Kirsty Entwistle is a psychologist who supports the âex-transgenderâ movement, an anti-trans project similar to the ex-gay movement. Entwistle also promotes a form of delayed transition for gender diverse youth called âgender exploratory therapy.â
Background
Entwhistle earned a bachelor’s degree from University College London (UCL) in 2003, then earned a post graduate diploma from University of Bolton in 2009. Entwistle earned a doctorate at UCL in 2013.
Entwistle worked in several NHS services in the UK: a paediatric psychology service in Cambridge, an adult secondary care psychology service in London and the gender identity development service for under 18s in Leeds.
IATDD supported the âex-transgenderâ movement, people who describe themselves as âdesistersâ and âdetransitioners.â They sell their services to parents who do not want their children to make a gender transition, known as the âparental rightsâ movement.
Entwistle K (2020). Debate: Reality check â Detransitionerâs testimonies require us to rethink gender dysphoria. Child and Adolescent Mental Healthhttps://doi.org/10.1111/camh.12380
Hutchinson is a British psychologist involved in the “ex-transgender” movement. Similar to the ex-gay movement, it is a group of people who believe they have been cured of being trans, either through “desistance” or “detransition.” Hutchinson is also a proponent of the disputed diagnosis “rapid onset gender dysphoria.”
Background
Anna Hutchinson was born in November 1977. Hutchinson earned a bachelor’s degree from Cardiff University, a master’s degree from University College London, and a doctorate from Royal Holloway, University of London.
Hutchinson has held roles at Great Ormond Street Hospital, Kingâs College Hospital, and the infamous “gender clinic” at The Tavistock Centre.
Hutchinson and Netali Riddell Levi operate The Integrated Psychology Clinic, the trading name for Netali Hutchinson LLP.
IATDD supported the âex-transgenderâ movement, people who describe themselves as âdesistersâ and âdetransitioners.â They sell their services to parents who do not want their children to make a gender transition, known as the âparental rightsâ movement.
Hutchinson also supports the disputed diagnosis “rapid onset gender dysphoria” and urged more research in the anti-trans publication Archives of Sexual Behavior. That journal’s stated goal since its founding has been “the prevention of transsexualism.”
References
United Nations Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity â IESOGI. Report on Conversion Therapy. https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/Documents/Issues/SexualOrientation/ConversionTherapyReport.pdf
Butler C, Hutchinson A (2020). Debate: The pressing need for research and services for gender desisters/detransitioners. Child Adolesc Ment Health 2020 Feb;25(1):45-47. https://doi.org/10.1111/camh.12361
Hutchinson A, Migden M, Spiliadis A (2020). In Support of Research Into Rapid-Onset Gender Dysphoria. Archives of Sexual Behavior 2020 Jan;49(1):79-80. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-019-01517-9
Gilligan, Andrew (July 20 2019). Children âmisledâ at gender clinic.The Times https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/children-misled-at-gender-clinic-ccdpghgx5
Anastassis Spiliadis is a Greek anti-transgender psychologist who supports the “ex-transgender” movement and promotes a form of delayed transition for gender diverse youth called “gender exploratory therapy.”
Anastassis Spiliadis’ name is sometimes styled Anastasios Spiliadis and is ÎΜαÏÏÎŹÏÎ·Ï ÎŁÏηλÎčÎŹÎŽÎ·Ï in Greek.
Background
Spiliadis was born in July 1987. After earning a bachelor’s degree from National University of Athens (NKUA/ÎΞΜÎčÎșÏ ÎșαÎč ÎαÏοΎÎčÏÏÏÎčαÎșÏ Î Î±ÎœÎ”ÏÎčÏÏÎźÎŒÎčÎż ÎΞηΜÏÎœ), Spiliadis earned master’s degrees from Kings College London, Westminster University, and Imperial College London.
Spiliadis has held a number of roles within the UK’s National Health Service. Spiliadis has worked at the Maudsley Centre for Child & Adolescent Eating Disorders (MCCAED).
Spiliadis also worked for four years at the infamous Tavistock Centre Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS).
Anti-trans activism
Spiliadis supports the disputed diagnosis “rapid onset gender dysphoria” and urged for more research in the anti-trans publication Archives of Sexual Behavior. That journal’s stated goal since its founding has been “the prevention of transsexualism.”
Spiliadis is a member of the Institute of Mental Health for Children and Adults in Athens, Greece. Spiliadis is based in London and in Athens.
