The anti-feminist psychiatrist

Today's psychology culture says to hell with objectivity, particularly when boy shaming is on the agenda. The Labor government is currently throwing money at school programs attacking boys for toxic masculinity and this type of research is just what they need to justify this dangerous social engineering.

The Monash University sociologists got the ball rolling but sure enough, our psychologists then jumped on board this nasty anti-male propaganda. Our professional psychology body, The Australian Psychology Society (APS), is now shamelessly promoting a new professional development course on "Mainstreaming the manosphere's misogyny: Exploring how teen boys navigate the Andrew Tate effect".

This course is based on yet another "study" promoting paranoia about Tate, this time from media experts at the University College London who sat around chatting with a bunch of 13-14 schoolboys getting their views on Tate's videos. The resulting ideological hogwash is being promoted as "evidence-based" professional education by the APS and sold to their members.

As some of you may know, I originally trained as a clinical psychologist. I am immensely irritated by this shining example of the decline of my former profession. I've put together a draft letter - see here - for you to send to APS board members about this dangerous nonsense, making the point that in no way is this program "evidence-based" as they claim, but also that the anti-male sentiments included in the course will encourage psychologists working in schools or developing educational policy to view normal male behaviour as potentially damaging and sinister, encouraging division between boys and girls.

Yes, I know most of the APS leadership team will ignore our concerns, but we have to start calling these things out. If our letters prompt even one APS director to ask questions about the course that's a step forward. The ideological corruption of our institutions rarely makes it onto the public agenda. It's our job to give people courage to confront what's going on.

But back to the inspiring Hannah Spier. We had an interesting chat for my YouTube video about many other examples of how psychology has gone off the rails. Here's the video - sorry it is rather rough and ready. We had major production problems this week. But it is worth listening to this brave woman.

Hannah mentions the role of the American Psychological Association (APA) which is the leading voice in mental health and the gatekeeper for psychology licenses. The APA controls continuing education, ensuring its ideological positions shape the field, not just in the U.S because European universities openly adhere to APA standards.

As Hannah explains the APA has always been a political actor, weighing in on issues far beyond psychology, from criminal justice to immigration:

To maintain control, it ignores or downplays research that contradicts its preferred narratives. Why isn't this ideological conformity challenged? Likely because a 2012 study found that only 6% of the 800 psychologists surveyed identified as conservative, ensuring a left-wing monopoly over what gets researched, how findings are framed, and what is promoted as psychological "truth."

Two clear examples: the APA's promotion of concepts such as "implicit bias/conscious bias" and "microaggressions", concepts with no scientific validity, yet so deeply embedded in training that they function as societal gaslighting, making people second-guess every interaction. The debunked Implicit Bias Assessment remains APA-endorsed, with the organization falsely claiming 80–90% of white people show implicit bias while pushing vague, untested "treatments" with no proven effectiveness.

In Australia the APS has a similar role, endlessly promoting ideologically biased theories and concepts. I talked with Hannah about the numerous battles I have had with the APS over the years, over their promotion of ideological positions on a range of issues, including the work of psychologist Jennifer McIntosh whose research on overnight care of infants and toddlers has been used to deny fathers overnight care of infants and toddlers in family courts across the world. Even after the McIntosh research was thoroughly debunked by a group of 110 child development experts, the APS continued to promote her work for many years.