Ray Blanchard

Ray Blanchard

Ray Blanchard, 2008
Born Ray Milton Blanchard
October 9, 1945
Hammonton, New Jersey, U.S.
Residence Canada
Citizenship United States, Canada
Fields Psychology, sexology
Institutions Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto
Alma mater University of Pennsylvania
University of Illinois
Known for Phallometry, paraphilias, gender dysphoria, sexual orientation

Ray Milton Blanchard (/ˈblæntʃərd/; born October 9, 1945) is an American-Canadian sexologist, best known for his research studies and controversial views on pedophilia, transsexualism, and sexual orientation. He has also published research studies on phallometry and several paraphilias, including transvestism and autoerotic asphyxia.

Education and career

Blanchard was born in Hammonton, New Jersey. He received his A.B. in psychology from the University of Pennsylvania in 1967 and his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois in 1973. He conducted postdoctoral research at Dalhousie University until 1976, when he accepted a position as a clinical psychologist at the Ontario Correctional Institute in Brampton, Ontario, Canada (a suburb of Toronto). There, Blanchard met Kurt Freund, who became his mentor. Freund was conducting research in chemical castration for sex offenders.[1] In 1980, he joined the Clarke Institute of Psychiatry (now part of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health).[2] In 1995 Blanchard was named Head of Clinical Sexology Services in the Law and Mental Health Programme of the CAMH, and he serves as a Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto. He served on the American Psychiatric Association DSM-IV Subcommittee on Gender Identity Disorders[3] and was named to the DSM-5 committee. According to the Web of Science, Blanchard's scientific articles have been cited more than 1800 times, with an h-index of 27.[4]

Fraternal birth order effect

Blanchard has conducted research on factors that influence the development of sexual orientation, including biological factors. He has proposed a theory known as a fraternal birth order or older brother effect. This theory is that the more older brothers a man has, the greater the probability is that he will have a homosexual sexual orientation. The number of older sisters has no effect, however. The same is not true for lesbians—neither the number of older brothers nor the number of older sisters appears to be related to the sexual orientation of women.[5][6][7] The fraternal birth order effect has been described by one of its proponents as "the most consistent biodemographic correlate of sexual orientation in men",[8] with each older brother increasing a man's odds of being gay by about 33%.[9]

Blanchard hypothesizes that the older brother effect is caused by interactions between a male fetus and the immune system of the mother: Because certain proteins (called H-y antigens) are produced by male and not by female fetuses, the mother's immune system reacts only to male fetuses and is more likely to produce a reaction with each successive exposure to a male fetus.[10]

Typology of transsexualism

Blanchard coined the term "autogynephilia" to describe trans women (who Blanchard believes are actually men) with an erotic desire "to be women" and hypothesized that all gender dysphoria in these "biological males" are variants of two types: "homosexual" gender dysphoria and "non-homosexual" gender dysphoria. Blanchard defined the former as being present in transsexuals attracted to men, while he defined the latter as being present in transsexuals attracted to the idea of themselves as women.[11] Within the transgender community the idea has been criticized.[12] In her book Whipping Girl, evolutionary biologist, trans woman and activist Julia Serano stated that she believed the evidence for autogynephilia was dubious and lacked scientific substantiation.[13] Blanchard's ideas about trans women have also been rejected by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), the largest association of medical professionals who provides care for transsexual people, as lacking empirical evidence.[14][15]

Blanchard supports public funding of sex reassignment surgery as an appropriate treatment for transsexual people, as he believes the available evidence supports that the surgery helps them live more comfortably and happily, with high satisfaction rates.[16]

The term teleiophilia

Blanchard coined the term teleiophilia to refer to a sexual preference for adults.[17] Unlike the terms referring to sexual interest in other age groups, such as pedophilia (sexual interest in prepubescent children), teleiophilia is not considered a paraphilia. The term was formalized in order to forestall neologisms, such as "adultophilia" or "normophilia," that were occasionally used, but had no precise definition. The term is used primarily by professional sexologists in the scientific literature.

