David Reimer
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2008-07-14T07:11:15Z
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/* In popular culture */
{{for|the politician David J. Reimer|Christian Heritage Party candidates, 2004 Canadian federal election}}
{{Infobox Person
| name = David Reimer
| image =
| image_size = 200x150px
| caption =
| birth_date = {{birth date|1965|8|22|mf=y}}
| birth_place = [[Winnipeg]], [[Manitoba]], [[Canada]]
| death_date = {{death date and age|2004|5|4|1965|8|22|mf=y}}
| death_place =
| occupation =
| spouse = Jane Reimer
| parents = Janet Reimer, Ron Reimer
| children =
}}
'''David Reimer''' (born [[August 22]], [[1965]] as '''Bruce Reimer''', died [[May 4]], [[2004]]) was a Canadian man who was born as a healthy boy, but was [[sex assignment|sexually reassigned]] and raised as female after his [[penis]] was inadvertently destroyed during [[circumcision]]. Psychologist [[John Money]] oversaw the case and reported the reassignment as successful, as evidence that [[gender identity]] is primarily learned. [[Milton Diamond]] later reported that Reimer never identified as female, and that he began living as male at age 14. Reimer later went public with his story to discourage similar medical practices. He committed suicide at the age of 38.
==Overview==
David Reimer was born as a male identical twin in [[Winnipeg, Manitoba]]. His birth name was Bruce; his twin brother was named Brian. At the age of 6 months, after concern was raised about how Bruce and Brian urinated, both boys were diagnosed with [[phimosis]]. They were referred for circumcision at the age of 8 months. On [[April 27]], [[1966]], doctors performed the circumcision using an unconventional method in which skin would be burned. The procedure did not go as doctors had planned, and Bruce's penis was burned beyond surgical repair.<ref name=CBCnews>{{cite news| title=David Reimer: The boy who lived as a girl
|date=July, 2002
| publisher=CBC News
| url=http://cbc.ca/news/background/reimer/
| accessdate=2006-01-20
}}</ref>
Bruce's parents, concerned about his prospects for future happiness and sexual function without a penis, took him to [[Johns Hopkins Hospital|Johns Hopkins Medical Center]] in Baltimore to see Dr. [[John Money]], a [[psychology|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 that gender identity was relatively plastic in infancy and developed primarily as a result of social learning from early childhood; some academics in the late 1960s believed that all psychological and behavioral differences between males and females were learned. The Reimers had seen Money, being interviewed on the Canadian news program [[This Hour Has Seven Days]], where he discussed his theories about gender. He, and other physicians working with young children born with abnormal genitalia, believed 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.{{Fact|date=October 2007}}
They 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 [[testis|testes]]. He was [[sex assignment|reassigned]] to be [[sex of rearing|raised]] as a female and given the name 'Brenda'. Psychological support for the reassignment and surgery was provided by John Money, who continued to see Brenda for years, both for treatment and to assess the outcome. This reassignment was considered an especially valid test case of the social learning concept of gender identity for two reasons. First, Bruce/Brenda had a twin brother, Brian, who made an ideal control since the two not only shared genes and family environments, but they had shared the intrauterine environment as well. 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]].
Money often took pictures of them both in the nude, claiming it was for scientific comparison, but Reimer claimed that Money sexually abused both twins and took far too many photos for their shoots to be deemed innocent. This was a large factor contributing to his fear of Money and desire to never go back for his help. (This was said in a 20/20 interview.)
For several years, Money reported on Brenda's progress as the "John/Joan case", describing apparently successful female gender development, and using this case to support the feasibility of sex reassignment and surgical reconstruction even in non-intersex cases. Money wrote: "The child's behaviour is so clearly that of an active little girl and so different from the boyish ways of her twin brother." [[Estrogen]] was given to Brenda when she reached adolescence to induce breast development. However, Brenda had experienced the visits to Baltimore as traumatic rather than therapeutic and when Dr. Money started pressuring the family to bring "her" in for surgery, in which a vagina would be created, the family discontinued the follow-up visits. John Money published nothing further about the case to suggest that the reassignment had not been successful.
