Copying this to Lucy as just realised it was copied to the Guardian letters page.  My intention was to reply to David thanking him for his email, explaining that we had been in correspondence with others in the Society about this issue, and forwarding the open letter I wrote to the people  (Lyndsey Moon, Chair of Psychology of Sexualities section, Christine Horrocks (Chair of Psychology of Women section, Gemma Tosh, individual member) who had contacted us, and to Ken Zucker (see below).  Are there any objections to my doing this and including the Guardian letters address in the 'reply all'?

-----------------------------------

Dear Dr. Moon, Ms. Tosh, Professor Horrocks, and Professor Zucker,

I am writing to you all in response to the concerns raised by Dr. Moon, Ms, Tosh, and Professor Horrocks, regarding the DCP invitation to Professor Zucker to speak at our Annual Conference.

Professor Zucker was suggested as a possible speaker by one of the conference committee's expert reference group, and cited as being appropriate on the grounds of academic standing and his involvement with the DSM V working group.  It was not brought to the attention of the Conference Chair at that time (Dr Schakel) that there is in fact considerable controversy regarding both the concept of a diagnostic category for presentations of gender variance/dysmorphia, and therefore the validity or desirability of treatment in such cases.  Not specialising in this field, Dr. Schakel was not aware of this controversy, and therefore agreed with the proposal to invite Professor Zucker as a keynote speaker.

On recieving the attached letter from Ms. Tosh, and the subsequent communications and endorsement of the same statement by Dr. Moon and Professor Horrocks, the Executive Committee obviously needed to consider this matter seriously.

After discussion amongst the committee, we concluded that if we had been aware of the issues in this field, we would not have decided to invite Professor Zucker as a single keynote speaker.  We did, however, think that we would have invited him to take part in a discussion or debate about these issues, alongside psychologists with contrasting views.  This is specifically because of the correspondence, which has made us think that this is in fact a very important area of controversy for clinical psychologists to be aware of and to deliberate, which it would be appropriate to give time to at the DCP Annual Conference.  We therefore suggested to the Psychology of Sexualities (PoS) committee and to Ms. Tosh and her colleagues that they nominate an appropriate speaker(s)  and we extend the slot and convert it into a Panel or Symposium presentation.  However, both the PoS and Ms Tosh declined, on the grounds 'although alternative voices could add substantive 'debate' we are not convinced that Professor Zucker merits such a platform - especially when the oppositional debate has been organised with very little time.'

The DCP Executive Committee has now voted on whether to continue with or cancel the presentation, given the lack of success of our efforts to re-organise it as a debate/discussion, and the majority of the committee voted to continue with the presentation.  However, we decided that it would need to proceed in such a way as to acknowledge the controversy surrounding the issue of diagnosis of unusual gender development, and the concerns regarding the impact of providing treatment.  We are therefore asking Professor Zucker to allow time for discussion of these issues, as we do not feel it is appropriate for the presentation to be given without consideration of its context and the opportunity to discuss this.

We have invited Dr Polly Carmicheal (a Clinical Psychologist working in this field) to attend the session to share her thoughts, and I myself am keen to attend the session, and hear Professor Zucker's views on some of the issues raised by this correspondence.  As ever, our colleagues from other sections of the Society (and indeed the general public) are welcome to register to attend the conference.  If you do not wish to register for the conference as an attendee, Professor Zucker has offered to meet with individuals who have concerns regarding his views during the day, and we would be happy to provide a space for this to happen.

I would like to thank Ms. Tosh, Professor Horrocks, and Dr. Moon for taking the time to bring this to our attention, and we are clear that your correspondence has impacted on our thinking about planning conference sessions generally, and about this session in particular, as well as having brought to all of our attention some of the issues around this area of work.   Professor Zucker, I would like to thank you for being patient during our deliberations, and I would like to apologise for having had to make some changes to the terms of this invitation at such short notice, given that these changes in the requested format result from a lack of research on our part before extending our invitation to you.

