Elliot Kaminetzky is an American psychologist and anti-transgender activist. Kaminetzky primarily opposes medical consensus on care for trans and gender diverse youth.
Do not go to Kaminetzky for any kind of therapy. If you are a trans or gender diverse minor forced to see Kaminetzky, do everything in your power to end the sessions and find supportive local resources.
Background
Elliot M. Kaminetzky was born in March of 1985. In 2014 Kaminetzky married pediatrician Rachel Sharret (born 1985). They have three children.
Kaminetzky earned a bachelor’s degree from Yeshiva University in 2009 and a doctorate from Hoffstra University in 2016.
Following an internship at the Veterans Administration in 2017 and a fellowship at Northwell Health, Kaminetzky founded My OCD Care in 2018. In 2023, Kaminetzky was a founder of The Center for Child Behavioral Health.
Kaminetzky also attended the 2023 Genspect Denver conference of anti-transgender extremists:
While some may see us as hateful, I have only seen kind-hearted and brilliant people of all walks of life discussing youth gender medicine; one of the biggest medical scandals of our time.
David Jonathan Ley, Jr. was born on January 26, 1973. Ley earned a bachelor’s degree from University of Mississippi in 1995 and a doctorate from University of New Mexico in 2001.
From 2003 to 2004, Ley was a manager at Lovelace Sandia Health System. Since 2004 Ley has been affiliated with New Mexico Solutions and was serving as Executive Director as of 2024.
Ley has served on the boards of Sexual Health Alliance, National Council for Mental Wellbeing, and New Mexico Behavioral Health Providers Association.
Ley has authored several books and frequently criticizes the spurious concept of “sex addiction.” Ley is also a critic of pathologizing many unusual sexual interests and frequently appears in mainstream media to discuss sexuality.
Ley lives in the Albuquerque, New Mexico area. Ley and spouse Roxanne Inez Candelaria-Ley (born 1973) have an adult child, Samantha. Ley trains and competes in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.
References
Ley DJ (2014). A Review of “Treating Transgender Children and Adolescents: An Interdisciplinary Discussion.” Journal of Sex & Marital Therapy, 40:1, 69-70, https://doi.org/10.1080/0092623X.2013.854548
Ley DJ (March 1, 2021). The Cancel Mob Is Coming.Psychology Today https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/women-who-stray/202103/the-cancel-mob-is-coming
Evolutionary psychology (EP) is an ideology within psychology that proposes that neurological traits and behaviors have been shaped by sexual selection to serve survival and reproduction. Biologist Stephen Jay Gould described it as “Darwinian fundamentalism” because of the field’s rigid and dogmatic misunderstanding of evolution.
Evolutionary psychologists often engage in unfalsifiable theorizing about gender roles, derisively dubbed “just so stories” after the erroneous folk legends about how animals got various charateristics. Evolutionary psychologists are particularly fond of making claims about behaviors that allegedly evolved in prehistory. They then use the claims to explain and even justify sexist sterotypes.
Sex and gender minorities pose a special dilemma for evolutionary psychology: we muddle what they see as simple formulas regarding reproduction and sex differentiation.
If you think about gender diversity as a value that eludes full human understanding within a scientific language, like pi in mathematics, gender diversity exposes the limitations in EP’s system of representation. Rather than appreciating and understanding the elegance and intricacy of this mysterious value of gender diversity, evolutionary psychologists are suggesting we essentially round pi to a nice easy-to-understand integer by saying there are two sexes and rounding off the little fractions of sex and gender minorities to make the other equations easier.
J. Michael Bailey
J. Michael Bailey is a transphobic eugenicist and evolutionary psychologist trying to figure out “the puzzle of sexual roientation” within the dogma of evolutionary psychology. Bailey claims there are two, and only sexes, and two, and only two two “types” of trans women that fit into this paradigm: extremely gay males with a fetish for straight males and extremely paraphilic males with a fetish for their feminized selves.
This simplistic definition allows for an easy answer to the problem we pose for EP. Of course, this model is worthless given existing and upcoming reproductive technologies that bypass natural selection.
Nonetheless, Bailey insists this model is correct, since conceding it is not would open up a huge flaw in that worldview and hypothesis. In Bailey’s world, it is very important that gay/straight and male/female binaries be defended and justified.
This of course leads to fundamentally flawed results from calculations with this rounded number, but that hasn’t stopped Bailey and friends from a vigorous defense of this decision to simplify humanity to a Mendelian quadrant of XX/XY.