References
United Nations Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity – IESOGI. Report on Conversion Therapy. https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/Documents/Issues/SexualOrientation/ConversionTherapyReport.pdf
Hutchinson A, Migden M, Spiliadis A (2020). In Support of Research Into Rapid-Onset Gender Dysphoria. Archives of Sexual Behavior 2020 Jan;49(1):79-80. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-019-01517-9
Since 2008, Latty has been a clinical psychologist with the US Department of Veterans Affairs, specializing in post-traumatic stress treatments. Latty is currently based in Oregon.
Background
Elizabeth Marie Latty was born in July 1975. Latty earned a doctorate from Northwestern University in 2009. Latty discussed research interests as a graduate student:
In a broad sense, my research interests lie in the broad category of sexual arousal and sexual orientation, along with those of my advisor. My first year project involved studying the sexual arousal patterns of post-operative male-to-female transsexuals. Our lab was able to use the results we obtained to further support results we found for natal women, as reported in our controversial combined study including work done by Meredith Chivers, Gerulf Rieger, Mike Bailey and myself. (Latty 2004)
Anti-trans research
Latty and friends make sweeping unsubstantiated claims about sexuality in gender diverse women based on plethysmographic guesswork (Latty 2003):
To rule out the possibility that the differences between menâs and womenâs genital sexual arousal patterns might be due to the different ways that genital arousal is measured in men and women, the Northwestern researchers identified a subset of subjects: postoperative transsexuals who began life as men but had surgery to construct artificial vaginas.
In a sense, those transsexuals have the brains of men but the genitals of women. Their psychological and genital arousal patterns matched those of men â those who like men were more aroused by male stimuli and those who like women were more aroused by the female stimuli â even though their genital arousal was measured in the same way womenâs was.
âThis shows that the sex difference that we found is real and almost certainly due to a sex difference in the brain,â said Bailey. (Tremmel 2003)
The authors of âMen Trapped in Menâs Bodiesâ (Lawrence 1998) and The Man Who Would Be Queen (Bailey 2003) did not choose their titles just for provocation. They seek to prove that trans and gender-diverse women are really men, with âbrains of menâ (Tremmel 2003) who display âmale-typicalâ sexual arousal (Lawrence 2003). They also want to use us to claim that sexual orientation is immutable by asserting trans women who change their dating preferences after transition didnât really change their orientation.
The results from Lattyâs 11 transgender women are heralded as proof of several theories held by Bailey, Blanchard, and Lawrence, but the sample size and questionable methodology makes these claims hardly supportable.
In May 2004, Latty presented a paper with Bailey and Liz Sullivan at Rosalind Franklin University:
Sexually explicit images were used in conjunction with the International Affective Picture System (IAPS). Self report ratings of these images resulted in significant differences for gender and sexual orientation in undergraduates. These results support previous research demonstrating category-specificity for men and provide further evidence of a more complex pattern of sexual arousal in women. (Latty 2004)
Latty was caught up in the publicity Bailey generated at the time The Man Who Would Be Queen came out. Below is a passage where Latty discusses the plethysmograph devices on which they base their claims.
