Английская Википедия:David Reimer

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David Reimer (born Bruce Peter Reimer; 22 August 1965 – 4 May 2004) was a Canadian man raised as a girl following medical advice and intervention after his penis was severely injured during a botched circumcision in infancy.Шаблон:Sfn

The psychologist John Money oversaw the case and reported the reassignment as successful and as evidence that gender identity is primarily learned. The academic sexologist Milton Diamond later reported that Reimer's realization that he was not a girl occurred between the ages of 9 and 11 yearsШаблон:Sfn and that he was living as a male by the age of 15. Well known in medical circles for years anonymously as the "John/Joan" case, Reimer later went public with his story to help discourage similar medical practices. At age 38, he committed suicide due to severe depression.

Life

Infancy

David Reimer was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, on 22 August 1965, the elder of identical twin boys.Шаблон:Sfnm He was originally named Bruce, and his identical twin was named Brian.Шаблон:Sfn Their parents were Janet and Ron Reimer, a couple of Mennonite descent who had married in December 1964.Шаблон:Sfn At the age of six months, after concern was raised about how both of them urinated, the boys were diagnosed with phimosis.Шаблон:Sfnm They were referred for circumcision at the age of seven months. General practitioner Jean-Marie Huot performed the operation using the unconventional method of electrocauterization,Шаблон:Sfn but the procedure burned David's penis beyond surgical repair.Шаблон:Sfn The doctors chose not to operate on Brian, whose phimosis soon cleared without surgical intervention.

The parents, concerned about their son's prospects for future happiness and sexual function without a penis, took him to Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore in early 1967 to see John Money,Шаблон:Sfn a psychologist who was developing a reputation as a pioneer in the field of sexual development and gender identity, based on his work with intersex patients.Шаблон:Sfn Money was a prominent proponent of the "theory of gender neutrality"—that gender identity developed primarily as a result of social learning from early childhood and that it could be changed with the appropriate behavioural interventions.Шаблон:Sfn The Reimers had seen Money being interviewed in February 1967 on the Canadian news program This Hour Has Seven Days, during which he discussed his theories about gender.Шаблон:Sfn Reimer was raised under the "optimum gender rearing model", which was the common model for sex and gender socialization/medicalization for intersex youth. The model has been heavily criticized as sexist.

At that time, surgical construction of the vagina was more advanced than construction of the penis, and Money believed that Reimer would be happiest in adulthood living as a woman with functioning genitalia. Additionally, for Money, a case where identical twin boys were involved where one could be raised as a girl provided a perfect test of his theories.

Money and the Hopkins family team persuaded the baby's parents that sex reassignment surgery would be in Reimer's best interest.Шаблон:Sfn At the age of 22 months, David underwent a bilateral orchidectomy, in which his testes were surgically removed and a rudimentary vulva was constructed by genital plastic surgery.Шаблон:Sfn David was reassigned to be raised as female and given the name Brenda (similar to his birth name, "Bruce").Шаблон:Sfn Psychological support for the reassignment and surgery was provided byШаблон:Sfn John Money, who continued to see Reimer annuallyШаблон:Sfn for consultations and to assess the outcome.Шаблон:Sfn This reassignment was considered an especially important test caseШаблон:Sfn of the social learning concept of gender identity for two reasons: first, Reimer's identical twin brother, Brian, made an ideal control because the brothers shared genes, family environments, and the intrauterine environment; second, this was reputed to be the first reassignment and reconstruction performed on a male infant who had no abnormality of prenatal or early postnatal sexual differentiation.Шаблон:Sfn

Forced "sexual rehearsal"

Money reported on Reimer's progress as the "John/Joan case", describing apparently successful female gender development, even after David informed his father at age 14 that he had always felt that he was a boy, bringing the experiment to an end.Шаблон:Rp

According to John Colapinto, who published a biography of Reimer in 2001, the sessions with Money included what Money called "childhood sexual rehearsal play".Шаблон:Sfn Money theorized that reproductive behaviour formed the foundation of gender, and that "play at thrusting movements and copulation" was a key aspect of gender development in all primates. Starting at age six, according to Brian, the twins were forced to act out sexual acts, with David playing the female role—Money made David get down on all fours, and Brian was forced to "come up behind [him] and place his crotch against [his] buttocks". Money also forced David, in another sexual position, to have his "legs spread" with Brian on top. On "at least one occasion" Money took a photograph of the two children doing these activities.Шаблон:Sfn

When either child resisted these activities, Money would get angry. Both David and Brian recall that Money was mild-mannered around their parents, but ill-tempered when alone with them. When they resisted inspecting each other's genitals, Money got very aggressive. David says, "He told me to take my clothes off, and I just did not do it. I just stood there. And he screamed, 'Now!' Louder than that. I thought he was going to give me a whupping. So I took my clothes off and stood there shaking."Шаблон:Sfn

Money's rationale for these various treatments was his belief that "childhood 'sexual rehearsal playШаблон:' " was important for a "healthy adult gender identity".Шаблон:Sfn

Both David and Brian were traumatizedШаблон:Sfn with Brian speaking about it "only with the greatest emotional turmoil", and David unwilling to speak about the details publicly, although his wife, Jane Fontane, stated that David had privately told her the same story.Шаблон:Sfn Brian was found dead of a drug overdose at 36, and David died by suicide at age 38. Their parents state that Money's forced, inappropriate "therapy" was responsible for both deaths.