In the EP worldview, gay people are “a big mistake” evolutionarily (as J. Michael Bailey calls it), or perhaps more generously an evolutionary paradox: why does a trait that leads to fewer offspring persist?
I’ll have much more to say on this matter in the future, but evolutionary psychology is a very attractive field of inquiry to eugenicists and others who believe that all humans are not equal, and that many are in fact unfit or maladaptive. These people who measure human worth by a narrow definition of “intelligence” or reproductive capacity are the leading edge of the upcoming bioethical battle regarding diversity of all sorts, from genetics to gender.
Evolutionary psychologists and like-minded academics connected to anti-transgender activism include:
Gould, Steven Jay (June 12, 1997). Darwinian Fundamentalism. New York Review of Books http://www.nybooks.com/articles/1997/06/12/darwinian-fundamentalism/ https://archive.is/NPzx5 [archive]
Havens, Kiera (June 13, 2013). Box of Rocks #3 — Never Change.Medium https://medium.com/@Keira_Havens/box-of-rocks-3-never-change-80b879237314
Wren B, Launer J, Reiss MJ, Swanepoel A, Music G. Can evolutionary thinking shed light on gender diversity? BJPsych Advances. 2019;25(6):351-362. https://doi.org/10.1192/bja.2019.35
Hagen, Edward (2004). Evolutionary psychology FAQ. http://human.projects.anth.ucsb.edu/evpsychfaq.html [archive]
J. Michael Bailey‘s 2003 book The Man Who Would Be Queen was an an important turning point in asymmetrical information warfare. Transgender activists had to employ novel strategies to fight the anti-transgender bias that was being put forth via socially-credentialed sources. One of the sites of dispute was the Amazon listing for Bailey’s book, where Amazon manipulated the consensus to remove the majority of negative reviews while sparing positive reviews by the author’s friends and colleagues.
The nascent online practices of “academic logrolling” vs. “review bombing” came to wider notice when a glitch in Amazon’s Canadian system revealed the names of anonymous reviewers, exposing how much of this activity was occurring on Amazon’s platform. Amazon later implemented a number of changes, including giving more weight to verified purchases and allowing readers to vote and comment on reviews. Because their ultimate goal is to make money by selling books, Amazon is generally going to favor the side of shills.
Shill reviews
The pro-Bailey shill reviewers in the first year included a number of colleagues and supporters, several of whom are mentioned in the book:
This page went live in 2003 as part of a systematic plan to document everyone involved in this debate. Trans people had begun reporting difficulties getting their reviews accepted, suggesting Amazon was manually blocking negative reviews:
I spent over a month of fighting with Amazon to get them to post my review. Amazon is systematically censoring negative reviews. You have to follow their rules precisely to get things posted and even then people may have to fight. I advise anyone trying to post a review to followup with an e-mail if it is not posted within a week. And then if it is not posted, it is key to ask for the supervisor in charge of book reviews and demand that it be posted (lest they be accused of censoring, which they are definitely definitely doing)
In April 2004, the book had a 2-star rating based on 80 reviews.
By March 10, 2004, Amazon had removed 24 customer reviews from the review section, including several from famous trans writers and scholars, and even a Top 500 Amazon reviewer (Geoff Puterbaugh). All but one of these reviews gave the book the worst numerical rating possible. Amazon’s actions raised the book’s overall rating from 2 stars to 3 stars.
The purge removed negative reviews by many notable people, including scientists and clinicians:
The reader who reported difficulties getting a review posted was one of the 24 suppressed in the purge.
Single-purpose reviewers
From the 2004 purge into June 2006, someone posted 40 different 5-star reviews under different names. In almost every case, Bailey’s book was the only review ever made by the account. It’s very likely these were all posted by the same person familiar with the controversy, probably Denise Magner. Magner compulsively used sockpuppets, starting with an Amazon review by her sockpuppet Stephanie Alejandra Velasquez on May 4, 2003. That review was taken down in the Amazon purge, and the 40 new reviews began appearing immediately after. Many of the names used are puns on people involved in the controversy, like Simon LeVay and John Bancroft.
