Dr Jessica Taylor New Book

[Seiheiki]

Hi,

Is anyone else going to the Birmingham book launch of Sexy But Psycho on Sunday night?

Also if you dig there are some really concerns about her research/use or references.

@Thelnebriati

OK. I'm not sure OP is getting the thread she expected.

Very definitely not! I posted to see if anyone wanted to meet for a drink before the doors open.

[quote HollowedOut]@sloeslowgin none of her tales are unbelievable, none of them are particularly “out there” or suggest she’s invented them out of thin air. But if you have followed her for a while you will see something eventful happens every time she leaves the house. After a while it seems a bit sus.[/quote]
Does it? Isn’t it like Instagram perfect lives? You post the nice moments? I bet she doesn’t post about every time she leaves the house, so it would be easy to give the impression every trip out is eventful.

@SurreyPCC

I'm going, looking forward to meeting many fabulous women

Drop me a dm if you fancy a drink first?

seiheiki. Well here's another set. B+ doesn't even exist in GCSES and she isn't claiming the A here. It's petty I know, but why the lies?

*I've not read the book yet, but from what I've gathered from social media, isn't she attacking psychiatry itself? Saying that the whole method of diagnosis is suspect, that many of conditions are historical and cultural. It's misogynist as we live in a misogynist society.

So it wouldn't matter if indiviudaul psychiatrists in general are "alive to issues of sex, class and power" if they're working withing a diagnostic framework that was misognynist? *

I just don't believe she has the background or experience to do that critique in an informed manner. Most of what I see her say about psychiatry and psychiatrists is semi-true at best and I don't get the sense she's familiar with current clinical guidelines or practice. It's like she watched One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest and decided it was a documentary.

@timeisnotaline no, of course but something happens to her or her wife on a nearly weekly basis. Some dramatic confrontation, obvious misogyny, racism or homophobia which she always has some witty last word in. I’m a brown woman, my best friend is a lesbian and we live in pretty much the whitest part of the country. I have experienced racism like she described possibly twice in my life. She’s white, lives in a far more diverse area yet is defending people like myself from racists on a regular basis. It’s all very social media exaggeration bullshit which you can get away with if you’re trying to be a TikTok/ Instagram famous personality. To do that while simultaneously constantly posting about how no one takes you seriously as an academic is pretty short sighted.

She's a charlatan. It's a shame because she had the potential to do some good stuff.

sloe you seem very invested, and more than willing to "research" JT's history. Are you connected to her in some way?

Sloe seems invested?

I wonder sloe - as a fan - could you maybe shed some light on the truth regarding (I'd always assumed this was a dodgy rumour, but this seems a good time to ask) whether Jess did indeed meet her wife when she was one of her students?

@IngenueGinny

sloe you seem very invested, and more than willing to "research" JT's history. Are you connected to her in some way?

Fuck me, the Nancy Drew club are out tonight!

Being curious enough to spend about 30 seconds putting words in to search and then coming back here, is "invested"? Seriously?

(And no, I'm not connected to Jessica Taylor other than I follow her on social media. Not that closely though, as I'd not heard the gun or pearl thing before this thread).

@BeyondPurpleTulips

I wonder sloe - as a fan - could you maybe shed some light on the truth regarding (I'd always assumed this was a dodgy rumour, but this seems a good time to ask) whether Jess did indeed meet her wife when she was one of her students?

I have absolutely no idea. Tell you what, how about I teach you my research method and you can find out yourself.

1. put the words into search.
2. read what it says

Hmm, seems the answer is "possibly", but it wasn't easy to find even that much. They met at uni, while JS was studying for her undergrad and JE/T was finishing her phd. There is a little bit of an age gap, but it isn't clear if they knew each other in a teacher/student role at all.

Jaimi Shrive (BA Political Science and International Relations, 2020) and Jessica Taylor (PhD Psychology, 2019)
Jaimi (on the right) says: ‘Jessica and I met through feminist and political campaigns. We both lived in the same area and happened to be studying at the University of Birmingham at the same time. The most memorable part that the University campus played in our relationship was when she graduated with her PhD. I was unbelievably proud, and the ceremony was lovely. It also meant I knew the best places to take pictures! My own graduation was supposed to be held a few months after hers but it was postponed due to COVID-19. We got married this year!’

I genuinely don't understand why confusion over school results (from different sources/journalists who could have made the error) would cause anyone to discredit someone's entire professional output.

I like Jess. That doesn't mean I agree with everything she says. But some critics of her, are deliberately misunderstanding what she is doing. She's using broad brush strokes and trying to start debates/conversations about women, sexism, classism, trauma and academia.

