Randi Ettner is an American psychologist and author known for affirming work with transgender and gender diverse people.
Background
Randi Joy (Cahan) Ettner was born in 1952 in Lincolnwood, Illinois. Ettner earned a bachelor’s degree from Indiana University, followed by a master’s degree from Roosevelt University.
Ettner began working with transgender people in 1977 at Cook County Hospital in Chicago, Illinois. Ettner received a doctorate in psychology at Northwestern University, with a dissertation on childbirth. Ettner had additional training at Moray House School of Education in Scotland.
Ettner is founder of New Health Foundation Worldwide and works with spouse Frederic M. “Fred” Ettner, a physician.
Ettner has helped pass anti-discrimination laws, provided testimony on behalf of trans people seeking workplace rights, and works to secure appropriate treatment for prisoners. Ettner has also been a critic of psychologist J. Michael Bailey‘s 2003 book The Man Who Would Be Queen. Bailey claims the book was initially motivated by “gross inaccuracies in Ettner’s account of transsexualism.” Ettner works to improve understanding of trans issues, and has spoken out against attitudes used to justify violence against trans people.
Below is a clip from a 2006 interview I did with Dr. Ettner on coming out.
Publications
Cahan RJ (1976). A Psychology Internship: Cook County Hospital. Roosevelt University
Ettner R (1979). Childbirth at Home: A Preliminary Attempt to Predict Dysfunctional Labor. Northwestern University
Ettner R (1996). Confessions of a Gender Defender: A Psychologist’s Reflections on Life Among the Transgendered. Chicago Spectrum Press, ISBN 9781886094512
Ettner R (1999). Gender Loving Care: A Guide to Counseling Gender-variant Clients. W.W. Norton & Co. ISBN 9780393703047, W W Norton page
Ettner R (2002). Book Review: Sex, Gender & Sexuality: 21st Century Transformations. By Tracie O’Keefe. Archives of Sexual Behavior Volume 31, Number 2 / April, 2002.
Ettner R, Harima K, King D, Landen M, Nodin Ñ, VP (2003). Transgender and Transsexuality. In Ember CR, Ember M (eds.). Encyclopedia of Sex and Gender: Men and Women in the World’s Cultures. Springer, ISBN 9780306477706
White T, Ettner R (2004). Disclosure, Risks and Protective Factors for Children Whose Parents Are Undergoing a Gender. Journal of Gay and Lesbian Psychotherapy, 8 (1/2), 129-145.
White T, Ettner R (2004). Disclosure, risks, and protective factors for children whose parents are undergoing a gender transition. In Leli U, Drescher J (eds.) Transgender Subjectivities: A Clinician’s Guide. Haworth Press ISBN 9780789025760
Ettner R, White T, Brown GR, Shah BJ (2006). Client Aggression Towards Therapists: Is It More or Less Likely with Transgendered Clients? International Journal of Transgenderism, 2006, vol. 9, no. 2, pp. 1–7.
White T, Ettner R (2007). Adaptation and adjustment in children of transsexual parents. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 2007, vol. 16, no. 4, pp. 215–221.
Ettner R, Monstrey S, Eyler AE (2007). Principles of Transgender Medicine and Surgery. Haworth Press, ISBN 9780789032683
References
Staff report (August 28, 1977). Randi Joy Cahan is engaged to Dr. Frederic Mark Ettner. New York Times
Lieberman AB (1992). Easing Labor Pain. Harvard Common Press, ISBN 9781558320437 p. 170
Marilynn Marchione (August 14, 1995). Small Neenah hospital a leader in sex changes. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Staff (Oct 22, 2007). Experts testify in case for hormones in prison. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Rodkin, Dennis (2003). Sex and Transsexuals. Chicago Reader
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.
Deardorff, Julie (March 22, 2001). Gender conflicts are given a clear place of study. Chicago Tribune
Morning Edition (April 3, 2001). Profile: Center opens in Chicago to help promote understanding of transsexual issues. National Public Radio
Patrick Grzanka is an American academic and applied social issues researcher. Grzanka’s work often focuses on sex and gender minorities.
