“This formidable group of advocates”
Dana Beyer rejoices at destroying academic careers.
Twelve years ago the Lambda Literary Foundation (LLF), which awards prizes to the best in LGBT writing, fiction and non-fiction, nominated the most scurrilous work of pseudo-scientific transphobic trash ever printed, The Man Who Would be Queen, by Professor J. Michael Bailey. I’ve written extensively about this book, as have many of my trans colleagues. The publication of the volume by the Institute of Medicine created a backlash and led to the formation of a coalition of activists which managed to get its views known at a time when we were not being heard. Led by Professor Lynn Conway, this formidable group of advocates not only tarnished the book and its supporters, but also forced the removal of the book from consideration by the LLF and derailed the academic career of Dr. Bailey.
Boast boast boast.
Unfortunately, a form of dementia appeared to have settled on the LLF now in 2016. The current group of judges nominated a book that defends a book that its predecessors had decided was transphobic more than a decade ago.
Today the sycophant in question is Alice Dreger, author of Galileo’s Middle Finger. I critiqued this book when it was first published last spring, yet the judges of the LLF seems not to have read either my column or any of the others published in the same time frame.
The self-importance is almost as staggering as the malice. Why should the LLF have read Beyer’s column? But it gets worse. It gets stomach-turning.
Given the degree of progress made by the trans community in the past decade, this choice of the Dreger book seems all the more spiteful. Or, in the service of not ascribing malice when ignorance or laziness is just as likely, I will accuse the panel of laziness. It is, however, hard to believe that in the context of the Foundation’s recognition of the explosive growth in trans-related literature, that such a dubious text could get past their first line of defense.
It’s a brilliant book. It’s also responsible, sourced, carefully argued – it’s a book by an academic who knows how to write an intellectually respectable book. It’s not “dubious” just because Dana Beyer dislikes it.
However – and here is the good news – institutions, like people, can recognize their mistakes, and communities, like the trans community, can mobilize and persuadethose in error to rectify their mistakes. It can even be done behind the scenes in a professional manner.
Today, the board of Lambda Literary sent out an email to the coalition of trans advocates and allies who had united in opposition to the Dreger nomination:
After thoughtful, serious, and full consideration, Lambda Literary has rescinded the nomination of Galileo’s Middle Finger: Heretics, Activists, and the Search for Justice in Science from the LGBT Nonfiction category of the 2016 Lammys.
The nomination process did not include full vetting of all works to be certain that each work is consistent with the mission of affirming LGBTQ lives.
Lambda Literary will strive to improve the nomination process and work to maintain the highest standards in the awards nominations, recognizing literature that contributes to the preservation and affirmation of LGBTQ culture, and which honors LGBTQ lives.
That is completely disgusting. Beyer’s jeering is even more so:
There will, of course, be a backlash. Alice Dreger, with her long-time supporter at the LLF, Victoria Brownworth, and their allies in the trans-hating radical lesbian community (aka the TERFs), will explode. They’ve had a bad year, with reparative therapy being condemned by everyone from the White House to the Province of Ontario, home of the notorious gender clinic of Dr. Ken Zucker.
There is one important thing to note. While Dreger has every right to write what she wants, and to get it published by finding a publisher that provides no scientific oversight, she has no constitutional right to receive an award.
This isn’t “progressive” in any sense. This is a reactionary mafia, and it’s foul.
I’m puzzled by how Beyer can simultaneously brag about the power of her and her allies, yet label Dreger a “sycophant.” It seems that Beyer’s gripe with Dreger is that she is not, in fact, a sycophant to Beyer and her cronies.
Transwomen certainly seem to be becoming the strongest faction within both feminism and LGBT activism, with disproportionate power considering their numbers. Or is this just confirmation bias?
And it’s not all about trans issues–Bailey’s just one of several examples of scientists whose work and reputations have been attacked by nonscientific interests.
Nor is the part of the book devoted to Bailey especially invested in “defending” his conclusions. It’s about the dirty, nasty, underhanded, appalling tactics used to all but destroy his life. Tactics which included an accusation of incest.
Note too the dismissal of Dreger and her friends as TERFs. Such a convenient ad hom. Now we know she’s been labelled a TERF, we don’t have to actually read what she has to say.
My response to Beyer’s review was, “But what’s ‘Galileo’s Middle Finger’ *about*?”
(h/t to Dorothy L. Sayers)
I’m getting rather interested in this book. Perhaps the local library has it.
I was unfamiliar with Beyers’ work. So I broke my rule about reading anything from the Huffington Post (because I don’t generally patronize scab establishments) and read a few pieces in her archive.
This person cannot write a coherent sentence to save her life. Is this what passes for persuasive writing in academia these days?
Coherence is a patriarchal, cis-white imperial tool of oppression.
So shut up, she explained.
Beyer just Alice Dreger a sale. I had been planning to read the book, but last time I checked it was not released on Kindle in the UK. It is now, so I bought it!
I read a little more of Beyer’s writing yesterday too, and I too found it uniformly terrible. She’s not an academic though, but a retired eye doctor (that’s how the HP put it). Her byline calls her the director of a Maryland Something for Trans Rights (I forget the exact wording) but in fact that’s just a group she made up and a title she bestowed on herself.
Not only that, Chris, it’s what passes for credible enough to shut down awards for well-researched books.
And having bought and downloaded the book I note it is published by Penguin. So a reputable published then, and very far from the type of publisher Beyer implies Dreger spent ages searching for.
Dreger provides a well substantiated description of how effective smear campaigns are against academics. The same Trans activists have recently used the same accusations that were so effective against Bailey to discredit the doctors at CAMH. When questioned, the accuser said it was a different doctor in a different department. Doesn’t matter if it is true or not. It’s out there and it works.
Streisand Effect in action: I just downloaded a sample of this book. I suspect I’ll end up purchasing it, too. Thanks.
Of course I’ll have to try to follow Harriet Hall’s Dictum: Whenever you read about something new, intriguing, and/or controversial “Try to find out who disagrees … and why.” As clamboy #4 pointed out, after reading Beyer’s article it’s hard to figure out what Galileo’s Middle Finger is pointing at, and why it shouldn’t.