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Summary: This kind of thing needs to be brought out in the open.
Review: John Money's asinine theories were taken seriously by thousands of doctors, ruining boys and girls whose sexual organs didn't match some arbitrary standard.Money dismissed the fact that little Bruce/Brenda was not an infant; although most circumcisions are done at birth or soon after, Bruce was almost two years old. That's a huge amount of time for a child in terms of brain formation and socialization. In that time, he had been completely recognized as male. People react completely differently to children who are identified as female and those identified as male. Several British and American studies dressed an infant in pink, told participants it was a girl, then dressed the same baby in blue and told participants it was a boy. Participants played much differently with the "boy" than with the "girl", and the language they used to describe the baby was radically different. Identical actions are viewed as aggressive in males, nurturing in females. Yet Money believed in cutoff dates; he thought that "as long as you do it before age two" the kid was a blank slate upon which he could work alchemical magic. One wonders about his own personal fantasies. Money's theories along with John Grey's are partially responsible for today's idiotic "brain sex" notions that are so convenient for post-liberation backlash -- keeping females from pursuing science and mathematics, and boys from the arts and literature, maintaining a tidy little June Cleaver universe. This state of affairs cannot last, nor can the mutilation of intersexed children or those whose genitals are just a bit too small or too large. But it's too late for David Reimer. On May 4, 2004, he committed suicide. He's the one we know about.
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Summary: Excellent. Why isn't Dr. John Money in jail
Review: As if the accident that mutilated Bruce Reimer when he was an infant wasn't enough. In my opinion Dr. John Money is a self important, sick pedophil and should be locked away. I was so happy to read that David Reimer was able to etch out a normal life for himself. But what price he had to pay to do it. What an incredible spirit.
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Summary: ITS NATURE NOT NURTURE...
Review: This is a wonderfully written book and a fascinating look into the debate of nature versus nurture in the area of gender assignment. Intelligent and insightful, the author draws a compassionate portrait of a family who, faced with a decision in the wake of a tragedy, relies upon the advice of a well-respected doctor, which reliance turned out to be misplaced. The book details the aftermath of the family's fateful decision and the impact it was to have on them all. In August 1965, Canadians Janet and Ron Reimer gave birth to identical twin boys, whom they named Brian and Bruce. When they were about eight months old, they arranged to have them circumcised due to a medical condition that caused them pain during urination. Circumcision was to remedy the problem. Little did they know that the circumcision for Bruce would be botched, resulting in the loss of his penis. A plastic surgeon with whom the Reimers had consulted in connection with the catastrophe that had struck Bruce had spoken to a sex researcher who had recommended that they raise Bruce as a girl. Doctors at the Mayo Clinic had suggested that they ought to get a second opinion with regards to that suggestion. The parents then consulted with a doctor affiliated with John Hopkins Hospital, Dr. John Money, a renowned doctor in the area of gender transformation, who had been the driving force behind the then controversial surgical gender re-assignment procedure for which the hospital was becoming known. In 1967, the distraught parents met with Dr. Money and shortly after, Bruce became Brenda and clinical castration followed. Thus, their child, who genetically and anatomically had been born a boy, was for all extent and purposes now deemed to be a girl. Brian was now on the other side of the gender divide of his identical twin brother, the twin formerly known as Bruce. Moreover, Dr. Money now had a dream scientific experiment, because he had a set of twins for which the unafflicted twin could act as a control by which to measure the afflicted one. In 1972, Dr. Money disclosed his "twins case" to the medical world, giving a slanted version of the experiment that made it appear to be an unqualified success. Unfortunately, his analysis of the situation did not disclose the difficulties that Brenda was having and her seeming inability to adjust to being a girl. Apparently, though Brenda had no idea as she was growing up that she had originally been born a boy, she never felt that she was a girl. Years of follow-up visits with Dr. Money for both twins proved to be unsettling for them, as Dr. Money employed somewhat bizarre methods and procedures. Moreover, as Brenda grew older, she would resist additional surgeries and initially resisted the hormone therapy that was introduced on the eve of puberty. Even when confronted with a totally rebellious Brenda, Dr. Money, however, remained in denial about the failure of his experiment. He would continue to tout his treatment of Brenda as an unqualified success. It was not until March of 1980 that Brenda was finally informed by her father about what had happened to her years ago and what had been decided in light of the circumstances. It was a revelation that was to dramatically change Brenda's life. What followed was a repudiation of Dr. Money's assertions with respect to his treatment. The book details the changes that Brenda was to make in her life, changes that would find her living the life she was originally meant to lead. Brenda would now become David and live the life of a male. This is a simply wonderful, intimate look at a family that survived a hideous tragedy. It also sympathetically and sensitively details the personal journey of one family through the labyrinthine differences in opinion surrounding the age old debate over nature versus nature. I would certainly assert that nature, and not nurture, controls. This is a very well thought out book on the issue, grounded in the experience of one family. Bravo!