Book publishers and authors were just learning about how to improve sales by manipulating Amazon, something Amazon encourages. Right below an author’s Amazon Sales Rank is an invitation: “(Publishers and authors: improve your sales)”
Publishers increasingly use these unconfirmed reviews edited by an unnamed Amazon employee as evidence about a book’s reception. Joseph Henry Press Executive Editor Stephen Mautner cited Amazon reviews in his open letter about Bailey’s book:
As of June 13, 2003 there were 27 1-star (lowest) ratings, and 11 5-star (highest) ratings, with only 5 in-between.
From the start, this book was marketed as controversial. The trans community had to use a number of innovative methods to fight the unscientific ideas presented in this book. Many of these methods have since been widely adopted, like online petitions and this kind of systematized documentation to expose patterns of bias like Amazon’s.
References
Harmon, Amy (February 14, 2004). Amazon Glitch Unmasks War of Reviewers.New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/14/us/amazon-glitch-unmasks-war-of-reviewers.html
The Man Who Would Be Queen is a notoriously anti-transgender book by J. Michael Bailey.
In March 2003, Northwestern University psychologist J. Michael Bailey published The Man Who Would Be Queen: The Science of Gender-Bending and Transsexualism.
The Man Who Would Be Queen was crafted and marketed in ways influenced by academic racists and others in the neo-eugenics movement. Bailey uses scientific-sounding arguments to claim sexual minorities and people who display gender diversity are “evolutionary mistakes,” and he claims those who disagree with his ideas are liars.
Normally, a book this scientifically unsound and tainted with charges of academic misconduct, practicing without a license, fabricating data, and sex with a research subject would not even be dignified with a response by many involved, but The Man Who Would Be Queen somehow got published through the Joseph Henry Press, an imprint of the National Academies Press which specializes in science books for popular audiences.
Published commentaries on Bailey
A selection of comments from people concerned about this book and its message
J. Michael Bailey was Chair of the Psychology Department at Northwestern University until 2004. He stepped down in the wake of an investigation into charges of ethics violations surrounding his 2003 book The Man Who Would Be Queen: The Science of Gender-Bending and Transsexualism. Many see this book as the most defamatory book written about gender variance since Janice Raymond wrote The Transsexual Empire in 1979.
Below are some published peer reviews and commentaries about the quality of his “science.”
Selected published commentaries and coverage
• LINK: Kinder, gentler homophobia (by David Ehrenstein, The Advocate) http://www.advocate.com/exclusive_detail_ektid29121.asp
• LINK: Biological reductionism meets gender diversity in human sexuality (by Walter O. Bockting, Journal of Sex Research) http://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/conway/TS/Bailey/Bockting/Bockting%20Review.html and commentary by Christine Burns http://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/conway/TS/Bailey/Bockting/Burns%20commentary.html
• LINK: Ethical minefields: The sex that would be science (by Julie M. Klein, Seed Magazine) http://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/conway/TS/Bailey/Ethics/Ethical%20Minefields%20-%20Seed%20Magazine.html
• LINK: Queer Science: An ‘elite’ cadre of scientists and journalists tries to turn back the clock on sex, gender and race http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?sid=96 (01-01-2004) LINK:(by Heidi Beirich and Bob Moser, Southern Poverty Law Center)
• LINK: Book review (by Pauline Park, Ph.D. Gay Today) http://gaytoday.com/reviews/061603re.asp
• LINK: Bailey on gay femininity (by Paul Varnell, Chicago Free Press) http://www.indegayforum.org/authors/varnell/varnell109.html
• LINK: Why are you a queen? (by Paul Varnell, Washington Blade) http://www.washingtonblade.com/2003/10-17/view/columns/queen.cfm
• LINK: Weird science (by Kim McNabb, Chicago Free Press) http://www.indegayforum.org/authors/mcnabb/mcnabb1.html
• LINK: Author is ripped for transsexual research (by Robert Becker, Chicago Tribune) http://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/conway/TS/Bailey/ChicagoTribune-7-29-03.html
• LINK: Dr. Sex (by Robin Wilson, Chronicle of Higher Education) http://chronicle.com/free/v49/i41/41a00801.htm
• LINK: New gene theory rests on bad science (by Vernon Rosario, Gay & Lesbian Review) http://calbears.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb3491/is_200311/ai_n8283071