At Baileyâs sex lab, really a tiny office on the second floor of a tiny addition to Northwesternâs Swift Hall, Elizabeth Latty , one of his graduate students, shows clips of explicit seventies-era porn, intercut with more neutral stimuli like landscapes. Latty shows the vaginal probe used to measure lubrication during the female arousal study, then the penile gauge for the male portion. âItâs kind of like a fancy rubber band,â she says. Over the course of two years, Bailey and his team of Ph.D.s have run subjects, solicited first from ads in the paper, then drawn from Northwestern students, to test how much genital arousal plays in sexual orientation. The female portion of the study was funded through a controversial $147,000 grant from the federal National Institutes of Child Health and Human Development, paying women up to $75 to watch porn. (Zambreno 2003)
Bailey JM. The Man Who Would Be Queen: The Science of Gender-Bending and Transsexualism. Joseph Henry Press, ISBN 978-0309084185
Drier S, Anderson K (April21, 2003). Profâs book challenges opinions of human sexuality. Daily Northwestern http://www.dailynorthwestern.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2003/04/21/3ea39785e6cef?in_archive=1 [archive]
James AJ. Plethysmograph: a disputed device. tsroadmap.com version of 16 May 2004. https://web.archive.org/web/20050206090753/http://tsroadmap.com/info/plethysmograph.html [archive]
Latty EM, Bailey J (unpublished, 2003). Sexual arousal of male-to-female transsexuals: male-typical or temale-typical patterns? http://apsychoserver.psych.arizona.edu/SPRStudent/%20Awards/2002/latty.pdf [archive]
Latty EM. Research interests. J. Michael Bailey faculty website. Retrieved 17 May 2004. http://www.psych.nwu.edu/psych/people/faculty/bailey/latty.html [archive]
Latty EM, Sullivan EA, Bailey JM (May 28, 2004). Gender and Sexual Orientation Differences in Self-report Arousal to Sexually Explicit Images. American Psychological Association meeting, 28 May 2004. http://www.psychologicalscience.org/convention/program/search/viewProgram.cfm?Abstract_ID=5940&AbType=&AbAuthor=40334&Subject_ID=&Day_ID=all&keyword= [archive]
Lawrence AA (online, 1999). Men trapped in menâs bodies: an introduction to the concept of autogynephilia. Originally at annelawrence.com http://home.swipnet.se/~w-13968/autogynephilia.html [archive]
Lawrence AA, Latty, EM., Chivers M, Bailey, JM (2003). Measuring sexual arousal in postoperative male-to-female transsexuals using vaginal photoplethysmography. International Academy of Sex Research conference http://www.iasr.org/meeting/2003/Program%20booklet.pdf [archive]
Tremmel, PV (June 12, 2003). Study suggests difference between female and male sexuality. Northwestern University press release http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2003-06/nu-ssd061203.php [archive]
Zambreno K (April 3, 2003). Dr. Sex: Michael Bailey gets into gay genes. New City Chicago http://www.newcitychicago.com/chicago/2392.html [archive]
Veale completed a doctorate at Massey University in 2012. Veale then worked as a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, researching the health of Canadian transgender youth.
In 2015 Veale was appointed Senior Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Waikato.
Veale has served on the Board of Directors of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) and has served as an Associate Editor of the International Journal of Transgender Health. Veale also helped to establish the University of Waikato Rainbow Staff/Student Alliance. Projects include:
Veale has attempted to refute Ray Blanchard and the controversial diagnosis of “autogynephilia” by applying Blanchardâs Core Autogynephilia Scale to people who are not trans women. This in effect reified the diagnosis itself, allowing “autogynephilia” activistAnne Lawrence to retort that “Transsexual groups in Veale et al. (2008) are ‘autogynephilic’ and ‘even more autogynephilic.'”
In 2022, Veale and biologist Julia Serano published a paper refuting J. Michael Bailey and Kevin Hsu, who made the claim that “autogynephilia in women” does not exist. Veale and Serano argued that “autogynephilia” is a flawed framework and expanded on Serano’s model of “female embodiment fantasies,”
BA Clark, JF Veale, M Townsend, H Frohard-Dourlent, E Saewyc 4 Non-binary youth Today’s Transgender Youth: Health, Well-being, and Opportunities for âŠ
JF Veale, RJ Watson, T Peter, EM Saewyc (2017). Mental health disparities among Canadian transgender youth. Journal of Adolescent Health 60 (1), 44-49 265 2017 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2016.09.014
BA Clark, JF Veale, M Townsend, H Frohard-Dourlent, E Saewyc (2018). Non-binary youth: Access to gender-affirming primary health care. International Journal of Transgenderism 19 (2), 158-169 125 2018 https://doi.org/10.1080/15532739.2017.1394954
RJ Watson, JF Veale, EM Saewyc (2017). Disordered eating behaviors among transgender youth: Probability profiles from risk and protective factors. International Journal of Eating Disorders 50 (5), 515-522 126 2017 https://doi.org/10.1002/eat.22627
JF Veale, T Peter, R Travers, EM Saewyc (2017). Enacted stigma, mental health, and protective factors among transgender youth in Canada. Transgender Health 2 (1), 207-216 116 2017 https://doi.org/10.1089/trgh.2017.0031
N Adams, R Pearce, J Veale, A Radix, D Castro, A Sarkar, KC Thom (2017). Guidance and ethical considerations for undertaking transgender health research and institutional review boards adjudicating this research. Transgender Health 2 (1), 165-175 114 2017 https://doi.org/10.1089/trgh.2017.0012
J Veale, EM Saewyc, H Frohard-Dourlent, S Dobson, B Clark (2015). Being safe, being me: Results of the Canadian trans youth health survey. Stigma and Resilience Among Vulnerable Youth Centre (SARAVYC) 146 2015 [PDF] https://cdn.dal.ca/content/dam/dalhousie/pdf/Diff/gahps/SARAVYC_Trans%20Youth%20Health%20Report_EN_Final_Web.pdf
F Pega, JF Veale (2015). The case for the World Health Organizationâs Commission on Social Determinants of Health to address gender identity. American Journal of Public Health 105 (3), e58-e62 https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2014.302373
Veale J, Clark DE, Lomax TC (2012). Male-to-female transsexuals’ impressions of Blanchard’s autogynephilia theory. International Journal of Transgenderism. 13 (3): 131â139. https://doi.org/10.1080/15532739.2011.669659.