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Summary: Concrete example of nature vs nurture
Review: Science and religion are often pitted against each other as polar opposites. Science is all that is objective and open to change and revolution; religion is all that is dogmatic and closed to change and resisting revolution. While this book has nothing directly to do with the science/religion issue, it nonetheless highlights facts that often sworn enemies are kissing cousins. The medical establishment's refusal to reevaluate the standards for dealing with infants born with ambiguous genitals despite overwhelming evidence that such a second-look is necessary can only be compared to the dogmatic instance of the church that Galileo was wrong, that evolution is a lie, that the Earth is the center of the universe. It shows that far from being objective, scientists can be just as ideologically hard-headed as the most fanatical religious believer. However, that spotlight on medical dogmatism is, in some ways, a minor concern in this book, with the center of it being an incredibly tragic human story. In some ways, it's a triumphal story, as David is now living a productive, happy life. The tragedy returns, though, when one considers the fact that children with ambiguous genitals are still being treated in the same manner that virtually destroyed David and his family. Also interesting is the question, raised later in the book, of the way manhood is equated with a "normal," fully developed penis. As the Bruce/Brenda/David story shows, it takes much more than that to be a "man." Anyone interested in a concrete example of the nature/nurture question need look no further.
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Summary: A valuable account
Review: In 1967, after a boy suffered a surgical failure during a circumcision, his family agreed to sexual reassignment on the advice of a famous expert in gender identity, Dr John Monney. The boy was surgically altered to live as a girl. For 25 years, John/Joan was described as a medical triumph, setting a precedent and a proof that our sense of being male or female is primarily a matter of environment and education than it is a matter of genetics. The case was however a failure because of the psychological costs which are only today coming to light. Currently living as an adult male with a family of his own, John (a pseudonym) reveals the horrid details of his childhood. Journalist John Colapinto's remarkable work and research produced a riveting story of science, courage and survival.
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Summary: Amazing story
Review: This book tells the story of David Reimer, who was born a boy, but raised as a girl after a botched circumcision. The book explains much more than Reimer's story- -it explains the scientific controversy over the plasticity of sexual identity that had arisen just before Reimer's accident, and how Reimer's psychological development was central to the controversy. Colapinto begins David's story with some background on his parents, how they met, married, and had their first children, identical twin boys named Bruce and Brian. He details the events that led to Bruce's catastrophic accident at the age of 8 months, and then how his parents were led to the decision to raise him as a girl named Brenda. Extensive interviews with all of the family members enabled Colapinto to present vivid images of Brenda's difficulties in adapting to life as a girl. Brenda was under the care of John Money, a psychologist who, in Colapinto's account, almost single handedly persuaded the world that children developed their sexual identity based on their genitalia and societal practices. The lone dissenter at the time was Milton Diamond, whose research studied the effects of prenatal exposure to sex hormones and later development of sexual behaviors- -in guinea pigs. Unfortunately for Brenda, Money turned out to be a abusive psychologist and dubious scientist, at best. Brenda endured enforced girlhood against all instincts for 14 years, until she finally discovered her birth gender and was allowed to return to it, this time with the name of David. Colapinto does a masterful job at presenting the scientific aspects of the story. He explains Money's background, and how he opened the first transgender clinic in the US, and how well his hypothesis of gender plasticity was aligned with the behaviorist establishment in psychology. He describes how it was Diamond who posed the problem for Money of finding a normally developed infant to undergo an experimental sex change, and how vital it was for Money, his theories and reputation, for the experiment to be a success. Colapinto details how Money used the Reimers' story in his books and research as evidence supporting his theory, while the real facts went in exactly the opposite direction. Most significantly, Colapinto explains how David Reimer's case became an essential precedent for treatment of intersexuals, infants who are born with ambiguous genitalia or genitalia that are not in agreement with their chromosomal gender. Because Money claimed that Reimer was doing marvelously after his infant sex change, many other infants around the world were subjected to similar treatment, and were to suffer as Reimer did. Money's claim that sexual identity and gender-related behaviors were driven primarily by societal mores was also heard by feminists, who demanded changes in child rearing practices to make them more unisex and less gender-biased. In light of Reimer's experience and Diamond's work, it might be good to rethink some of these ideas now. While it is wonderful to encourage all children, not just boys, to play with construction toys, and all children, not just girls, to play with dolls, it might be a good idea to draw the line at specifically discouraging boys from being rowdy, or trying to draw girls away from their social games. Instead of actively encouraging unisex behavior and agonizing over the appearance of gender-related behavior, it might be better to just observe who each child is by nature, and supply activities and toys accordingly.
