John Bancroft

John Bancroft, M.D. was Director of the Kinsey Institute and is a member of the International Academy of Sex Research (IASR), a trade group whose objectives are "the promotion of high standards of research and scholarship in the field of sexual behavior by fostering communication and cooperation among scholars engaged in such research."

Bailey slammed after IASR lecture: told his book "is not science"

Even though Bailey is supposed to be featured in Bancroft's upcoming book, Bancroft had little good to say about The Man Who Would Be Queen before they shut down their internal leaks.

The IASR 2003 Conference was held at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana July 16-19, during the 50th anniversary of the Kinsey Institute.

Conference proceedings (PDF)

Conference procedings (Word)

Abstracts (PDF)

Abstracts (Word)

The abstracts for all the rest of the papers were available prior to the conference except Bailey's, which simply said "To be written." Later, the brief blurb below appeared five days after the conference:

IDENTITY POLITICS AS A HINDRANCE TO SCIENTIFIC TRUTH

Bailey, J. M., Department of Psychology, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL 60208 USA (email: jm-baileyatnorthwestern.edu)

My book, The Man Who Would Be Queen, has provoked a furious reaction among a subgroup of transsexual women. I will discuss the science behind the transsexualism section of the book and detail the controversy that has occurred. I will also speculate about why these women are so angry. Identity politics is a serious threat to research on groups and individuals with important beliefs or self-presentational biases that conflict with scientific hypotheses.

One of my research assistants was able to decode the following electronic signature on the attachments above:

Details:
Program booklet.doc
Author = Kinsey Institute
Last Saved By = Mike Bailey
Company Name = Indiana University
Creation Date = 7/24/03, 5:28 pm
Revision Number = 2

Note: This document was intended for a conference July 16-19, 2003, but the web version was last edited on July 24. The web version is NOT the same document the conference attendees saw.

Abstracts2003.doc
Author = Kinsey Institute
Last Saved By = Mike Bailey
Company Name = Indiana University
Creation Date = 7/24/03, 5:32 pm
Revision Number = 8
_AuthorEmail = hamatindiana.edu
_AuthorEmailDisplayName = Ham, Sandra L.
AdHocReviewCycle = 1312873603
Original Title = Passionate Love and Sexual Desire: Historical and Cross-Cultural and Perspectives

Note: Sandra L. Ham is assistant to Kinsey Institute Director John Bancroft.

Lynn Conway received the following first-hand report from an IASR member in attendance

Obviously shaken from the recent events, Bailey offered a nearly-unintelligible 30 minute outline of Blanchard's theory of transsexualism. He then briefly mentioned the transgender "attack" on science. He also tried to get sympathy from the audience by showing pictures of his children. Bailey ended his talk abruptly by walking away from the podium, stating there was not time for the scheduled question-and-answer period. The audience, however, was not in agreement with him.

John Bancroft, director of The Kinsey Institute and one of the most respected sexologists in the world, was the first to cross-examine Bailey. His words (which I directly quote) were: "Michael, I would caution you against calling this book 'science' because I have read it ... and I can tell you it is NOT science."

Complete silence fell over the room. It was obvious that, indeed, a new era has finally dawned on sexual science and the study of transsexualism. While several people in the room at the meeting, including Ken Zucker, support Bailey and his "scientific" speculations, I can tell you that the vast majority of the scientific community does NOT.

Bancroft's upcoming book on child sexuality is influenced by a Clarke Institute ideologue and protege. From publicity materials:

The wide-ranging essays in Sexual Development in Childhood seek collectively to answer many of the most vital questions in the field of childhood development. What is childhood sexuality, and why should it be studied? How should it be measured, and what research methods are most useful? What are the current empirical results of research, and in what direction do these studies intend to go in the future? The essays offered in answer to these questions propose to help us understand both the normal range of sexual development in children and the consequences of abusive sexual experiencesûobjectives that should make this volume an essential resource for teachers, advocates, and social policy professionals as well as for researchers and clinicians.

John Bancroft was trained in medicine at Cambridge University and in psychiatry at the Institute of Psychiatry, London. He has been Director of The Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction, and Professor of Psychiatry at Indiana University since May 1995. He is the author of Human Sexuality and Its Problems, and was founding editor of Annual Review of Sex Research.

Contributors are Matthew C. Aalsma, Douglas B. Alexander, J. Michael Bailey, John Bancroft, John E. Bates, Christopher R. Browning, Joseph A. Catania, John D. DeLamater, Diane diMauro, Kenneth A. Dodge, Anke A. Ehrhardt, David Finkelhor, J. Dennis Fortenberry, Suzanne G. Frayser, William N. Friedrich, Mariana Gatzeva, Amy R. Heard-Davison, Julia R. Heiman, Debra L. Herbenick, Gilbert Herdt, Janet Shibley Hyde, Erick Janssen, Philip Jenkins, Marjoke Laan, Edward O. Laumann, Jay H. Mayefsky, Carol McCord, Heino F. L. Meyer-Bahlburg, Susan F. Newcomer, Sarah E. Oberlander, Lucia F. O'Sullivan, Jay P. Paul, Gregory S. Pettit, Elsie M. Pinkston, Lance M. Pollack, Jany Rademakers, Meredith A. Reynolds, Stephanie A. Sanders, Jennifer Lynne Steel, Cornelis J. Straver, Jeffry W. Thigpen, Deborah L. Tolman, Arnout van de Rijt, Johan Verhulst, Kenneth J. Zucker.

Series: Kinsey Institute Series
Specs: 456 pages, index, 7 figs., 6 1/8 x 9 1/4 BACK TO TOP <http://www.indiana.edu/~iupress/books/0-253-34243-0.shtml#top>

Dr. Bancroft's upcoming book on child sexuality has, like the Archives of Sexual Behavior, become infested with Clarke Institute ideology.

If 1973 was the watershed year for depathologizing homosexuality, somewhere between 2006-2010 will mark the psychiatric community’s imminent depathologization of gender variance. In the next few years, the notion of gender identity “disorder” is going to be a primary issue, and Blanchard and Zucker will be what Rekers is to homosexuality.

I Bancroft considers his legacy when making decisions about editors and officers at IASR as well as contributors to his book. His July comment about Bailey’s book was promising, but until he addresses the issues raised by these “Jurassic Clarke” throwbacks, he might find his name and career tainted by their unfortunate worldview, right at the moment he was poised to do so much groundbreaking work.

Responding to Dr. Bancroft's comment that the Bailey book was not science, Anne Lawrence stated:

Bancroft's remark was followed by utter silence in the room, as though no one could believe that anyone would say something so tactless. It was as though Bancroft had stood up and loudly farted -- people looked at each other in embarrassment for him. Certainly no one clapped or said a word of agreement.

Bancroft stepped down as Kinsey Institute Director in 2004.