• LINK: Trans activists file charges against NU professor (by Gary Barlow, Chicago Free Press) http://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/conway/TS/Bailey/Chicago%20Free%20Press%20-%20Trans%20Activists%20File%20Charges.htm
• LINK: NU panel to investigate prof’s research tactics (by Sheila Burt and Laurel Jorgensen , Daily Northwestern) http://media.www.dailynorthwestern.com/media/storage/paper853/news/2003/11/18/Campus/Nu.Panel.To.Investigate.Profs.Research.Tactics-1912932.shtml
• LINK: Bailey accused of having sex with research subject (by Sheila Burt, Daily Northwestern) http://media.www.dailynorthwestern.com/media/storage/paper853/news/2004/01/06/UndefinedSection/Bailey.Accused.Of.Having.Sex.With.Research.Subject-1913112.shtml
• LINK: University examining Bailey’s sex research (by Katie Walton, Daily Northwestern) http://media.www.dailynorthwestern.com/media/storage/paper853/news/2004/02/09/Campus/University.Examining.Baileys.Sex.Research-1913654.shtml
• LINK: University investigates ethics of sex researcher (by Robert Stacy McCain, Washington Times) http://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/conway/TS/Bailey/Washington%20Times%2011-25-03.html
• LINK: NIH director defends funds for criticized sex research (by Robert Stacy McCain, Washington Times) http://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/conway/TS/Bailey/Washington%20Times%201-30-04.html
• LINK: Northwestern U. psychologist is accused of having sex with research subject (by Robin Wilson, Chronicle of Higher Education) http://chronicle.com/weekly/v50/i17/17a01702.htm
• LINK: NU professor faces sexual allegations (by Gary Barlow, Chicago Free Press) http://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/conway/TS/Bailey/Chicago%20Free%20Press%2012-17-03.html
• Letters re: Dr. Sex (in Chronicle of Higher Education) /info/dr-sex.html
• LINK: Dr. Sex (by Kate Gambreno, Newcity Chicago) http://www.newcitychicago.com/chicago/2392.html
• LINK: Book review (by Geoff Parkes) http://web.archive.org/web/20031024053250/http://www.adequacy.net/features/book/book160.shtml
• LINK: Book review (by Deirdre McCloskey, Reason) http://www.reason.com/0311/cr.dm.queer.shtml
• Een Mann gevangen in een mannenlichaam (by Peter Vermey, NRC, excerpts translated by Arianne ven der Ven) /info/louis-gooren.html
• LINK: Sex and Transsexuals (by Dennis Rodkin, Chicago Reader) https://securesite.chireader.com/cgi-bin/Archive/abridged2.bat?path=2003/031212/TRANS&search=transsexual
• LINK: Transsexual Travesty (by Deirdre McCloskey, Chicago Reader) https://securesite.chireader.com/cgi-bin/Archive/abridged2.bat?path=2003/031219/LETTERS/MCCLOSK&search=transsexual
• LINK: The man who would write about queens (Transgender Tapestry) http://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/conway/TS/Bailey/IFGE-Reviews.html
• LINK: Tapestry review: The Man Who Would be Queen (by Christine Beatty, Transgender Tapestry) http://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/conway/TS/Bailey/IFGE-Reviews.html
• LINK: Not a man, not the queen (by Gwen Smith, Bay Area Reporter) http://www.gwensmith.com/writing/transmissions67.html
• LINK: Book review of The Man Who Would Be Queen (by Liza Mundy, Washington Post) http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A61894-2003Mar20¬Found=true
• Lost in the Male (by John Derbyshire, National Review) https://www.transgendermap.com/?page_id=18388
• LINK: Book review of The Man Who Would Be Queen (by A. Dean Byrd, Ph.D, NARTH) http://www.narth.com/docs/queen.html
• Transsexuals and the Law (by Dan Seligman, Forbes) /info/dan-seligman.html
• LINK: Autogynephilia: A Mistaken Model (by Beth Orens) http://www.starways.net/beth/ag.html
• LINK: To call a woman a queen (by Alison Campbell, Diverse City) http://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/conway/TS/DiverseCity/DiverseCity.html
• LINK: 2 Transsexual Women Say Professor Didn’t Tell Them They Were Research Subjects (by Robin Wilson, Chronicle) http://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/conway/TS/Chronicle-7-17-03.html
• LINK: Transsexuals file complaints over book (by Lindsey Tanner, Associated Press) http://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/conway/TS/Bailey/ChicagoTribune-7-30-03.html
• Transsexuals protest (by Jon Marcus, Times Higher Education Supplement) /info/bailey-protest.html
• LINK: Diagnosis as libel: A letter of warning to Bailey (by Deirdre McCloskey, U. of Illinois at Chicago) http://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/conway/TS/Bailey/Reader/Deirdre%20McCloskey%20puts%20Bailey%20on%20notice.html
Community response /info/bailey-commentary.html
The trans community has mobilized around this matter, with a wide variety of letters, published commentaries, petitions, etc.