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Summary: Horrible Nightmare for Any Child
Review: When I finished this book, I was absolutely stunned that this poor man had to suffer through his entire childhood and into his adult life. What kind of doctor would recommend to the parents to raise this little boy as a girl? The mental torture that John went through is unfathomable. Thank God John finally received the proper counseling and was strong enough to see this through. I cannot imagine in the modern world that this type of lunacy goes on.
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Summary: I remember...
Review: ...being told about the John-into-Joan case in Sociology 101, with the conclusion that gender is socially constructed. This was only five years ago! I'm glad "John/Joan" decided to speak out for himself, rather than have this myth about himself continue to be taught as fact. What struck me about this book, aside from David's remarkable story, was Colapinto's sympathetic treatment of his parents. They were only trying to do the right thing for their child, but it turned out wrong thanks in part to a scientist who tried to fit a real child's life into his theoretical mold. Read it as a marvelous story of someone who reclaimed his life and his self.
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Summary: Testosterone in a dress - fantastic book
Review: As Nature Made Him is an important book with an excellent main plot and several subplots. It is full of facts and also a great story. I recommend it without qualification. The title reveals the main thrust of the book. Gender identity is influenced by testosterone, and much of this influence takes place before a person is born. In this case, a normal boy, having been exposed to normal amounts of testosterone, had a botched surgery that mutilated his penis. With the advice of a flawed advisor, the parents agreed to remove the boy's testicles and raise him as a girl. Because, the boy's brain had already been masculinized by testosterone in the womb and in the first months of life, he never felt like a girl. Later in life he struggles to regain his masculinity. That's a great story and would make the book worth the effort, but it is only part of 'As Nature Made Him'. Enter Dr. Money, a flamboyant and articulate scientist pursuing 'the gender is a social construction' mantra for his own reasons (rooted in his own sexuality). Money pushes the parents down the wrong path, makes grandiose, false claims, and pounds the table that this 'experiment' proves that girls are made, not born. When the facts prove Dr. Money wrong, he refuses to discuss them. That's a second great story, but there is still a third. Meet Dr. Money's rival, Dr Diamond. Diamond is the anti-thesis of Money -- quiet, methodical, shy, scientific, and ultimately correct. Over more than a decade, Diamond challenges the false images created by Money and helps repair the lives of the victims. In the end, truth wins. ...
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Summary: An engaging and informative story of sex reassignment
Review: "As Nature Made Him" is the biography of David Reimer, born Bruce Reimer. As an infant, his penis was destroyed in a circumcision accident, and his parents - young, scared, and desperate - took the advice of doctors and reassigned him as a girl. "Brenda" was never happy as a female, however, and when he learned of his birth sex at age fourteen, he elected to undergo a second reassignment to recover his true gender. The book succeeds on several levels. It tells Reimer's sad but inspiring story. It educates the reader about the phenomena of intersex and sex reassignment. And it mounts a subtle yet forceful attack on scientists whose fascination with their own theories leads them to ignore evidence and abuse patients. Moreover, it is a quick and interesting read. I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in the science, psychology, and socialogy of gender - and to anyone who is interested in science, psychology, or sociology in general.
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