Yours sincerely,

Jenny

--
Dr. Jenny Taylor

Chair of the Division of Clinical Psychology
British Psychological Society
Email: [log in to unmask]
www.bps.org.uk/dcp/

Dr. Jenny Taylor

Chair of the Division of Clinical Psychology
British Psychological Society
Email: [log in to unmask]
www.bps.org.uk/dcp/

On 01/12/2010 02:54, David Fryer wrote:

Statement[1] of concern by members of The UK Community Psychology Discussion List regarding Dr Kenneth Zucker’s invited keynote lecture at the British Psychological Society Division of Clinical Psychology Conference 2010

 

To:

Jenny Taylor, Division of Clinical Psychology

Jennifer Unwin, Chair of the Conference Committee of the 2010 Division of Clinical Psychology Annual Conference

Gerry Mulhern, President of the British Psychological Society

Jon Sutton, The Psychologist

Sue Maskrey, BPS Clinical Psychology Forum

The Editor, The Guardian

 

From:

Members of the UK Community Psychology Discussion List

Date: 1^st December 2010

 

Statement[1] of concern by members of The UK Community Psychology Discussion List regarding Dr Kenneth Zucker’s invited keynote lecture at the British Psychological Society Division of Clinical Psychology Conference 2010

 

 

The work of Dr. Kenneth Zucker functions to undermine support for children’s own gender and gender-associated expression, is discriminatory against people whose own gender differs from their gender assignment (e.g., those often labelled ‘trans’ or ‘gender variant’) and inhibits the legal and social recognition of transgender individuals consistent with their gender identity and expression. The promotion of discourses which position children who self-identify as boys as ‘girls with gender identity disorder’ or self-identified girls as ‘boys with GID’ violates professional ethics which  mandate psychological professionals to avoid causing harm.

In addition to problematic discriminatory discourses, problematic practices, including behavioural reorientation work with children, violate international human rights policies, including the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) by interfering with children’s freedom of play and expression and by failing to provide children the opportunity to be heard and their views to be given due weight in relation to their experiences of their own gender and gender-associated expression. We regard deterring children from wearing clothes associated with any gender, from playing with friends of any gender, or from engaging in play stereotypically associated with any gender as being oppressive.

Members of the UK Community Psychology discussion list are concerned that the problematic discourses and practices, promoted by  Dr Zucker's work, are receiving support from within British psychology by the invitation to him to give an Invited Keynote presentation at the British Psychological Society Division of Clinical Psychology Conference 2010 just as they are being proactively promoted through Dr Zucker being afforded leadership positions on the American Psychological Association Task Force on Gender Identity, Gender Variance, and Intersex Conditions, the American Psychiatric Association Workgroup on Sexual and Gender Identity Disorders preparing the 2012 edition of the DSM-V and the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH, formerly the Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association) Standards of Care (SOC) Workgroup Committee.

 

We urge the British Psychological Society Division of Clinical Psychology and all psychological professionals to:

·         support legal and social recognition of people of all ages in a manner consistent with their self-designated gender

·         protect the freedom of all children to play, dress, friendship, and expression associated with any gender

·         condemn behavioural reorientation work with children

·         boycott and protest psychological environments that support discriminatory and oppressive discourses and practices which  functions to undermine support for children’s own gender and gender-associated expression, are discriminatory against people whose own gender differs from their gender assignment and inhibit the legal and social recognition of transgender individuals consistent with their gender identity and expression

 

Issued on behalf of Members of the UK Community Psychology Discussion list on 1^st December 2010

 

Further information from:

 

David Fryer

 

(Co-Moderator of the UK Community Psychology Discussion List)

 

[log in to unmask]

---

[1] Issued in the context of the invitation to Dr Zucker to give a keynote lecture at the 2010 British Psychological Society Division of Clinical Psychology Annual Conference which takes place at the Lowry Hotel, Manchester, on 1-3 December 2010 (http://www.bps.org.uk/dcp/the_dcp/news/keynote-speakers-for-2010-dcp-conference-confirmed.cfm) on behalf of the UK Community Psychology Discussion list (https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A0=COMMUNITYPSYCHUK)

 

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