There is lots of research (across different medical disciplines) to support that women are treated differently in the healthcare system and that trauma/unhappiness are pathologised and often medicated.
That doesn't mean there isn't a place for medication. It means we can't and shouldn't ignore the patterns around women, diagnosis and treatment.

And I'm suspicious of 'women' who see a young, woman trying to carve a niche and make a difference and their response is to trawl through articles looking for inconsistencies. I was trying to think of the last time I read a thread about a young man working on VAWG where his school results and holiday stories were deemed worthy of critique and also as some sort of barometer of the value of his work. And the answer is 'never'. Firstly, because there aren't many high profile young men working in this area. Secondly, because no-one cares about high school results when you're over 20.

Are there any decent reviews of the book yet?

If there's flaws in the premise or evidence base to what she's been claiming, I'd like to think there's a decent review that can break down what she's claiming.

She's posting a lot about what seems to be the premise of her book, no doubt long in the making, and I think sticking rigid to the arguments she's likely made in her book can read as an inflexible position in response to anyone querying the merit of what she's been saying. Which is I think the problem with her self promotion when it comes to the book - she's obviously wanting to promote it but in doing so, she's not engaging (that I've seen) with anything critical of her arguments cos doing so will either give away what the book is saying (so who wants to buy it if we know the extent of her arguments) or could expose flaws in either the arguments she's made or the evidence base she's used to form her arguments.

It smacks a bit of the Naomi Wolf book palaver & the other recent one on the claimed trans peer who turned out to likely be someone with a DSD. If the work that's gone into the book stands up, is supported by the evidence she's used & her arguments have some merit, I'd like to think the book has had robust editorial scrutiny to make sure that's the case. It's maybe unfortunate that the self promotion angle is leading to arguments on her claims that aren't being engaged with, leaving that doubt about her background research or experience etc.

It would be helpful if anyone comes across decent reviews so we can see what's being said about the book.

@AnnesBrokenSlate I’m a brown woman from a working class background who was in academia until I had my dc. I know how much more difficult it is for women like myself and JT and all the extra barriers we face. That doesn’t mean I have to ignore shoddy methodology or pretend that I think constantly telling exaggerated anecdotes on social media is a good way to be taken seriously as a researcher/ author.

I haven’t read her book but I’m assuming that it’s expanding on many of the topics she’s touched upon on Twitter. Some of which are really interesting and need more publicity - women’s medical issues being dismissed as mental health problems (although Invisible Women covered this pretty thoroughly) and many mental health issues having doctors prescribe medication rather than treating any trauma. But there are other things that she’s claimed which are downright dangerous to speculate on when she is not a specialist in that area - intermittent use of SSRI’s for PMDD which she’s suggesting is prescribed needlessly and off label when it’s been approved for this use for decades or claiming that the lack of diagnostic criteria for autism leads to over diagnosis when it’s been shown time and again that girls are under diagnosed.

@HollowedOut you're critiquing her work not trying to diminish it on the basis of her school results and a holiday anecdote.

I do think you're falling into the trap of equating everything she posts as being her professional rather than personal opinion and I think that is another area where younger, working class women are held to a higher standard than men. Professional and academic men seem to be able to post lots on social media without everyone assuming their every utterance should be peer reviewed or viewed as a professional announcement.

I appreciate not everyone will like or acknowledge what Jess is trying to do. As I said, I don't agree with everything she says or all her methods. But I am beyond bored of every woman in the public eye being subjected to relentless undermining and attacks. Mediocre white men are not held to the same standards. There shouldn't be constant purity tests for women. All it does is silence diverse voices and deter others from speaking up and out. imo diversity includes opinions, class, levels of experience and polish. If it doesn't we're just turning into our own jailers and gatekeepers.
As Madeleine Albright said, 'There seems to be enough room in the world for mediocre men, but not for mediocre women.'
I don't think Jess is mediocre but even if she was, that doesn't mean she doesn't deserve a space or platform.

What Anne says.

Plus this is interesting research about class in the civil service, about how working class men are able to trade on their working class-ness but there's no equivalent for women, who tend to keep their backgrounds hidden onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/gwao.12776

Whatever you think of her, Jessica Taylor is getting the issues out there much more than if she had some sort of junior psychologist's role in an organisation, bogged down by day to day issues and just dealing with one woman at a time rather than the whole system.

