Open Letter to the New York Times
To the Health editors of the New York Times:
I was extremely disappointed with Nicholas Wade's article "Pas de Deux of Sexuality Is Written in the Genes" (4/10/2007). While Mr. Wade was correct to reference Larry Cahill's excellent 2006 review, it seems as if Mr. Wade read only the abstract. Dr. Cahill is fairly clear in his review that while functional and structural differences are present between male and female brains, this is not necessarily reflected in behavior.
It's also disheartening to see that J. Michael Bailey is referenced as "an expert on sexual orientation" without any mention of his unethical research (Chicago Tribune, 2003) that led to his stepping down as chair of the Psychology Department at Northwestern. The highly questioned results of Bailey's work with his student Gerulf Rieger on bisexuality also drew fire when reported in the Times, by Benedict Carey's 2005 "Gay, Straight, or Lying" (see Lynn Conway's log of media reports). The fact that Bailey still seems to be the go-to sexologist for the NYT after these multiple missteps is deeply troubling.
In short, the Times would be well served to find another "expert" if this topic continues to be of interest. Bailey's work is blatantly biased, poorly executed, and over-interpreted. I feel that I can normally count on the New York Times for reasonable coverage, but it is disappointing to see that where sexuality is involved, the Times stoops to this level of sensationalism.
Sincerely,
Danforth Nicholas
The Difference Blog
I was extremely disappointed with Nicholas Wade's article "Pas de Deux of Sexuality Is Written in the Genes" (4/10/2007). While Mr. Wade was correct to reference Larry Cahill's excellent 2006 review, it seems as if Mr. Wade read only the abstract. Dr. Cahill is fairly clear in his review that while functional and structural differences are present between male and female brains, this is not necessarily reflected in behavior.
It's also disheartening to see that J. Michael Bailey is referenced as "an expert on sexual orientation" without any mention of his unethical research (Chicago Tribune, 2003) that led to his stepping down as chair of the Psychology Department at Northwestern. The highly questioned results of Bailey's work with his student Gerulf Rieger on bisexuality also drew fire when reported in the Times, by Benedict Carey's 2005 "Gay, Straight, or Lying" (see Lynn Conway's log of media reports). The fact that Bailey still seems to be the go-to sexologist for the NYT after these multiple missteps is deeply troubling.
In short, the Times would be well served to find another "expert" if this topic continues to be of interest. Bailey's work is blatantly biased, poorly executed, and over-interpreted. I feel that I can normally count on the New York Times for reasonable coverage, but it is disappointing to see that where sexuality is involved, the Times stoops to this level of sensationalism.
Sincerely,
Danforth Nicholas
The Difference Blog