Jane E. Brody is an American writer and anti-transgender activist. Brody is a key historical media figure in the oppression of trans and gender diverse people. Brody was the point person laundering anti-transgender extremism and medical bias into the New York Times in the 1970s. Brody’s efforts contributed to gender-affirming care being declared “experimental” across the United States starting in 1979, forcing a generation of transgender Americans to pay out of pocket or go into medical debt to receive care.
Brody’s successors at the Times, notably Benedict Carey, Pamela Paul, and Azeen Ghorayshi, continued Brody’s deference to anti-trans “experts,” especially psychologists and psychiatrists, who promote disease models and rigid gatekeeping of medical care.
Background
Jane Ellen Brody was born on May 19, 1941 in Brooklyn, New York. Brody earned a bachelor’s degree from Cornell University in 1962, followed by a master’s degree from University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1963. From 1963 to 1965 Brody wrote for the Minneapolis Tribune before being hired by the New York Times in 1965.
In 1966 Brody married lyricist Richard Engquist (1933–2010). Their marriage produced twin children Erik and Lorin.
Brody began the Times column Personal Health in 1976. Brody is author of a number of books on health and nutrition, including the best-sellers Jane Brody’s Nutrition Book and Jane Brody’s Good Food Book. Brody hosted a 10-episode public media show Good Health from Jane Brody’s Kitchen. Brody retired from the Times column in 2022.
1972 article promoting gatekeeping and conversion therapy
In 1972, a Brody article claimed that only 500 people had bottom surgery in the United States between 1966 and 1972. Brody was disinclined to believe that trans people rarely expressed regret: “Still researchers maintain that in properly selected cases, there are no regrets. They concede, however, that a patient who has willingly undergone such radical, irrevocable surgery would be unlikely to say he or she was sorry the step had been taken.”
Brody also approvingly noted “experts” were attempting conversion therapy on young people: “A few medical centers are trying to identify children who may be ”pretranssexuals,’ and are treating them with the hopeful goal of reversing their gender misidentification before it is too late. Other researchers are seeking possible psychological and biological causes of transsexualism, which may one day lead to methods of preventing distortions of gender identity.”
Brody approvingly describes strict psychiatric gatekeeping of care through “extremely careful selection of patients.” Brody reports that these clinics typically rejected nearly every prospective applicant. Citing psychiatrists Donald Hastings at University of Minnesota and Jon Meyer at Johns Hopkins, Brody notes: “In general, the centers have moved very cautiously, performing only a few operations a year, even though they were swamped with hundreds — and sometimes thousands—of applications. It is not known how many true transsexuals there are in this country. Estimates range from 2,000 to 10,000.” Meyer told Brody about the mutual distrust built into the “gender clinic” approval system: “We have to be especially careful now because the word is out on how to talk to the doctors to perform the surgery.” Bridy concludes, “In retrospect, the centers are pleased with their conservatism, for they see now how easy it is to misdiagnose transsexualism and consequently perform irrevocable surgery on the wrong persons.”
1973 report on a “cured” trans teenager
The following year, a Brody article heralded a case report in Archives of General Psychiatry that claimed a trans 17-year-old was reportedly “cured” by conversion therapy: “In their report, Dr. David H. Barlow, a psychologist, E. Joyce Reynolds, a social worker, and Dr. W. Stewart Agras, a psychiatrist, said that their findings indicated that a person’s feelings as to what sex he belongs to may not be as inflexible as assumed.”
Brody then approvingly describes the “treatment”:
“In this case, the boy was first conditioned to stand, walk and sit in a more masculine manner, then taught to speak with a deeper voice and less feminine inflections. The therapists then tried to change his sexual fantasies, lavishly praising the patient’s successful substitution of female for male figures.
Using so‐called aversive techniques, such as mild electrical shocks, the therapists were then able to diminish his sexual response to pictures of nude men.”
Brody sought comment from anti-trans extremist Richard Green, who felt “such an approach might give transsexuals who want it something to try before resorting to sex change surgery.” Anti-trans sexologist John Money told Brody, “One case doesn’t prove anything. Show me 20 consecutive cases and I’ll listen.” Brody also mentioned a report by Irvin D. Yalom, Richard Green, and Norman Fisk that suggested “prenatal sex hormone levels may influence some aspects of postnatal psychosexual development in boys.”
1986 promotion of The ‘Sissy Boy Syndrome’
In 1986, Brody wrote a glowing article about anti-trans “expert” Richard Green, who founded Archives of Sexual Behavior with the stated goal of “prevention of transsexualism.” Green had recently released findings from a study of 44 “extremely feminine boys.” Brody did not interview any of the parents or children, nor did Brody seek critical commenary from anyone.
Brody wrote:
“In many cases parents either overtly or subtly encouraged the feminine behavior. But when parents actively discouraged it and took other steps to enhance a male self-concept, homosexual tendencies of the feminine boys were lessened, although not necessarily reversed. Neither did professional counseling divert a tendency toward homosexuality, although it resulted in more conventional masculine behavior and enhanced the boys’ social and pyschological adjustment and comfort with being male.
[…] Green suggested that to help the boys think of themselves as male, parents might assist them in finding boy friends who are similarly unaggressive and that the fathers might share in activities the boys enjoy, such as going to the zoo or a concert, rather than insist on taking the boys to athletic events. Counseling to guide such parents and enhance the child’s masculine self-image may also be helpful, Dr. Green said.
[…] At the outset, Dr. Green thought he was examining the origins of male transsexuals -boys who grow up thinking they are girls trapped in male bodies and who may later seek sex-change surgery. However, only one of the feminine boys became a transsexual.
