Kenneth Zucker

Kenneth J. Zucker (; born 1950) is an American-Canadian psychologist and sexologist known for the living in your own skin model, a form of conversion therapy targeted towards pre-pubertal children with the goal of making their gender identity reflect their assigned gender at birth and preventing them from growing up transgender.

He was psychologist-in-chief at Toronto's Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) and head of its Gender Identity Service until December 2015. Citing a review by two adolescent psychiatrists stating that CAMH was out of step with current practices for transgender youth, CAMH fired Zucker and closed the clinic in 2015.

Zucker collaborated with Susan Bradley, collecting clinical and research data over a period of twenty years and became an international authority on gender dysphoria in children (GDC) and adolescents. Zucker's views and therapeutic approach have attracted criticism from several advocates and mental health professionals.

Life Zucker was born in 1950 to Jewish parents and grew up in Skokie, Illinois. Zucker received his B.A. from Southern Illinois University, his M.A. from Roosevelt University, and his Ph.D. from University of Toronto in 1982. He holds a certification from College of Psychologists of Ontario.

Zucker became interested in gender identity after reading Richard Green's 1974 book Sexual Identity Conflict in Children and Adults.

Zucker collaborated with Susan Bradley, collecting clinical and research data over a period of twenty years and became an authority on gender dysphoria in children (GDC) and adolescents.

As editor of Archives of Sexual Behavior, Zucker published a controversial study on conversion therapy by Robert Spitzer. According to The New York Times, after his presentation of the study caused controversy, Spitzer asked Zucker to publish it. Zucker agreed to publish the study in the Archives of Sexual Behavior, on the condition that commentaries on the study were also published. The study was published this way as an alternative to going through the normal academic peer review process. Robert Spitzer later recanted the study's conclusions. Clinicians such as Richard Green prominently attempted to socially engineer young children assigned male at birth into stereotypically masculine behaviors and away from stereotypically feminine ones with the intent of preventing homosexuality. Zucker adapted Green's methods with the goal of preventing transsexuality.

The approach became best known through the work of Susan Bradley, Zucker, and their colleagues at CAMH in Toronto, where it became known as the "living in your own skin" approach. Zucker has stated that children with gender dysphoria should be treated to eliminate peer ostracism, treating underlying psychopathology, and preventing the child from becoming transgender. Zucker saw preventing children from becoming trans adults as justifiable in part due to the perceived difficulties posed by gender transition. Zucker has argued the belief that socialization played a major role in transition, citing lower number of female-to-male transitions at the time. Zucker has stated he has tried to encourage children to accept their birth sex and supports them in transitioning if they still experience gender dysphoria into adolescence.

In 2003, Zucker and Susan Bradley wrote "In none of our publications have we ever endorsed prevention of homosexuality as a therapeutic goal in the treatment of children with GID, although we note that this might have been a goal of some therapists and also of some parents". In 2006, Zucker stated the prevention of homosexuality and transsexualism were a rationale for treatment for "gender identity disorder of childhood" but stated the former was "problematic". In 2018, Diane Kuhl and Wayne Martino reviewed Zucker and Bradley's 1995 work, Gender Identity Disorder and Psychosexual Problems in Children and Adolescents, and stated that the work endorses the treatment of boys deemed "pre-homosexual" as "both therapeutic and ethical." Kuhl and Martino cite a case history published in this 1995 work as evidence that Zucker and Bradley engaged in conversion therapy practices aimed at preventing homosexuality, and that they referred clinicians to the approaches of Masters and Johnson, and Joseph Nicolosi. According to Pomara et al., Zucker has stated it "has not been shown that any form of treatment for GID during childhood affects later sexual orientation and from an ethical standpoint… the clinician has an obligation to inform parents about the state of the empiric database".

If parents consented to treatment, Zucker's interventions involved encouraging the same-sex parent to be more active in the child's life and the other parent to step back, introducing same-sex playmates to replace other ones, removing "cross-gender" toys and activities to replace them with more "gender-appropriate" ones, and involving both parents and the child in pyschotherapy.

According to the bioethicist and transgender activist Florence Ashley, a 2015 external review of Zucker's clinic found that the clinic considered being cisgender and heterosexual to be the preferred treatment outcome. The external review recommended that the clinic's methodology should be changed to be more in line with current clinical practices, and recommended a patient-centered, affirmative approach. In May 2008, a petition calling for the removal of Zucker and Ray Blanchard in the working group was circulated and gained over 9,500 signatures. The National LGBTQ Task Force then issued a statement questioning the APA's decision to appoint Zucker and Ray Blanchard to the working group, stating that, "Kenneth Zucker and Ray Blanchard are clearly out of step with the occurring shift in how doctors and other health professionals think about transgender people and gender variance." Between 2008 and 2009, multiple additional commentaries were published questioning his appointment. Protestors picketed the panel arguing that WPATH was grounded in cisnormativity and trans-exclusion.

In February 2015, CAMH ordered an external review of its gender identity clinic for children and teens. A report from March 2015 stated that the review was the result of growing online scrutiny of CAMH for alleged conversion therapy practices. The same report stated that the clinic would not be accepting new patients until the review was finished.

External review The external review was conducted by psychiatrists Suzanne Zinck and Antonio Pignatiello who completed a literature review, reviewed written statements and medical records of former patients, and interviewed staff, community stakeholders, current and former clients and their families. McKenzie said that Zucker's treatments were against the centre's guidelines. Prior to the review, stated "that's not what we're supposed to be doing" in response to Zuckers comment in the National Post that the goal of his therapy was to prevent children growing up transgender.

Conservative media figures argued that the closure of the clinic and Zucker's firing were evidence that "trans militants" were censoring scientists. A petition signed by over 500 people, including many known for their anti-trans views and activism, opposing Zucker's firing and arguing it was politically motivated.

When the settlement was announced, CAMH stated that it "stands by its decision to close the child and youth gender identity clinic following an external review which concluded the clinic was not meeting the needs of gender-expansive and trans children and their families", adding that "We believe our modernized approach to delivering services to youth better supports diverse patients through best practice and timely care." He has published several books, including: Gender Identity Disorder and Psychosexual Problems in Children and Adolescents (1995) Attachment and Psychopathology (1997) Ex-Gay Research: Analyzing the Spitzer Study And Its Relation to Science, Religion, Politics, and Culture (2006)