Richard Green (6 June 1936 – 6 April 2019) was an American-born British sexologist,

psychiatrist A psychiatrist is a physician who specializes in psychiatry. Psychiatrists are physicians who evaluate patients to determine whether their symptoms are the result of a physical illness, a combination of physical and mental ailments or strictly ...

, lawyer, and author known for his research on

homosexuality Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or Human sexual activity, sexual behavior between people of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexu ...

and

transsexualism A transsexual person is someone who experiences a gender identity that is inconsistent with their assigned sex, and desires to permanently transition to the sex or gender with which they identify, usually seeking medical assistance (incl ...

, specifically gender identity disorder in children. He is known for his

behaviorism Behaviorism is a systematic approach to understand the behavior of humans and other animals. It assumes that behavior is either a reflex elicited by the pairing of certain antecedent stimuli in the environment, or a consequence of that indivi ...

experiment in which he attempted to prevent male homosexuality and transsexuality by extinguishing feminine behavior in young boys. He later came to favor biological explanations for male homosexuality. Green was the founding editor of the ''

Archives of Sexual Behavior The ''Archives of Sexual Behavior'' is a bimonthly peer-reviewed medical journal in sexology. It is the official publication of the International Academy of Sex Research. History The journal was established in 1971 by Richard Green, who served a ...

'' (1971) and served as Editor until 2001. He was also the founding president of the International Academy of Sex Research (1975), which made the ''Archives'' its official publication. He served on the

American Psychiatric Association The American Psychiatric Association (APA) is the main professional organization of psychiatrists and trainee psychiatrists in the United States, and the largest psychiatric organization in the world. It has more than 39,200 members who are in ...

DSM-IV The ''Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders'' (''DSM''; latest edition: ''DSM-5-TR'', published in March 2022) is a publication by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) for the classification of mental disorders using a com ...

Subcommittee on Gender Identity Disorders.

Early life and education

Green was born on 6 June 1936, in

Crown Heights, Brooklyn Crown Heights is a neighborhood in the central portion of the New York City borough (New York City), borough of Brooklyn. Crown Heights is bounded by Washington Avenue to the west, Atlantic Avenue (New York City), Atlantic Avenue to the north, ...

, New York, to parents Rose (

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Ingber) a teacher, and Leo Green, accountant.Peacock S, Editor (1997). ''Contemporary Authors''. Vol. 159, p. 157. Gale, . He earned a

BA degree A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree ...

from

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York, United States. It was established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church but has been nonsectarian since 1920 ...

in 1957, a MD from

Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (JHUSOM) is the medical school of Johns Hopkins University, a Private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Established in 1893 following the construction of the Johns Ho ...

in 1961, and his J.D. from

Yale Law School Yale Law School (YLS) is the law school of Yale University, a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was established in 1824. The 2020–21 acceptance rate was 4%, the lowest of any law school in the United ...

in 1987.

Career

Gender role and sexual orientation research

During his medical studies at Johns Hopkins, Green met

John Money John William Money (8 July 1921 – 7 July 2006) was a New Zealand American psychologist, sexologist and professor at Johns Hopkins University known for his research on human sexual behavior and gender. Money advanced the use of more accur ...

, who was an assistant professor there, and started collaborating with him on research, initially on boys displaying substantial cross-gender behavior. In 1960, they published the paper "Incongruous Gender Role: Nongenital Manifestations in Prepubertal Boys," detailing their observations of 5 male children who "showed incongruities in gender role", ranging from preferring to play with girls to praying God would change them into a girl. Citing that adult gay men and transgender women recollect gender incongruity in childhood, they later concluded early intervention is best in cases of gender incongruity and that "part of the successful rearing of a child is orienting him, from birth to his biologically and culturally acceptable gender role. This, as far as we know, is best achieved by providing a relationship between husband and wife exemplifying these respective roles." In 1961, they published a paper titled "Effeminacy in Prepubertal Boys", which looked at eleven young boys who were referred for their "excessive and persistent attempts to dress in the clothes of the opposite gender, constant display of gestures and mannerisms of the opposite sex, preference for play and other activities of the opposite sex, or a stated desire to be a member of the opposite sex". They recommended that parents "Look for insidious and irrational ways in which parents may be unwittingly encouraging girlishness and penalizing their son for developing boyishly. ..Both

arents Arents is a Dutch and German patronymic surname ("son of Arent"). In 1968, Green published "Childhood Cross-Gender Identification", a paper reviewing the therapy of nine young male children who were younger than 8 and "clearly prepubertal". The first six were from the collaborative papers between Green and Money, the last 3 were from

Robert Stoller Robert Jesse Stoller (December 15, 1924 – September 6, 1991) was an American professor of psychiatry at UCLA Medical School and a researcher at the UCLA Gender Identity Clinic. He has been criticized for research into finding the cause of tran ...