[…] The boys and their parents were interviewed every few years, and some were seen several times a year in therapeutic counseling aimed at intercepting the boys’ feminine tendencies and encouraging more ”gender-appropriate” activities.
[…] One of the most important factors related to a more homosexual orientation in adolescence and adulthood was how parents responded to the boys when they dressed up as girls and pretended to be girls. Many of the parents, Dr. Green said, thought it was cute and directly or indirectly encouraged the cross-gender behavior.”
Brody also mentioned Richard Isay, Judd Marmor, Bernard Zuger, and Frederick Whitam.
1979 article on Johns Hopkins clinic closure
[in progress]
In 1979, Brody wrote a lengthy article about the closure of the gender clinic at Johns Hopkins. Anti-trans psychiatrist Paul McHugh was looking for a pretext to close the clinic, and did so following publication of a study by anti-trans psychiatrist Jon K. Meyer.
Paul A. Walker
“an estimated 4,000 persons have had sex change operations in this country”
“In addition to those already operated on, tens of thousands have applied for the surgery, some undoubtedly prompted by the publicity received by such persons as Dr. Renee Richards, the transsexual tennis player who achieved world ranking at the age of 42 after becoming a woman.”
2016 article
In a 2016 article, 44 years after Brody’s first anti-trans article, Brody is clearly still out of touch and outdated on the topic, using deprecated terminology and deadnaming both Christine Jorgensen and Caitlyn Jenner. That same article cites a 2011 paper by Louis Gooren.
References
Grimes, William (March 25, 2010). Richard Engquist, ‘Kuni-Leml’ lyricist, Is dead at 76. New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/24/arts/music/24engquist.html
Yalom ID, Green R, Fisk N (1973). Prenatal exposure to female hormones. Archives of General Psychiatry, 28(4), 554. https://doi.org/10.1001/archpsyc.1973.01750340080013
Barlow DH (1973). Gender identity change in a transsexual. Archives of General Psychiatry, 28(4), 569. https://doi.org/10.1001/archpsyc.1973.01750340089014
Green R (1971). Diagnosis and treatment of gender identity disorders during childhood. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 1(2), 167–173. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01541061
Selected anti-trans writing by Brody
Brody, Jane E. (June 13, 2016). Being transgender as a fact of nature. New York Times https://archive.nytimes.com/well.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/06/13/transsexualism-as-a-fact-of-nature/
Brody, Jane E. (December 16, 1986). Boyhood effeminacy and later homosexuality. New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/1986/12/16/science/boyhood-effeminancy-and-later-homosexuality.html
Brody, Jane E. (October 2, 1979). Benefits of transsexual surgery disputed as leading hospital halts the procedure. New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/1979/10/02/archives/benefits-of-transsexual-surgery-disputed-as-leading-hospital-halts.html
Brody, Jane E. (April 21, 1973). Doctors report transsexual cure. New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/1973/04/21/archives/doctors-report-transsexual-cure-more-experiments-urged-effect-of.html
Brody, Jane E. (November 20, 1972). 500 in the U.S. Change Sex In Six Years With Surgery. New York Times https://www.nytimes.com/1972/11/20/archives/new-jersey-pages-500-in-the-us-change-sex-in-six-years-with-surgery.html
Books
- Brody, Jane E. (1977). You Can Fight Cancer and Win. Quadrangle/The New York Times Book Co., ISBN 978-0812906592
- Brody, Jane E. (1981). Jane Brody’s Nutrition Book: A Lifetime Guide to Good Eating for Better Health and Weight Control. W.W. Norton & Company, ISBN 978-0393014297
- Brody, Jane E. (1982). Jane Brody’s Nutrition Book. Bantam Books, ISBN 978-0553014358
- Brody, Jane E. (1983). Jane Brody’s the New York Times Guide to Personal Health. Avon Books, ISBN 978-0380641215
- Brody, Jane E. (1985). Jane Brody’s Good Food Book: Living the High Carbohydrate Way. W.W. Norton & Company, ISBN 978-0393022100
- Brody, Jane E. (1986). Jane Brody’s Good Food Gourmet: Recipes and Menus for Delicious and Healthful Entertaining. W.W. Norton & Company, ISBN 978-0393028782
- Brody, Jane E. (1987). Jane Brody’s Good Food. Bantam Books, ISBN 978-0553343465
- Brody, Jane E. (1990). Jane Brody’s Good Food Book/Jane Brody’s Good Food Gourmet/Boxed Set. W.W. Norton & Company, ISBN 978-0393029512
- Brody, Jane E. (1994). Jane Brody’s Good Seafood Book: A Guide to Healthy Eating with More Than 200 Low-Fat Recipes. W.W. Norton & Company, ISBN 978-0393036879
- Brody, Jane E. (1995). Jane Brody’s Cold and Flu Fighter. W.W. Norton & Company, ISBN 978-0393313536
- Brody, Jane E. (1997). Jane Brody’s Allergy Fighter. W.W. Norton & Company, ISBN 978-0393316353
- Brody, Jane E. (1998). Jane Brody’s Allergy Fighter. W.W. Norton & Company, ISBN 978-0393316353
- Brody, Jane E. (2000). Jane Brody’s Cold and Flu Fighter. Castle Publishing, ISBN 978-0785812531
- Brody, Jane E. (2001). The New York Times Guide to Alternative Health. Henry Holt and Company, ISBN 978-0805067439
- Brody, Jane E. (2009). Jane Brody’s Guide to the Great Beyond: A Practical Primer to Help You and Your Loved Ones Prepare Medically, Legally, and Emotionally for the End of Life. Random House, ISBN 9781588367747
Resources
Jane Brody (janebrody.net)
Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)