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Jaco van Zyl vs. transgender people

Jaco van Zyl is a South African psychologist and anti-transgender activist based in Ireland. van Zyl is affiliated with anti-trans hate groups Genspect and Society for Evidence-Based Gender Medicine.

Background

Jaco van Zyl earned bachelor’s degree from University of Pretoria in 1986 and a master’s degree from Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education in 1994. van Zyl earned a doctorate from University of South Africa in 2004

van Zyl offered therapy in South Africa before relocating and establishing a private therapy business in Ireland.

Anti-trans activism

van Zyl co-hosts the Critical Therapy Antidote Podcast.

In 2025, Society for Evidence-Based Gender Medicine. announced that van Zyl would present at their Berlin conference on “Trans Identification and the Dread of the Sexual.”

Selected anti-trans writing by van Zyl

van Zyl, J. (2024). Formulating gender dysphoria as an affective-perceptual disturbance involving the body. Psychodynamic Practice, 31(2), 160–176. https://doi.org/10.1080/14753634.2024.2371655

Van Zyl, J., Nel, K., & Govender, S. (2017). Reparative sexual orientation therapy effects on gay sexual identities. Journal of Psychology in Africa, 27(2), 191–197. https://doi.org/10.1080/14330237.2017.1303126

Media

Beyond Gender with Stella O’Malley, and Jaco van Zyl (May 15, 2025). What Happens When a Generation Grows Up Without Reality – Jaco van Zyl (#13). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iIPmy9CPaZI

You Must Be Some Kind of Therapist with Stephanie Winn and Jaco van Zyl (December 16, 2024). 140. Gender Dysphoria as a Mind-Body Problem: A Psychoanalytic Perspective with Jaco van Zyl. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBE5lLct9WM

Genspect (December 14, 2024). The Drive to Transition Is a Maladaptive Coping Mechanism – Jaco van Zyl. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfBDSrAUO6g

Calmversations with Benjamin Boyce and Jaco van Zyl (August 27, 2023). Woke Narcissism & Complex Trauma | with Jaco van Zyl. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDRInMwr8pI

the radical center with Leslie Elliott Boyce and Jaco van Zyl (June 4, 2023). Primitive Envy and Entitlement Ideologies, with Jaco Van Zyl. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AB52yryavo4

Resources

Jaco van Zyl Psychology (jvanzylpsych.com) [archive]

Critical Therapy Antidote (criticaltherapyantidote.org)

  • Who We Are
  • criticaltherapyantidote.org/the-cta-team

Open Therapy Institute (opentherapyinstitute.org)

Beyond Trans (beyondtrans.org)