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Pamela Paresky vs. transgender people

Pamela Paresky is an American psychologist and anti-transgender activist. Paresky is affiliated with anti-trans hate group Genspect and the sex segregationist Independent Council on Women’s Sports. Paresky is also affiliated with anti-trans groups Free Speech Union, Academic Freedom Alliance, Open Therapy Institute, and FAIR in Medicine. Paresky has contributed to a number of anti-trans publications, including Quillette, Reality’s Last Stand, and The Guardian. Paresky frequently collaborates with other anti-trans authors, including Cory Clark, Nadine Strossen, Jonathan Haidt, and Greg Lukianoff.

Background

Pamela Beth Prestyn Paresky was born on February 16, 1967 to David Paresky and Linda Sue (Kotzen) Paresky.

Paresky earned a bachelor’s degree from Columbia University in 1990, a master’s degree from Pepperdine University in 1994, and a doctorate from University of Chicago in 2005.

Paresky was an aspiring actor and musician. Paresky met and married Hugh Zuker, and they moved to Aspen, Colorado. Zuker became a sheriff’s deputy in Aspen, the president of Mountain Rescue Aspen, and a victim of Bernard Madoff’s Ponzi scheme. They have one adult child, Jared Aiden Zuker (born 1999).

As Pamela Zuker, Paresky authored the 2010 book A Year of Kindness.

Anti-transgender activism

Paresky has served as a Senior Fellow at the Network Contagion Research Institute and as primary researcher for The Coddling of the American Mind by anti-trans activists Greg Lukianoff of FIRE and Jonathan Haidt of Heterodox Academy.

On Substack, Paresky promoted many anti-trans, conservative, and ex-trans activists, including:

References

Green, Emma (May 17, 2023). A Club for the Cancelled. The New Yorker https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-local-correspondents/the-party-is-cancelled

Gardner-Smith, Brent (December 18, 2017). Citing ‘vitriol,’ Zuker drops out of sheriff’s race. Aspen Daily News https://www.aspendailynews.com/citing-vitriol-zuker-drops-out-of-sheriff-s-race/article_c685d182-8017-5626-b2d8-c7c84f2e2c0d.html

Phillips Academy Class of 1985 (Spring 1996). Class Notes. https://www.panix.com/~chris/notes.htm [archive]

Selected writing by Paresky

Paresky, Pamela (January 27, 2026). Just Semantics: How the use of psychological jargon can undermine law. Reality’s Last Stand https://www.realityslaststand.com/p/just-semantics

Paresky, Pamela (July 6, 2025). The Psychological War on Women: Women’s rights and the restoration of consent. Habits of a Free Mind https://paresky.substack.com/p/the-psychological-war-on-women?utm_source=publication-search

Paresky, Pamela et al (November 13, 2024). Instructing animosity: How DEI pedagogy produces the hostile attribution bias. https://networkcontagion.us/wp-content/uploads/Instructing-Animosity_11.13.24.pdf original url https://networkcontagion.us/wpcontent/uploads/Instructing-Animosity_11.13.24.pdf [not archived]

Paresky, Pamela (August 30, 2024). Lies, Damned Lies, And Bullshit: And what the hell are “vibes”? Habits of a Free Mind https://paresky.substack.com/p/lies-damned-lies-and-bullshit

Paresky, Pamela (July 30, 2024). Elon Musk Says He Was “Essentially Tricked” Into Transitioning His Son: Pressure to medically transition children and the availability of gender surgeries for minors continue in the U.S. despite pediatric gender transition being all but banned in much of Europe. Habits of a Free Mind https://paresky.substack.com/p/elon-musk-says-he-was-essentially

Strossen, Nadine; Paresky, Pamela (November 21, 2023). Choose Counterspeech Over Cancel Culture. TiIME https://time.com/6338140/israel-hamas-free-speech-cancel-culture/

Strossen, Nadine; Paresky, Pamela (October 18, 2023). Even Antisemites Deserve Free Speech. The Free Press https://www.thefp.com/p/even-antisemites-deserve-free-speech

Paresky, Pamela and signatories (May 5, 2023). Open Letter in Support of Dr. Kenneth Zucker and the Need to Promote Robust Scientific Debate. FAIR in Medicine https://www.fairforall.org/open-letters/archives-of-sexual-behavior/

