J. Michael Bailey is Professor of Psychology at Northwestern University. His research has primarily focused on the origins and expression of sexual orientation and gender identity. During the 1990s his research on sexual orientation were attacked by the Right. These attacks culminated in 2003, when his research on sex differences in sexual arousal patterns was made a poster child for government waste. Coincidentally, in 2003 he published his book The Man Who Would Be Queen: The Science of Gender-Bending and Transsexuality, which caused an entirely different controversy, and invoked attacks from the Left.

Besides conventional sexual orientation, Bailey’s research has focused on topics including bisexuality, autogynephilia, gender dysphoria, pedophilia, and furries. He insists that he doesn’t choose controversial topics to engender controversy. Rather, he believes that controversial areas such as these are precisely where open inquiry is most necessary and valuable.