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Summary: Whoa! A riveting true story!
Review: I just finished this book last night and it really moved me. The subject, a male twin who loses his penis due to a messy circumcision, is sexually re-assigned and is raised as a girl. At age 14 or so, he learns the truth about himself and decides to become male again. While some of the more technical information in the story bored me a bit, I was riveted by the biographical chapters in the book. The author researched the history of sex reassignment and trans-gender studies in the US and Canada and explained and also told David's story wonderfully. There are also a few photographs included in this book that I could not help turning back to.
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Summary: Well worth the read!
Review: I have just finished reading this and I found the book enthralling. I learned so much. It's rather sad but also shows you can overcome hugh obstacles. It's also sad that there are more people who are affected by this gender manipulation even today. Take some time out and read this book!
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Summary: Dr. Mengele Revisited
Review: This startling book troubled me every bit as much as "In Cold Blood" and "The Executioners Song". And there were no murders! It also brought to mind the inhumane Nazi experiments with twins by Dr. Josef Mengele that were conducted with no fear of reprisal. It reminded me of the reprehensible treatment of the Dione quintuplets by the Canadian government. But in the end, it thoroughly educated me about a largely avoided and uncomfortable subject, and gave me a great inspirational example of the resilience of the human spirit. "As Nature Made Him" is extremely well written, researched, and objective. It weaves a shocking but true tale about a powerful villain (Dr. John Money) and four innocent victims (the Reimer family) that has taken place over the past 35 years. It begins by detailing the totally opposite backgrounds of the main characters and a highly improbable confluence of events that can only happen in real life. If this story were fictional, it would lose the readers interest because it is so unbelievable! As the plot develops, many intriguing questions are raised that author Colapinto systematically answers. He walks a very fine line in avoiding accusations of fraud, abuse, malpractice, pedophilia, and collusion toward the tight-knit medical establishment that enabled the arrogant Dr. Money to inflict such horrible pain and suffering, intentional or otherwise, on all the Reimers. He uses medical records, documentation and personal interviews very effectively to allow the story to unfold. In fairness, he also reveals the life shaping events that gave the brilliant academic Money his bizarre perspective. The reader is left to draw personal conclusions (and you may sense mine). As both a parent and grandparent, I had to put the book down for a few minutes after reading the vivid description of the bungled circumcision. It actually made me sick at my stomach, and heartsick for the baby, at the same time. After starting back though, I could not put the book down. There is a very real hero that emerges in the book, and that is David Reimer. If any youth was ever pushed enough to use firearms, it was David/Brenda! Instead, he becomes the embodiment of the teachings of Christ. I highly recommend this book to everyone of every persuasion. If nothing else, after you read it your personal problems will not seem so overwhelming any more.
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Summary: As nature made him
Review: This book is about a boy who was born an identical twin and after a botched circumsition looses his penis. John Colapinto puts this story together extremely well telling how after the accident the parents were convinced by doctors to reassign his gender and raise him as a girl. The book tells of Dr. Money the person behind this reassignment and his extreme views and practices. This book is a must to read and is very useful for those interested in the Nature Vs. Nurture debate.
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Summary: As Nature Made Him
Review: As Nature Made Him, by John Colapinto is well written, easily read book. To me, David's story is ultimately a tale of personal triumph over circumstances beyond his control. His lack of bitterness towards those who had such a profound impact on his life is a tribute to him. Colapinto's writing style in portraying David, his family, and the people around him lends a great deal of power to an already powerful story. While this book gives explicit detail and explanations abouts David's life, it also raises questions within the reader, one of which is why was the gender reassignment of David deemed a neccesity? As Nature Made Him is a book that makes you think - always a good indication that it is worth the time to read it.
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Summary: Fighting the Odds...
Review: John Colaptinto's book 'As Nature Made Him' was a shockingly detailed approach to the nature versus nurture debate. Having previously not read much on topics such as the one explored in this book, I was enthralled, shocked, angered and satisfied with all elements this story portrayed. David Reimer began life as a boy. But due to extremely unfortunate circumstances, the little boy was raised as a girl until the age of 14 and battled inner conflict about his inforced femininity throughout his childhood. 'As Nature Made Him' brilliantly portrays David's struggles and conflicts through his early years of life. This book, despite its disturbing content, ends triumphantly and prooves that being male or female is a biological trait and no amount of scientific or social construction can change that. A really interesting and insiteful journey into the life of a very brave person. Fantastic.