DSM-5

Appointment

Blanchard served on the gender dysphoria sub-working group for the DSM-IV and served as Chair of the paraphilia sub-working group for the DSM-5. Activists protested the latter appointment.[18] The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force issued a statement questioning the APA's decision to appoint Blanchard.[19]

Paraphilias

In 2008, Blanchard was the lead author of an influential paper proposing the introduction of hebephilia in the DSM-5.[20] The paper, coauthored mostly with colleagues from CAMH and the University of Toronto, triggered a number of reactions, many of them critical on the basis that it pathologizes reproductively valid behavior in order to uphold current social and legal standards. Critics include Richard Green,[21] DSM-IV editor Michael First,[22] forensic psychologist Karen Franklin,[23] and Charles Allen Moser,[24] while others including William O'Donohue argued that the proposal did not go far enough.[25] Blanchard also wrote the literature review paper for the DSM-5 committee regarding pedophilia, in which he summarized and attempted to address the criticism over the DSM-IV-TR definition of pedophilia.[26] The DSM-5 diagnosis initially proposed a new name ("pedohebophilic disorder") and the rationale for the change cited several of Blanchard's scientific publications.[27] In the end, the pedohebephilic disorder proposal was rejected, but the name was changed from pedophilia to pedophilic disorder, reflecting the DSM-5's general distinction between paraphilia and paraphilic disorder.[28]