Primary resources include an Investigation by Professor Lynn Conway http://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/conway/TS/LynnsReviewOfBaileysBook.html
and the Clearinghouse on this site. /info/bailey-blanchard-lawrence.html\
This page has selective commentary from the trans community on J. Michael Bailey’s book on gender variance.
J. Michael Bailey is Chair of the Psychology Department at Northwestern University. In March 2003, he published a book called The Man Who Would Be Queen: The Science of Gender-Bending and Transsexualism. Many see this book as the most defamatory book written about gender variance since Janice Raymond wrote The Transsexual Empire in 1979.
• (05-02-2003) LINK: Critique of The Man Who Would Be Queen (by Jed Bland) http://www.gender.org.uk/chstnuts/queen0.htm
• (08-18-2003) LINK: The Aforementioned Ugly (by S. Bear Bergman) http://www.butchdykeboy.com/bdb/bear.a1
• (06-27-2003) LINK: Essay from a young transitioner (by Nell) http://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/conway/TS/Nell%27sEssayOnBBL.html
• (08-17-2003) Letter from Europe (by Karla) /info/karla.html
• (05-04-2003) LINK: Bailey’s “poster child for autogynephilia” in her own words (by “Cher” aka Anjelica Kieltyka) http://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/conway/TS/Anjelica.html
• (06-06-2003) Slavery through essentialism (by Tati do Ceu) /info/bailey-slavery.html
• (06-09-2003) A Youth TS Perspective (by Bonnie Jackson) /info/bailey-autogynephile.html
• (06-09-2003) Why Bailey’s book is offensive (by Kelly Novak, M.S.) /info/bailey-transgender.html
• (06-11-2003) Direct effect: how Bailey personally made my life harder (by women he’s hurt) /info/bailey-defamation.html
• (06-12-2003) LINK: The Man Who Wouldn’t Leave Us Alone (by Ryka) http://www.geocities.com/rykaryka/Baileyrant.html
• (05-02-2003) Northwestern U. Psychologist J. M. Bailey Debases Social Science In Quest For Celebrity (by Sonia John). /info/bailey-psychology.html
• (04-27-2003) LINK: The National Academy meets the National Enquirer (by Rebecca Allison, M.D.) http://www.drbecky.com/blog05.html#apr13
• (06-17-2003) Bailey on institutional reading lists (by Andrea James) /info/bailey-university.html
• (06-16-2003) My correspondence with Northwestern Student Affairs (by Andrea James) /info/bailey-psychologist.html
• (06-23-2003) LINK: Open letter to Northwestern Administration (by Lynn Conway) http://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/conway/TS/NorthwesternLetter1.html
• (06-18-2003) LINK: Transphobia for Dummies (by Lynn Conway) http://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/conway/TS/BooksForDummies.html
• (06-19-2003) Bailey’s sexism and analogies of race (by Andrea James) /info/bailey-racism.html
• (06-20-2003) Mike Bailey and “homosexual transsexuals” (by Andrea James) /info/bailey-homosexual.html
• (06-21-2003) A note regarding Bailey’s children (by Andrea James) /info/bailey-children.html
• (06-18-2003) LINK: Transphobia for Dummies (by Lynn Conway) http://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/conway/TS/BooksForDummies.html
• (06-26-2003) The Man Who Would Be A Scientist (by Gwyneth Rhian Morgan) /info/bailey-scientist.html
• (03-09-2004) LINK: Investigative report (by Professor Lynn Conway) http://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/conway/TS/LynnsReviewOfBaileysBook.html
• (08-06-2003) John Money vs. J. Michael Bailey (intro by Andrea James) /info/bailey-john-money.html
• (04-19-2003) Divided we fall: the dangers of categorizing transsexual women (by Evelyn, intro by Andrea James) /info/divided.html
• (05-17-2003) LINK: Excerpts from other community responses (by Rebecca Allison, M.D.) http://www.drbecky.com/blog06.html
• (07-17-2003) LINK: Identity rape: psych exposed women without their consent (via PsychWatch) http://psychwatch.blogspot.com/2003_07_13_psychwatch_archive.html#105845090093478495
• (08-07-2003) Biology is destiny: new book drawing fire (via GenderPAC) /info/bailey-genderpac.html
