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Eric Vilain vs. transgender people

Eric Vilain is a French-American pediatrician and geneticist who has promoted harmful views about transgender people. Vilain is a collaborator with a number of anti-trans evolutionary psychologists, including J. Michael Bailey, Paul Vasey, and Marc Breedlove.

Villain has researched genetics of trans people and has found evidence that repeat length polymorphisms in the androgen receptor gene may be a factor in gender identity. Vilain also ascribes to the harmful taxonomy of “primary and secondary transsexuals.” Vilain has also questioned medical and social transition options for gender diverse minors. Vilain has cited questionable data by Kenneth Zucker and others claiming an 80% “desistance” rate among gender diverse minors.

Vilain has also published extrensively about differences of sex development, which Vilain and collaborators like Alice Dreger characterize as “disorders.” Vilain has controversial opinions on surgery on minors with DSDs and supports people with DSDs competing in sex-segregated competitive sports.

Background

Eric Jean Nicolas Vilain was born in March 30, 1966 in Paris, France. Vilain earned a medical degree from Faculté de Médecine Necker Enfants Malades in 1989, followed by a residency in the Paris Hospital System. Vilain then did a year of military service from 1993 to 1994 at the Cytogenetics Unit at Paris Military Hospital. Vilain then earned a doctorate from the Pasteur Institute at the Université Pierre et Marie Curie in 1994. Vilain then did a residency in pediatric endocrinology in the Paris Hospital System from 1994 to 1996. In 1996, Vilain took a position at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, initially as a medical genetics resident from 1996 to 1998. Vilain served as an attending physician at UCLA Health from 1998 to 2017. During that time, Vilain held several teaching and research roles at both UCLA Health and UCLA related to pediatrics, urology, and medical genetics. From 2010, Vilain was director of UCLA’s Center for Gender-Based Biology. From 2014 to 2017, Vilain served as Director of the International Research Unit on “Epigenetics, Data, Politics” (“EpiDaPo”) at Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS). From 2017 to 2022, Vilain was Director of the Center for Genetic Medicine Research at Children’s National Health System in Washington DC and served as department chair for the department of Genomics and Precision Medicine at George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences. Since 2017, Vilain has held appointments with the University of Kinshasa. In 2022, Vilain was appointed director of the Institute for Clinical and Translational Science at UC Irvine and an Associate Vice Chancellor.

Vilain’s spouse Emmanuele Delot is Scientific Coordinator at Disorders of Sex Differentiation Translational Research Network (DSD-TRN) ICTS University of California, Irvine.

Anti-trans activism

Vilain frequently cites anti-trans conversion therapists like Kenneth Zucker who claim an 80% “desistance” rate among gender diverse minors. Vilain questions providing trans healthcare for gender diverse minors, including social transition:

“I think it’s putting a lot on the shoulders of these children,” said Dr. Eric Vilain, a pediatrician and geneticist who heads the Medical Genetics division at UCLA. “It’s putting them on a path that will have a lot of medical and surgical consequences.”

Vilain believes early social transitions unfairly push children to thinking they should identity as the opposite sex. He said these transitions can lead to unnecessary medical interventions for transgender kids. 

“People telling me that these boys who behave like girls are in fact girl inside — I’m saying well, where is the girl?” he asked. “Is their brain different? Are their other genes different? I still have not seen that.”

According to Vilain, physicians are far too willing to recommend social transitions for children.  As a result, Vilain believes the vast majority of children currently undergoing social transitions in the U.S. might not actually be transgender and, thus, might not be best served by embracing a sex that doesn’t match their gender.

“If the children are pushed in this belief it will be much much harder for them to get out of this belief because everyone will have agreed on it very, very early on,” Vilain said. “What worries me is that, indeed, there might be in the upcoming years a considerable number of these children that are placed on a path that we don’t fully know the outcome.”

In a video interview for the piece, Vilain said:

Many studies have shown that if you let kids with gender dysphoria go through a natural puberty, most of them will actually desist. They will not think anymore that they belong to the other gender. They will not be gender dysphoric anymore. However, most of them will become either gay men or lesbian women. That is the most common outcome of these children if there is no early social transition. And I’m actually wondering, what are we trying to accomplish here? Are we trying to accomplish to reduce the number of gay and lesbian adults? I’m wondering, what is the ultimate purpose if we don’t know for sure that these children are actually truly inside of the opposite gender, which I don’t see much evidence for it.

