Andrea, you attack not the ideas, but the person of those who do not share your opinions.  As Andrea attacked Bailey’s children, you attack Sonia.  Thankfully, I did not expect you had reached as low as you could.

Heaven knows there are enough types here to follow your way. No matter.  Your mentor, dear Andrea, is a self-confessed AG, and in her own words even worse.   I can think of no two people who deserve each other as much as you and she.  In fact, I shall copy her with this post to show how well you imitate her style.  As with her, you are not doubt an AG too – not that such is a problem, mind.

Disgust is a mild word to describe you.  Attacking one who is so good that she would even take you in off the streets on a cold night. As has already been pointed out, you have laid claim to all sorts of deeds of derring- do, money beyond wealth, and more.  In fact, you are but a trembling leaf – a thing.  Not male or female, a THING.  Henderson and the lower ranks of the Air Force deserve you.

W.


This flurry came about after I demanded a retraction from a student newspaper after Arune once again claimed I have filed bankruptcy.

From: Willow Arune <[email protected]>
Date: Thu, 13 Oct 2005 11:47:58 -0700
To: Andrea James <[email protected]>
Subject: NW

Would you like an Address for Service???  As I assume you would be suing in Canada, please note I shall require Security for Costs.

Would you like the quotes for the definition of “professional transsexual”??

Perhaps Deirdre McCloskey can join you?  I am sure her family members would be still willing to testify.

Willow Arune

From: Willow Arune <[email protected]>
Date: Fri, 14 Oct 2005 10:11:10 -0700
To: Andrea James <[email protected]>
Subject: Fun and Games

You seem to have far too much time on your hands these days.  Not enough to do as a big “Hollywood Producer”?

Now, I did offer you an Address for Service.  Certainly if you wished to start a legal action, I am delighted to respond.  I think your site has enough nasty material on myself and others (the Transkids, Lisanne Anderson and more) to present some interesting law.  But then, suing you does not do much good, does it?  Not unless you have full access to Lynn’s Star Wars contract funds.

When will you wake up to realize that you are fighting a war in which no one has any interest?  The new crop of transsexuals could care less about any theory or concept and most do not recognizes the names of Blanchard, James, Conway or any of the other participants – and could care less.

You are certainly amusing in a childish sort of way; you are certainly a nuisance in far too many ways.  Try a job that better occupies your time and energy – that would be my suggestion.  Being a professional transsexual is not that rewarding – soliciting donations and selling mousepads and such.

TTFN,
Willow Arune        

Hugs,
Willow


Willow Arune: words and actions

Former Northwestern University psychology department chair J. Michael Bailey is like the Jerry Springer of academia, and many of his supporters share Bailey’s eccentricities and “credibility issues.” Since Bailey’s book was deemed “not science” by the director of the prestigious Kinsey Institute, [1] the issues of author motivation and credibility are obviously important.
 
The story below is based on first-hand accounts by Bailey supporter Willow Arune, known as Will O [2] at the time of the incident described below. Given the claims of incarceration and criminal charges, statements by this person should be verified independently, even those repeated by journalists, before being considered factual.
 
According to self-reports [3], on 25 February 1995, Canadian citizen and self-confessed eccentric Will O traveled to Thailand on a visa to broker a $1 million loan through Citibank for a private hospital. [4] Will O has a long history of making incompetent life choices, and this was apparently no exception. Will O claims to have been arrested with two Americans during the meeting and subsequently incarcerated on charges of forging a bank certificate worth $50 million. [5] Will O was allegedly held for 92 days before getting out on bail. [6] Will O claims that after being released, Thai authorities withheld Will O’s passport and did not return it for over a year. [7] During that time, Will O variously claims “I could not work” [8] or “I worked in a law office” in Thailand. [9]
 
Will O claims to have been “trapped” in Thailand through 1995 and 1996 with little assistance from the embassy, until Reform Party leader Preston Manning and Alberta M.P. Bob Mills personally took up the case by traveling there. [10] Will O claims to have been formally deported in late 1996, noting “I am now an escaped person under Thai law” [11] and “a fugitive from Thailand.” [12]
 
According to Will O, the case number is Black 2870/2538 (Southern Bangkok Criminal Court) [13], and it involved a five year trial, with two appeals of four years each. [14]
 
Will O claims to have endured six weeks of sexual abuse and rape at the hands of guards. [15] Upon returning to Canada in November 1996, Will O sought counseling, and “his therapist suggested becoming a woman.” [16] According to Will O:

“Subsequent therapy helped with the Post Traumatic Stress problems, but out popped transsexuality. In retrospect, this was a blessing – a special talent given to a few to understand and BE both genders. My former ‘personality’ was in essence destroyed, and Willow emerged.” [17]

“It totally destroyed my sense of being
 I didn’t know who I was when I got out.” [18]

If the concept of a female personality emerging from a destroyed male’s sense of being sounds familiar, it’s probably because you have seen the ending of the Hitchcock film Psycho. [19]
 
Now, if you ask me, if a nudist club [20] former officer [21] gets arrested in the sex tour capital of the world [22] and is then sexually abused while in prison, one begins to wonder if the forgery charge is the entire story, or the story at all. Further, if that same person is deported back to Canada, goes on permanent disability welfare for post-traumatic stress disorder caused by the incarceration [23], and then has a therapist suggest becoming a woman on the government dime, one has to marvel at how generously the Canadian welfare system has benefited this fugitive from Thailand. Perhaps Bailey can write a sequel starring Arune called The Man Who Would Be Welfare Queen.

