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In 2003, critics of Bailey's controversial book levied claims of research misconduct. ] investigated Bailey, but did not reveal the findings of that investigation and did not comment on whether or not Bailey had been punished.<ref>Robin Wilson. . Chronicle of Higher Education, 2004.</ref> In 2003, critics of Bailey's controversial book levied claims of research misconduct. ] investigated Bailey, but did not reveal the findings of that investigation and did not comment on whether or not Bailey had been punished.<ref>Robin Wilson. . Chronicle of Higher Education, 2004.</ref>


Alice Dreger, an ] activist and ethics scholar at Northwestern, published an account of the controversy.<ref name="dreger"/> According to Dreger, the allegations of misconduct could more accurately be described as intimidation by Bailey's critics, in an effort to destroy him personally and professionally.<ref name="dreger">Dr. Alice Dreger, Medical Humanities & Bioethics Program at Northwestern University </ref> "If we're going to have research at all, then we’re going to have people saying unpopular things," said Dreger in a '']'' interview, "and if this is what happens to them, then we've got problems not only for science but ] itself."<ref name="carey082107"/> Alice Dreger, an ] activist and ethics scholar at Northwestern, published an account of the controversy.<ref name="dreger"/> According to Dreger, the allegations of misconduct could more accurately be described as intimidation by Bailey's critics, in an effort to destroy him personally and professionally.<ref name="dreger">Dr. Alice Dreger, Medical Humanities & Bioethics Program at Northwestern University </ref> "If we're going to have research at all, then we’re going to have people saying unpopular things," said Dreger in a '']'' interview, "and if this is what happens to them, then we've got problems not only for science but ] itself."<ref name="carey082107"/> In the same issue of the ], which Bailey is on the editorial board of, 23 commentaries on Dreger's account were also published.


===Sexual arousal patterns of self-identified bisexual men=== ===Sexual arousal patterns of self-identified bisexual men===

Revision as of 03:49, 15 June 2008

J Michael Bailey
BornJuly 2, 1957
Lubbock, Texas
NationalityAmerican
Occupation(s)Professor psychology, Northwestern University

John Michael Bailey (born July 2, 1957 in Lubbock, Texas) is an American psychologist and professor at Northwestern University. He is best known among scientists for his work on the possible biological basis of sexual orientation, which suggests that homosexuality is substantially inherited. He also wrote The Man Who Would Be Queen, which has elicited reactions ranging from revilement to a nomination for an award from the Lambda Literary Foundation, an organization that promotes gay literature. He has been accused of research misconduct and practicing psychology without a license. These accusations were investigated by Northwestern University. The findings of this investigation were not disclosed.

Background and career

Bailey was born in Lubbock, Texas. He obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree in mathematics from Washington University in 1979 and his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University of Texas at Austin in 1989, where he studied under behavioral genetics researcher Lee Willerman.

Bailey became a professor at Northwestern University in 1989. In the 1990s, Bailey published several papers that suggested a heritable component for sexual orientation. In 2003 he published what is so far his only book, The Man Who Would Be Queen.

In October 2004, Bailey resigned as chairman of the Psychology Department. Bailey still serves as a Northwestern professor.

Research

Bailey is well-known for research involving biology and sexual orientation. In the early 1990s he coauthored with Richard Pillard a series of twin studies which examined the rate of concordance of sexual identity among monozygotic twins (52% concordance), dizygotic twins of the same sex (22%), non-twin siblings of the same sex, and adoptive siblings of the same sex (11%).

The Council for Responsible Genetics and other researchers have criticized this work for using a self-selected sample, a problem which his later studies have attempted to remedy.

According to Bailey's interpretation of evolutionary psychology, homosexuality is an evolutionary mistake or paradox, and may represent "a developmental error." He has linked homosexuality to higher levels of psychopathology.

In December 2006, he controversially suggested that aborting a fetus after fetal screening for sexual orientation is "morally acceptable....even assuming, as we do, that homosexuality is entirely acceptable morally" Bailey's view was that selecting the sexual orientation of one's offspring would be beneficial because it "would further a parent’s freedom to raise the sort of children they want to raise.”

