Kenneth J. Zucker

Dr. Kenneth J Zucker is a psychologist specializing in gender identity disorder. He is Psychologist-in-Chief and Head of the Gender Identity Service in the Child, Youth, and Family Program at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto. He is a Professor with the Departments of Psychiatry and Psychology at the University of Toronto. He was named to the American Psychological Association’s Task Force on Gender Identity, Gender Variance, and Intersex Conditions. He was featured in a NPR story about children with gender identity disorder in 2008.

Controversy

Zucker's approach to treatment of gender identity disorder is to apply sanctions to cause the patient to conform to societal expectations for his or her biological gender. This approach, though traditional, is controversial and widely disliked in the queer community. This has led to protests over his inclusion on the American Psychological Association's Task Force on Gender Identity, Gender Variance, and Intersex Conditions, which body may recommend changes to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders and to the treatment of transgender people.

Publications

• Gender identity disorder and psychosexual problems in children and adolescents, 1996, Guilford Press, ISBN 9780898622669, with Susan J Bradley
• Ex-gay research : analyzing the Spitzer study and its relation to science, religion, politics, and culture, 2006, Harrington Park Press, ISBN 9781560235576, coedited with Jack Drescher