Ok so I don't want to assassinate her character and I've been aware of her since she was studying for her PhD. I'm more highly qualified than her in exactly the area she pontificates about and I'm more experienced too. I was always a little alarmed surprised by how she claimed expertise even when she was a student. I was impressed at her self publicity skills and considering she didn't have a professional qualification, thought she was hustling to make some coin and seemed harmless on the face of things. I do question the depth of her experience with other people with MH and trauma difficulties to be honest. I don't find her comments to be very considered or balanced and sometimes are inflammatory.
By their nature PhDs are very narrow in their field and in her case I wonder if a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing and she has been emboldened and assumed herself an expert badge. The more knowledgeable professionals that I respect are much more academically, clinically and intellectually accomplished but these kind of traits don't tend to harvest the clicks as effectively.

I do think you're falling into the trap of equating everything she posts as being her professional rather than personal opinion and I think that is another area where younger, working class women are held to a higher standard than men

Absolutely agree about women being held to a higher standard than men and how frustrating that is but I really take issue with this being a problem of someone posting their personal opinion.

Jess owns a business - by expressing these controversial opinions and gaining a big following she is potentially making her a lot of money. Didn't JK Rowling help her get a publishing deal? One of her training courses for individuals is £2600 and she does a lot of corporate training too which she must charge a lot for (incidentally she was hiring research assistants last year, they needed to have about 2 years of experience I think and I'm sure the successful applicants will have shelled out for master's degrees and she was only paying about £10 an hour) . This is likely all very very lucrative for Jess. I have actually spent months thinking how fantastic Victim Focus looks - this isn't a black and white issue. I'v been cheering her on admiring her energy and her efforts to bring about change. And my god, she has such drive getting all these books written and her podcast and her tweets - she is a force of nature. It's so frustrating that things have gone in the direction they have.

But she is potentially putting people at risk. I really don't care about the gun or the pearl story - I believe her personal story about her background. I care about the fact that she regularly posts things and medical professionals (clinicians!) try to tell her she's outright wrong and she's pretty aggressive to them in response. That's so incredibly arrogant. She's always so absolutely sure she's right and that's dangerous with the work she does. She regularly tells her 90k followers that all psychiatry is bullshit and it hands medications out like sweets despite there being no evidence in support of those medications. That is not true and there are likely vulnerable women coming off their meds having read her tweets. Some of them will be put at risk by that and they don't have easy access to medical advice. It's not ethical. It could have serious consequences for some. If she toned it down and was more balanced, her work wouldn't be ringing such loud alarm bells for me because it's really important to talk about trauma and the role of medication and misogyny in psychiatry etc.

I am not going to buy the book but some of its content particularly interests me - she posted recently (a very clickbait statement) about how did her followers know women had been euthanised because of past abuse (I'm sorry, I can't find the tweet so I don't know how she phrased it exactly. She seems to have also covered it in a podcast here podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/series-4-ep-7-sexy-but-psycho-part-2/id1522789930?i=1000553085743 which I just don't have the time to listen to) - I would love to know what cases she presents in support of that. I suspect it's Noa Pothoven, who the press wrongly claimed was euthanised, but maybe someone can correct me if you own a copy. It was an absolutely tragic story but it didn't involve euthanasia.

I think Jess knows about this thread and I think she's going down the route that she's being criticised because she is daring to challenge the system and she's a loud, confident woman. I think that's utter bullshit - I welcome the system being challenged, I have a history of trauma. I've seen some terrible and a few brilliant psychiatrists. The terrible ones were awful and I have every reason to be angry with them. I also love strong gobby women. I don't like vulnerable women being put at risk though by someone who is essentially giving medical advice they're unqualified to give. If lots and lots of qualified professionals are taking issue with what you are posting, have some humility and engage with that. It's straying into narcissism to double down and mock all your critics whilst being absolutely sure you're right.

I’ve followed her on Twitter for a while and periodically unfollow because I feel she makes some good points but sometimes posts about things I know about in a way that suggests she doesn’t have a deep knowledge and that worries me.

She has really misunderstood both the pharmacokinetics/dynamics of propranolol and it’s use in anxiety recently and that concerns me.

It’s a shame as I think she says many interesting things but I start to question her depth of knowledge across the board when I see some of her posts on medical issues (which is my area).

I really just want to hear from people who think carefully and critically with a background of reasonable knowledge and it’s a shame how few of those people there are.

Thank you all for your thoughts. Its been good reading. For better or worse, she is standing up for abused women. And (dont write this off..) she is a scorpio, and with that we get intensity, fearlessness, strength, and the bringing forth of underworld/hidden issues with more respect for those issues than how the challenge is received.