• (09-13-2003) HBIGDA President blasts Bailey book (courtesy Eli Coleman) /info/eli-coleman.html
• (09-30-2003) LINK: Book review (via Logged Off) http://home.iprimus.com.au/laurapalmer/manwhowouldbequeen.htm
• (08-17-2003) Gordon Walker review (via GLIP Newsletter) /info/gordon-walker.html
• (06-30-2003) LINK: Book review (via GID.info) http://www.angelfire.com/psy/gid/bailey.htm
• (07-01-2003) LINK: Book review (by Christine Beatty) http://www.glamazon.net/bailey.html
• (05-14-2003) Overview of Bailey’s methodology and bias (by Andrea James) /info/bailey-transgendered.html
• (05-14-2003) LINK: It’s a guy thing (by Julie Marie) http://www.geocities.com/juliemarielee2001/blog2004-04.htm#anchor20040410
Transkids.us is a site with some controversial opinions from authors who identify as “homosexual transsexual.” This site suggests that any young person dealing with these feelings who is not exclusively attracted to males is not a “transkid.” The fact that they strongly endorse the views of J. Michael Bailey is also a cause for concern.
Commentaries on this collection of materials
• (05-14-2003) Anne Lawrence’s responses to critics /info/lawrence-autogynephilia.html
• (05-28-2003) LINK: Book Launches Controversy Among Transsexual Women (by Debra Hyde) http://www.yesportal.com/news.cfm/1341 http://www.pursedlips.com/
• (05-18-2003) LINK: …and the Cat Fight Gets Even Nastier (by Jamie Faye Fenton) http://members.tgforum.com/jamie/blog/2003_07_01_archive.html
• (06-16-2003) Kathleen Becker on “autogynephilia” /info/kathleen-becker.html
• (05-18-2003) Kendra Blewitt on “autogynephilia” /info/kendra-letter.html
• (05-06-2003) Willow Arune on “autogynephilia” and exchange with Dana Beyer, M.D. /info/dana-beyer-willow-arune.html /info/bailey-willow-arune.html
• (01-19-2004) Jamie Faye Fenton on “autogynephilia” /info/jamie-faye-fenton.html
• (05-15-2003) Selected letters and excerpts from readers /info/selected-letters.html
Lee Willerman (26 July 1939—10 January 1997) was an American psychology professor and eugenicist known for his work on twin studies. He was dissertation advisor and mentor for gender critical psychologist J. Michael Bailey, who has published work on eugenic ideologies.
Background
Willerman was born in and grew up in Chicago. Willerman received BA and MA degrees from Roosevelt University in 1961 and 1964 respectively, and his Ph.D. from Wayne State University in 1967. After a three-year stint at National Institutes of Health, Willerman completed a post-doctoral year at the University of Michigan in the Department of Human Genetics. In 1971 he took a position at University of Texas at Austin, where he remained until his death.
Eugenics
In 1974, Willerman joined the American Eugenics Society, and his work over the remainder of his life involved eugenics-themed hypotheses. His first study examined IQ and birth weight differences between identical twins, finding that the twin who had been heavier at birth tended to be higher in IQ. Willerman worked with Joseph M. Horn and John C. Loehlin on a major study of adoptive families, the Texas Adoption Project. Much of his work involved psychometrics and research into neuroanatomical predictors of intelligence.
Interracial offspring of white mothers obtained significantly higher IQ scores at 4 years of age than interracial offspring of Negro mothers, suggesting that environmental factors play an important role in the lower intellectual performance of Negro children.
Willerman (1970)
He also had a hypothesis that tangled capillaries in fingernail beds were evidence for a likelihood of schizophrenia, because similar capillaries in the brain were “allowing free radicals to leak into the brain.”
Eugenicists and hereditarians have long recognized the value of twin studies because they provide a natural control for experiments. Among the most notorious proponents of twin studies was Nazi Josef Mengele, who carried out experiments on 1,500 sets of twins, only 200 of these twins survived. Bailey’s initial work on twins led to several papers on the heritability of homosexuality.