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Summary: Fiction couldn't create a better hero
Review: This book was as suspenseful as any fabricated mystery. The hero and villain were true to form. And Dr. Money is an evil villain, not because of his theoretical mistakes,which some reviewers have defended, but his inabilty to publicly recognize that the twins case was not a success. And, his willingness manipulate a human life to serve his own vanity. David's ability to maintain his sense of self, to overcome the farce of his first 14 years without bitterness for his parents or his brother is not only inspiring, but unusual in this age of victimization. His ability to love his wife and their children make him a hero who has overcome more than the routine obstacles of growing up. His ability to approach, then walk away from the physician who botched his original surgery, a sign of maturity and courage. I only wished he had confronted Dr. Money as well, and not walked away. True, the book's end focuses more on the whole gender identity and intersex quandary, rather than the very human elements that made it difficult to put down. But the 5 stars are earned, due not only to its readabilty, but for being a book that educates as well as captures the emotions.
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Summary: Nature or Nurture?
Review: When I started reading John Calopinto's "As Nature Made Him", I had undertaken only preliminary research into the "nature versus nurture" debate. I had not yet formed any opinions on such a matter, and as David Reimer's story was one set for a University reading, I viewed it, along with most other set texts, as somewhat of a chore. But as I passed the first introductory pages I found myself consumed by Brenda/David's story and the amazing courage displayed by a man who, against all odds, survived the immense suffering associated with a botched circumcision in childhood and the impending sex change. My other university studies were put on hold as I found myself unable to detach myself from the book, and when the time came to put it down, I could find little else to distract myself from the thoughts that whirred around my head. I wondered how it was that David could forgive his parents so easily for making a decision that would have such a negative effect on all of their lives. I wondered how John Money could ever have been granted a licence to work so closely with children, when his very experiments involved in helping them left scars too deep to fathom. This book was powerful and thought provoking and poses many questions. It has certainly answered any questions I may have had concerning nature and environment. This is a book that every person should read - but be sure to clear a few hours in your schedule, because once you begin the journey, there is no getting out until the end!
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Summary: Gender Identity and the unresolved conflict of it all...
Review: 'As Nature Made Him' is the story of David Reimer who's botched circumcision as a baby results in him living the first 14 years of his life as a girl. It is a sad tale in which a young child is forced to live a life of misery and confusion as he/she fights to understand why he didn't feel female. It isn't until his early teenage years that he finds out that he was born a male. This story also examines the conflicting opinions that influence the gender debate. On one hand is the idea of John Money, who believes that gender can assigned at birth and on the other is the conflicting ideas of Milton Diamond who challenged this idea. Throughout the book, John Money's ideas are challenged as we find that he was wrong about David Reimer's sex reassignment. The best line in this piece is "the most important sex organ is not the genitals; its the brain". This line succinctly places the whole argument of the book; that gender cannot be assigned at birth and that rather, what is built into your brain is how your 'gender' will be portrayed. The only criticism of this piece is that it is very 'black and white'. It sticks primarily to the traditional concepts of "men" and "women" (or 'boys' and 'girls'). This, however, does not detract from the overall text and still makes it an excellent read. The immense sadness of David Reimer's life is a timely reminder that the nature vs nurture debate is highly unresolved and relies heavily on concepts such as 'sex' and 'gender' which are not fully understood. It also reminds the reader that tragedy can result in the naive trust of science. I thoroughly recommend reading this book for any who are interested in the gender debate, but also for any who are interested in those who overcome life's great challenges.
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Summary: A Question of Gender
Review: As Nature Made Him is a well written and readable book. It details the life of David Reimer who was raised as a girl after a botched circumcision destroyed his penis. As "Brenda", David endured a sense of isolation and "wrongness" despite the attempts of his family and medical professions to assist his gender reassignment. The doctor responsible for this reassignment, Dr John Money, is firmly cast as the villain in this piece. The author describes a series of consultations in which Brenda is bullied, subjected to explicit sexual material, and made to simulate sexual acts. Brenda is further subjected to taunting at school, as well as witnessing the impact her reassignment has on her family. There is no denying the suffering that this child experienced. And yet, this book is not necessarily without its biases. It is written without any historical discussion of the "sexual liberation" debates of the time, and argues exclusively for nature as the sole arbiter of gender. One wonders if the same sympathetic arguments would have been used if David had been born with ambiguous genitalia, or if this was the story of a person without physical deformity wishing to change gender. Without wishing to deny David's personal experiences and strength in overcoming his own particular tragedy, I believe this book actually works to strengthen male/female binaries, rather than challenge societal concepts of gender.
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