As far as the claim that “out popped transsexuality,” people like Arune have been described in the medical literature as “transvestic applicants for sex reassignment” [24] who are “aging” [25] and “distressed,” [26] suffering from “pseudotranssexualism,” [27] a “non-transsexual” variant of “gender identity disorder” (GIDAANT), [28] and “iatrogenic artifact.” [29] Therapist Mildred Brown has suggested several non-transsexual motivations that can apply, including:

  • Victims of sexual assault or abuse, who therefore want to distance themselves as much as possible from the bodies in which they were victimized. If one result of the sexual abuse is that they cannot function sexually as the sex in which they were born, they hope that becoming the other sex will put all the trauma behind them.
  • Persons who dislike the behavior they have fallen into in their original sex —e.g. rape, child-molestation, exhibitionism, and other anti-social or criminal behavior. They want to get rid of the parts of their bodies —usually penises—that have led them astray.
  • Individuals with psychiatric disorders, who have delusions that they are the other sex. [30]

Maybe these twelve people who rally around Bailey are (to use his phrase) “fundamentally different” [31] from transsexual women because they are not transsexual women. Maybe they are “eccentrics” who defensively claim to be “real transsexuals” but are in fact, to put it bluntly, kooks. Since Bailey would rather engage in science by press conference [32], and he won’t engage those who have written extensive scientific criticisms of his model [33], terminology [34], methodology [35], and book [36], maybe Bailey’s work is not science. After all, that’s what was asserted at the International Academy of Sex Research right before he stepped down from his position with that group. Maybe Bailey is just someone who is into exploiting kooks, gullible students, and sex workers for professional gain and personal pleasure.References

1. Conway L. Report from IASR Conference at Kinsey Institute. 19 July 2003. via lynnconway.com.
http://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/conway/TS/IASRmessage.html

2. James A. Willow Arune on “autogynephilia.”
http://www.tsroadmap.com/info/willow-arune.html

Note: Name shortened from William Orobko to Will O throughout for clarity.

3. Arune W. Nightmare in Bangkok. 8 January 1998 via usenet newsgroup: soc.culture.thai

4. Gradon J. Free at lastCalgary Herald. 24 November 1996.

Note: When I contacted the author in 2004, Mr. Gradon noted, “Orobko always was and still is apparently a different breed of cat, of that we are and always were certain.”

5. McDougal I. Ex-local man seeks sex change, citing weeks of Thai jail tortureThe Edmonton Sun. 26 September 1999.

6. Arune W. Nightmare in Bangkok. 26 December 1997 via usenet newsgroup: soc.culture.thai

7. Arune W. Nightmare in Bangkok. 8 January 1998. via usenet newsgroup: soc.culture.thai

8. Arune W. Nightmare in Bangkok. 27 December 1997 via usenet newsgroup: soc.culture.thai

9. Arune W. Re: My Post “Don’t Move to Thailand”. 30 December 1997 via usenet newsgroup: soc.culture.thai

10. Gradon J. Free at lastCalgary Herald. 24 November 1996.

11. Arune W. Nightmare in Bangkok. 27 December 1997 via usenet newsgroup: soc.culture.thai

12. Arune W. Nightmare in Bangkok. 8 January 1998 via usenet newsgroup: soc.culture.thai

13. Arune W. Nightmare in Bangkok. 8 January 1998 via usenet newsgroup: soc.culture.thai

14. Arune W. Re: SPAM attacks on Thai recently. 4 January 1998 via Newsgroup: soc.culture.thai

15. Plant D. Willow sculpts a lifeThe Kelowna Daily Courier. 27 January 1999.

Opening lines: “Meeting Willow Arune for the first time can be a little unsettling. After all, you don’t have to look hard to realize there’s a man inside the make-up, dress and heels.”

16. Plant D. Willow sculpts a lifeThe Kelowna Daily Courier. 27 January 1999.

17. Arune W. Transsexuality. 16 April 1999 via usenet newsgroup: alt.religion.mormon

18. McDougal I. Ex-local man seeks sex change, citing weeks of Thai jail tortureThe Edmonton Sun. 26 September 1999.

19. Stefano J. Psycho. Screenplay for 1960 film by Alfred Hitchcock:

DR. RICHMOND: You see, when the mind houses two personalities, there’s always a conflict, a battle. In Norman’s case, the battle is over–and the dominant personality has won.

20. Craft N. Nudist/naturist hall of shame.
http://www.nostatusquo.com/ACLU/NudistHallofShame/

21. Van Tan Nudist Club Guestbook, 29 October 2002 entry by Arune:

“Many years ago, in 1971, I joined your club and after that served as Secretary for one year
 When I was secretary, I was rather inconvenently male. I now take pride in being female not just in mind, but body as well. It should be fun!”

