Dear Gavi,

You finish off what I consider a very valuable contribution indeed by writing "I would be happy to assist or contribute to your worthy aims and thank you for your time." Thank you for your time not just in writing such a cogent and valuable email but for the huge amount of scholarship and solidarity which preceded and made possible the writing of such an email. I know that you have been addressing this issue in other forums and I have had the privilege of reading some of your published work and some of your work which is in preparation which I regard as very valuable resources. Personally I would be very pleased if you could agree to facilitate List and / or Section members in the drafting of a short but powerful position statement stating why the provision of a platform to Professor Zucker by a Division of the British Psychological Society is so problematic with a view to it being sent to the Editor of The Psychologist with a request to publish it. I, and I am sure others, would be happy to assist you and contribute to such a drafting process. If you were able and willing to attend the Conference where Professor Zucker is speaking I would be very happy if the new Community Psychology Section lobbied formally for you to exercise right of reply to Prof Zucker on behalf of the Community Psychology Section.

David



David Fryer

Professor of Community Critical Psychology, Charles Sturt University, Australia

Professor Extraordinarius, University of South Africa

Honorary Senior Research Fellow, University of Stirling, Scotland

President: European Community Psychology Association



________________________________

From: The UK Community Psychology Discussion List [[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Gavriel Ansara [[log in to unmask]]

Sent: 25 November 2010 09:01

To: [log in to unmask]

Subject: Re: Section and Zucker



I think it would be useful if as many other members of this list as possible made their views clear to the committee so that they can be taken into account.



In response to David's request to hear listmembers views, I have written a detailed email for those who may be less familiar with Zucker's political history and the implications of his work:



I am writing to you as someone with extensive personal and professional background on 'trans' issues and topics, having worked professionally with children, families, schools, youth programmes, youth counselling, crisis intervention, medical advocacy, child therapists, and paediatric endocrinologists. This important effort to challenge Zucker's keynote at Manchester is similar to previous efforts in which I have been involved related to Ken Zucker. Based on that history, I had some concerns that I hope you will consider relaying to your colleagues and collaborators.



While there are criticisms of Zucker that claim he is trying to prevent/minimise 'homosexuality' in adulthood, his main agenda is actually to prevent 'trans' adults. As someone who has analysed Zucker's work during recent research and worked on Ari Lev's group to draft alternative DSM-5 recommendations, I am concerned that his agenda is often misrepresented solely in terms of being 'homophobic', in a manner that obscures the specfiic cisgenderism in and anti-trans nature of his work. While Zucker is quick to point out his role in giving expert testimony to courts on behalf of adults and some gender-stereotypical older adolescents seeking legal gender recognition, his most problematic and harmful work focuses on children who self-identify as boys and who were assigned as girls, or who self-identify as girls but were assigned as boys. These situations go far beyond 'girls who don't want to wear dresses', though he has dealt with young people who fit that description.



My main concern is that this efforts to challenge Zucker highlight rather than obscure his role in stopping children from expressing and actualising (socially, legally, and, in cases where puberty is imminent, medically) their self-designated gender, in direct violation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and other human rights legislation (i.e. he stops boys who were designated as girls from being allowed to be boys and even refers to children who self-identify as boys in his research as 'girls with GID'). That he does so while holding positions of leadership within the American Psychological Association, the American Psychiatric Association, and the World Professional Association for Trans Health (WPATH/formerly HBIGDA), and while receiving funding from the Canadian state of Ontario reflects the continuing structural and institutional violence against young people whose self-designated gender differs from their gender assignment.



The harm Zucker has caused extends past those who might become lesbian, gay or bisexual adults, or who do not fit gender role stereotypes, and extends to coercively impeding children's ability to develop into who they are. This fundamental and intimate violation of their very personhood is one that should concern all of us who care about equality, social justice, health, wellbeing, and the potential for the discipline of psychology and psychologists overall to function as beneficial rather than destructive societal forces. While there are many destructive proposals in Zucker's ideological rendering of DSM-5, I would urge you to ensure that the plight of young people whose own gender differs from the one they were assigned remains at the forefront of efforts to challenge what many view as institutionally sanctioned child abuse. Having worked directly with parents, children, and schools facing similar situations, I am aware of the grievous harm psychologists can cause when we fail to support, encourage, and safeguard young people's right not only to gender expression that deviates from stereotypes, but also to their own gender itself where it contrasts with external designations of their gender.