Puberty and adolescence

Estrogen was given to David during adolescence, therefore inducing breast development.Шаблон:Sfn

For several years, Money reported on Reimer's progress as the "John/Joan case". Money wrote, "The child's behavior is so clearly that of an active little girl and so different from the boyish ways of her twin brother."

The twins attended Glenwood School in Winnipeg, and from the age of 14, David attended R.B. Russell Vocational High School. He eventually ceased attending the school and was tutored privately.

By the age of 13 years, Reimer was experiencing suicidal depression and he told his parents he would take his own life if they made him see Money again.Шаблон:Sfn Finally, on 14 March 1980, Reimer's parents told him the truth about his sex reassignment,Шаблон:Sfn following advice from Reimer's endocrinologist and psychiatrist. At the age of 14, having been informed of his past by his father, Reimer decided to assume a male gender identity, calling himself David. He underwent treatment to reverse the reassignment, including testosterone injections, a double mastectomy, and phalloplasty operations.

Adulthood

Reimer worked in a slaughterhouse and then worked doing odd jobs. On 22 September 1990, he married Jane Fontane and would adopt her three children.Шаблон:Sfnm His hobbies included camping, fishing, antiques and collecting old coins.

His case came to international attention in 1997 when he told his story to Milton Diamond, an academic sexologist who persuaded Reimer to allow him to report the outcome in order to dissuade physicians from treating other infants similarly.Шаблон:Sfn Soon after, Reimer went public with his story and John Colapinto published a widely disseminated and influential account in Rolling Stone magazine in December 1997. The article won the National Magazine Award for Reporting.Шаблон:Sfn

This was later expanded into The New York Times best-selling biography As Nature Made Him: The Boy Who Was Raised as a Girl (2000),Шаблон:Sfn in which Colapinto described how—contrary to Money's reports—when living as Brenda, Reimer did not identify as a girl. He was ostracized and bullied by peers (who dubbed him "cavewoman"),Шаблон:Sfn and neither frilly dressesШаблон:Sfnm nor female hormones made him feel female.

Death

In addition to his difficult lifelong relationship with his parents, Reimer was unemployed and experienced remorse due to the death of his brother Brian from an overdose of antidepressants on 1 July 2002. On 2 May 2004, his wife Jane told him she wanted to separate. On the morning of 4 May 2004, Reimer drove to a grocery store's parking lot in his hometown of Winnipeg and shot himself in the head with a 12-gauge sawed-off shotgun.Шаблон:Sfnm He was 38 years old. He and Brian are buried in St. Vital Cemetery in Winnipeg.

Money never commented publicly on Colapinto's book or on Reimer's suicide, although colleagues said he was "mortified" by the case.

Legacy

For the first 30 years after Money's initial report that the reassignment had been a success, Money's view of the malleability of gender became the dominant viewpoint in the field, reassuring practitioners that sexual reassignment was the correct decision in certain instances. Researcher Mary Anne Case argues that Money's view on gender also fuelled the rise of the anti-gender movement.

Diamond's report and Colapinto's subsequent book about Reimer influencedШаблон:Clarify several medical practices, reputations, and even current understanding of the biology of gender. The case accelerated the decline of sex reassignment and surgery for unambiguous XY infants with micropenis, various other rare congenital malformations, or penile loss in infancy.Шаблон:Verify source

Colapinto's book described unethical and traumatic childhood therapy sessions and implied that Money had ignored or concealed the developing evidence that Reimer's reassignment to female was not going well.

Documentaries

The BBC science series Horizon based two episodes on his life. "The Boy Who Was Turned into a Girl" aired in 2000 and "Dr Money and the Boy with No Penis" in 2004.

A 2001 episode of the PBS documentary series Nova entitled "Sex: Unknown" investigated David's life and the theory behind the decision to raise him as female.

An episode of BBC Radio 4 Mind Changers, "Case Study: John/Joan—The Boy Who Was Raised as a Girl", discusses the impact on two competing psychological theories of nature vs. nurture.

David's story was also highlighted in the 2023 documentary film titled Every Body, that explores the lives of several people that are intersex and the mistreatment of them.

In popular culture

• The Chicago Hope episode "Boys Will Be Girls" (2000) was based on Reimer's life. The episode explored the theme of a child's right not to undergo sexual reassignment surgery without consent.
• Reimer and his mother appeared on an episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show in 2000.
• The NYPD Blue episode "Dress for Success" (aired 2004, season 12, episode 1) features a fictional character with many similarities to Reimer. The character was injured during circumcision, raised as a girl, and ultimately transitioned again to live as a man.
• The Law & Order: Special Victims Unit episode "Identity" (2005) was based on David and Brian Reimer's lives and their treatment by Money.
• "Hymn of the Medical Oddity", a song by the Winnipeg-based indie rock band The Weakerthans, concerns Reimer.Шаблон:Sfn
• Boy (2016), a play produced by the Ensemble Studio Theatre, was inspired by Reimer's story.
• Taiwanese film Born to be Human (2021) shares a similar plotline to Reimer's story, where a child undergoes sexual reassignment surgery without consent at the insistence of an authoritative doctor.

See also

• Herculine Barbin
• Genital modification and mutilation
• History of intersex surgery
• Nature versus nurture
• Penectomy

References

Bibliography

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Further reading

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External links

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