22. US Department of Justice. Sex Tourism. Retrieved 14 October 2005.
http://www.usdoj.gov/criminal/ceos/sextour.html

23. Arune W. Willow 22 July 2003. via usenet newsgroup: alt.support.srs.

“My status as disabled is already known.”

24. Wise TN, Meyer JK (1980). The border area between transvestism and gender dysphoria: transvestic applicants for sex reassignmentArchives of Sexual Behavior. 1980 Aug;9(4):327-42.

25. Lothstein LM (1979). Psychological treatment of transsexualism and sexual identity disorders: some recent attemptsArchives of Sexual Behavior. 1979 Sep;8(5):431-44.

26. Wise TN, Dupkin C, Meyer JK (1981). Partners of distressed transvestitesAmerican Journal of Psychiatry. 1981 Sep;138(9):1221-4.

27. Wise TN, Lucas J (1981). Pseudotranssexualism: iatrogenic gender dysphoriaJournal of Homosexuality. 1981 Spring;6(3):61-6.

28. American Psychiatric Association (1987). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM III-R).

29. Moser C, Kleinplatz PJ (2002). Transvestic fetishism: psychopathology or iatrogenic artifact? New Jersey Psychologist, 52 (2) 16-17.

30. Brown ML, Rounsley CA. True Selves: Understanding Transsexualism-For Families, Friends, Coworkers, and Helping Professionals. 1996 Jossey-Bass, ISBN: 0787902713 pp. 106-107.

31. Bailey JM. Academic McCarthyismNorthwestern Chronicle. 9 October 2005.

32. Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting. New York Times suggests bisexuals are “lying”: Paper fails to disclose study author’s controversial history. 8 July 2005.

33. Wyndzen M. Everything you never wanted to know about autogynephilia but were afraid you had to ask. Via genderpsychology.org, 2004.

34. Roughgarden J (2004). The Bailey affair: Psychology perverted. via lynnconway.com.

35. James AJ (2004). Plethysmograph a disputed device. and â€œAutogynephilia”: a disputed diagnosis. via tsroadmap.com.

36. Bockting W. Biological reductionism meets gender diversity in human sexuality. [Review of The Man Who Would Be Queen]. The Journal of Sex Research, Volume 42, Number 3, August 2005: pp. 267—270.

Teresa Christine Binstock (born February 12, 1944) is an independent researcher based in Colorado. Binstock is best known for her controversial hypotheses about causes of autism, including her suggestions that vaccines may be connected. Binstock also has connections to Denise Magner/Kiira Triea (1951–2012), former owner and author of the transkids.us hoax site.

Background

Binstock says she has a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics as well as minors in physics, chemistry, creative writing, literature, and philosophy. The school and year have not been specified. Binstock says she was accepted into 3 graduate departments, changed direction, then went into making a living at art. She says she conducted 8 years of Independent Research at University of Colorado Health Science Center (UCHSC) and The Children’s Hospital in Denver, where her mentors were psychiatrist Gordon Farley, MD and pediatrician Randi Hagerman, MD, a Fragile X syndrome specialist.

Binstock has stated she was diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome by UCHSC post-doc fellow Cynthia Naseem Ahmed Smith, M.D., “who presented me and two other Aspies at a Grand Rounds at USHSC in 1997.” [7] Binstock frequently publishes on the topic of autism and Asperger’s.[8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16]

Binstock is founder of the Institute for Molecular Introspections.

Sex development and gender

In 1998 Binstock co-authored a paper with Triea and Heike Bödeker (aka Heike Spreitzer).[1] Though she was cited as a co-author initially,[2] in later versions of the article, Binstock’s name was dropped from author list.[3]

Binstock has also published on the etiology of gender identity and sexual orientation, proposing a variant of the “gay germ” hypothesis (a viral cause) for the latter.[4] In 2000, Kiira Triea wrote:

A biologist named Teresa Binstock actually has found what may be the actual biological reason for transsexuality or a very strong piece of the puzzle. The TS people I’ve told of her work seem uninterested though perhaps because it seems not to have any “essentialist” appeal.[5]

Binstock has been cited by those who propose a genetic cause for transsexualism as well.[6] The Council for Responsible Genetics has cited Binstock’s paper [4] in their Genetic Determinism and Sexual Orientation bibliography. They monitor abuses of genetics via Gene Watch.

Though Binstock has not publicly acknowledged she is transgender, there is evidence that she is. One book describes her thus:

Teresa, in her mid-fifties, looked something like an aging mountain woman. Six feet tall and dressed in sensible shoes and a full-length skirt, her long gray-blond hair was braided into pigtails.[17]

To my knowledge, Binstock has not claimed to be intersex, though some of her writings support the model that gender variance is related to intersex.

teresa binstock

Above: Teresa C. Binstock (second from left).

Contact information

Teresa Binstock
Researcher in Developmental and Behavioral Neuroanatomy
Institute for Molecular Introspections
Box 1788, Estes Park CO 80517

[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]

Notes

1. Bödeker, Heike; Kiira Triea; Teresa Binstock (October 1, 1998). Native vs. White Sex Cosmologies: Sex and Gender Variability vs. Variance in Inter- vs. Intracultural Perspective. Yumtzilob.