References

Bigad Shaban, Robert Campos, Mark Villarreal, Michael Horn and Jeremy Carroll (May 18, 2017). Transgender Kids Could Get Hormone Therapy at Earlier Ages. NBC Bay Area https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/transgender-kids-eligible-for-earlier-medical-intervention-under-new-guidelines/19909/

Reardon, Sara (May 10, 2016). The spectrum of sex development: Eric Vilain and the Intersex Controversy. Nature, vol. 532, no. 7598, 2016. https://doi.org/10.1038/533160a

Rodkin, Dennis (February 1, 2007). What Sex Am I? Chicago Reader https://chicagoreader.com/news/what-sex-am-i/

Coverage in anti-trans press

Bokat-Lindell, Spencer (April 8, 2021). How Trans Children Became a Political Football. New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/08/opinion/transgender-children-sports-medical.html

Ghorayshi, Azeen (September 30, 2016). American Girl. BuzzFeed News https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/azeenghorayshi/american-girl

Ghorayshi, Azeen (September 19, 2015). Intersex Surgeries Are A Human Rights Violation, Says U.N. Group. BuzzFeed News https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/azeenghorayshi/intersex-surgeries-human-rights-violation

Selected writing by Vilain

Strang, John F., Laura G. Anthony, Amber Song, Meng-Chuan Lai, Megan Knauss, Eleonora Sadikova, Elizabeth Graham, Zosia Zaks, Harriette Wimms, Laura Willing, David Call, Michael Mancilla, Sara Shakin, Eric Vilain, Da-Young Kim, Tekla Maisashvili, Ayesha Khawaja, and Lauren Kenworthy. “In Addition to Stigma: Cognitive and Autism-Related Predictors of Mental Health in Transgender Adolescents.” Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology, vol. 52, no. 2, 2023, pp. 212-229. https://doi.org/10.1080/15374416.2021.1916940

Strang, John F., Diane Chen, Eric Nelson, Scott F. Leibowitz, Leena Nahata, Laura G. Anthony, Amber Song, Connor Grannis, Elizabeth Graham, Shane Henise, Eric Vilain, Eleonora Sadikova, Andrew Freeman, Cara Pugliese, Ayesha Khawaja, Tekla Maisashvili, Michael Mancilla, and Lauren Kenworthy (2022). Transgender Youth Executive Functioning: Relationships with Anxiety Symptoms, Autism Spectrum Disorder, and Gender-Affirming Medical Treatment Status. Child Psychiatry & Human Development, vol. 53, no. 6, 2022, pp. 1252–1265. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10578-021-01195-6

Müller, Sven C., Antonio Guillamon, Leire Zubiaurre-Elorza, Carme Junque, Esther Gómez-Gil, Carme Uribe, Behzad S. Khorashad, Behnaz Khazai, Ali Talaei, Ute Habel, Mikhail Votinov, Birgit Derntl, Rupert Lanzenberger, René Seiger, Georg S. Kranz, Baudewijntje P.C. Kreukels, Peggy T. Cohen Kettenis, Sarah M. Burke, Nils B. Lambalk, Dick J. Veltman, Mathilde Kennis, Francisco J. Sánchez, Eric Vilain, Alessandra Daphne Fisher, Mario Mascalchi, Gioele Gavazzi, Stefano Orsolini, Jiska Ristori, Udo Dannlowski, Dominik Grotegerd, Carsten Konrad, Maiko Abel Schneider, Guy T’Sjoen, and Eileen Lüders (2021). The Neuroanatomy of Transgender Identity: Mega-Analytic Findings From the ENIGMA Transgender Persons Working Group. Journal of Sexual Medicine, vol. 18, no. 6, 2021, pp. 1122–1129. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsxm.2021.03.079

Foreman, Madeleine, Lauren Hare, Kate York, Kara Balakrishnan, Francisco J. Sánchez, Fintan Harte, Jaco Erasmus, Eric Vilain, and Vincent R. Harley (2019). Genetic Link Between Gender Dysphoria and Sex Hormone Signaling. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, vol. 104, no. 2, 2019, pp. 390-396. https://doi.org/10.1210/jc.2018-01105

  • White, Perrin C. Letter to the Editor: ‘Genetic Link between Gender Dysphoria and Sex Hormone Signaling.’ Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, vol. 104, no. 10, 2019, pp. 4418–4419. https://10.1210/jc.2019-00487
  • Foreman, Madeleine, Eric Vilain, and Vincent Harley. Response to Letter to the Editor: ‘Genetic Link Between Gender Dysphoria and Sex Hormone Signaling.’ Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, vol. 104, no. 10, 2019, p. 4420. https://doi.org/10.1210/jc.2019‑00701

Bailey, J. Michael, Paul L. Vasey, Lisa M. Diamond, S. Marc Breedlove, Eric Vilain, and Marc Epprecht. Sexual Orientation, Controversy, and Science.” Psychological Science in the Public Interest, vol. 17, no. 2, Apr. 2016, pp. 45–101. https://doi.org/10.1177/1529100616637616

