David Reimer Explained

David Reimer
Birth Name:	Bruce Peter Reimer
Birth Date:	22 August 1965
Birth Place:	Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Death Place:	Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Death Cause:	Suicide by gunshot
Resting Place:	St. Vital Cemetery, Winnipeg

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.

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 years 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. He killed himself at age 38, two days after being petitioned for divorce by his wife.

Life

Infancy

David Reimer was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, on 22 August 1965, the elder of identical twin boys. He was originally named Bruce, and his identical twin was named Brian. Their parents were Janet and Ron Reimer, a couple of Mennonite descent who had married in December 1964. At the age of six months, after concern was raised about how both of them urinated, the boys were diagnosed with phimosis. 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,^[1] but the procedure burned David's penis beyond surgical repair. The doctors chose not to operate on Brian, whose phimosis soon cleared without surgical intervention.^[2]

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, 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. 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. 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.

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.^[3]

Money and the Hopkins family team persuaded the baby's parents that sex reassignment surgery would be in Reimer's best interest. At the age of 22 months, David underwent a bilateral orchiectomy, in which his testes were surgically removed and a rudimentary vulva was constructed by genital plastic surgery. David was reassigned to be raised as female and given the name Brenda (similar to his birth name, "Bruce"). Psychological support for the reassignment and surgery was provided by John Money, who continued to see Reimer annually for consultations and to assess the outcome. This reassignment was considered an especially important test case 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.

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.^[4]

According to John Colapinto, who published a biography of Reimer in 2001, the sessions with Money included what Money called "childhood sexual rehearsal play". 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.

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."

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

Both David and Brian were traumatized 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.

Puberty and adolescence

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

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."^[5]

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.^[6]

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. Finally, on 14 March 1980, Reimer's parents told him the truth about his sex reassignment, 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.^{[7] [8]}

Adulthood

Reimer worked in a slaughterhouse and then worked doing odd jobs.^{[9] [10]} On 22 September 1990, he married Jane Fontane and would adopt her three children.^[11] His hobbies included camping, fishing, antiques and collecting old coins.^[12]

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. Soon after, Reimer went public with his story and John Colapinto published a widely disseminated and influential account^[13] in Rolling Stone magazine in December 1997.^[14] The article won the National Magazine Award for Reporting.

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), 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"),^[1] and neither frilly dresses 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^{[15] [16]} and shot himself in the head. He was 38 years old.^[17] He and Brian are buried in St. Vital Cemetery in Winnipeg.^[18]

Money never commented publicly on Colapinto's book or on Reimer's suicide, although colleagues said he was "mortified" by the case.^[19]

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. Money claimed the success of Reimer's gender transition as support for the optimum gender rearing model for intersex children.^[20] Researcher Mary Anne Case argues that Money's view on gender also fuelled the rise of the anti-gender movement.^[21]

Diamond's report and Colapinto's subsequent book about Reimer influenced 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.^[22]

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.^[23]

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.^{[24] [25]}

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.^{[26] [27]}

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.^[28]

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 episode "Identity" (2005) was based on David and Brian Reimer's lives and their treatment by Money.^[29]
• "Hymn of the Medical Oddity", a song by the Winnipeg-based indie rock band The Weakerthans, concerns Reimer.^[30]
• Boy (2016), a play produced by the Ensemble Studio Theatre, was inspired by Reimer's story.^[31]
• 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.^[32]