. Citing the failure of attempts to "cure" adult trans women, he reported early diagnosis and treatment may be effective in preventing manifestations of adulthood cross-gender identification. The stated goals of family therapy are "for the husband and wife to gain some perspective on the second-class citizen of the husband and of the significance of their unbalanced roles in shaping their son's personality. Additional focus is on the masculinity-inhibiting of mother's anxiety over her son's healthy aggression and her greater comfort with what to her is his less threatening behavior." In Money's obituary, Green acknowledges Money and

, as well as his father, Leo H. Green, for having set the course for his life and career. In the mid-1960s, Money introduced Green to Harry Benjamin, whom Green acknowledges as having "further honed" his career. In 1969 Green and Money co-edited "Transsexualism and Sex Reassignment", published by Johns Hopkins Press. In 1972, Green coauthored a paper with Lawrence Newman and Stoller titled "Treatment of Boyhood ''Transsexualism'': An Interim Report of Four Years' Experience," which held reports and comments from their psychiatric experiences. Believing family disturbance to be the cause of gender incongruity, they stated "General principles of therapy are aimed at accomplishing four objectives: (1) Development of a relationship of trust and affection between the male therapist and the boy. (2) Heightening parental concern about the problem so that parents begin to disapprove of feminine interests and no longer covertly encourage them. (3) Promotion of the father's, or a father-substitute's involvement in the boy's life. (4) Sensitization of the parents to the interpersonal difficulties which underlay the tendency of the mother to be overly close with the son and for the father to emotionally divorce himself from family activities." Newman treated a family and tried to inspire aggressiveness in the child, insisting to the mother it was a success that the child struck their sister and mother. In addition, behaviors like dressing femininely were actively disapproved of. In another case treated by Newman he stated he established a warm and friendly relationship to explain feminine behavior was "not right" for a little boy and that he should give it up. In this case, he explains the parents were worried their child "was destined to be a homosexual and felt helpless to do anything about it," but responded quickly when they learned they could do a great deal for the child. In another case treated by Newman, he explained to the patient they'd have to stop feminine behavior now before it's too late, and in a few weeks, the child announced they wanted to "become normal like the other boys," motivated by strong religious commitment. While the patient attempted to develop in a masculine way, Newman continually challenged the "pessimism about becoming masculine and his secret belief that he was destined to live as a feminine person" (216). In a case treated by Green, he made an effort to establish paternal control of the family to shift the child's perception of gender roles. Their final comments included "Some boys reveal their feminine identifications through physical gestures. By the time they are seen in consultation much of this display is unconscious or automatic. In order to bring it under volitional control, the child must be sensitized to when he is walking, sitting, or using his hands "like a girl." Parents should be instructed to consistently point out to the boy when such behavior occurs. In his contact with the boy, the therapist does the same. The boy may also need actual instruction in modifying these gestures" (217). They countered the point they were ascribing an inherently higher value to masculine over feminine behavior by saying it would be easier to modify the behavior of a child rather than the attitude of society towards them. Green was the founding editor of ''

'' in 1971, serving as editor for 30 years. In 1974 Green and the board of the new journal established the International Academy of Sex Research, with Green as the founding president; the ''Archives'' became the official publication of the academy.Green R (1985). The International Academy of Sex Research: In the beginning. ''

'' 14: 293–302. The new organization had a more selective membership than Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality (SSSS), which published the leading US sexology journal of the time, '' The Journal of Sex Research''. The IASR membership has a more medical and biological emphasis and only accepts applications from published researchers. The IASR also has a more international approach, alternatively meeting in the US and other countries every year. Eventually, the ''Archives'' became a premier journal in its field. Green retired as Editor of ''Archives of Sexual Behavior'' in 2001 and Editorship was continued by Kenneth Zucker.Green R (2001). A 30 years' thank you. ''

'' 30: 633–637. In 1979 Green was a founding committee member of the

Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association The World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH), formerly the Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association (HBIGDA), is a professional organization devoted to the understanding and treatment of gender identity and ...

and served as president from 1997 to 1999. He previously directed the

human sexuality Human sexuality is the way people experience and express themselves sexually. This involves biological, psychological, physical, erotic, emotional, social, or spiritual feelings and behaviors. Because it is a broad term, which has varied ...

program at the

State University of New York at Stony Brook Stony Brook University (SBU), officially the State University of New York at Stony Brook, is a public university, public research university in Stony Brook, New York, United States, on Long Island. Along with the University at Buffalo, it is on ...