The Man Who Would Be Queen

Main article: The Man Who Would Be Queen

The Man Who Would Be Queen: The Science of Gender Bending and Transsexualism was published in 2003 by Joseph Henry Press. In it, Bailey reviews evidence that male homosexuality is innate, a result of heredity and prenatal environment. He also reviews evidence that there are two forms of transsexualism, one that is an extreme type of homosexuality and one that is an expression of a paraphilia known as autogynephilia.

The book generated considerable controversy, as well as a formal investigation by Northwestern University, where Bailey was Chair of the Psychology Department until shortly before the conclusion of the investigation. Northwestern made it clear that his change in status had nothing to do with the book. Bailey insists that he did nothing wrong and that the attacks on him were motivated by the desire to suppress discussion of the book's ideas about transsexualism, especially autogynephilia.

Written in a popular science style, the book summarizes research that supports Bailey's opinions. The online version of the book (along with most other books in the catalogue) was available from 2003 to February 2006.

Helen Boyd explained one objection to the book:

In the crossdressing community, the man who admits he is turned on by his dressing is still considered a pervert. The autogynephilic transsexual will not receive the same sympathy for her transsexualism as the non-autogynephilic transsexual. That's exactly what makes Bailey's book so dangerous: it allows transsexual women to be condemned by our society for having "perverse" sexual arousal patterns.

— Helen Boyd

In 2003, critics of Bailey's controversial book levied claims of research misconduct. Northwestern University investigated Bailey, but did not reveal the findings of that investigation and did not comment on whether or not Bailey had been punished.

Alice Dreger, an intersex activist and ethics scholar at Northwestern, published an account of the controversy. According to Dreger, the allegations of misconduct could more accurately be described as intimidation by Bailey's critics, in an effort to destroy him personally and professionally. "If we're going to have research at all, then we’re going to have people saying unpopular things," said Dreger in a New York Times interview, "and if this is what happens to them, then we've got problems not only for science but free expression itself." In the same issue of the Archives of Sexual Behavior, which Bailey is on the editorial board of, 23 commentaries on Dreger's account were also published.

Sexual arousal patterns of self-identified bisexual men

Bailey once again stirred controversy in 2005 as senior author of a study which questioned whether male bisexuality exists in the way that it is sometimes described; the study was based on results of penile plethysmograph testing. The testing found that of men who identified themselves as bisexual, 75% were only aroused genitally by homosexual imagery, and 25% were only aroused genitally by heterosexual imagery. They concluded that bisexuality was a subjective experience: "Male bisexuality appears primarily to represent a style of interpreting or reporting sexual arousal rather than a distinct pattern of genital sexual arousal."

The study received wide attention after a New York Times piece on the study that coincided with the opening of the annual meeting of the International Academy of Sex Research in 2005. The article and study were criticized by gay and bisexual groups and by FAIR. Critics argued the sample size was relatively small, consisting of one hundred (100) men. Also, all of these subjects were "self-selected", from ads placed in gay and "alternative" publications. Then the researchers had to disregard results of thirty-five percent (35%) of this population, as non-responders.

Agreeing with the author's conclusion that bisexuality is a subjective experience, the late Dr. Fritz Klein, a sex researcher and the author of The Bisexual Option argued that "social and emotional attraction are very important elements in bisexual attraction."