Willerman and J. Michael Bailey
Willerman seems to have been a father figure for Bailey, shaping his thinking and setting him on the career path he followed:
My advisor, Lee Willerman, was a much better role model. Lee was one of the most intellectually and personally delightful people I’ve ever met, and he led me to discover a love of individual differences·IQ, sex differences, psychopathology, behavior genetics, etc. And he taught me the human sexuality course when I learned about an interesting theory of sexual orientation, which I investigated for my dissertation. The theory involved maternal prenatal stress, and I found no evidence for it. However, I loved the research area, and have stayed there, more or less.
Bailey has since published eugenic articles:
stating it is “morally acceptable” to screen for and abort gay fetuses: “selection for heterosexuality may benefit parents and children and is unlikely to cause significant harm.”
arguing that “offering sex offenders the opportunity to be castrated in return for a reduced sentence is not ethically problematic coercion.”
References
Willerman L, Naylor AF, Myrianthopoulos NC (1970). Intellectual Development of Children from Interracial Matings. Science Vol 170, Issue 3964 pp. 1329-1331 https://doi.org/10.1126/science.170.3964.1329
Willerman L, Naylor AF, Myrianthopoulos NC (1974). Intellectual development of children from interracial matings: Performance in infancy and at 4 years. Behavior Genetics volume 4, pages83–90 (1974) https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01066706
Bailey JM (2003). Personal information. via his Northwestern University website. https://faculty.wcas.northwestern.edu/JMichael-Bailey/personal.html [archive]
Lisa Diamond is an associate professor of psychology and gender identity at the University of Utah. She was quoted by the Washington Blade on 8 July 2005 praising a study by Gerulf Rieger which claimed male bisexuality does not exist.
“Research on sexual orientation has been based almost entirely on self-reports, and this is one of the few good studies using physiological measures.”
Rieger is a Ph.D. candidate in clinical psychology at Northwestern University. He is being groomed by his mentor J. Michael Bailey to engage in “science by press conference,” a way of getting publicity and attention through carefully timed media manipulation.
Dr. Diamond was not involved in the study, which involved the use of plethysmograph quackery.
Benedict Carey. Straight, Gay or Lying? Bisexuality Revisited. New York Times, July 5, 2005.
Sexual Orientation, Controversy, and Science
J. MICHAEL BAILEY (NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY), PAUL L. VASEY (UNIVERSITY OF LETHBRIDGE), LISA M. DIAMOND (UNIVERSITY OF UTAH), S. MARC BREEDLOVE (MICHIGAN STATE UNIVERSITY), ERIC VILAIN (UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES), AND MARC EPPRECHT (QUEEN’S UNIVERSITY)
Psychological Science in the Public Interest (Volume 17, Number 2)
Lalumiere has joined the International Academy of Sex Research and the editorial board at the journal controlled by Clarke Institute personnel, The Archives of Sexual Behavior.
Martin Lalumiere, B.Sc., M.Ps., Ph.D. Centre for Addiction and Mental Health Unit 3 Toronto, Ontario, M6J 1H4 Tel: (416) 535-8501, 2669 Fax: (416) 583-4327 Email to:[email protected]
Dr. Lalumière obtained his B.Sc. (1989) and his M.Ps. (1990) from the Université de Montréal (1990), and his Ph.D.(1995) from Queen’s University at Kingston (where he received the Governor General’s Academic Gold Medal). He is currently a Research Psychologist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Law and Mental Health Program. Previously, he was a Research Psychologist at the Penetanguishene Mental Health Centre, Research Department (1996-1997), and a Research Fellow in Psychology and Psychiatry at Queen’s University (1994-1996). Most of his time is spent conducting research on the causes of sexual aggression, sexual preferences, and psychopathy.