Veale JF, Lomax T, Clarke D (2010). “Identity-Defense Model of Gender-Variant Development”. International Journal of Transgenderism. 12 (3): 125â138. https://doi.org/10.1080/15532739.2010.514217
JF Veale, DE Clarke, TC Lomax (2010). Biological and psychosocial correlates of adult gender-variant identities: A review. Personality and Individual Differences 48 (4), 357-366 93 2010 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2009.09.018
JF Veale (2008). Prevalence of transsexualism among New Zealand passport holders. Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry 42 (10), 887-889 93 2008 https://doi.org/10.1080/00048670802345490
Note: In 2025, this site phased out AI illustrations after artist feedback. The previous illustration is here.
Marta Meana is a Spanish-American psychologist and anti-transgender activist deeply involved in publishing and promoting disease models of gender identity and expression, with a focus on sexualized taxonomies of transgender people like “autogynephilia.”
Background
Meana was born in Madrid, Spain on December 1, 1957. Meana attended McGill University, earning a bachelor’s degree and master’s degree before earning a doctorate in 1996, writing a dissertation on dyspareunia. Meana had a post-doctoral research fellowship in womenâs health at the University of Toronto.
Meana joined the psychology department at University of Nevada, Las Vegas in 1997. From 2018 to 2020, Meana was interim President of UNLV. Meana retired in 2024.
After years of following the developments surrounding the publication of TMWWBQ in real time, it was interesting to step back and read Dregerâs comprehensive reconstruction of events. The story that emerges is reminiscent of classical drama. It comes complete with a protagonist (Bailey), antagonists (Conway, James, McCloskey), characters caught in the crossfire (Kyeltika), and a balanced and half-detached chorus (Dreger) explaining to the audience (the rest of us) the lessons to be learned from the melee. Mercifully, this drama did not end up a tragedy, but it shares significant qualities with the latter. It features a well-meaning, though necessarily flawed, protagonist with the requisite amount of hubris and a group of antagonists whose sordid means nullify any possible empathy the audience may have had with their perceived injury. The chorus seems open-minded and fair, although perhaps a little naĂŻve in her belief in the healing power of her narrative.
Meana, Marta (2013). Gender Identity Diagnoses: History and Controversies. In Gender Dysphoria and Disorders of Sex Development (pp.137-150). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7441-8_7
Amy E. Sousa is an American anti-transgender extremist. Sousa is an unlicensed therapist, according to self-reports. Do not go to Sousa for therapy of any kind.
A search for Sousa’s therapy license in the State of Washington database did not show any results in 2023.
Background
Amy Elizabeth Sousa was born February 26, 1976. Sousa earned a bachelor’s degree from New York University and a master’s degree from Pacifica Graduate Institute. After living in New York for 15 years, Sousa moved to Port Townsend, Washington in 2009. Sousa was formerly involved in Key City Public Theatre. Sousa as also been involved in Sootsprites Productions and has volunteered for the local film festival.
“My activism has included organizing multiple protests: Against Biden’s EO in Washington DC, against the UN in New York City, against swimmer Lia Thomas at the NCAA championships in Atlanta, against child gender clinics in Seattle, free speech events, speaking at state legislature in defense of women/girl’s sports and in defense of single sex prisons for women, as well as speaking at school board meetings to protect kids from indoctrination by sex denying curriculum.”
When Sousa’s friend Julie Jaman was permanently banned from the local YMCA pool following an anti-trans encounter in 2022, Sousa organized those protests as well.
