Letter from Joanne:
A young trans woman reflects on
J. Michael Bailey's eugenics writings and connections
April 21, 2005.
Contents:
Background and introduction:
In her e-mail below, Joanne reflects on a "videotape-identification of feminine boys" project being proposed by J. Michael Bailey and Gerulf Rieger at Northwestern University, along with the project's connection with Bailey’s writings and positions on homosexual eugenics.
In her letter, Joanne includes Rieger's apparently innocuous announcement about the project. However, Joanne is well aware of the context in which this project arises, as follows:
In his now infamous book , J. Michael Bailey claims that young, feminine trans women such as Joanne are really just “homosexual men.”
Bailey's book then presents a highly defamatory caricature of the lives of such young trans women, saying among other things that "homosexual transsexuals are used to living on the margins of society" and are "especially well-suited for prostitution”.
Clueless and in denial about the many successful trans women out there, Bailey goes on to say that: "The more resourceful and attractive transsexual prostitutes are call girls," and he "had never known a homosexual transsexual who married."
The overarching message within Bailey's book, as revealed in the fabricated story of “Danny”, is that feminine boys should be channeled into becoming gay men - so as to avoid what Bailey sees as the terrible fate of becoming "a transsexual" who then lives "on the margins of society".
Furthermore, in his earlier paper on homosexual eugenics, Bailey discusses how parents who do not wish to have feminine boys in the first place should have the option of genetic testing and abortion to eliminate them as fetuses, once testing for a hypothesized so-called “gay gene” is available to them.
In all of these discussions, Bailey appears oblivious to the modern trend of earlier gender transitions by many young trans teens, with full parental support, and of the clear distinction of their transsexualism from homosexuality - as documented in stories like those of Danielle, Sander, Johanna and Nicole.
Instead, Bailey's new project, being based on videotape-identifications of feminine boys, will clearly provide him and Rieger many opportunities for selective editing and presentation of apparently "scientific evidence". Thus they will have wide latitude to exercise confirmation biases (more, more) and then claim to have "proven" theories about such boys, just as Bailey did in his now infamous book.
Bailey could also exploit selected videotapes tapes from this new research to further mock and ridicule young feminine boys during his classroom presentations and seminars, just as he was reported doing with photos and films in a lecture at Stanford University, on April 23, 2003.
In her letter, Joanne reflects on her feelings about such “research work” and on the eugenicist ideology in which it is so-deeply intertwined - an ideology that aims to eliminate the possibility of beautiful young lives such as Joanne's.
Lynn Conway
Letter from Joanne:
From: Joanne
To: Lynn
Sent: Thursday, April 21, 2005 6:22 AM
Subject: Gerulf Reiger Looking for Movies
Hello Lynn, my name is Joanne.
I have been full-time since I was 21. I work for an internet service provider and have been fairly successful in my transition. I am now in my late twenties.
I want to let you know that I greatly appreciate all of your timeless effort in combating Michael Bailey and these Eugenicists he is allied with. I understand their ultimate goal is to be able to identify babies in utero who might be transsexual or gay, and abort them.
I must admit, I was devastated and brought to tears this evening reading Gerulf Reiger's request for childhood videos of Gays and Lesbians (see below).
Just to think that I have one such video of myself running in a field near a church with my brother and cousin when my Mother took us to visit my grandparents. It is the one video of my childhood that clearly shows I was different from my cousin and brother. I have watched this video, and believe in a way, it has helped my family understand my plight.
When I've watched this video, I see a little girl running around in that field, chasing after a blue balloon on a sunny day, the sound of the occasional jet flying overhead, the way I ran, the way I moved my arms, everything was different, I must have been 4 or 5 years old. I can watch this video, and I laugh at myself, looking at this child (me) with understanding and compassion.
I was a beautiful and feminine child, who wouldn't yet know the hardships that lay ahead, a child who would be despised by the world, considered filthy and unfit to exist. My existence then and my existence today are beautiful. And yet there are people who want to exterminate me.
The video of us kids running around in that field in suburban Chicago is beautiful and endearing, family and friends watch it when they want to "remember" and re-cherish who we were as children......who I was as a child, and scientists and eugenicists would like to watch it so they can systematically devise a way to exterminate me, that feminine one with a blonde mop of hair, chasing after a blue balloon in field in suburban Chicago.
These people are not human, it is like War of the Worlds, or a movie about a supposedly superior and more advanced alien race who holds no regard for the beauty and variation of human life, that use humans as research subjects, we are nothing more than lab rats to them.
I hope they fry in hell, every last one of them.
Thank you for all of your efforts, I am eternally grateful.
Joanne
"Something
that I said - Made you wear a frown - The way you hang your head - Has made the
tears come down
But don't you wear a sigh - My beautiful child - You know it doesn't burn - When
you touch the sun -
So don't be concerned
My golden one - You're gonna reach the sky - Fly ... beautiful child
There is no other place - The human race - Is running out of space - There is no
better love - And human love
Is what it takes - And I'll be at your side - When you're falling down - You'll
be feeling fine - When you hit the ground
So don't slip away - Stay ... Beautiful child
"
From: Gerulf Rieger <gerulf@northwestern.edu>
Date: March 18, 2005 12:00 PM CDT
To:
gluu@listserv.it.northwestern.edu
Reply-To:
gerulf@northwestern.edu
Hey GLUUlers
Something more uplifting. My new study got IRB approval and of course
we think it is a pretty cool study! It is also a well paid study.
See the ads below. We are looking for gay men and lesbians (as well
as straight people) who have home videos from their childhood and are
willing to share these with us. Basically we are interested to see
if childhood behaviors are linked to whether a person becomes gay or
straight or wether this assumption is a complete myth. All might be
possible. I can't tell you more right now but read the ads and if you
re interested please go ahead and write me or call me in the lab!
With all respect!
Gerulf
Gay men, ages 18 to 40, wanted who have home movies from their
childhood and are willing to be interviewed for a study on the
development of sexual orientation. Participation takes about two
hours. Participants will be paid $40 to $50. Please call Gerulf
Rieger at Northwestern University, The Human Sexuality Lab at 1 847
491 3820. This project was approved by the Institutional Review
Board; project number 0108-016.
Lesbians, ages 18 to 40, wanted who have home movies from their
childhood and are willing to be interviewed for a study on the
development of sexual orientation. Participation takes about two
hours. Participants will be paid $40 to $50. Please call Gerulf
Rieger at Northwestern University, The Human Sexuality Lab at 1 847
491 3820. This project was approved by the Institutional Review
Board; project number 0108-016.
-----------------
Gerulf Rieger, Square-Master
Department of Psychology
Northwestern University
2029 Sheridan Rd
Swift Hall #102
Evanston, IL 60208
Tel: 1 847 491 3820
Fax: 1 847 491 7859
References:
For more information on Bailey's eugenics writings and the eugenicist clique in which he is involved, see:
American
Eugenics, by Nancy Ordover, University of Michigan Press, 2003.
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