.Brody, Jane E. (26 January 1982)
Psychiatrists on homosexuality: Vigorous discord voiced at meeting
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' He was at various times Professor of Psychiatry at the University of California, Los Angeles, Professor of Psychiatry at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, and Professor of Psychological Medicine, Imperial College, London. He was on the faculty of Law at UCLA and Cambridge. He was made a Fellow of the

Royal College of Psychiatrists The Royal College of Psychiatrists is the main professional organisation of psychiatrists in the United Kingdom, and is responsible for representing psychiatrists, for psychiatric research and for providing public information about mental healt ...

in 1994. Green served as President of HBIGDA, now known as World Professional Association for Transgender Health, from 1997 to 1999. Clinical vignettes from Green's work on

gender identity disorder Gender dysphoria (GD) is the distress a person experiences due to inconsistency between their gender identitytheir personal sense of their own genderand their sex assignment, sex assigned at birth. The term replaced the previous diagnostic lab ...

appear in widely used textbooks, such as ''Kaplan and Sadock's Synopsis of Psychiatry'' (10th ed.) The term "gender identity disorder" itself introduced in

DSM-III The ''Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders'' (''DSM''; latest edition: ''DSM-5-TR'', published in March 2022) is a publication by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) for the classification of mental disorders using a c ...

was taken from Green's 1974 work. Sexual Identity Conflict in Children and Adults. New York, Basic Books.He served on the

Subcommittee on Gender Identity Disorders. Bradley SJ, Blanchard R, Coates SW, Green R, Levine SB, Meyer-Bahlburg HFL, Pauly IB, Zucker KJ (1991). Interim report of the DSM-IV Subcommittee on Gender Identity Disorders. ''

'' Volume 20, Number 4 / August 1991 In 2006 he was awarded the Magnus Hirschfeld Medal for Sexual Research. Green was research director and consultant psychiatrist at the Gender Identity Clinic at Charing Cross Hospital in London and Senior Research Fellow, the Institute of Criminology, Cambridge, and a Member of Darwin College, Cambridge.

Law practice

Green was co-counsel for Elke Sommer in her

libel Defamation is a communication that injures a third party's reputation and causes a legally redressable injury. The precise legal definition of defamation varies from country to country. It is not necessarily restricted to making assertions ...

suit against

Zsa Zsa Gabor Zsa Zsa Gabor ( , ; born Sári Gábor ; February 6, 1917 – December 18, 2016) was a Hungarian Americans, Hungarian-American socialite and actress. Her sisters were socialites and actresses Eva Gabor and Magda Gabor. Gabor competed in the ...

.Pool, Bob (9 December 1993). $3.3-Million Libel Award in Sommer-Gabor Feud. ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' He was co-counsel with the

ACLU The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is an American nonprofit civil rights organization founded in 1920. ACLU affiliates are active in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. The budget of the ACLU in 2024 was $383 million. ...

in a case challenging the Boy Scouts for refusing membership to a young gay man in California—'' Curran v. Mount Diablo Council of the Boy Scouts of America''.

Personal life and death

Starting in 1986, his partner was Melissa Hines, a researcher and professor of psychology at the Faculty of Politics, Psychology, Sociology and International Studies,

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

. They married, and divorced in 2014. He had one son from his first marriage. At the time of death his partner was Claire Loveday. Green died on 6 April 2019, aged 82, at his home in London from

esophageal cancer Esophageal cancer (American English) or oesophageal cancer (British English) is cancer arising from the esophagus—the food pipe that runs between the throat and the stomach. Symptoms often include dysphagia, difficulty in swallowing and weigh ...

Views and controversies

During the APA's heated debate in the early 1970s about the declassification of homosexuality as a mental illness, Green argued forcefully in favor of declassification. He argued that the grounds for deciding the issue should be the "historical and cross-cultural groundings in homosexual expression, associated psychiatric features accompanying a homosexual orientation, the emotional consequences to the homosexual of societal condemnation, and behaviors of other species". Green applauded the eventual APA decision while strongly criticizing the fact that the administration put it to a vote, saying that such "a shotgun marriage between science and democracy" was "ludicrous". In his work, on gender identity in children, Green used common English expressions like " sissy boy" and "

tomboy A tomboy is a girl or young woman who generally expresses masculine traits. Such traits may include wearing androgynous or unfeminine clothing and engaging in activities and behaviors traditionally associated with boys or men. Origins The w ...