2. For a citation with Binstock’s name included, see Gerds, Heike (2004). Living Beyond the Gender Trap: Concepts of Gender and Sexual Expression Envisioned by Marge Piercy, CherrĂ­e Moraga and Leslie Feinberg. Shaker,  ISBN 9783832233594. Note, p. 247.

3. See version with Binstock’s name removed. http://web.archive.org/web/20040718154038/http://www.2tough.com/~kiira/cisae/yumtzilob.html

4. Binstock, T (2001). An immune hypothesis of sexual orientation. Medical Hypotheses. 2001 Nov;57(5):583-90. Elsevier. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11735315

5. Triea, Kiira (February 21, 2000). Re: TS/IS dynamics. alt.support.srs http://groups.google.com/group/alt.support.srs/msg/c54ec7212a024037?hl=en&dmode=source

6. Turner, W.J., M.D (February 3, 2004). The Genetic Origin of Asexuality, Homosexuality, Transvestism, and Transsexuality. (PDF) GID Journal. gendercare.com/download/PHP/download.php?fname=./GIDJournal2-3-2004.pdf

7. Binstock, Teresa. Email to Andrea James, 18 January 2009.

8. Diamond, Milton; Teresa Binstock; James V. Kohl (1996). From fertilization to adult sexual behavior. Hormones and Behavior. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9047261

9. Bolte, Ellen R (1998). Autism and Clostridium Tetani: An Hypothesis. Medical Hypotheses, vol. 51, 1998,
pages 133-144. Binstock served as science editor.

10.Binstock TC (May 11, 1997). Changing the autism paradigm: a critique of Kemper & Bauman’s speculations regarding in-utero timing” Bit.listserv.autism, (posts 13491, 13493, 13494, 13495, and 13496). See Autism Research Monographs, http://www.jorsm.com/binstock

11. Bernard S, Enayati A, Roger H, Binstock T, Redwood L. The role of mercury in the pathogenesis of autism. Mol Psychiatry. 2002;7 Suppl 2:S42-3. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12142947

12. Bernard S, Enayati A, Redwood L, Roger H, Binstock T. Autism: a novel form of mercury poisoning. Med Hypotheses. 2001 Apr;56(4):462-71. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11339848

13. Binstock T (2001). Intra-monocyte pathogens delineate autism subgroups. Med Hypotheses. 2001 Apr;56(4):523-31. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11339860

14. Binstock, T (2001). Anterior insular cortex: linking intestinal pathology and brain function in autism-spectrum subgroups. Medical Hypotheses. 2001 Dec;57(6):714-7. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11918432

15. Binstock, TC (1995). Fragile X and the Amygdala: Cognitive, Interpersonal, Emotional, and Neuroendocrine Considerations. Developmental Brain Dysfunction. Karger.

16. McCandless, Jaquelyn; Teresa Binstock; Jack Zimmerman (2002). Children with starving brains: A Medical Treatment Guide for Autism Specrum. Bramble Books. Binstock worked as science editor on the book.

17. Kirby, David (2006). Evidence of Harm: Mercury in Vaccines and the Autism Epidemic: A Medical Controversy. Macmillan, ISBN 9780312326456.

Jenn Ross is a Canadian software developer and “autogynephilia” activist. Ross is involved in the transkids.us hoax website, allegedly written by transgender youth. Ross made a gender transition around age 30, was about 35 when transkids.us went online, and turned 50 years old in 2019.

Background

Jennifer E. “Jenn” Ross was born November 11, 1969. Ross was associated with Algonquin College in Ottawa, Ontario and had computer businesses based in Toronto for many years. Ross’ online ventures have included IMN Internet Services, NetDesign Network Holdings, Inc., and Yallery.com. Ross has also served as Chief Technology Officer at GW Hannaway and Associates in Boulder, Colorado.

Ross’ vaginoplasty in the late 1990s was funded by the Ontario Health Insurance Plan, which means it’s very likely Ross participated in the regressive programs at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) in order to get healthcare. Most adults in Toronto avoid CAMH and use private providers, leaving as the primary clientele those adults who enjoyed the humiliation of regressive CAMH policies. Ray Blanchard, a CAMH psychologist at the time, has written about the “male gender dysphorics, paedophiles, and fetishists” they see in their clinic. Blanchard has said about patients like Jenn Ross, “A man without a penis has certain disadvantages in this world, and this is in reality what you’re creating.” That’s why anyone who could avoid CAMH went elsewhere.

Transkids.us hoax

While living in Boulder, Colorado, Ross was involved in developing transkids.us prior to its December 2004 publication. Like site owner and notorious troll Denise Magner (also known as Denise Tree and Kiira Triea), Ross is a Linux expert and makes a living as a computer technician and web developer. Magner was 54 years old when the transkids.us hoax site went live.

Ross was one of the key people who comprised 85% of all transkids.us visits prior to the site’s publication. Transkids.us had 122 visits from Ross’ Boulder ISP prior to December 2004, as well as traffic from the Amsterdam-based IP associated with one of Ross’ businesses.

