it's a COLOURFUL life we're living.

Thursday, April 13, 2006 @ 10:39 PM

As Nature Made Him

That's the title of the book that i'm currently reading. I was intrigued when i read about David Reimer in newspaper few years ago and been searching for the book ever since. What made it hard for me to find the book is that i just can't remember the title, just the gist of the contents. Finally, found it in Kinokuniya last Sunday. Here's a snippet on the book...

David Reimer was born as a male identical twin. His birth name was Bruce; his twin brother Brian. At the age of 6 months, both boys were diagnosed with phimosis. They were referred for circumcision at the age of 8 months. One anaesthesiologist performed the circumcision and Bruce's penis was destroyed. Bruce's parents, concerned about his prospects for future without a penis, took him to Johns Hopkins Medical Center to see John Money, a psychologist who was developing a reputation in the field of sexual development and gender identity. Money was a prominent proponent of the theory that gender identity was relatively "plastic" in infancy and developed primarily as a result of social learning from early childhood; most liberal academics in the late 1960s felt that all psychological and behavioral differences between males and females were learned. He felt that a penis could not be replaced but that a functional vagina could be constructed surgically and that Bruce would be more likely to achieve successful, functional sexual maturation as a girl than as a boy.

Dr. Money persuaded his parents that sex reassignment would be in Bruce's best interest, and at the age of 22 months, surgery was performed to remove his testes and construct a vagina. He was "reassigned" to be raised as a female and given the name 'Brenda'. But Brenda did not feel like a girl. She was ostracized and bullied by peers, and neither frilly dresses nor female hormones made her feel female. By the age of 13, Brenda was experiencing suicidal depression. In 1980, Brenda's parents told her the truth about her gender reassignment. Now 15, Brenda decided to assume a male gender identity, calling himself David. After learning of the new relationship with his ex-sister, Brian began to experience a pattern of mental disturbance that would develop into schizophrenia. By 1997, David had undergone treatments to reverse the reassignment. He had married a woman and become a stepfather to her children. In the end however, he had many other problems in his life, including a separation from his wife, severe problems for his parents, and the death of his twin brother Brian, in 2002, from an overdose of schizophrenia medication. David Reimer took his own life with a sawed-off shotgun in 2004.

and again its me myself and i

bukooch the walking contradiction

Posted by bukooch @ 10:39 PM [3]comment(s)

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