Several Problems Press

Pyrophore: Archives of Sexual Behavior

index

Basics

  • Established: March 19711

Detail

The Archives of Sexual Behavior is a scholarly journal. It is the official publication of the International Academy of Sex Research (IASR),2 and is published by Springer Nature.

The Archives is indexed on Pyrophore due to: its long-term association with anti-trans conversion therapy; the persistent presence of prominent anti-trans pseudoscience promoters among its leadership; and its function as a superficially scientific — albeit at times effectively non-peer-reviewed — platform for anti-LGBTQ+ disinformation.

Timeline

1971, March. Archives‘ first issue is published.3

2003, October. Archives publishes an article, “Can some gay men and lesbians change their sexual orientation? 200 participants reporting a change from homosexual to heterosexual orientation,” by Robert L. Spitzer (2003). The paper purports to show that “change in sexual orientation following some form of reparative therapy does occur in some gay men and lesbians”.4

Kenneth Zucker, Archives‘ editor-in-chief, allows the article to be published without “go[ing] through peer review”.5

2008, June. Archives publishes Vol 37, Issue 3. The issue is framed6 around a “target article” by Alice Dreger (2008). As Andrea James (2025) notes, while a few token dissenting contributions are published, the article is functionally an excuse to run an issue attacking critics of transphobic sexologist J Michael Bailey and his factually flawed and transmisogynistic book The Man Who Would Be Queen: The Science of Gender-Bending and Transsexualism.

2012, May. Kenneth Zucker is asked by Robert Spitzer to print a retraction of Spitzer (2003), on the basis that Spitzer no longer has confidence in the methodology. Zucker declines.7

2023, May 29. The Archives publishes an article, “Rapid onset gender dysphoria: Parent reports on 1655 possible cases,” by Suzanna Diaz & J Michael Bailey (“Retracted article: Rapid onset gender dysphoria,” 2023).

2023, June 14. Springer Nature, nominally with Zucker’s consent, retracts Diaz & Bailey (2023), having to override the authors (who disagree) to do so. It gives its rationale for the retraction as follows:

… noncompliance with our editorial policies around consent. The participants of the survey have not provided written informed consent to participate in scholarly research or to have their responses published ina peer reviewed article. Additionally, they have not provided consent to publish to have their data included in this article.8

2024, May 14. The Archives publishes an article, “Intersex pretenders,” by Peggy Cadet (2024).

The article purports to be a review of “publicly accessible media” for “false claims of having an intersex condition”. It is, in practice, a hit piece alleging that trans people, and particularly trans women, often falsely claim to have intersex conditions. Notably, it goes out of its way to uncover irrelevant data about its (non-consenting) trans woman probands’ private lives in order to shame them for the sexual fetishes it ascribes them.

2027, January 1. Effective this date, Michael C Seto will be editor-in-chief of the Archives.9

Footnotes

  1. SpringerNature (“[…] Volumes and issues,” n.d.). ↩︎
  2. SpringerNature (“[…] Overview,” n.d.). ↩︎
  3. SpringerNature (“Volumes and issues,” op cit). ↩︎
  4. Spitzer (2003); Moran (2012). ↩︎
  5. Carey (2012); Spitzer (2012). ↩︎
  6. Zucker (“Introduction to Dreger,” 2008). ↩︎
  7. Marcus (2012). ↩︎
  8. Diaz & Bailey (“Retraction note,” 2023). ↩︎
  9. Seto (2025). ↩︎

References

Arana, G. (2012, April 11). My so-called ex-gay life. The American Prospect. Retrieved 14 March 2026.

Cadet, P. (2024, May 14). Intersex pretenders. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 53, 1667–1679. doi: 10.1007/s10508-024-02854-0. Retrieved 14 March 2026.

Carey, B. (2012, May 18). Psychiatry giant sorry for backing gay ‘cure’. The New York Times (The New York Times Company); Wayback Machine (Internet Archive). Retrieved 14 March 2026.

Diaz, S., & Bailey, J.M. (2023, March 29). Retracted article: Rapid onset gender dysphoria: Parent reports on 1655 possible cases. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 52, 1031–1043. doi: 10.1007/s10508-023-02576-9. Retrieved 14 March 2026.

Diaz, S., & Bailey, J.M. (2023, June 14). Retraction note: Rapid onset gender dysphoria: Parent reports on 1655 possible cases. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 52, 3577. doi: 10.1007/s10508-023-02635-1. Retrieved 14 March 2026.

Dreger, A.D. (2008, April 23). 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, 366–421. doi: 10.1007/s10508-007-9301-1. Retrieved 14 March 2026.

James, A. (2025, November 25). Archives of Sexual Behavior vs. transgender people. Transgender Map (Deep Stealth Productions). Retrieved 14 March 2026.

Marcus, A. (2012, April 12). Controversial homosexuality “reparative therapy” paper staying put despite author’s regrets. Retraction Watch. Retrieved 14 March 2026.

Moran, M. (2012, June 15). Spitzer issues apology for study supporting reparative therapy. Psychiatric News, 47(12). doi: 10.1176/pn.47.12.psychnews_47_12_1-b. Retrieved 14 March 2026.

Seto, M.C. (2025, August 26). A vision for Archives of Sexual Behavior. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 54, 2387–2388. doi: 10.1007/s10508-025-03257-5. Retrieved 14 March 2026.

Spitzer, R.L. (2012, May 21). Spitzer’s apology changes ex-gay debate [Interview]. National Public Radio. Retrieved 14 March 2026.

Spitzer, R.L. (2003, October). Can some gay men and lesbians change their sexual orientation? 200 participants reporting a change from homosexual to heterosexual orientation. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 32, 403–417. doi: 10.1032/A:1025647527010. Retrieved 14 March 2026.

Springer Nature Group (n.d.). Archives of Sexual Behavior: Overview. SpringerLink (Springer Nature Group). Retrieved 14 March 2026.

Springer Nature Group (n.d.). Archives of Sexual Behavior: Volumes and issues. SpringerLink (Springer Nature Group). Retrieved 14 March 2026.

Zucker, K.J. (2008, April 23). Introduction to Dreger (2008) and peer commentaries. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 37, 365. doi: 10.1007/s10508-007-9300-2. Retrieved 14 March 2026.

Metadata

  • Version: 1 (14 March 2026).
  • Created: 14 March 2026.