Clark, C. J., Jussim, L., Frey, K., Stevens, S. T., al-Gharbi, M., Aquino, K., Bailey, J. M., Barbaro, N., Baumeister, R. F., Bleske-Rechek, A., Buss, D., Ceci, S., Del Giudice, M., Ditto, P. H., Forgas, J. P., Geary, D. C., Geher, G., Haider, S., Honeycutt, N., 
 von Hippel, W. (2023). Prosocial motives underlie scientific censorship by scientists: A perspective and research agenda. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 120(48). https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2301642120

Paresky, Pamela (July 30, 2022). Europe Becomes More Cautious About Pediatric Gender Medicine While California Doubles Down. Habits of a Free Mind https://paresky.substack.com/p/europe-becomes-more-cautious-about

Paresky, Pamela (May 4, 2022). The Op-Ed That Went Viral And The Trans Woman Who Wrote It. Habits of a Free Mind https://paresky.substack.com/p/the-op-ed-that-went-viral-and-the

Paresky, Pamela; Abrams, Samuel J. (November 19, 2021). Sex and Politics on Campus: Campus censoriousness varies by party, sexual orientation, and gender identity. Psychology Today https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/happiness-and-the-pursuit-leadership/202111/sex-and-politics-campus

Paresky, Pamela (July 13, 2018). In 2018, Being Conservative Became a Microaggression: Arguing that a woman can play a trans man in a film got an article retracted. Psychology Today https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/happiness-and-the-pursuit-of-leadership/201807/in-2018-being-conservative-became-a

Media

Genspect with Stella O’Malley and Pamela Paresky (February 24, 2024). If People Speak the Truth the Whole House of Cards Falls – Pamela Paresky. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jgob5_pWWaM

Genspect with Benjamin Boyce, Pamela Paresky, Lisa Selin Davis, Ben Appel, and “Christina Buttons” (November 25, 2023). What the Left Media WON’T Tell You About the Trans Movement. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHQfd-sdTVQ

Save Women’s Sports Australasia / ICONS / ICFS with Dina McMillan, Pamela Paresky, Riley Gaines, Paula Scanlan, Holly LaVesser, and Kylee Alons (August 3, 2023). Sports Panel with Dr Dina McMillan & Dr Pamela Paresky at the ICONS & ICFS Intl Women’s Sport Summit. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Yg9pUmPtnA

Resources

Open Therapy Institute (opentherapyinstitute.org)

A Year of Kindness (ayearofkindness.com) [archive]

MultiGenerational Counseling Services (multigenerationalconsulting.com)

Free Mind Foundation (freemindfoundation.org)

  • originally Aspen Center for Child Development (aspenchd.org)
  • later Aspen Center for Human Development (aspencenterforhumandevelopment.org) [archive]
  • About Us: Pamela Paresky, PhD, Director
  • aspencenterforhumandevelopment.org/about-us.php [archive]

Institute for Humane Studies (theihs.org)

  • Pamela Paresky, Fellow
  • theihs.org/about-ihs/ihs-distinguished-fellows/previous-fellows/pamela-paresky [archive]

Network Contagion Research Institute (networkcontagion.us)

  • Pamela Paresky, Senior Research Fellow
  • networkcontagion.us/leadership-team/ [archive]

The Institute on the Formation of Knowledge (ifk.uchicago.edu)

Quillette (quillette.com)

The Guardian (theguardian.com)

X/Twitter (twitter.com)

Hugh Zuker for Pitkin County Sheriff (hughforsheriff.com/) [archive]

Hugh Zuker (zuker.org) [archive]

Psychology Today (psychologytoday.com)

Johns Hopkins Stavros Niarchos Foundation Agora Institute (snfagora.jhu.edu)

Facebook (facebook.com)

Substack (substack.com)

LinkedIn (linkedin.com)

Jewish Institute for Liberal Values (jilv.org) [archive]

  • About: Dr. Pamela Paresky, Chair
  • jilv.org/about/ [archive]
  • renamed North American Values Institute (navivalues.org)

Muck Rack (muckrack.com)