Leading gender dysphoria expert says he has been censored

Leading gender dysphoria expert lauded for his work on sexual orientation says he has been censored after authoring report which found girls feel ‘pressured’ into declaring they are trans

• J Michael Bailey, 66, has been lauded for his work on sexual orientation

One of the world’s leading experts on gender dysphoria claims an academic journal has withdrawn an article he wrote for it due to pressure from trans activists.

J Michael Bailey, 66, professor of psychology at Northwestern University in the US state of Illinois, has published more than 100 academic articles during his 40-year career and has previously been lauded for his ‘groundbreaking’ work on sexual orientation.

On March 29, his article ‘Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria’ was published in the academic journal Archives Of Sexual Behavior. The professor co-authored the piece with a mother called ‘Suzanne Diaz’, whose daughter is transgender. She declined to give her real name for fear of reprisals.

In the report, Prof Bailey concluded that young girls reported feeling ‘pressured’ into receiving medical transition treatments, including drugs to block puberty, after suffering Rapid Onset Gender Dysphoria (ROGD). ROGD is where children, mostly girls, with no history of gender dysphoria suddenly declare they want to transition to the opposite sex.

Prof Bailey has long argued ROGD is caused by peer pressure and says doctors encourage drastic medical interventions, including mastectomies, which the girls later regret.

J Michael Bailey, 66, professor of psychology at Northwestern University in the US state of Illinois, has published more than 100 academic articles during his 40-year career and has previously been lauded for his ‘groundbreaking’ work on sexual orientation

He wrote: ‘Increasing awareness about ROGD is largely attributable to parents with daughters claiming to be sons. 

‘Desperate for sound medical advice, they find themselves confronted with a medical establishment that has come to prioritise surgical and hormonal intervention over traditional psychotherapy that seeks to resolve the feelings of distress.’ 

He says that from the day it was published the report received ‘negative attention from trans activists’.

Writing on The Free Press website last week, he said: ‘These activists began to lobby both the publisher (Springer Nature Group) and the organisation affiliated with the journal to retract the article and to punish the editor.’ 

On May 5, more than 100 gender activists published an online ‘open letter’ citing ‘ethical concerns’ over Prof Bailey’s study. 

He said: ‘This was a pretext for their real complaint: dislike of certain ideas. Debate is essential to good science, but that is not what these activists want.

‘On May 23, we received an email from Springer informing us that they were retracting our article.’ The professor consulted lawyers but the article was removed last month.

Last night Toby Young, founder of the Free Speech Union, told the MoS: ‘Activists dare not challenge the concept of ROGD according to the standard rules of academic debate because they know they’d lose.’

Plans to require schoolchildren who want to change gender to first undergo ‘a period of reflection’ were welcomed by a ‘Common Sense’ group of Tory MPs last night

Plans to require schoolchildren who want to change gender to first undergo ‘a period of reflection’ were welcomed by a ‘Common Sense’ group of Tory MPs last night.

They also backed plans to make schools tell parents if their child wants to identify as a different gender. The proposals – part of draft Government guidance to schools in England – are due to be signed off by Rishi Sunak within days.

It came amid reports that separate Cabinet Office advice will give civil servants the right to question or criticise transgender identity without being discriminated against at work.

Of the school proposals, Tory MP Brendan Clarke-Smith, who is a member of the party’s influential Common Sense Group, said: ‘Anything that helps our teachers and protects our children is very welcome.’

The group’s chair, Sir John Hayes, added: ‘At last common sense has prevailed.’ Government sources said the guidance was yet to be finalised.

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