Stephen B. Levine

Stephen Barrett Levine (born 1942) is an American psychiatrist known for his work in human sexuality, particularly sexual dysfunction and transsexualism.

Education and career

Levine earned his M.D. from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in 1967 and serves as a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry there. His clinical practice began in the mid-1970s as the University Hospitals of Cleveland Sexual Dysfunction Clinic. In 1993 the Clinic separated from University Hospitals, and is presently called The Center for Marital and Sexual Health in Beachwood, Ohio.

His early work focused on premature ejaculation and erectile dysfunction, and he has written on a number of treatment options, including vacuum pumps, injections into the corpus cavernosum of the penis, and Viagra. The most potent aphrodisiacs, according to Levine, are psychological intimacy and voyeurism: "looking at pictures or movies of people engaged in genital or romantic interplay."

Levine has written on sex offenders, including professionals who offend. He cites Kurt Freund as an important influence because Freund wanted to define the subtypes of child molesters to help devise a means of prevention. Levine has written about adultery and infidelity and believes pejorative terms like "cheating" and "infidelity" prevent addressing the issue in realistic terms.

He was section co-editor with R. Taylor Segraves for the section on sexual and gender identity disorders in Treatments of Psychiatric Disorders by Glen Gabbard. Notable contributors included Martin Kafka (paraphilias) and Kenneth Zucker (gender identity disorder in children and adolescents).

Although much of his work is written for other clinicians, Levine has written books for a lay audience, including Solving Common Sexual Problems (1997) and Sexuality in Mid-Life (2004).

He is noted for his work in clinical management of gender identity disorder. Levine was Chair of the fifth edition of the Harry Benjamin International Gender Dysphoria Association Standards of Care in 1998. Levine also served on the American Psychiatric Association DSM-IV Subcommittee on Gender Identity Disorders.

Work on transsexualism

Levine has expressed skepticism towards gender transitioning for children, adolescents, and young adults. Levine also criticized a study by psychiatrist Jack Turban finding that gender dysphoria in children was not caused by social contagion, saying that the study only covers two years and uses survey data instead of clinic referral data. Furthermore, Levine alleged Turban had conflicts of interest and accused him of being "an advocate rather than a scientist."

Levine has testified in many court cases relating to transgender rights, both in the United States and abroad. Levine has strongly advocated against allowing social transition for transgender youth, describing it as setting them on a 'conveyor belt' to medical transition. He has also advocated against access to gender affirming medical care, most notably testifying in the case Bell v Tavistock, and has likened it to the medical experimentation performed by Nazi Germany during the Holocaust. He has additionally testified in favor of overturning Washington state's ban on conversion therapy.

A 2021 article in Wired Magazine described Levine's role in the American prison system, frequently being brought in to testify against allowing trans prisoners access to medical or social transition, and being used by many prisons in a clinical context to deny said measures to individual prisoners.

Selected publications