See also

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

References

Bibliography

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• Beh. Hazel Glenn. Diamond. Milton. Milton Diamond. 2005. David Reimer's Legacy: Limiting Parental Discretion. Cardozo Journal of Law and Gender. 12. 5. 5–30. 10125/34765. free. 1074-5785. 1446966.
• Bockting. Walter O.. 2010. Nurturing Nature and the Nature of Science: Toward Transcendence. The Journal of Sex Research. 37. 4. 378–379. 10.1080/00224490009552061. 216092298. 1559-8519.
• Book: Butler , Judith . Judith Butler. 2004. Undoing Gender. New York. Routledge. 2015. 978-0-203-49962-7. Undoing Gender.
• Book: Colapinto , John . John Colapinto. 2001a. As Nature Made Him: The Boy Who Was Raised as a Girl. New York. HarperCollins. 42080126. 978-0-06-019211-2.
• Book: Colapinto , John . John Colapinto. . 2001b. As Nature Made Him: The Boy Who Was Raised as a Girl. New York. Harper Perennial. 2006. 978-0-06-092959-6. registration.
• Diamond. Milton. Milton Diamond. Sigmundson. H. Keith. 1997. Sex Reassignment at Birth: Long-Term Review and Clinical Implications. Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine. 151. 3. 298–304. 10.1001/archpedi.1997.02170400084015. 9080940. 15 May 2013. University of Hawaii. 8 June 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190608063750/http://hawaii.edu/PCSS/biblio/articles/1961to1999/1997-sex-reassignment.html. live.
• Book: Eskridge. William N. Jr.. William Eskridge. Hunter. Nan D.. 2003. Sexuality, Gender and the Law: 2003 Supplement. New York. Foundation Press. 978-1-58778-655-6.
• Encyclopedia: Gaetano. Phil. 2017. David Reimer and John Money Gender Reassignment Controversy: The John/Joan Case. Embryo Project Encyclopedia. Tempe, Arizona. Arizona State University. 10776/13009. free. 1940-5030. 7 May 2018. 8 May 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180508121611/https://embryo.asu.edu/pages/david-reimer-and-john-money-gender-reassignment-controversy-johnjoan-case. live.
• Book: Goldie , Terry . 2014. The Man Who Invented Gender: Engaging the Ideas of John Money. Vancouver. UBC Press. 978-0-7748-2794-2.
• Book: Halpern , Diane F. . Diane F. Halpern. 2012. Sex Differences in Cognitive Abilities. 4th. New York. Psychology Press. 978-1-136-72283-7.
• Book: Harper , Catherine . 2007. Intersex. Oxford. Berg. 978-1-84788-339-1.
• Book: Karkazis , Katrina . Katrina Karkazis. 2008. Fixing Sex: Intersex, Medical Authority, and Lived Experience. Durham, North Carolina. Duke University Press. 978-0-8223-8921-7.
• Book: Koch , Michaela . 2017. Discursive Intersexions: Daring Bodies between Myth, Medicine, and Memoir. Practices of Subjectivation. 9. Bielefeld, Germany. Transcript Verlag. 978-3-8394-3705-6.
• Book: Mann , Sandi . 2016. Psychology: A Complete Introduction. London. John Murray Learning. 978-1-4736-0930-3.
• Book: Marinucci , Mimi . 2010. Feminism Is Queer: The Intimate Connection Between Queer and Feminist Theory. London. Zed Books. 978-1-84813-475-1.
• Book: 2018. McQuail. Josephine A.. Janet Frame in Focus: Women Analyze the Works of the New Zealand Writer. Jefferson, North Carolina. McFarland & Company. 978-1-4766-2854-7.
• Book: Rolls , Geoff . 2015. Classic Case Studies in Psychology. 3rd. London. Routledge. 978-1-84872-270-5.
• Book: Walker , Jesse . 2010. The Death of David Reimer: A Tale of Sex, Science, and Abuse. Plante. Rebecca F.. Maurer. Lis M.. Doing Gender Diversity: Readings in Theory and Real-World Experience. New York. Routledge. 2018. 33ff. 978-0-429-98056-5.
• Book: Warnke , Georgia . Georgia Warnke. 2008. After Identity: Rethinking Race, Sex, and Gender. Cambridge, England. Cambridge University Press. 978-0-511-39180-4.

Further reading

• News: Colapinto. John. John Colapinto. 2004. Gender Gap: What Were the Real Reasons behind David Reimer's Suicide?. Slate. 13 February 2009. 27 April 2013. https://archive.today/20130427045853/http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/medical_examiner/2004/06/gender_gap.html. live.
• Book: Money. John. John Money. Ehrhardt. Anke A.. Anke Ehrhardt. 1972. Man & Woman, Boy & Girl: The Differentiation and Dimorphism of Gender Identity from Conception to Maturity. registration. Baltimore, Maryland. Johns Hopkins University Press.
• Book: Money. John. John Money. Tucker. Patricia. 1975. Sexual Signatures: On Being a Man or a Woman. registration. Boston. Little, Brown and Company. 978-0-316-57826-4.
• Preves. Sharon E.. 2002. Sexing the Intersexed: An Analysis of Sociocultural Responses to Intersexuality. Signs. 27. 2. 523–556. 10.1086/495696. 1545-6943. 3175791. 29560193.