Background
Patrick Ryan Grzanka was born in November 1983. Grzanka attended University of Maryland, earning a bachelor’s degree in journalism in 2004 and working as a lecturer there while earning a doctorate in American studies in 2010. From 2010 to 2014 Grzanka taught at the Honors College at Arizona State University. In 2014 Grzanka took an appointment at University of Tennessee at Knoxville.
Grzanka is founder and director of Social Action Research Team (SART), a group conducting applied social research with a commitment to social justice-informed scholarship and praxis.
Grzanka became known to many from a confrontational interview conducted by anti-trans extremist Matt Walsh in the transphobic film What Is a Woman? The appearance led to significant backlash.
References
Grzanka PR, DeVore EN, Gonzalez KA, Pulice-Farrow L, Tierney D (2018). The biopolitics of passing and the possibility of radically inclusive transgender health care. The American Journal of Bioethics, 18(12), 17-19. https://doi.org/10.1080/15265161.2018.1531167
Fishman JR, Mamo L, Grzanka PR (2017). Sex, gender, & sexuality in biomedicine. In U Felt, R Fouché, C Miller, & L Smith-Doerr (Eds.), The handbook of science and technology studies (4th ed., pp. 379-405). MIT Press. ISBN 9780262035682
Grzanka PR (2017). Undoing the psychology of gender: Intersectional feminism and social science pedagogy. In KA Case (Ed.), Intersectional pedagogy: A model for complicating identity and social justice (pp. 61-79). Routledge. ISBN 9781138942974
DeVore EN. Frantell KA, Grzanka PR, Miles JR, Spengler ES (2019, August). Conscience clauses and sexual and gender minority mental health care: A case study. Poster presented at the American Psychological Association Convention, Chicago, IL https://doi.org/10.1037/cou0000396
Gert Comfrey is an American therapist who identifies as nonbinary and queer. Comfrey specializes in marriage and family therapy issues that affect sex and gender minorities.
Background
Comfrey was born in November 1985, grew up in Central Pennsylvania, and was known by another name prior to adulthood.
Comfrey earned a bachelor’s degree from Elizabethtown College in 2008, then earned two master’s degrees; one from Vanderbilt Divinity School in 2010, and one from Trevecca Nazarene University in 2015.
In 2019 Comfrey was a panelist at the LGBT+ College Conference held at Middle Tennessee State University.
Comfrey opened a marriage and family therapy practice in Nashville, Tennessee in 2019:
I have extensive experience working with transgender clients and clients wanting to explore gender identity, along with letter-writing for gender affirming surgeries. I am also a trained Circle facilitator and have offered trainings to healthcare professionals, counseling interns, and students regarding best practices when working with queer clients.
Comfrey is known to many from an appearance in the 2022 anti-trans propaganda piece What Is a Woman? In it, Comfrey earnestly explains that sex and gender are more complicated than binaries, prompting interviewer Matt Walsh to ask about personal gender identity, “So how do I know?” Comfrey responds, “That question, when it’s asked with a lot of curiosity, that’s the beginning of a lot of people’s gender identity development journey.” Many people who enjoy Walsh’s incurious bad-faith tactics found the exchange entertaining.
References
2019 LGBT+ College Conference Schedule https://www.mtsu.edu/mtlambda/2019LGBTplusCCSchedule.php]
Media
Community Changers (May 27, 2022). DDC S3 Gert Comfrey: The LGBTQ+ Community https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xd4vlZCbAeM
Zhana Vrangalova is an anti-trans psychologist and “autogynephilia” activist.
Background
Snezana Zhana Vrangalova was born in November 1981 in Skopje, Macedonia. Vrangalova earned a bachelor’s degree from Ss. Cyril and Methodius University of Skopje. She earned a doctorate from Cornell University in 2014. She worked with Ritch Savin-Williams, Anthony Ong, and David Pizarro.
She was appointed as an Adjunct Professor of Psychology at New York University in 2014. She authored the 2016 book The Casual Sex Project and often writes about hookup culture.
“Autogynephilia” activism
On April 13, 2015, Vrangalova made a comment about about the video game Gender Bender DNA Twister Extreme, summoning “autogynephilia” creator Ray Blanchard.