Sousa has been involved in additional protests against Marci Bowers and others who provide gender affirming care.
RevFoXX
Sousa is a member of anti-transgender group RevFoXX (“Reality Encompassed Values” for XX). They claim they are “advocating for the safeguarding of women & children, observing objective reality in solidarity, and countering the narrative of the gender lobby in the United States.” Members include:
Diana Fleischman is a Brazilian-American evolutionary psychologist and anti-transgender activist. Anti-trans activism is a family business; Fleischman’s spouse Geoffrey Miller also holds harmful views about sex and gender minorities.
Background
Diana Santos Fleischman was born in SĂŁo Paulo, Brazil and grew up in the United States. Fleischman earned a bachelor’s degree from Oglethorpe University. Under advisor David Buss, Fleischman earned a doctorate from the University of Texas at Austin 2009, then did postdoctorate work at UNC Chapel Hill.
In addition to evolutionary psychology, Fleischman is also a proponent of effective altruism, a philanthropic movement with a disproportionate number of anti-trans activists. The movement is best exemplified by cryptocurrency scammer Sam Bankman-Fried.
Fleischman is also a proponent of various aspects of eugenics, including polygenic embryo screening. Fleischman characterizes this as an aspect of transhumanism.
Fleischman and Geoffrey Miller married in 2019 and have one child.
Sex segregationism
Fleischman’s life’s work is shoring up the idea of a sex binary in humans. In a 2021 online course on “sex differences,” the syllabus included most of the key sex segregationists in academia.
The Distance Between Mars and Venus: Measuring Global Sex Differences in Personality with Tom Booth and Paul Irwing
Sex Differences in Brain and Behavior: Eight Counterpoints with David A. Puts, David C. Geary, and David P. Schmitt
Peter Fitzgerald
Biological sex differences relevant to mental health with Timothy G. Dinan
Diana Fleischman:
“Most people miss this reason women donât want casual sex”
(2014). Womenâs disgust adaptations. In Weekes-Shackelford VA, & Shackelford TK (Eds.), Evolutionary perspectives on human sexual psychology and behavior
David C. Geary
The Gender-Equality Paradox in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Education. with Gijsbert Stoet
Sex Differences in Childrenâs Play
Sex differences in social development from Male, Female by David Geary
Sex Differences in Brain and Behavior: Eight Counterpoints â Marco Del Giudice, David A. Puts, David C. Geary, and David P. Schmitt
His Standards or Hers? How Men and Women Define Success
Matt Ridley
Red Queen hypothesis in The Red Queen
Stuart Ritchie
Cordelia Fine’s “Testosterone Rex” â A Review
David P. Schmitt
Would you agree to sex with a total stranger?
The Truth about Sex Differences
Sex Differences in Brain and Behavior: Eight Counterpoints â Marco Del Giudice, David A. Puts, David C. Geary, and David P. Schmitt
Aurora Sola
The science of sex differences is nothing for feminists to be afraid of
Steve Stewart-Williams
Men women and STEM with Lewis G Halsey
Larry Summers
President Summers’ Remarks at the National Bureau of Economic Research, Jan. 14 2005
Bo Winegard
The Myth of Pervasive Misogyny with Corey Clark
Unlike most of these people, Fleischman at least mentions a few people who disagree with this ideology, most notably Cordelia Fine, Daphna Joel, and Gina Rippon.
Anti-LGBT activism
Fleischman is associated with Aporia, formerly known as Ideas Sleep Furiously. Matthew Archer helped found it in 2021. In 2023 Bo Winegard joined after a long run as a Quillette contributor, and Fleischman became a podcast host.
Fleischman appeared with Louise Perry to discuss sex robots.
Mike Abrams is an American evolutionary psychologist who authored a college textbook which catalogs a number of “disorders” about sex and gender minorities.
Note: for the American journalist involved in the New York Times’ anti-trans coverage crisis in the 2020s, see Mike Abrams.
Background
Abrams is a Supervisor, Fellow and Diplomate of the Albert Ellis Institute.
Abrams and spouse Lidia Dengelegi Abrams (born October 1960) both practice at Psychology for New Jersey.
Transgender
In 2016, he mourned the firing of anti-transgender activist Kenneth Zucker:
“The accomplished researcher & clinician in transgender studies Ken Zucker was lost to false accusations of conversion therapy. Very sad.”