To date, participants identified by name do not embody the self-identity which transkids.us allegedly represents (“homosexual transsexuals,” which they abbreviate HSTS). The front page of transkids.us states:

Our purpose in making this website is to make the voices of transkids, homosexual transsexuals, directly accessable. We prefer to speak about our lives and issues ourselves and we are not helped by having our lives and issues represented and re-interpretted by non-homosexual transsexuals whose histories, motivations, etiology and personal understanding of their transsexuality is different from our own. [emphasis mine]

According to the site, “transkids.us is written by hsts and is about homosexual transsexuality.” Proponents of this term claim this “type” of trans woman is “naturally feminine” from early on, and exhibits “early, extreme, and effortless femininity.” Sexologist Ray Blanchard claims there is a close relation between computer nerdiness and “autogynephilia,” a sex-fueled mental illness he created. In fact, Blanchard supporter J. Michael Bailey considers Jenn Ross’ occupation as a computer expert to be a key indicator that someone is not a “homosexual transsexual” under their taxonomy.

Trans people as a group vehemently oppose the term “homosexual transsexual” and its pejorative baggage, because it identifies trans people by their sex assigned at birth rather than by their gender identity. The term is mainly used by a few old-school sexology holdouts in Toronto and their supporters.

After Denise Magner died in 2012, “autogynephilia” activist Candice Brown Elliott took over the hoax site at age 55.

References

Collison, Ken (March 30, 1995) Tea Party Time: Tea party concert broadcast on the internet. Humber Et Cetera https://library.humber.ca/digital-archive/sites/default/files/coven/Mar30_95_Vol27_No24.pdf

Resources

Transkids” (transkids.us)

Twitter (twitter.com)

Mastodon (mastodon.social)

Octodon (octodon.social)

LinkedIn (linkedin.com)

  • https://linkedin.com/in/jennr/ [deleted]
  • https://linkedin.ca/in/jennr/ [deleted]

Jenn Ross (jenn.com) [archive]

Jenn Ross (jenn.ca) [archive]

Jenn Ross (jennlog.com) [archive]

NetDesign (netdesign.com) [archive]

Yallery (yallery.com) [archive]

Heike Susanne Bödeker (also known as Heike Spreitzer) is a German writer and “autogynephilia” activist. Heike claimed to have been in a relationship with Denise Magner (aka “Kiira Triea”) and was involved in the transkids.us hoax site.

Background

Heike claims to be born in 1963 and “adopted by the family of a psychotic woman.” Heike described family life in Heidelberg as a concentration camp: “like being at the hands of some torturer or KZ-Waechter resp. like living in a death row.” Heike has very little good to say about one adoptive parent. Heike allegedly got a break when the parent was hospitalized in 1969. Heike says, “occasionally she beat me really seething with hatred.” and ” I will spit on her grave rather go to hell
”

Heike has reported being diagnosed with mixed gonadal dysgenesis. Heike claims to have been assigned female at birth but was reassigned male in 1968 around age 5. Around age 12, Heike was reportedly put on testosterone (from November 1975 “until shortly before my attempt at suicide around the time of my 14th birthday in May ’77.”). This gave Heike what “many contemporaries due to their lack of any musical education mistake for a male voice.” In 1977, Heike dropped out of a school program, then “had a major breakdown” at age 18.

After living as male for about 16 years starting at age 5, Heike was reportedly reassigned female at age 21 in 1984. Heike’s turning point came in 1993. Heike spent time learning about the Siksika, Piikani, Kainaa, Tsuut’ina, and Nakoda First Nations, and became aware of ISNA.

“I experienced another breakdown only a few weeks after [2 years of psychotherapy] had ended.” Heike was reportedly later adopted by Anna Boedeker and got in a relationship with Denise Magner (aka “Kiira Triea”). Between 1998 and 2000 Heike Bödeker self-identified as “Kiira’s partner,” at one point writing, “This is what happens when one’s gf lives in Germany.”

Activism

Heike and Magner had many connections prior to Magner’s death in 2012:

  • CISAE [Coalition for iIntersex Support Activism and Education] and GMSSG [Genital Mutilation Survivors’ Support Network] and EZKU were hosted on the same domain
  • Wrote pro-“autogynephilia” piece in response to Becky Allison
  • Wrote article on Native v. White gender diversity with Magner and Teresa Binstock 
  • http://www.sonic.net/~boedeker/ (now Heike’s mother’s site)
  • [email protected]
  • [email protected]

Boedeker has gone to considerable effort to erase all online presence.

Selected publications

Michal Rachel Nahman (2000). Embodied Stories, Pragmatic Lives: Intersex Body Narratives on the Net. Unpublished thesis, York University.

The EZKU website is run by Heike Boedeker, from Germany, who used to run the Genital Mutilation Survivors’ Support Network website (which is no longer in existence). As opposed to GMSSN, EZKU is not a support network; rather, it is an online journal (the offline version of which dates back to 1981 -1985) devoted to intersexual and transsexual traumatization issues. Through this website Heike has demonstrated dissatisfaction with the exclusion of transsexual issues frorn the intersex movement. The EZKU website contains Heike’s life history. It focuses specifically on traumatization caused by surgeries, hormone therapies and the mistreatment s/he received. I use Heike’s cornments and hir online testimonials in the next section where I compare the different intersex websites
 For Heike, a functioning body is just as important or even more important than a body that can ‘pass’ for mate or female. Here we see a key difference amongst people in the movement. Some equate normalcy with function, others with appearance.