References

  1. ^ "Criticism of a Gender Theory, and a Scientist Under Siege". New York Times. August 21, 2007. {{cite web}}: Text "url" ignored (help)
  2. Davis, Andrew (December 8, 2004). "Northwestern Sex Researcher Investigated, Results Unknown". {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |Publisher= ignored (|publisher= suggested) (help)
  3. ^ "Professional profile". Northwestern University. February 4, 2008. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  4. Davis, Andrew (December 8, 2004). "Northwestern Sex Researcher Investigated, Results Unknown". {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |Publisher= ignored (|publisher= suggested) (help)
  5. Bailey JM, Pillard RC (1991). "A genetic study of male sexual orientation". Arch. Gen. Psychiatry. 48 (12): 1089–96. PMID 1845227.
  6. Bailey JM, Benishay DS (1993). "Familial aggregation of female sexual orientation". Am J Psychiatry. 150 (2): 272–7. PMID 8422079.
  7. Do genes determine if we are lesbian, bisexual, gay, or straight? Position Paper by The Council for Responsible Genetics. Retrieved July 24, 2006.
  8. Bailey JM (1999). "Homosexuality and mental illness". Arch. Gen. Psychiatry. 56 (10): 883–4. PMID 10530627.
  9. Greenberg AS, Bailey JM (2001). "Parental selection of children's sexual orientation" (PDF). Arch Sex Behav. 30 (4): 423–37, discussion 439–41. doi:10.1023/A:1010265416676. PMID 11446202.
  10. Science told: hands off gay sheep Times Online (UK)
  11. Bailey, J. Michael (2003). The Man Who Would Be Queen: The Science of Gender-Bending and Transsexualism. Joesph Henry Press, ISBN 978-0309084185
  12. "Academic McCarthyism". Retrieved 2007-05-15.
  13. Helen Boyd (2003). My husband Betty: love, sex, and life with a crossdresser. Thunder's Mouth Press. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |ibsn= ignored (help)
  14. Robin Wilson. Northwestern U. Concludes Investigation of Sex Researcher but Keeps Results Secret. Chronicle of Higher Education, 2004.
  15. ^ Dr. Alice Dreger, Medical Humanities & Bioethics Program at Northwestern University "The Controversy Surrounding The Man Who Would Be Queen: A Case History On the Politics of Science, Identity and Sex in the Internet Age"
  16. ^ Rieger G, Chivers ML, Bailey JM (2005). "Sexual arousal patterns of bisexual men". Psychological science : a journal of the American Psychological Society / APS. 16 (8): 579–84. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2005.01578.x. PMID 16102058.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  17. ^ Carey, Benedict (July 5, 2005). "Straight, Gay or Lying? Bisexuality Revisited". New York Times.
  18. National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (July 2005). The Problems with "Gay, Straight, or Lying?" (PDF) Retrieved July 24, 2006.
  19. FAIR (July 8, 2005). New York Times Suggests Bisexuals Are "Lying": Paper fails to disclose study author's controversial history.

Selected bibliography

  • Bailey JM, Miller JS, Willerman L (1993). "Maternally rated childhood gender nonconformity in homosexuals and heterosexuals". Archives of Sexual Behavior. 22 (5): 461–9. PMID 8239975.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  • Bailey JM, Pillard RC, Neale MC, Agyei Y (1993). "Heritable factors influence sexual orientation in women". Archives of General Psychiatry. 50 (3): 217–23. PMID 8439243.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  • Greenberg AS, Bailey JM (1993). Do biological explanations of homosexuality have moral, legal, or policy implications? Journal of Sex Research, 30, 245-251.
  • Bailey JM, Zucker KJ (1995). Childhood sex-typed behavior and sexual orientation: A conceptual analysis and quantitative review. Developmental Psychology, 31, 43-55.
  • Bailey JM, Nothnagel J, Wolfe M (1995). "Retrospectively measured individual differences in childhood sex-typed behavior among gay men: Correspondence between self- and maternal reports". Archives of Sexual Behavior. 24 (6): 613–22. PMID 8572910.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  • Bailey JM, Pillard, RC (1995). Genetics of human sexual orientation. Annual Review of Sex Research, 6, 126-150.
  • Bailey JM (1995). "Sexual orientation revolution". Nature Genetics. 11 (4): 353–4. doi:10.1038/ng1295-353. PMID 7493006.
  • Dunne MP, Martin NG, Bailey JM; et al. (1997). "Participation bias in a sexuality survey: psychological and behavioural characteristics of responders and non-responders". International Journal of Epidemiology. 26 (4): 844–54. PMID 9279618. {{cite journal}}: Explicit use of et al. in: |author= (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  • Bailey JM (1999). "Homosexuality and mental illness". Archives of General Psychiatry. 56 (10): 883–4. PMID 10530627.
  • Bailey JM, Pillard RC, Dawood K; et al. (1999). "A family history study of male sexual orientation using three independent samples". Behavior Genetics. 29 (2): 79–86. PMID 10405456. {{cite journal}}: Explicit use of et al. in: |author= (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  • Bailey JM, Dunne MP, Martin NG (2000). "Genetic and environmental influences on sexual orientation and its correlates in an Australian twin sample" (PDF). Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 78 (3): 524–36. PMID 10743878.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  • Bailey JM (2003). The Man Who Would Be Queen: The Science of Gender-Bending and Transsexualism. Washington, D.C: Joseph Henry Press. ISBN 0-309-08418-0.

See also

External links

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