Bruce/Brenda/David Reimer

First of all David Reimer (then known as Bruce) was genetically born a boy however in 1966 his penis was destroyed by accident during a circumcision, his parents then took him to a psychologist and sexologists John Money. Money advised the parents to change the sex of their child since penis reconstruction wasn’t an option then, he was a supporter of the idea that gender wasn’t predetermined genetically and was from the influence of the environment.

Money had not been completely successful in trying to prove his theory of gender neutrality due to biased reports and outcome of David Reimer. Dr. Money obsessed over the possibility to show gender neutrality a possibility to test his theory. This study took place long before anyone can fully understand the outcome of changing a child's gender at a young age and with new transgender surgeries and being uncomfortable for the lack of gender appendages, the ignorance of the outcome of the child's botched circumcision and forced gender reassignment without knowledge of the long term effect lead to unknown affects to the child. Looking at the time period that this events had occurred the many ethical violations had been seen from the parents and the Psychologist seeing that the innocent child had been forced to have a sex change and later reinforced gender traits without letting the child know was a complete violation to his rights.

Many experts say that gender confirmation surgery can often be vital to the health of individuals suffering from gender dysphoria; a fundamental sense of dissatisfaction with the gender one is assigned with at birth. According to a publication by the National Institutes of Health, gender dysphoria can result in psychological and mental issues such as anxiety, depression, and dissociation.

Joan g.Hampson was one of the male’s twin boys that experience sex alteration. During the time he was crucumsized his penis was damage completely .Doctors took it into their own hands to remove the penis of Joan. They assumed that if his parents had raised him as a girl Joan would eventually go own to live a happy healthy life. The assumptions made by the doctors were false. Joan grew up miserable and never was able to identify himself as a girl. Once he became cognizant that he was born a male Joan had decided to change back into male in his teens. He now went by the name David Rimmer. After undergoing numerous surgery to reconstruct his penis Rimmer had committed suicide at the age of 38.The surgery did not help to redefine Rimmer’s true

The documentary Dr. Money and the Boy with No Penis depicts the tragic experience of a young boy and the psychologist who attempts to “treat” him after an unfortunate accident. In a time of little knowledge of sexual variation Dr. John Money proposed the theory that a boy could be raised as a girl, but after years of failed attempts this theory would be shattered. This story began when twins Bruce and Bryan went in to the hospital to have a routine circumcision operation at 7 months of age. On the 27th of April 1966 Bruce was the first of the two twins to be operated on, but the procedure would not go as planned. The boy’s parents were soon informed that their son’s penis had been fully burned off in a nontraditional attempt to burn the foreskin away from the penis. In a position of great confusion the Reimers became hopeful in light of such tragedy as they later became aware of the work of Dr. John Money, a man who was becoming a pioneer in the field of sex change surgery. In meeting with this man the Reimers were informed that their baby boy could live a normal life as a girl.

Janet Reimer gave birth to identical twins, Bruce and Brian. During a circumcision, Bruce penis was badly severed and could not be repaired surgically. The penis was severed by an electric burning device. During the Reimers search for answers on what to do about the severed penis, the family heard of Dr. John Money. Dr. John Money was the only one that seemed as if he had the answers the family wanted to hear. He convinced the family that Bruce could be raised as a girl by having reconstructive surgery and keeping his true sexual identity a secret. He told them if they kept it a secret and nurtured him as a girl, then he will begin to believe he was a female. The family believed what Dr. John Money said and agreed to the reconstructive surgery. Dr. John Money also told the family they were never to tell anyone of the surgery. Janet Reimer raised Bruce as a girl named Brenda and kept his sexuality a secret. Throughout Bruce and Brian childhood, they would meet with Dr. John Money typically once a year. During visits, Dr. John Money would continue to convince Bruce he was a female and would take sexually explicit pictures of him.

Sexuality and gender identity issues have had a long history in the fields of mental health and public policy. There has been much debate surrounding the inclusion of issues related to gender and sexual identity in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual since its initial stages of development (Drescher, 2010). Debates in this field of interest have been fragmented between several stakeholders (Ehrbar, 2010). This fragmentation has created complications in the process of developing United States policies that are inclusive of individuals with gender identities that do not match the gender to which they were assigned at birth. Specifically, policies surrounding gender reassignment surgeries have been difficult to develop and

     This paper takes a look into the lives of three males breaking out of their gender