For exarnple, in her online testimonial, Heike describes her feelings at the age of 15, stating that she could not identify as anything: 1 can’t be male, I can’t not be male, 1 can’t be female, I can’t not be fernale, I can’t be intersexed, 1 can’t be not intersexed, i can’t betranssexual, I can’t be not transsexual.. . likewise, I canY have r’ships [sic] and I can’t have no r’ships.. .sounds crazy, right? [Heike Boedeker, GMSSN website (no longer available online)]

When she wrote this Heike was feeling rejected by various different communities and found herself in a double bind. While others have constantly identified Heike as an intersexual, she sees herself as just as much a transsexual, or rather she is frustrated by the need to identify as anything at all.

References

Boedeker, Heike (Janunary 24, 1998). “Portrait of the Artist as a Young Herm.” Real Intersexed People, via CISAE

Spreitzer, Heike (1994). enthĂ€lt: Zur PhĂ€nomenologie der DirektionalitĂ€t (“inverse Flexion”). Sprache & Sprachen

Spreitzer, Heike; Nieragden, Göran; Chapado, Olga; Wilbertz, Veronika; Weyerts, Helga (1994). Versuch einer historischen Lautlehre des Arbore. Sprache & Sprachen 14/15 (1994), 35-69.

Resources

Anna Boedeker (anna-boedeker.de)

  • http://www.anna-boedeker.de/ab.html
  • http://www.anna-boedeker.de/cats/family.htm

Sonic (sonic.net)

  • http://www.sonic.net/~boedeker/
  • http://www.sonic.net/~boedeker/heike/index.htm
  • http://www.sonic.net/~boedeker/ezku/index_pe.html
  • http://www.sonic.net/~boedeker/ezku/glossary.htm

Hontas Freeman Farmer (born 1980) is an American educator and “autogynephilia” activist. Farmer has an extensive online presence and has identified as a Muslim, Republican, physicist, “homosexual transsexual,” and sex worker. Below is a summary of published information by and about Farmer.

Hontas Farmer on Fox News in a burqa
Hontas Farmer appearing on Fox News in a burqa in 2008.

Background

Farmer has stated the given name Hontas is an abbreviation of Pocahontas. It is also a given name previously used in Farmer’s family. As with many African Americans, Farmer has claimed Native American ancestry. Farmer grew up in the Chicago area and attended Proviso West High School in Hillside. In 1998, Farmer was arrested and given a psychiatric evaluation for allegedly threatening to shoot up the high school after being turned down by a girl for the prom. Local police also confiscated two firearms from Farmer’s family home. Farmer was allegedly bullied in high school with the nickname “the unabomber.”

Farmer graduated from Northern Illinois University in 2005 with a Bachelor of Science in Physics and from DePaul University in 2013 with a Master of Science in Physics. Farmer has subsequently worked as a tutor and taught in adjunct positions in the Chicago City Colleges system as well as at College of DuPage and Elmhurst University. Farmer has also been involved in union organizing, serving as an officer representing other part-time educators via the City Colleges Contingent Labor Organizing Committee (CCCLOC), part of Region 67 of the Illinois Education Association (IEANEA), the state-level union of the National Education Association.

In 2019, Farmer filed a lawsuit against Randall Miller. Miller shares a name with a colleague of Farmer’s.

Online activity

Farmer has been a major forum contributor on the transkids.us hoax site, the Hung Angels forum, Wikipedia, and the Science 2.0 blogging platform. Farmer has used a number of usernames, including:

  • BrendaQG
  • Hfarmer
  • Hontasfx
  • Lucasain
  • Smartgirl62
  • Gravitygirl62
  • Zahara_TS
  • Aisha_a_ts

“Autogynephilia” activism

Farmer became heavily involved in Wikipedia editing of “autogynephilia” and related concepts in 2006.

In 2008, Farmer gained access to the apartment of economist Deirdre McCloskey through McCloskey’s assistant Beth while McCloskey was out of town. McCloskey is a prominent critic of “autogynephilia.” Via Farmer’s blog:

Dr. McCloskey on the other hand. I have an impression of her based on seeing her home and hearing people around UIC talk about her and compare her to me (when they thought I couldn’t hear them). According to Beth her RA who is watching her house Dr. McCloskey was in south Africa. There are those at UIC who call her Dierdre McKrazy and say she is pushy and mannish. Having seen her house that surprises me a bit. A persons home says allot about them. Dr McCloskey’s Condo in downtown Chicago is quite nice, quite large and very comfortable looking. On the inside the furnishings are of good classic taste which would be expected of a lady of her age and means. Walking in I felt like Gill Chesterton seeing Frasier’s condo for the first time, very impressed. It is actually two condo’s joined by stairs. A large part of one is devoted to her personal library which is quite extensive. My friend Beth, a PhD. Student in philosophy’s job for the summer is to put that large library in order. A notable and surprising thing to me was that Dr. McCloskey has a copy of “The man Who Would Be Queen”. 

