As Nature Made Him

Ronna Pearson Sociology 3337-70 July 12, 2012 As Nature Made Him The boy who was raised as a girl John Colapinto In 1967, after a baby boy -- one of a set of identical twins -- suffered a botched circumcision, a radical treatment option was agreed to by his desperate and grieving family. Encouraged by renowned medical psychologist Dr. John Money, an expert in the field of gender identity and sexual reassignment, the anonymous child was surgically altered to live life as a girl. The case would prove to be precedent-setting, becoming "proof" for the feminist movement that gender gap was purely a result of cultural conditioning. But all was not as it seemed. Initially proclaimed a resounding success, the devastating psychological cost of the procedure has only recently become known. Now living as an adult male, married and with a family of his own, this patient has granted John Colapinto unprecedented access to his story. As Nature Made Him is at once a fascinating exploration of the elusive nature of sexual identity and an examination of the ever-intensifying struggle between what medical science can do and what doctors should do. It is also a story of courage and survival that sheds light on the murkiest areas human sexuality. (Amazon.com)

Note to reader: David Reimer was born as Bruce Reimer, twin to Brian Reimer, on August 22, 1965. After his accident on April 27, 1966 and then his surgical castration on July 3, 1967, Bruce was renamed Brenda Lee Reimer. Later after finding out the truth of his birth and life, Brenda decided to transition back to male and on his fifteenth birthday in 1980 he renamed himself David, taken from the story of David and Goliath in the Bible. For the sake of this paper I will only use the name David, to reflect who he always thought he was to be.

John Colapinto chronicles the heart rending story of David Reimer, born male only to be raised as a female, in his book As Nature Made Him. This true story stands as a testament to how