When video games & psych research clash w/ views of ‘politically correct’ http://ow.ly/LxZK4#GenderBender#autogynephilia @BlanchardPhD
On June 13, 2015 Vrangalova made a comment about Caitlyn Jenner that revealed her anti-trans views:
The link went to religion site Patheos and an article by conversion therapist Warren Throckmorton discussing “autogynephilia” with unethical sexologist J. Michael Bailey.
When people pointed out the problem with her beliefs, she said:
I’m aware of the controversy, but there’s a lot of research to support #autogynephilia, pc or not pc.
When people pointed out that once-skeptical Bailey magically discovered bisexuality exists after getting paid by the American Institute of Bisexuality.
they didn’t “recant”, the conducted a study using more rigorous definition of “bisexual”.
It’s good science accepted by scientists.Those rejecting it r nonscientist activists who wrongly think it’s transphobic
Vrangalova co-hosted the The Science of Sex podcast with Joe Pardavila from 2017 to 2019. Guests included a number of anti-trans sexologists associated with J. Michael Bailey, including James Cantor and Gerulf Rieger.
Throckmorton, Warren (June 11, 2015). What Kind of Woman is Caitlyn Jenner? Part One of a Q&A on Autogynephilia with Michael Bailey. Patheos https://www.patheos.com/blogs/warrenthrockmorton/2015/06/11/what-kind-of-woman-is-caitlyn-jenner-part-one-of-a-qa-on-autogynephilia-with-michael-bailey/ [archive]
Vrangalova Z (Apr 13, 2015). https://twitter.com/DrZhana/status/587695608976248832 https://archive.ph/KWNkh
Sara Stockton is an American therapist whose views on controlling trans healthcare have gotten more conservative and extreme.
Do not go to Stockton for any kind of therapy, trans or otherwise. If you are a trans or gender diverse minor forced to see Stockton, do everything in your power to end the sessions and find supportive local resources instead.
Stockton is known for appearances in conservative media. Stockton expresses concerns about trans healthcare to anti-trans extremists like Jordan Peterson, Sasha Ayad, and Stella O’Malley.
Sara E. Burke was born in June 1986 and was married to Daniel J. Farmer (born 1984), having a child together in 2012.
Stockton is currently married to Quincy J. Stockton (born 1979).
Stockton earned a bachelor’s degree from Syracuse University and a master’s degree from Medaille College in 2018.
In 2012, Stockton co-authored a mental health assessment for gatekeeping trans healthcare. Stockton initially treated, advocated for, and taught about youth and families regarding gender identity and expression. Stockton worked with over one hundred families, often clearing youth for medical transition. Stockton later shifted focus, citing concerns about outcomes.
Since then Stockton has become a favored source for other anti-transgender activists.
References
Farmer S (2016). Considerations in Mentoring From a Transgender Ally, All About Mentoring, SUNY Empire State College Publication, Winter 2016.
Coolhart D, Baker A, Farmer S, Malaney M, Shipman D. (2012). Therapy with transsexual youth and their families: A clinical tool for assessing youth’s readiness for gender transition. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 39, 223–243. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1752-0606.2011.00283.x
Media
Peterson, Jordan B. (March 23, 2023). Regrets of a Trans-Care Specialist. Daily Wire https://www.dailywire.com/episode/k-k-k-k-k https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pCH-bUFR3WM
Jordan B. Peterson is a Canadian psychologist and anti-transgender activist. Peterson is one of the foremost figures in the global anti-transgender movement.
Background
Jordan Bernt Peterson was born June 12, 1962 in Alberta. Peterson earned two bachelor’s degrees from University of Alberta and a doctorate from McGill University, then took a teaching position at University of Toronto. Peterson’s 1999 book Maps of Meaning: The Architecture of Belief, formed the basis of subsequent teaching.
Anti-transgender activism
Peterson is a central alt-right figure and part of the so-called intellectual dark web, a group of academics and media figures described as a gateway to the far right.
Peterson is also the key figure in the Jungian psychology faction of anti-transgender activism. It’s not clear why followers of Carl Jung are especially susceptible to anti-trans beliefs.
In 2016, Peterson criticized Canada’s Bill C-16, which introduced gender identity and expression as prohibited grounds for discrimination. Much of Peterson’s argument focused on pronouns and misgendering. Peterson believed the law constituted “compelled speech.”