Farmer (2008)

At the 2009 Transgender Day of Remembrance vigil in Chicago, Farmer approached “Juanita,” one of the trans women featured in the transphobic book The Man Who Would Be Queen by J. Michael Bailey. Farmer was wearing a burqa and asked several questions that prompted “Juanita” to alert the community about Farmer’s questioning.

Hontas Farmer in 2018
Hontas Farmer in 2018. Source

References

OII (2009). Hontas Farmer File: Background information and links to evidence. [archive]

OII (2009). Unscientific blogging. [archive]

Wright, Catherine (June 3, 1998). Classmates threatened. Melrose Park Herald.

Roeper, Richard (June 4, 1998). School threats deserve a hard-line response. Chicago Sun-Times.

Farmer, Hontas (May 17, 2008). A Talk With Julia Serano, Then Walking Dr. McCloskey’s Dog. Science 2.0 https://www.science20.com/quantum_gravity/blog/a_talk_with_julia_serano_then_walking_dr_mccloskeys_dog

Circuit Court of Cook County, Case number 2019-M1-013188 (May 30, 2019).

Resources

Twitter (twitter.com)

Science 2.0 (science20.com)

RateMyProfessors (ratemyprofessors.com)

LinkedIn (linkedin.com)

Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)

YouTube (youtube.com)

Instagram (instagram.com)

Tamara Roberson is an American software engineer and “autogynephilia” activist. Roberson is a key figure in the transkids.us hoax website and identifies as a “gender critical” Christian trans person. As with many “autogynephilia” activists, Roberson believes others have that disease, but Roberson does not identify as an “autogynephile.”

Background

Tamara Zoe Roberson was born November 16, 1984. Roberson attended Marysville-Pilchuck High School in Marysville, Washington, then attended Western Washington University in Bellingham from 2003 to 2005. Roberson earned an associate’s degree from Everett Community College in 2020 and a bachelor’s degree from Washington State University in 2022. Roberson worked at Target and Walmart for about ten years before taking a role as a software engineer at Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories (SEL) in 2022.

Roberson has maintained an extensive trolling online presence since the 1990s. Usernames include:

  • Justanormalgirl
  • TGirlZoe
  • Foxxygirltamara
  • TamaraZRoberson

Roberson became a religious conservative later in life.

“Autogynephilia” activism

“Autogynephilia” (“AGP”) is a sex-fueled mental illness created by Ray Blanchard in 1989. Blanchard defines it as “a man’s paraphilic tendency to be sexually aroused by the thought or image of himself as a woman.” Support for this disease model of gender diversity is almost nonexistent, limited to a small group of conservative activists and supporters. 

“Autogynephilia” as a taxonomy appeals to a very specific type of person: neurodiverse, fixated on collecting and categorizing, socially isolated/eccentric, rigid thinking. “Autogynephilia” appeals to Roberson, who claims to be the other type in the two-type taxonomy: “homosexual transsexual,” or “HSTS.” To that end, Roberson supported the trolling efforts of Denise Magner, creator of the transkids.us hoax site. All of the people involved in that project identify as “HSTS” but would be categorized by Blanchard as “AGP.”

Resources

Twitter (twitter.com)

LinkedIn (linkedin.com)

Facebook (facebook.com)

Quora (quora.com)

Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)

LiveJournal (livejournal.com)

GitHub (github.com)

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Charlotte Anjelica Kieltyka is an American photographer and artist credited by both real name and by the pseudonym “Cher Mondavi” in J. Michael Bailey’s anti-transgender book The Man Who Would Be Queen. Kieltyka is prominently featured throughout the book and is also featured prominently in the defense of Bailey by Alice Dreger.

Background

Charlotte Anjelica Kieltyka was born February 5, 1951. Kieltyka grew up in the Chicago area and graduated from St. Joseph Catholic School in Westchester. Kieltyka attended University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign from 1969 to 1972. In 1973, Kieltyka won grand prize in the annual Chicago Tribune photography contest. Kieltyka made a gender transition in the 1980s.

After seeing Bailey on television talking about “transsexualism” in the mid-1990s, Kieltyka reached out. Kieltyka saw Bailey as a respected authority and sought Bailey’s approval. Kieltyka shared personal experiences and theories involving gender and sex. This led to a long-standing relationship where Kieltyka would get further validation and attention by performing in front of Bailey’s exploitative classes on sexuality; Northwestern University cancelled the course permanently in 2011 after Bailey arranged a live “fucksaw” demonstration. Kieltyka would in turn provide Bailey with access to young trans women, as well as older transgender people Kieltyka knew through a local support group. Bailey would then see these acquaintances in a clinical or lab setting, and Bailey would socialize with the young, attractive ones at nightclubs.

The Man Who Would Be Queen case report fabrication

Kieltyka contacted Lynn Conway and me after The Man Who Would Be Queen came out in 2003. Kieltyka protested at the International Academy of Sex Research conference and filed a formal complaint with Northwestern University for the inaccurate and lurid misuse of biographical information in that book.

Kieltyka also reported that Bailey admitted to fabricating key aspects of a case report in the book.

I soon recovered to ask about something else that was really troubling me about the ending to the book…..I meant the ending to the story about Danny, the last scene depicted in the Epilogue, (p. 214 – the last paragraph) :

“….A few moments later, Danny said : ‘Mummy, I need to go to the men’s room.’ I am certain that as he said that, he emphasized ‘men’s’ and looked my way. And off he went, by himself. At that moment, I became as certain as I can be of Danny’s future. “…….

