Dreger has taught at both
Michigan State University, where she received a Teacher-Scholar Award in 2000, and at
Northwestern University (2005–2015). In
The Man Who Would Be Queen (2003), J. Michael Bailey defended a theory of transsexualism by
Ray Blanchard that characterized male-to-female transsexuals in two groups; this characterization provoked outrage among some. In 2008, Dreger published an article in
Archives of Sexual Behavior, describing in detail the opposition to Bailey and his work. A major concern for her was the ways in which attacks targeted him as a person and a scholar, rather than addressing his ideas. Dreger asserted that a theory, even if found threatening or offensive, should be judged by its supporting evidence. She also argued against reduction of the controversy to a simple dualism, seeing the ideas and actions of all those involved as "significantly more complicated". As result of the paper, Dreger herself was perceived as attacking trans people and drawn into an ongoing controversy. In 2009, Dreger received a
Guggenheim fellowship to study conflicts between activists and scientists. She has examined a number of conflicts, including the controversial career of
Napoleon Chagnon. Dreger accepts that scientists, being human, have biases and ideologies. But, she argues, they must "put the truth first and the quest for social justice second" and try to "adhere to an intellectual agenda that [isn't] first and only political". ==''Galileo's Middle Finger''==