Notes and References

1. News: 23 November 2010 . Health Check: The Boy Who Was Raised a Girl . BBC News . 19 December 2014 . 31 December 2014 . https://web.archive.org/web/20141231050152/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-11814300 . live .
2. News: 10 May 2004 . David Reimer: The Boy Who Lived as a Girl . CBC News . https://web.archive.org/web/20120807123535/http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/reimer/ . 7 August 2012 . 5 July 2015.
3. Bailey JM, Vasey PL, Diamond LM, Breedlove SM, Vilain E, Epprecht M . September 2016 . Sexual Orientation, Controversy, and Science . Psychological Science in the Public Interest . 17 . 2 . 45–101 . 10.1177/1529100616637616 . 27113562 . free . 42281410.
4. Puluka . Anne . 2015 . Parent versus State: Protecting Intersex Children from Cosmetic Genital Surgery . Michigan State Law Review . 2015 . 2095. >
5. Book: Money . John . John Money . Ehrhardt . Anke A. . Anke Ehrhardt . 1972 . Man & Woman, Boy & Girl . registration . Baltimore, Maryland . Johns Hopkins University Press. Cited in .
6. Web site: Colapinto . John . 2001 . As Nature Made Him . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20210227163445/http://maxima-library.org/knigi/knigi/b/294345?format=read . 27 February 2021 . 7 May 2020 . maxima-library.org . 32.
7. News: Man raised as girl dies. 10 May 2004. CBC News. 23 July 2019. 23 November 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20201123214354/https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/man-raised-as-girl-dies-1.511287. live.
8. Web site: David Reimer, 38; After Botched Surgery, He Was Raised as a Girl in Gender Experiment. Woo. Elaine. 13 May 2004. Los Angeles Times. 23 July 2019. 11 June 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190611124438/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2004-may-13-me-reimer13-story.html. live.
9. Web site: David Reimer, 38; After Botched Surgery, He Was Raised as a Girl in Gender Experiment. 13 May 2004. Los Angeles Times. 23 July 2019. 11 June 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190611124438/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2004-may-13-me-reimer13-story.html. live.
10. Book: Doing Gender Diversity: Readings in Theory and Real-World Experience. Rebecca F. . Plante . Lis M.. Mau. 17 April 2018. Routledge. 978-0-429-98056-5. Google Books. 23 September 2020. 25 June 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210625014038/https://books.google.com/books?id=Gx9WDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT35. live.
11. News: Boodman . Sandra G. . 29 February 2000 . A Terrible Accident, a Dismal Failure . The Washington Post. 8 May 2018 . 9 May 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180509152927/https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/wellness/2000/02/29/a-terrible-accident-a-dismal-failure/83850bc4-b27a-417e-ba85-3693a4cafdd0/ . live .
12. News: Boy raised as a girl suffered final indignity. The Globe and Mail. 11 May 2004 . 7 May 2020. 1 November 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20201101131605/https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/boy-raised-as-a-girl-suffered-final-indignity/article18264922/. live. Smith . Graeme .
13. News: Angier . Natalie . X + Y = Z . 20 February 2000 . The New York Times . 25 September 2018 . Colapinto wrote a long story about the case for Rolling Stone, which won him a National Magazine Award. . 9 February 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190209084705/https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/00/02/20/reviews/000220.20angiert.html . live .
14. Colapinto . John . John Colapinto . 1997 . The True Story of John/Joan . Rolling Stone . 775 . New York . Straight Arrow Publishers . 54–97 . 0035-791X.
15. News: Woo . Elaine . 13 May 2004 . David Reimer, 38; After Botched Surgery, He Was Raised as a Girl in Gender Experiment . Los Angeles Times . B12 . 25 June 2016 . 10 June 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160610043837/http://articles.latimes.com/2004/may/13/local/me-reimer13 . live .
16. Web site: Archive.ph . . 13 May 2004 . 8 September 2023 . 19 October 2022 . https://archive.today/20221019190222/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2004-may-13-me-reimer13-story.html . bot: unknown .