What had me curious and uniquely troubled about Bailey’s description of this final scene was his absolute certainty of Danny’s future…..What had me perplexed was this presumptiveness and arrogance that he had displayed throughout his book and his life. ….Now he’s playing God or one of his prophets, in telling Danny’s future with such infallible foresight…..It was either that or he was some sort of charlatan……But Bailey is an honest and humble researcher……yet, how could he know with such certainty?

Let me re-phrase that….How could he know that Danny was going to turn out a gay man rather than a transexual woman like “Juanita”?…..His whole book was setting up this either/or proposition (leaving out a real third possible future which was Danny committing suicide!)…..Either Danny was going to be almost exactly like “Juanita” ….A real possibility because both Bailey and I knew about “Juanita’s” childhood and how it closely resembled Danny’s, and that being the case how could Bailey not be as certain of that outcome…..“How could he be so certain? is what I wanted to know…..

Asking him as I did in my best “National Enquirer” inquisitive tone of voice…..His reply……

“I made it up.”…… he said…..

Excuse me, What did you say?…..

“I said I made up that final scene….it never happened “……he replied……

I felt like my computer brain did not compute or could not compute this “DATA”, and so it just “crashed”…..This was even more incredulous then the first answer and I was not even asking whether the scene was true or fabricated ! ! ….I was dumbfounded and he was appearing to be playing both characters in …Dumb and Dumber…..maybe dumbest of all….. Of greater import, and with grave and serious consequences, he seemed to be playing both insidious and dangerous roles of quack and demi-god ….pretending to do research and creating the results that he predicted beforehand……

Kieltyka later sent the following to Bailey in the wake of Bailey’s claims they were friends:

Dr. Bailey, Please refrain from any future remarks about “Cher” and/or Anjelica Kieltyka as being your friend
.I am not your friend
You could not be my friend and write that book
.Do not link Anjelica Kieltyka to “Cher” and /or Autogynophilia and or/ non homosexual transexual except in the context that I , Anjelica Kieltyka , vehemently and emphatically refuse that classification/diagnosis/opinion by you. Any further remarks by you in print or spoken word or use of my image/video describing me, Anjelica Kieltyka as “Cher” and/or Autogynophilic/non homosexual I will consider libelous and/or slander. Most openly and honestly yours, C. Anjelica Kieltyka P.S. I hope to teach you a “great deal” more about the souls of transexual women in the days to come.

Kieltyka now sees that attempts to share experiences and opinions were exploited and misrepresented by Bailey to further a personal agenda and interests. The entire matter has left Kieltyka very troubled and distrustful, as Kieltyka feels duped and exploited by Bailey and others like Alice Dreger. Most people are not going to see past Kieltyka’s eccentricities or unique worldview. Like many of the trans people Dreger and Bailey exploit, Kieltyka is an eccentric hoarder who is socially isolated and experiences significant poverty. It is much easier for people like Bailey to reduce people like Kieltyka to caricatures rather than to treat them like human beings.

Since the 2003 controversy, Kieltyka has done forensic photo analysis for the Arthur C. Pillsbury Foundation.

References

Surkan K (2007). Transsexuals Protest Academic Exploitation. [PDF] In Great Events from History: Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Events, 1848-2006. Lillian Faderman, ed. Salem Press, 2007, ISBN 9781587652639

Kieltyka, Anjelica (July 8, 2003). Danny vs. Juanita : Bailey’s Choice. Published at Conway, Lynn (2003). It’s Fiction! Bailey Admits to Anjelica Kieltyka that he Fabricated the Key Final Scene in His Book https://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/conway/TS/DannyFabrication.html

Dreger AD (2008). The Controversy Surrounding The Man Who Would Be Queen: A Case History of the Politics of Science, Identity, and Sex in the Internet Age. Archives of Sexual Behavior. 2008 Jun; 37(3): 366–421.Published online 2008 Apr 23. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-007-9301-1

Windsor EJ (2018). Power in the production of transgender knowledge: The controversy over The Man Who Would Be Queen. The Rutgers Journal of Sociology Knowledge in Contention, Volume II, 2018, pp. 2-37. [PDF]

Resources

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Lynn Conway (lynnconway.com)

Chloe Ann Rounsley is an American writer and photographer who co-wrote True Selves with therapist Mildred L. Brown in 1996.

Background

Chloe Ann Rounsley was born in 1950.

As a staff photographer for newspapers, Rounsley “has always focused on the visual and photographic aspects.” Rounsley has written feature stories, book reviews, a regular column called Faces (with portraits and stories), and magazine articles on a variety of subjects. 

One of Rounsley’s relationship articles for the San Francisco Chronicle led to the book True Selves.

Rounsley has also worked as a public relations manager, staff writer, and  copywriter for ad agencies. Rounsley’s own creative agency, Rounsley Associates, develops corporate identity and ad campaigns.

Resources

Rounsley Associates (rounsley.com) [archive]

LinkedIn (linkedin.com)

Digital Transgender Archive (digitaltransgenderarchive.net)