Chicago Tribune, July 30, 2003
WOMAN NEWS SECTION:
 
"Transsexuals file complaints over book"
by Lindsay Tanner
Associated Press
 
 
 
   
 
 
 
 

 
This AP story was also published widely on the web at news-sites such as the following:
 
philly.com
nwitimes.com
cbs.com
stltoday.com
herald-sun.com
daileysouthtown.com
 
 

 

Transsexuals Accuse Author of Misconduct
LINDSEY TANNER
Associated Press
 
CHICAGO - At least two transsexual women have accused the chairman of Northwestern University's psychology department of using them as research subjects without consent in a controversial new book on gender-bending.
The women say Professor J. Michael Bailey engaged in research misconduct, and they further contend the book makes them out to be perverted freaks.
 
The book, "The Man Who Would Be Queen: The Science of Gender-Bending and Transsexualism," is "a slam, a major derogatory expose of transsexuals," said Anjelica Kieltyka, 52, who filed a complaint with Northwestern earlier this month.
 
Bailey mentions Kieltyka by name in the book as having introduced him to transsexuals in Chicago. Kieltyka said Bailey also uses pseudonyms in referring to her and several acquaintances in discussing theories that depict some transsexuals as having a mental illness involving sexual fetishes.
 
University of Pennsylvania bioethicist Art Caplan said the complaints are groundless if the women simply disagree with his theories, since Bailey is protected by free speech.
 
But the women allege that it the book was a research project and that they were never asked to consent to participate - claims that, if true, could violate university ethics guidelines.
 
Universities take such issues pretty seriously, and scientists have been suspended from doing research or lost their jobs over such claims, Caplan said.
 
In an e-mail Thursday, Bailey declined to address Kieltyka's claims. But he said some prominent professors at other schools who have sided with the women are trying to censor the book.
 
Bailey discusses the controversy on his Web site and says claims that his book portrays transsexuals as deviant are "hysterical and false."
 
He says the most criticized part of his book involves another researcher's theory that male-to-female transsexuals include some men who are not gay but become sexually aroused "at the idea of being a woman."
 
Kieltyka said three women featured in the book had filed complaints so far and that more may be coming. Some of the women are in this country illegally and do not want to be identified, said Kieltyka, who calls herself their mentor.
Northwestern spokesman Alan Cubbage said Thursday that he knew of only two complaints and that the university has referred them to the school's office of vice president for research. Northwestern "will respond to the complaints using its established policies and procedures," Cubbage said in a statement. He declined further comment.
 
Kieltyka, who was born a man, had sex-change surgery in 1992. An artist and photographer, she enrolled as an undergraduate at Northwestern in the late 1990s. She said she is on medical leave from the school.
 
She had previously met Bailey and referred several transsexual acquaintances to him so that he could sign approval forms they needed to get sex-change operations. Some of them also gave talks to some of his classes and shared details of their lives with him, she said.
 
Afterward, Bailey told them, "Guess what? I'm writing a book," Kieltyka said.
 
She said that she thought it would be a "journalistic" piece, not a science-oriented, theory-based work, and that she strongly objected to the book when Bailey showed her a draft.
 
"I was misused and the other girls were misused, and the book that is the result of his bogus research is absolutely hurting," she said.
 
Caplan said books and other publications are generally considered research if they are based on a systematic method of collecting data, including an analysis of field notes or questionnaires.
 
"If you're just collecting stories, that's not a research method," said Caplan, who had not read the book.
Academic scientists are required to notify their schools' institutional review boards about proposed research, and it is up to the boards to determine when participants' consent is necessary, Caplan said.
 
ON THE NET
 
Kieltyka's complaint: http://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/conway/TS/LynnsReviewOfBaileysBook.html
Bailey's Web site: http://www.psych.northwestern.edu/psych/people/faculty/bailey
 
 
 
 

 
 
For more information about the J. Michael Bailey book situation, see the following webpages:
http://ai.eecs.umich.edu/people/conway/TS/LynnsReviewOfBaileysBook.html
http://www.tsroadmap.com/info/bailey-blanchard-lawrence.html