Blanchard noted that both Richard Green[29] and William O'Donohue[30] remarked that a so-called "contended pedophile"—an individual who fantasizes about having sex with a child, but does not commit child sexual abuse, but just masturbates fantasizing it, and who does not feel subjectively distressed afterward—does not meet the DSM-IV-TR criteria for pedophilia, because he does not meet Criterion B. Whereas Green proposed to solve the problem by removing pedophilia from the DSM, and O'Donohue proposed to remove criterion B for pedophilia, Blanchard proposed a general solution applicable to all paraphilias, namely a distinction between paraphilia and paraphilic disorder. The latter term is proposed to identify the diagnosable condition, which meets both Criterion A and B, whereas an individual who does not meet Criterion B, can be ascertained, but not diagnosed, as having a paraphilia. (Blanchard acknowledges Kenneth Zucker and James Cantor for discussions about this distinction.)[26] Interviewed by bioethics professor Alice Dreger, Blanchard explained: "We tried to go as far as we could in depathologizing mild and harmless paraphilias, while recognizing that severe paraphilias that distress or impair people or cause them to do harm to others are validly regarded as disorders."[31]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Freund, K. (1980). "Therapeutic Sex Drive Reduction". Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica 62: 5–38. doi:10.1111/j.1600-0447.1980.tb10433.x.
  2. ↑ Laws RD; O'Donohue WT, ed. (1997). Sexual Deviance: Theory, Assessment, and Treatment. Guilford Press. ISBN 1-57230-241-0.
  3. ↑ Bradley, S. J.; Blanchard, R.; Coates, S.; Green, R.; Levine, S. B.; Meyer-Bahlburg, H. F.; Pauly, I. B.; Zucker, K. J. (1991). "Interim report of the DSM-IV Subcommittee on Gender Identity Disorders". Archives of sexual behavior 20 (4): 333–343. doi:10.1007/BF01542614. PMID 1953325.
  4. ↑ Web of Science, accessed March 18, 2010
  5. ↑ Blanchard, R.; Bogaert, A. F. (1996). "Homosexuality in men and number of older brothers". The American journal of psychiatry 153 (1): 27–31. PMID 8540587.
  6. ↑ Blanchard, R.; Bogaert, A. F. (1996). "Biodemographic comparisons of homosexual and heterosexual men in the Kinsey Interview Data". Archives of sexual behavior 25 (6): 551–579. doi:10.1007/BF02437839. PMID 8931880.
  7. ↑ Blanchard, R.; Zucker, K. J.; Siegelman, M.; Dickey, R.; Klassen, P. (1998). "The relation of birth order to sexual orientation in men and women". Journal of biosocial science 30 (4): 511–519. doi:10.1017/S0021932098005112. PMID 9818557.
  8. ↑ Bogaert, A. F. (2006). "Biological versus nonbiological older brothers and men's sexual orientation". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 103 (28): 10771–10774. doi:10.1073/pnas.0511152103. PMC 1502306. PMID 16807297.
  9. ↑ Cantor, J. M.; Blanchard, R.; Paterson, A. D.; Bogaert, A. F. (2002). "How many gay men owe their sexual orientation to fraternal birth order?". Archives of sexual behavior 31 (1): 63–71. doi:10.1023/A:1014031201935. PMID 11910793.
  10. ↑ Blanchard, R.; Klassen, P. (1997). "H-Y Antigen and Homosexuality in Men". Journal of Theoretical Biology 185 (3): 373–378. doi:10.1006/jtbi.1996.0315. PMID 9156085.
  11. ↑ Blanchard, R. (1989). "The classification and labeling of nonhomosexual gender dysphorias". Archives of Sexual Behavior 18 (4): 315–334. doi:10.1007/BF01541951. PMID 2673136.
  12. ↑ Dreger, A. D. (2008). "The Controversy Surrounding the Man Who Would Be Queen: A Case History of the Politics of Science, Identity, and Sex in the Internet Age". Archives of Sexual Behavior 37 (3): 366–421. doi:10.1007/s10508-007-9301-1. PMC 3170124. PMID 18431641.
  13. ↑ Serano, J (2009). Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity. Seal Press. pp. 131. ISBN 0786747919.
  14. ↑ Gijs, L.; Carroll, R. A. (2011). "Should Transvestic Fetishism Be Classified inDSM 5? Recommendations from the WPATH Consensus Process for Revision of the Diagnosis of Transvestic Fetishism". International Journal of Transgenderism 12 (4): 189. doi:10.1080/15532739.2010.550766.
  15. ↑ Knudson, G.; De Cuypere, G.; Bockting, W. (2011). "Second Response of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health to the Proposed Revision of the Diagnosis of Transvestic Disorder forDSM5". International Journal of Transgenderism 13: 9. doi:10.1080/15532739.2011.606195.
  16. ↑ Blanchard, R (2000). "Part II: The case for publicly funded transsexual surgery" (PDF). Psychiatry Rounds 4 (2): 4–6.
  17. ↑ Blanchard, R., Barbaree, H. E., Bogaert, A. F., Dickey, R., Klassen, P., Kuban, M. E., et al. (2000). Fraternal birth order and sexual orientation in pedophiles. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 29, 463–478.
  18. ↑ Rau, K (2008-07-07). "Trans activists infuriated by doctors in charge of gender identity definitions". Xtra!. Retrieved 2012-02-10.
  19. ↑ "Task Force questions critical appointments to APA’s Committee on Sexual and Gender Identity Disorders". National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. 2008-05-28. Retrieved 2012-02-10.
  20. ↑ Blanchard, R.; Lykins, A. D.; Wherrett, D.; Kuban, M. E.; Cantor, J. M.; Blak, T.; Dickey, R.; Klassen, P. E. (2009). "Pedophilia, Hebephilia, and the DSM-V" (PDF). Archives of Sexual Behavior 38 (3): 335–350. doi:10.1007/s10508-008-9399-9. PMID 18686026.
  21. ↑ Green, R. (2010). "Sexual preference for 14-year-olds as a mental disorder: you can't be serious!! (letter to the editor)" (PDF). Archives of Sexual Behavior 39 (3): 585–586. doi:10.1007/s10508-010-9602-7. PMID 20204488.
  22. ↑ Frieden, J (2009-12-01). "DSM-V Work on Paraphilias Begins in Earnest" (PDF). Clinical Psychiatry News. Retrieved 2013-08-28.
  23. ↑ Franklin, K. (2010). "Hebephilia: Quintessence of diagnostic pretextuality" (PDF). Behavioral Sciences & the Law 28 (6): 751–768. doi:10.1002/bsl.934. PMID 21110392.
  24. ↑ Moser, C. (2009). "When is an Unusual Sexual Interest a Mental Disorder? (letter to the editor)" (PDF). Archives of Sexual Behavior 38 (3): 323–325. doi:10.1007/s10508-008-9436-8. PMID 18946730.
  25. ↑ O’Donohue, W. (2010). "A Critique of the Proposed DSM-V Diagnosis of Pedophilia (letter to the editor)" (PDF). Archives of Sexual Behavior 39 (3): 587–590. doi:10.1007/s10508-010-9604-5. PMID 20204487.
  26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 Blanchard, R. (2009). "The DSM Diagnostic Criteria for Pedophilia" (PDF). Archives of Sexual Behavior 39 (2): 304–316. doi:10.1007/s10508-009-9536-0. PMID 19757012.
  27. ↑ "U 03 Pedophilic Disorder - Rationale". American Psychiatric Association. Retrieved 2012-02-10.
  28. ↑ Blanchard, R. (2013). "A dissenting opinion on DSM-5 pedophilic disorder". Archives of Sexual Behavior 42 (5): 675-678.
  29. ↑ Green, R. (2002). "Is pedophilia a mental disorder?". Archives of Sexual Behavior 31 (6): 467–471; discussion 471–510. PMID 12462476.
  30. ↑ O'Donohue, W.; Regev, L. G.; Hagstrom, A. (2000). "Problems with the DSM-IV diagnosis of pedophilia". Sexual abuse : a journal of research and treatment 12 (2): 95–105. doi:10.1023/A:1009586023326. PMID 10872239.
  31. ↑ Dreger, A (2010-02-19). "Of Kinks, Crimes, and Kinds: The Paraphilias Proposal for the DSM-5". Hastings Center. Retrieved 2012-02-10.

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