EXPOSED:
Shockingly defamatory official publicity
by the National Academies
for Bailey's book.  

Lynn Conway

July 16, 2003

 
[V 8-30-06] 
 
I first heard about the following official National Academies publicity letter, authored by Robin Pinnel, on July 16th, 2003. It was sent to me by a reviewer who'd received a reviewer's copy of the book, along with this letter and a packet of materials about the National Academy Press's "lead title this season", as they called it.  I'm glad that I didn't read this letter way back in April. It would have been ever so disheartening to have seen it then.
 
However, by this point our investigations of Bailey et al had revealed that he had done no original science for this book, and that he had falsified the key concluding observations in the book. We had also uncovered evidence to support filings of complaints of research misconduct against Bailey, and a major transgender advocacy organization, NTAC, had come out strongly against Bailey's obvious defamations of trans women. In fact the trans community worldwide had by now begun rebelling against the tremendous slander of trans people that the Bailey book represented.
 
Thus, it was much easier to read Pinnel's letter in July that it would have been in April, for we were now empowered and on the move to do something about this awful situation. Even so, I was stunned when I read the contents of this letter - a letter destined to become a classic example of transphobic propaganda: 

" . . . you will learn more than you ever knew before -- and I don't mean more than you ever wanted to know, I mean more than you ever could have believed you'd be fascinated by knowing -- about what makes some boys, teenagers, and men feminine." - Robin Pinnel

". . . Bailey has studied, interviewed, and made friends with hundreds of men . . . in the industrialized world as well as those in the developing world who either are feminine or who perform ritualistic "feminine" behavior that may shock the average reader." - Robin Pinnel

 
Here we see Pinnel promoting a book with the subtitle "The Science of Gender Bending and Transsexualism" as if it were some kind of soft porn for intellectuals.  And in doing so, Pinnel repeats Bailey's defamatory misgendering of trans women as being "feminine men".  The only saving grace is that Pinnel's line "And with the publication of this book, the field of gender studies will never be the same." was undoubtedly true - only not in the sense she intended.  Instead this book will go down in history as one of the most egregious perversions of "science" in our time.
 
Read the following letter with care, and try to imagine what Pinnel was thinking after she had read Bailey's book.  Then notice how she framed her titillating appeal to the Academy Press readership. Then ask yourself some questions:
 
How did Pinnel and the National Academies determine that "The conclusions to which Bailey came after years of psychological profiles, statistical studies, interviews, and comparisons of his research with that [sic] fellow scientists . . . are scientifically accurate and groundbreaking".
 
How on earth did she get these ideas? Who put these completely false words into her mouth? (Bailey? Blanchard? LeVay? Derbyshire?). Did her boss read this pronouncement before it went out under the National Academies banner? And what about the Academy leadership? Don't they oversee the scientific publications being produced by the Academy Press and its JHP imprint?
 
These events happened during Bruce Albert's tenure as President of the National Academy of Sciences (the senior President of the National Academies). We had a question for Bruce then, and it still applies now: "Why are your Academies doing this to trans women?
 
 

Joseph Henry Press
April 28, 2003

 
The Man Who Would Be Queen
The Science of Gender-Bending and Transsexualism
by J. Michael Bailey
 
Per your request, enclosed you will find the a [sic] copy of our lead title this season, The Man Who Would Be Queen, a captivating and controversial new book by J. Michael Bailey, one of the country's leading researchers on gender.
 
In this thoroughly researched and engaging book, you will learn more than you ever knew before -- and I don't mean more than you ever wanted to know, I mean more than you ever could have believed you'd be fascinated by knowing -- about what makes some boys, teenagers, and men feminine.
 
Bailey has studied, interviewed, and made friends with hundreds of men whose sexual preferences and behavior run the gamut from butch [sic] to feminine to just dressing in women's clothing for heterosexual pleasure and men who only feel fulfilled by being transformed surgically into women. He has studied feminine men in the industrialized world as well as those in the developing world who either are feminine or who perform ritualistic "feminine" behavior that may shock the average reader.
 
The conclusions to which Bailey came after years of psychological profiles, statistical studies, interviews, and comparisons of his research with that [sic] fellow scientists, may not always be politically correct, but they are scientifically accurate and groundbreaking. And with the publication of this book, the field of gender studies will never be the same.
 
Anyone who reads The Man Who Would Be Queen will surely be captivated as I was, and as I'm sure you will be. I hope you will be able to review this book. I look forward to seeing tear sheets when the review(s) run.
 
Best,

(signed)

Robin Pinnel
Publicist
 
The NATIONAL ACADEMIES
Advisers to the Nation on Science, Engineering, and Medicine
500 Fifth Street, NW
Washington, DC 20001
 
Phone: 202 334 1902
Fax: 202 334 2793
E-mail: rpinnel@nas.edu
 
http://www.jhpress.org
 

Update of 8-30-06:

Our investigation resulted in the filing of complaints of research misconduct against J. Michael Bailey at Northwestern University. He was also subjected to stinging criticism in the scientific community, including by the Officers and Board of Directors of HBIGDA, by the President of the Kinsey Institute and by the President of HBIGDA, and also by the Southern Poverty Law Center following their own parallel investigation into his activities.  All this led to Bailey's resignation as Chair of the Psychology Department in the fall of 2004 (although he remained on the faculty there)

Bailey then turned his attention away from trans women, defending his earlier work in homosexual eugenics in April 2005 and then attacking the identies of bisexual men in July 2005. He was resoundingly criticized for these actions too in the gay media and by media watchdog groups, including FAIR, GLADD, NGLTF and many more. In August 2006, in a courageous action against this rogue scientist, the Chicago Free Press refused to accept any further advertisements for gay research subjects for studies that involve J. Michael Bailey.

 

 

This page is part of Lynn Conway's

"Investigation into the publication of J. Michael Bailey's book on transsexualism by the National Academies"