Cover of the first edition
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Author | J. Michael Bailey |
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Country | United States |
Language | English |
Subject | Homosexuality, transsexualism |
Published | 2003 (Joseph Henry Press imprint of the National Academies Press) |
Media type | Print (Hardback & ebook PDF) |
Pages | 256 |
ISBN | |
OCLC | 51088011 |
305.38/9664 21 | |
LC Class | HQ76.2.U5 B35 2003 |
The Man Who Would Be Queen: The Science of Gender-Bending and Transsexualism is a 2003 book by the psychologist J. Michael Bailey, published by Joseph Henry Press.
In the first section of the book, Bailey discusses gender-atypical behaviors and gender dysphoria in children, emphasizing the biological determination of gender. In the second section he deals primarily with gay men, including the link between childhood gender dysphoria and male homosexuality later in life. Bailey reviews evidence that male homosexuality is congenital (a result of genetics and prenatal environment), and he argues for the accuracy of some stereotypes about gay men. In the third section, Bailey summarizes evidence for a psychological typology of trans women that says there are two forms of transsexualism that affects transgender women: one that he describes as an extreme type of male homosexuality and one that is a sexual interest in having a female body, called autogynephilia.
The book caused considerable controversy which led to complaints and a formal investigation by Northwestern University, where Bailey was chair of the psychology department until shortly before the conclusion of the investigation. Northwestern ultimately found no basis for the complaints, and a Northwestern University spokesperson said that his departure from the department chairmanship had nothing to do with the investigation. Bailey says that some of his critics were motivated by a desire to suppress discussion of the book's ideas about the autogynephilia theory of transsexual women. In her comprehensive review of the episode in her book Galileo's Middle Finger, bioethicist Alice Dreger claims that accusations against Bailey were "a sham. Bailey’s sworn enemies had used every clever trick in the book—juxtaposing events in misleading ways, ignoring contrary evidence, working the rhetoric, and using anonymity whenever convenient, to make it look as though virtually every trans woman represented in Bailey’s book had felt abused by him and had filed a charge."