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Universities sing praise for this man. Money's writing has been translated into many languages and includes around 2,000 articles, books, chapters and reviews. He received around 65 honors, awards and degrees in his lifetime. But have you heard of David Reimer? https://twitter.com/SubversionP/status/1280008118215335937
David Reimer was born an identical (non-intersex) twin boy in 1965. At the age of 8 months, David and his brother each had a minor medical problem involving his penis, and a doctor decided to treat the problem with circumcision.
The doctor botched the circumcision on David, using an inappropriate method and accidentally burning off virtually all of David’s penis. At the advice of psychologist John Money at Johns Hopkins University, David’s parents agreed to have him “sex reassigned”
and made into a girl via surgical, hormonal, and psychological treatments—i.e., via the system Money advocated for intersex children.
For many years, John Money claimed that David (known in the interim as “Brenda”) turned out to be a “real” girl with a female gender identity.
For many years, John Money claimed that David (known in the interim as “Brenda”) turned out to be a “real” girl with a female gender identity.
Money used this case to bolster his approach to intersex —the approach that is still used throughout much of the U.S. and developed world—one that relies on the assumption that gender identity is all about nurture (upbringing), (cont.)
not nature (inborn traits), and that gender assignment is the key to treating all children with atypical sex anatomies. As it turns out, Money was lying. He knew Brenda was never happy as a girl, (cont.)
and he knew that as soon as David found out what happened to him, David reassumed the social identity of a boy. In adulthood, Reimer reported that he suffered psychological trauma due to Money’s experiments, Money had used to justify sexual reassignment surgery for children (cont
with intersex or damaged genitals since the 1970s. In the mid-1990s, Reimer met Milton Diamond, a psychologist at the University of Hawaii, in Honolulu, Hawaii, and academic rival of Money. Reimer participated in a follow-up study conducted by Diamond,
in which Diamond cataloged the failures of Reimer’s transition. In 1997, Reimer began speaking publicly about his experiences, beginning with his participation in Diamond’s study. Reimer’s first interview appeared in the December 1997 issue of Rolling Stone magazine.
In interviews, and a later book about his experience, Reimer described his interactions with Money as torturous and abusive. Accordingly, Reimer claimed he developed a lifelong distrust of hospitals and medical professionals. With those reports, Reimer
caused a multifaceted controversy over Money’s methods, honesty in data reporting, and the general ethics of sex reassignment surgeries on infants and children. Reimer’s description of his childhood conflicted with the scientific consensus about sex reassignment at the time.
According to NOVA, Money led scientists to believe that the John/Joan case demonstrated an unreservedly successful sex transition. Reimer’s parents later blamed Money’s methods and alleged surreptitiousness for the psychological illnesses of their sons,
although the notes of a former graduate student in Money’s lab indicated that Reimer’s parents dishonestly represented the transition’s success to Money and his coworkers. Reimer was further alleged by supporters of Money to have incorrectly recalled the details of his treatment.
On Reimer’s case, Money publicly dismissed his criticism as antifeminist and anti-trans bias, but, according to his colleagues, was personally ashamed of the failure.
In his early twenties, Reimer attempted to commit suicide twice.
In his early twenties, Reimer attempted to commit suicide twice.
According to Reimer, his adult family life was strained by marital problems and employment difficulty. Reimer’s brother, who suffered from depression and schizophrenia, died from an antidepressant drug overdose in July of 2002.
On 2 May 2004, Reimer’s wife told him that she wanted a divorce. Two days later, at the age of thirty-eight, Reimer committed suicide by firearm. So the tragic story comes to a close.
So why is John Money praised heavily when his operation was a failure? It makes no sense.