" in the titles of some of his publications. His choice of terminology was criticized as offensive. In 2002, he initiated a debate in a special issue of the ''

'' regarding the extent to which

pedophilia Pedophilia ( alternatively spelled paedophilia) is a psychiatric disorder in which an adult or older adolescent experiences a primary or exclusive sexual attraction to prepubescent children. Although girls typically begin the process of pube ...

should be classified as a

mental disorder A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness, a mental health condition, or a psychiatric disability, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. A mental disorder is ...

by the

, without impinging on the legal and law enforcement aspects. It concluded that sexual arousal to children is subjectively reported "in a substantial minority of "normal" people", and reviewed the level of social acceptance of this historically, but stated that such observations may not entail cultural or legal acceptance today.Green, R. (2002)
Is pedophilia a mental disorder?
''

'', 31, 2002. The paper also raised specific concerns about the DSM-IV definition, some of which were later acknowledged by

Ray Blanchard Ray Milton Blanchard III ( ; born October 9, 1945) is an American-Canadian sexologist who researches pedophilia, sexual orientation and Transgender, gender identity. He has found that men with more older brothers are more likely to be gay than m ...

in his literature review for the

DSM-5 The ''Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition'' (DSM-5), is the 2013 update to the '' Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders'', the taxonomic and diagnostic tool published by the American Psychiat ...

workgroup, which proposed a more general nomenclature distinction between

paraphilia A paraphilia is an experience of recurring or intense sexual arousal to atypical objects, places, situations, fantasies, behaviors, or individuals. It has also been defined as a sexual interest in anything other than a legally consenting human ...

s and paraphilic disorders; this proposal is part of the DSM-5 draft. In 2010, however, Green criticized in stronger terms Blanchard's proposal to introduce

hebephilia Hebephilia is the strong, persistent sexual interest by adults in pubescent children who are in early adolescence, typically ages 11–14 and showing Tanner stages 2 to 3 of physical development. It differs from pedophilia (the primary or exclusi ...

as a

in the DSM-5 (as a subtype the proposed pedohebophilic disorder). Pointing to the legal age of sexual consent in several countries of Europe, this would declare 19-year-olds engaged sexually with 14-year-olds as having a mental disorder. In terms of research on

biology and sexual orientation The relationship between biology and sexual orientation is a subject of ongoing research. While scientists do not know the exact cause of sexual orientation, they theorize that it is caused by a complex interplay of Genetics, genetic, hormonal, a ...

, Green was optimistic about progress and told a reporter "I suspect that at least in your lifetime we will find a gene that contributes substantially to sexual orientation."Chandler Bur
Homosexuality and Biology
''

The Atlantic Monthly ''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher based in Washington, D.C. It features articles on politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science. It was founded in 1857 ...

''. June 2007. He received the 2006 Magnus Hirschfeld Medal.

Publications

* * *Green R, Money J (1969). ''Transsexualism and Sex Reassignment''. The Johns Hopkins Press (1 November 1969) . *Green R (1974). ''Sexual Identity Conflict in Children and Adults''. Basic Books (1974). . *Green R (1979). ''Human Sexuality: A Health Practitioner's Text''. Williams & Wilkins; 2nd edition (June 1979) . *Green R (1987). ''The "Sissy Boy Syndrome" and the Development of Homosexuality''. Yale Univ Pr (February 1987) . *West DJ, Green R (eds.) (1997). ''Sociolegal Control of Homosexuality: A Multi-Nation Comparison''. Springer; 1 edition (31 October 1997) . *Green R (1992). ''Sexual Science and the Law''. Harvard University Press (November 1992). .

References

External links

Richard Green
at Imperial College website
Should Marriage Between Homosexuals Be Permitted?
Debate on Same-sex Marriage, ''The Advocates'', 1974.
list of publications
from

Springer Science+Business Media Springer Science+Business Media, commonly known as Springer, is a German multinational publishing company of books, e-books and peer-reviewed journals in science, humanities, technical and medical (STM) publishing. Originally founded in 1842 in ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Green, Richard Psychiatry writers on LGBTQ topics 20th-century American Jews American sexologists American psychiatrists 2019 deaths 1936 births Lawyers from New York City Physicians from New York City Writers from Brooklyn Transgender studies academics Fellows of the Royal College of Psychiatrists Syracuse University alumni Johns Hopkins University alumni Yale Law School alumni David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA faculty Stony Brook University faculty Academics of Imperial College London People from Crown Heights, Brooklyn 20th-century American lawyers 21st-century American Jews People involved in scientific misconduct incidents