Vilain, Eric; Bailey J. Michael (May 21, 2015). Op-Ed: What should you do if your son says he’s a girl? Los Angeles Times https://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-vilain-transgender-parents-20150521-story.html

Sánchez, Francisco A.; Vilain, Eric (2015). Transgender Identities: Reseach and Controversies. In C. J. Patterson & A. R. D’Augelli [editors], Handbook of Psychology and Sexual Orientation (pp. 42–54). Oxford University Press, ISBN 978-0199765218

Luders, Eileen, Francisco J. Sánchez, Duygu Tosun, David W. Shattuck, Christian Gaser, Eric Vilain, and Arthur W. Toga (2012). “Increased Cortical Thickness in Male‑to‑Female Transsexualism.” Journal of Behavioral and Brain Science, vol. 2, no. 3, Aug. 2012, pp. 357‑362. https://doi.org/10.4236/jbbs.2012.23040

Vilain, E. (2009). Disorders of Sex Development: Of Mice and Men.Eric Vilain, M.D., Ph.D. Biology of Reproduction, 81(Suppl_1), 121–121. https://doi.org/10.1093/biolreprod/81.s1.121

Sánchez, F. J., & Vilain, E. (2009). Collective self-esteem as a coping resource for male-to-female transsexuals. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 56(1), 202–209. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0014573

Luders, Eileen, Francisco J. Sánchez, Christian Gaser, Arthur W. Toga, Katherine L. Narr, Liberty S. Hamilton, and Eric Vilain. “Regional Gray Matter Variation in Male-to-Female Transsexualism.” NeuroImage, vol. 46, no. 4, 2009, pp. 904-907. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2009.03.048

Sánchez, Francisco J., Sven Bocklandt, and Eric Vilain (2009). The Biology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity. In Hormones, Brain and Behavior, 2nd ed., vol. 3, edited by Donald W. Pfaff, Arthur P. Arnold, Anne M. Etgen, Susan E. Fahrbach, and Robert T. Rubin, Elsevier, 2009, pp. 1911–1931, ISBN 978‑0080887838 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/286728005_The_Biology_of_Sexual_Orientation_and_Gender_Identity

Hare, Lauren, Pascal Bernard, Francisco J. Sánchez, Paul N. Baird, Eric Vilain, Trudy Kennedy, and Vincent R. Harley. “Androgen Receptor Repeat Length Polymorphism Associated with Male-to-Female Transsexualism.” Biological Psychiatry, vol. 65, no. 1, 2009, pp. 93–96. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2008.08.033

Hughes, I. A., Houk, C., Ahmed, S. F., & Lee, P. A. (2006). Consensus statement on management of intersex disorders. Journal of Pediatric Urology, 2(3), 148–162. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpurol.2006.03.004

Media

WEDŪ (June 28, 2023). Dr. Eric Vilain on Transgender Athletes in Sports | The Forward with Lance Armstrong. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2grSfQ7CxA

All Things Considered with Michel Martin and Eric Vilain (March 14, 2021). As States Consider Restrictions On Trans Athletes, What Does The Science Say? NPR https://www.npr.org/2021/03/14/977215399/as-states-consider-restrictions-on-trans-athletes-what-does-the-science-say

Slade L. (August 11, 2018). Professor Eric Vilain: Why are lesbian and gay children being transitioned? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wjObOeXZhA [clip from 2017 NBC Bay Area report]

AXYS (March 21, 2017). Dr. Eric Vilain and Dr. Cisco Sanchez – The Biology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity [2009]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2BROv6uklo

Distillations with Mariel Carr, Alice Dreger, and Eric Vilain (December 1, 2015). Sex and Gender: What We Know and Don’t Know. https://www.sciencehistory.org/stories/distillations-pod/sex-and-gender-what-we-know-and-dont-know/

TEDx Talks (July 10, 2014). Fair game? | Eric Vilain | TEDxUCLA. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nu9GnW4HD18

Resources

Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)

UC Irvine School of Medicine (medschool.uci.edu)

UCI Health (ucihealth.org)

George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Science (gwumc.edu)

  • Eric Vilain
  • gwumc.edu/smhs/facultydirectory/profile.cfm?empName=Eric%20Vilain&FacID=2064772017 [not archived]

Children’s National Health System (childrensnational.org)

  • Eric Vilain, M.D., Ph.D.
  • childrensnational.org/research-and-education/about-cri/faculty-and-leadership-directory/vilian-eric [archive]

Intersex Society of North America (isna.org)

LinkedIn (linkedin.com)

Science & Diplomacy (sciencediplomacy.org)

Google Scholar (scholar.google.com)

  • Eric Vilain
  • scholar.google.com/citations?user=bYi1Ey0AAAAJ&hl=en