Peterson’s 2019 book 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos became an international hit due to claims that there is a “crisis of masculinity” in the West.
Peterson is married and has two children. In 2019 Peterson underwent treatment in Russia for a benzodiazepine habit.
Geoffrey Miller is an American evolutionary psychologist who holds a number of fringe views that are sex segregationist and anti-transgender.
Anti-transgender activism is a family business; Miller’s spouse Diana Fleischman is also an anti-trans activist.
Background
Geoffrey Franklin Miller was born on April 23, 1965 in Cincinnati, Ohio. After earning a bachelor’s degree in biology and psychology from Columbia University in 1987, Miller earned a doctorate in cognitive psychology from Stanford University in 1994. Miller took a position at University of New Mexico in 2001 and has written a number of books:
If you think autogynephilia is a 'fringe idea', you don't know anything about contemporary sex research, and you have no business writing about this issue.
When you hear the phrase 'trans woman', what is your first, reflexive, gut-level reaction about what this phrase means? 1) biological man who identifies as a woman 2) biological woman who identifies as a man 3) it confuses me; I have to think about it 4) other/just show results
Meredith Chivers is a Canadian psychologist who researches women’s sexuality. Chivers has also published harmful work about transgender people. This page of notes and references supplements the overview of Chivers’ work and harm it’s caused.
Catherine C Classen, Meredith L Chivers, Sara Urowitz, Lisa Barbera, David Wiljer, Susan O’Rinn, Sarah E Ferguson, Saskia Poels, Jos Bloemers, Kim van Rooij, Irwin Goldstein, Jeroen Gerritsen, Diana van Ham, Frederiek van Mameren, Meredith Chivers, Walter Everaerd, Hans Koppeschaar, Berend Olivier, Adriaan Tuiten, Richard Pittini, Sophie Grigoriadis, Laura Villegas, Lori E Ross
SageLab members
Meredith L. Chivers
Anna Chouchkova
Kaylee Clark
Samantha Dawson
Deryn Duesbery
Katherine Fretz
Shawna Girard
Lucas Hildebrand
Jackie S. Huberman
Graham Hutchings
Matthew Kan
Emily McBride
Michelle McCowan
Meghan McInnis
Nicole Persall
Kelly Suschinsky
Amanda Timmers
Samuel Yoon
References
Chivers, ML (August 30, 1999). Question about porn preferences. http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&edition=&selm=1.-yri-24*1%40panix.com
This week, the Kinsey Institute will play host to the 29th annual conference for the International Academy of Sex Research. […] Meredith Chivers, who studies female sexuality at Northwestern University and traveled to the conference from Toronto, said she is particularly interested in the exploration of this topic.
“What I’m most looking forward to is having an opportunity to see where research in female sexuality is in lots of disciplines,” Chivers said. “I’m interested in seeing the contributions being made in the field of female sexuality and enriching my own ideas.”
Chivers said conferences like this are important because it is a chance to come face to face with other people in the field and see who is behind the research they have been reading.
“Sitting down and shooting ideas to each other is the real exciting part of conferences,” Chivers said.
Real (2003)
Everyone else took this as an opportunity to bash me, my advisor, and the research I do. It’s really a shame. Neither I, nor Mike Bailey, has any agenda. If folks took the time to read this research without negative preconceptions, they might see this. We know so little about female sexual arousal and I hope that this project might illuminate some of the misconceptions out there. Given the hostile reception, I think I’ll stop posting on this list.
Leopoldt, Jennifer and Jinna Yun (July 10, 2003). Sexuality research funding draws critics. Daily Northwestern http://www.dailynorthwestern.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2003/07/10/3f0cfb88ad9b7 [archive]
A Northwestern Ph.D. candidate will present results of sexual arousal research she conducted with NU Prof. J. Michael Bailey — which has drawn criticism from the Republican wing of Congress — when she speaks at a federally-funded sexuality conference next week. […] But Meredith Chivers, a Ph.D. candidate in clinical psychology at NU who will speak about sexual arousal research she conducted with Bailey, said the conference does merit funding.
“Sexuality is an intrinsic part of being human and it’s a major oversight not to encourage research in this area and to support it,” Chivers said.
Bailey, a psychology professor who teaches human sexuality at NU, also defended the need for researchers to study sexuality.