Bradley et al., also mention a similar case in which a 2-month year old male was injured during an electrocautery circumcision and his entire penile shaft was burned and the penis eventually sloughed off. At 7-months the rest of the penis and testes were removed and the parents made the decision to reassign their son to a female and to raise him as a girl. The patient was interviewed at two separate times. The first time was at age 16 and the patient stated that she had been living a female life and had no uncertainty about being a woman. The patient mentioned that during her childhood she viewed herself as a “tomboy” but she still maintained her circle of friends to mainly girls. She wanted to have sexual intercourse with males so she arranged a vaginoplasty. She was interviewed once more at age 26 and reported that she had been attracted to women in fantasy, and enjoyed experiences with both women and men. She now

People with gender Identity crises do not feel their genitalia reflects who they are inside. They may feel a powerful drive to have their genitalia match their self-image opting for sex reassignment surgery. Gender expression is far more relaxed than it has been throughout our history in America, but it still poses a problems for some on a daily basis. Gender expression is one area where women have a social advantage over men. It is far more socially acceptable for a woman to dress masculine than for a man to dress feminine; although neither are without predigests.

“The Five Sexes Revisited” focused on the importance of therapy over surgery. Medical ethicist Laurence B. McCullough of the Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy at Baylor Collefe of Medicine in Houston, Texas “contend[ed] that in the process of assigning gender, physicians should minimize what he calls irreversible assignments: taking steps such as the surgical removal

My research is all about the Gender Reassignment Surgery. Who are the people involved, the procedures, the risks and complications, aftercare for the patients? These are the questions we answered in this synthesis paper. In these modern days, people are aware of third sex. But are people aware of its adverse effects? No. They are not. Have they heard the increasing mortality about this type of surgery? Have they found out how many lives are ruined because of the mistakes of the operation? How many people are deeply depressed because of failed surgeries? As in my introduction says, I want this research to serve as a precaution to everyone. Well, we can say that there are plenty of transsexuals who are now happy with the results of their operation

He became a pariah during his elementary school years. From as early as kindergarten, he was a target for bullying by both male and female. “As [I’d ]walk by, they’d start giggling. Not one, but almost the whole class. It’d be like that every day. The whole school would make fun of [me] about one thing or another.” In his early teens Reimer attended a technical high school. Right away his peers dubbed him Cave-woman and told him, “You’re a boy.” But it was his habit of urinating standing up that caused the greatest problem between Reimer and his schoolmates. The girls prevented him from using their bathroom. When he tried to use the boys’ room he was threatened with a knife. By December, he dropped out of school.with struggling against emotional uncertainty about his life and his innate attraction to females, Reimer made no friends and was forcibly a loner. During puberty Reimer’s erroneous belief that he was a lesbian added to his emotional angst. The David Reimer case also serves to reinforce the scientific hypothesis that sexual orientation is not one of choice. Sexual orientation is innate, not solely a result of environmental influences although the latter may have some bearing. Watch video Science & Homosexuality: Nature vs Nurture No single cause for sexual orientation is conclusively proven. Researchers suggest that a combination of genetic, hormonal, and environmental

Sex is usually defined biologically, and even its definition can be based on different criteria such as the genetic sequence of a person, their gonads, their hormones, or their external genitalia(Poston et al, 231) . Gender, however, is a social role which can be fluid. Gender and gender roles can change over time and influence individuals. For example, Conley 286) in the 17th century, women who were obese were considered beautiful and desirable, the ideal feminine shape, whereas today obese women are generally considered undesirable and non-feminine. This shows how the female figure and idea of an ideal feminine form changes over time. Also, the gender roles ascribed according to society can influence individual actions. For example, (Conley, 275) Donald McCloskey was an economist who underwent sexual reassignment surgery to become Deirdre McCloskey. Donald changed his gender to become a female, and in the process noticed that her female self differed from her previous male self. After the surgery, McCloskey lost weight easily, felt duty bound to wash the dishes, and thought less about sex. This shows how despite the brain being the same before and after surgery, McCloskeys’s behaviors after surgery reflect social constructs of

Intersex Society of North America’s principle is that “one’s genitals are primarily for one’s own use, not for the comfort of others.” therefore, the patient should be allowed to choose for their own body and not have to stand by their parents preferences. There have been numerous cases, where an infant was given unnecessary surgery to "normalize" them to fit society’s standards. The family of the children were told to keep their condition a secret, sometimes even keeping the condition a secret from the child as well, just like Davis’ story. Today Intersex adults stand up against the medical treatment they were given as children to say the treatment they received was “harmful, lead to sterility, ongoing pain, scarring, and incontinence, loss of genital sensation and sexual function, and depression.” (The Interface Project) Through support groups members have discoursed their views and opinion of surgery performed on infants through their own personal experience advocating that child should be able to have a say in their