17. News: 12 May 2004 . David Reimer, 38, Subject of the John/Joan Case . The New York Times . The Canadian Press . 19 May 2015 . 28 May 2015 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150528034220/http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/12/us/david-reimer-38-subject-of-the-john-joan-case.html . live .
18. Web site: St. Vital Cemetery Burial Search – The Municipal Cemeteries Branch . City of Winnipeg . 20 September 2021 . 9 November 2017 . https://web.archive.org/web/20171109174157/http://www.winnipeg.ca/ppd/cemeteries/StVital/StVitalQ_R.html . live .
19. News: Carey . Benedict . 2006-07-11 . John William Money, 84, Sexual Identity Researcher, Dies. The New York Times . 2022-03-14 . 0362-4331.
20. Dreger . Alice D. . Herndon . April M. . 1 April 2009 . Progress and politics in the intersex rights movement: Feminist theory in action . GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies . 15 . 2 . 1064-2684 . 10.1215/10642684-2008-134 . 199–224, at p. 205 .
21. Case . Mary Anne . Trans Formations in the Vatican's War on 'Gender Ideology' . . 0097-9740 . . 2019 . 44 . 3 . 645 . 10.1086/701498 . 149472746 . John Money... gave ammunition to the opponents of 'gender ideology' through his fraudulently deceptive claims about the malleability of gender in certain patients who had involuntarily undergone sex reassignment surgery. . 12 May 2021 . 12 May 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210512022931/https://chicagounbound.uchicago.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=13570&context=journal_articles . live .
22. 2001 . Sex: Unknown . Nova . Nova (American TV series) . Transcript . https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/transcripts/2813gender.html . PBS .
23. News: Burkeman . Oliver . Oliver Burkeman . Younge . Gary . Gary Younge . 12 May 2004 . Being Brenda . The Guardian: G2 . London . 2 . 1 May 2010 . 25 June 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210625014028/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2004/may/12/scienceandnature.gender . live .
24. The Boy Who Was Turned into a Girl . 19 May 2015 . . 7 December 2000 . BBC . 25 May 2015 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150525065337/http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/horizon/2000/boyturnedgirl_transcript.shtml . live.
25. Dr Money and the Boy with No Penis . 27 September 2014 . . 2005 . BBC . 22 December 2014 . https://web.archive.org/web/20141222132435/http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/tvradio/programmes/horizon/dr_money_prog_summary.shtml . live.
26. Web site: NOVA Past Television Programs Season 28: January – December 2001 PBS. PBS. 5 June 2019. 11 June 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190611124442/https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/listseason/28.html#2813. live.
27. Web site: NOVA Online Sex: Unknown. PBS. 5 June 2019. 3 April 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190403162605/https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/gender/. live.
28. Web site: BBC Radio 4 – Mind Changers, Case Study: John/Joan – The Boy Who Was Raised as a Girl. 23 June 2020. BBC. 8 February 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210208213352/https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00t97xf. live.
29. Web site: Treatment of Circumcision on TV. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20081228111042/http://www.circumstitions.com/TVSitcomsA-M.html. 28 December 2008. 1 February 2009. The Intactivism Pages.
30. News: Stewart . M. D. . 4 October 2007 . Metaphorical Cats, Medical Oddities and Men with Brooms . Fast Forward Weekly . Calgary . Great West Newspapers . https://web.archive.org/web/20141205154626/http://www.ffwdweekly.com/music/previews/metaphorical-cats-medical-oddities-and-men-brooms/ . 5 December 2014 . 7 May 2018.
31. Web site: Epstein . Sonia Shechet . 22 April 2016 . Anna Ziegler's Boy, an EST and Keen Company Production . Sloan Science & Film . Museum of the Moving Image . 7 May 2018 . 7 May 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180507155447/http://scienceandfilm.org/articles/2689/anna-zieglers-boy-an-est-and-keen-company-production . live .
32. Web site: Lukanov . Martin . 2021-03-15 . Film Review: Born to be Human (2021) by Lily Ni . 2022-06-13 . Asian Movie Pulse.