 This seems to be one of those situations when valid concerns are being dismissed and BPS section heads could make a difference in speaking out. If you visit APA's official policy on 'transgender' (see http://www.apa.org/about/governance/council/policy/transgender.aspx), you can see that Zucker's methods of behavioural reorientation to change children's own gender to match their assigned gender violates multiple aspects of this document. Assuming that we as psychologists consider children to be 'people', they are included in this document. Furthermore, Zucker's practices violate the UNCRC right to freedom of play and expression. If our polite objections have been dismissed, perhaps it is time for BPS to demonstrate the kind of 'leadership to end discrimination' outlined in the APA policy (aforelinked) and speak out against those involved who are promoting abusive treatment of children. Just because someone claims Zucker's position is 'valid' does not make that so any more than those who claimed that reparative therapy to 'fix' people's sexual orientations was 'valid' were acting in accord with human rights principles. I would urge people to consider how differently they might respond if those being 'reoriented' were lesbian, gay, or women seeking entry into unconventional job fields and consider our ethical duty to take up the mandate outlined in the above-mentioned APA statement.



Are we willing to consider reparative therapy to change people's own gender acceptable when our profession has soundly condemned reparative therapy for sexual orientation? Young people aren't able to defend themselves structurally against these methods, but we professional adults can. If we don't, what statement are we making about the rights and freedoms of young people to their own gender? Is this truly the kind of professional role that you would call 'feminist' or 'progressive'?



Young people are being damaged. We need to act. If those with whom we've tried to dialogue aren't engaging, we need to speak out against that, too. How many children would we be willing to sacrifice for political expediency? Reading the APA policy calling for psychologists 'to take a leadership role in ending discrimination' against people whose own gender differs from their assignment, can we fail to speak out in a clear and unequivocal way as professionals? Writing papers in journals is one thing. Having a clear policy statement from BPS professionals challenging this dangerous violation of young people is another. We can and should do more, as much as we can, by not only writing papers (I myself have been asked to write a paper and have a related one under review), but by demonstrating that some sectors of our profession do stand up and take that leadership role in terms of official policies and practices. We cannot challenge structural violence against these young people without using all of the institutional resources at our disposal.



I would be happy to assist or contribute to your worthy aims and thank you for your time.



Respectfully,



Gavi

--

Mr Y. Gavriel Ansara, MSc with Distinction (Surrey)

席嘉力  آتش جاوید  גבריאל‏ יוסף



'Zoos are full, prisons are overflowing... my, how the world still dearly loves a cage.' -Maude



٠•●♥Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ♥●•٠·˙



PhD Candidate & Academic Tutor

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___________________________________ The Community Psychology List has a new website/blog at: http://www.communitypsychology.co.uk/ There is a threaded discussion forum: http://www.communitypsychology.co.uk/cgi-bin/discus/discus.cgi There is a twitter feed: http://twitter.com/CommPsychUK To post on the website blog, forum or twitter feed, contact Grant or David at the email addresses below. David Fryer ([log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>) or Grant Jeffrey ([log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>) To unsubscribe or to change your details on this COMMUNITYPSYCHUK list, visit the website: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A0=COMMUNITYPSYCHUK



___________________________________

The Community Psychology List has a new website/blog at:

http://www.communitypsychology.co.uk/

There is a threaded discussion forum:

http://www.communitypsychology.co.uk/cgi-bin/discus/discus.cgi

There is a twitter feed:

http://twitter.com/CommPsychUK

To post on the website blog, forum or twitter feed, contact Grant or David at the email addresses below.

David Fryer ([log in to unmask]) or Grant Jeffrey ([log in to unmask])

To unsubscribe or to change your details on this COMMUNITYPSYCHUK list, visit the website:

http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?A0=COMMUNITYPSYCHUK