Like the conference, Bailey and Chivers’ sexual arousal study also encountered criticism for obtaining government funding.
A $147,000 National Institutes of Health grant funded the research, which studied the effect of pornography on females to determine whether sexual arousal is as category specific for women as it is for men. […] Chivers said she was surprised at the controversy over funding for Bailey’s research and the sexuality conference. Bailey said he thought politicians singled out his and Chivers’ research because “it was easy for them to mischaracterize and make fun of.”
“They used our research to make their argument, but in fact I think our research is important and interesting, and scientists who know about the issues and what we’re doing have found it really cool,” he said.
Real, Bonnie (July 17, 2003). IU’s Kinsey Institute at center of sex research in week’s conference: Annual seminar gives researchers chance to discuss face-to-face. IDS News http://www.idsnews.com/story.php?id=17388
Lemonick, Michael D. (January 19, 2004). Biology: The chemistry of desire.TIME 163(3):68-72, 75. https://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,993148,00.html
Carey, Benedict (2005-07-05). “Straight, Gay or Lying? Bisexuality Revisited”. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/05/health/straight-gay-or-lying-bisexuality-revisited.html
Denizet-Lewis, Benoit (2014-03-20). The scientific quest to prove bisexuality exists. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/23/magazine/the-scientific-quest-to-prove-bisexuality-exists.html
Mick, Hayley (January 5, 2010). Female desire more complicated. The Globe and Mail https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health-and-fitness/health/conditions/study-female-desire-more-complicated/article572656/
Bergner, Daniel (2009, Jan. 25). What do women want?The New York Times Magazine, p. 28. https://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/25/magazine/25desire-t.html
McIlroy, Anne (February 27, 2009). Hot and bothered.The Globe and Mail https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/hot-and-bothered/article714183/
Marcus Evans is a British psychoanalyst whose clientele has included trans and gender diverse people. Evans was a key critic of trans healthcare for gender diverse youth at the Tavistock. The clinic was later closed.
Evans and his wife Sue Evans co-authored the 2021 book Gender Dysphoria: A Therapeutic Model for Working with Children, Adolescents and Young Adults.
Evans graduated from Bembridge in 1976. He served as head of nursing at the Tavistock & Portman NHS Trust from 1998-2018). Evans was Clinical Director of the adult & adolescent departments between 2011 & 2015. In 2018 he began working in private practice.
2021 book
The following people are mentioned in the acknowledgements:
We are grateful to the following people who have generously given their time and expertise to the development of this book: Annie Pesskin, Ian Williamson, Richard Stephens, Margot Waddell, Frances Grier, and Ema Syrulnik, as well as all our colleagues at the Society for Evidence-Based Gender Medicine. We are grateful to Kate Pearce at Phoenix for offering to publish this book.
Stella O’Malley is a conservative Irish therapist and anti-transgender extremist. O’Malley is a global ringleader in the modern ex-transgender and gender critical movements and a major supporter of anti-transgender efforts worldwide.
O’Malley founded SPLC-designated anti-trans hate group Genspect. O’Malley frequently collaborates with American clinician Sasha Ayad to uplift other conservative and anti-transgender voices.
Do not under any circumstances go to Stella O’Malley for any counseling, trans or otherwise. If you are a minor forced to see O’Malley, do everything in your power to end the sessions and find supportive local resources instead.
Background
O’Malley was born on November 16, 1973. O’Malley grew up with three siblings in the Dublin area in a household where at least one parent was alcoholic.
O’Malley and spouse Henry Thompson, a construction contractor, live in Birr, County Offaly with their two children Róisín Thompson (born November 9, 2007) and Muiris Thompson (born August 5, 2009). O’Malley’s self-described parenting style is “impatient, moody and cranky” with “a very low threshold for ordinary whining.”
O’Malley was host of the 2018 propaganda piece Trans Kids: It’s Time To Talk. It features conservative and anti-trans activists, including James Caspian, Heather Brunskell-Evans, Venice Allan, Miranda Yardley, and people from the ex-trans movement
O’Malley is connected to a number of anti-trans organizations, most of which are just part of a web farm with reciprocal links to make O’Malley’s allies and their fringe ideologies seem more widespread and influential than they are.