Recent Publications
Lalumière, M. L., Blanchard, R., & Zucker, K. J. (2000). Sexual orientation and handedness in men and women: A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 126, 575-592. Lalumière, M.L., Chalmers, L., Quinsey, V.L., & Seto, M.C. (1996) A test of the mate deprivation hypothesis of sexual coercion. Ethology and Sociobiology, 17, 299-318. Lalumière, M.L., Harris, G.T., Quinsey, V.L., & Rice, M.E. (1998) Sexual deviance and number of older brothers among sexual offenders. Sexual Abuse, 10, 5-15. Lalumière, M. L., Harris, G. T., & Rice, M. E. (2001). Psychopathy and developmental instability. Evolution and Human Behavior, 22, 75-92. Lalumière, M.L., & Quinsey, V.L. (1994). The discriminability of rapists from non-sex offenders using phallometric measures: A meta-anaylsis. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 21, 150-175. Lalumière, M. L., & Quinsey, V. L. (1999). A Darwinian interpretation of individual differences in male propensity for sexual aggression. Jurimetrics, 39, 201-216. Quinsey, V. L., & Lalumière, M. L. (2001). Assessment of sex offenders against children (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications. Seto, M. C., Lalumière, M. L., & Blanchard, R. (2000). The discriminative validity of a phallometric test for pedophilic interests among adolescent offenders against children. Psychological Assessment, 12, 319-327. Seto, M. C., Lalumière, M. L., & Kuban, M. (1999). The sexual preferences of incest offenders. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 108, 267-272.
Nancy Eloise Main Henley (October 27, 1934–June 4, 2016) was an American psychologist and aunt to notorious transgender troll Kiira Triea aka Denise Magner. Henley’s sister Dorothy Main Magner was Kiira Triea’s mother. Triea incorporated aspects of Henley’s work and life into her own fabricated life story, and she was involved in maintaining Johns Hopkins email servers through her aunt’s connections there.
Background
Henley was born in Palatka, Florida and began her education after getting married and starting a family:
B.S., Johns Hopkins University, (1964)
M.A., Johns Hopkins University, (1967)
PhD, Johns Hopkins University, (1968)
Affiliations:
University of Maryland, Baltimore County, (1968–1971)
Lowell Technological Institute/University of Lowell, (1974–1980)
University of California, Los Angeles , (1980–1994)
Most of her writing was on gender, feminism, language, and the social psychology of power.
She retired to Glen Burnie, Maryland and died there from a stroke.
My name is Andrea James. I am a writer and activist based here in Los Angeles. You can read about my work at the link below. Like you, my areas of interest include gender and violence (I have done anti-violence projects with Jane Fonda and Eve Ensler as well as Patti Giggans at Peace Over Violence/LACAAW), and I know much of your work covers these topics.
I am writing to you because I am doing some fact checking on an upcoming project, and I am interested in profiling a woman named Denise Tree, who says she is your niece. In the interest of being thorough, I felt it would be prudent to confirm this directly with you prior to publication.
Below is the quotation from Denise that prompted my note (presented verbatim):
“I strongly reccommend _Language, Gender and Society_ ed. in part by my aunt, Nancy Henley. Chock full of good reading about sex dichotymous verbal and non-verbal communications and also how “sex” is hardwired into language itself.
🙂 Yes it’s afavorite – The Estelle and Dorothy in the dedication is my grandmother and mother.”
Because the dedication in your book Language, Gender and Society lists Estella, not Estelle, I felt I should confirm with you. Denise also says your sister Dorothy lived in the Philippines in the 1950s and was in a relationship with Denise’s father, a Finnish man. She says Dorothy gave birth to her on Clark Air Base in the Philippines and later moved from Finland to Baltimore in the 1960s, where Dorothy married someone else.
If Denise is your niece, I hope you understand that I am merely trying to be as thorough as possible in my fact-checking. I have been doing research for a long time, and my instincts told me I should confirm this information directly with you. If this information about your sister is not correct, I obviously do not want to publish any misinformation, and I would like to get a correction out there.
Thanks for any confirmation you can provide. I will follow up with a call as well, and I appreciate your time!
James Neal Butcher (born November 20, 1933) is an American psychologist who has published pathologizing materials about sex and gender minorities. His college textbook Abnormal Psychology and Modern Life was influenced by the toxic ideology of Ray Blanchard, who promotes disease models of gender identity and expression.
Background
Butcher was born in Bergoo, West Virginia. His father was killed in a coal mining accident when Butcher was 8. His mother and five children moved to Charleston, where she died when Butcher was 11. Butcher then took a job selling newspapers, and he and three minor siblings raised themselves without an adult in the home.
In 1950, Butcher enlisted in the Army, serving in Korea. After his discharge, he earned a BA in psychology from Guilford College in 1960. In 1964 he earned a PhD in clinical psychology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He then served as a professor of psychology and as Director of the Clinical Psychology Program at the University of Minnesota, where he was appointed Professor Emeritus after 40 years. He is best known for his work on the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) and has published fifty-eight books and more than two hundred fifty articles in personality assessment, abnormal psychology, and crisis-intervention.