Reimer's later account, written two decades later with [[John Colapinto]], described how, contrary to Money's reports, Brenda did not identify as a girl. She was ostracized and bullied by peers, and neither frilly dresses nor female hormones made her feel female. By the age of 15, Brenda was experiencing suicidal depression, and told her parents she would commit suicide if they made her see John Money again. In 1980, Brenda's parents told her the truth about her gender reassignment, following advice from Brenda's [[endocrinologist]] and [[psychiatrist]]. At 13, Brenda decided to assume a male gender identity, calling herself David. After learning of the new relationship with his ex-sister, Brian began to experience a pattern of mental disturbance and later developed [[schizophrenia]]. By 1997, David had undergone treatment to reverse the reassignment, including testosterone injections, a double [[mastectomy]], and two [[phalloplasty]] operations. He also married a woman and became a stepfather to her 3 children.
His case came to international attention in 1997 when he told his story to [[Milton Diamond]], an academic [[sexology|sexologist]] who persuaded David to allow him to report the outcome in order to dissuade physicians from treating other infants similarly. Soon after, David went public with his story and John Colapinto published a widely disseminated and influential account in ''[[Rolling Stone]]'' magazine in December 1997.<ref>[http://infocirc.org/rollston.htm Colapinto, John; "The True Story of John/Joan."; ''Rolling Stone'', [[December 11]], [[1997]]: 54–97.]</ref> They went on to elaborate the story in a book, ''As Nature Made Him: The Boy Who Was Raised as a Girl''.<ref>Colapinto, John; ''As Nature Made Him: The Boy Who Was Raised as a Girl''; Harper Perennial; 2001; ISBN 0-06-092959-6 revised in 2006</ref>
==Death==
Although the book gave David Reimer more financial security, he had many other problems in his life, including a separation from his wife, severe problems with his parents, and the death of his twin brother Brian in 2002, from a toxic combination of alcohol and antidepressants.
After being told by his wife on the afternoon of [[May 4, 2004]] of her wish to separate, Reimer stormed out of the house without revealing where he was going. After he failed to return, his wife called the police to report him missing. The local authorities eventually located him, but told his wife that he did not want her to know where he was. Two hours later, they called again, informing her of his suicide. Reimer had returned home while she was out and retrieved a [[shotgun]], sawing off its barrel before leaving. On the morning of [[May 5, 2004|May 5]], he drove to the nearby parking lot of a grocery store, parked his car and fatally shot himself in the head.<ref>[http://slate.com/id/2101678/] Slate Article by John Colapinto on Reimer's suicide</ref>
==Social impact of David Reimer's story==
The report and subsequent book about Reimer influenced several medical practices and reputations, and even current understanding of the [[biology of gender]]. The case accelerated the decline of sex reassignment and surgery for unambiguous [[XY sex-determination system|XY]] male infants with [[micropenis]], various other rare congenital malformations, and penile loss in infancy (see [[intersexuality]].)
It supported the arguments of those who feel that prenatal and early-infantile [[hormone]]s have a strong influence on brain differentiation, gender identity and perhaps other [[sexual dimorphism|sex-dimorphic]] behavior. The applicability of this case to appropriate [[sex assignment]] in cases of intersex conditions involving severe deficiency of [[testosterone]] or [[androgen insensitivity syndrome|insensitivity]] to its effects is more uncertain. For some people, the inability to predict gender identity or preference in this case confirmed skepticism about doctors' abilities to do so in general, or about the wisdom of using [[genital reconstructive surgery]] to commit an infant with an intersex condition or genital defect to a specific [[gender role]] before the child is old enough to claim a gender identity.
The Intersex Society of North America, who opposes involuntary sex-reassignment, treats the story of David Peter Reimer as a cautionary tale about why one should not needlessly modify the genitals of unconsenting minors.<ref>[http://www.isna.org/ Intersex Society of North America | A world free of shame, secrecy, and unwanted genital surgery<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
Among the repercussions was damage to John Money's reputation. Not only had his theory of gender plasticity been dealt a severe blow, but Colapinto's book described bizarrely unpleasant childhood therapy sessions, and implied that Money had ignored or concealed the developing evidence that Brenda's reassignment was not going well. Money's defenders have suggested that some of the allegations about the therapy sessions may have been the result of [[False memory#False memory syndrome|false memory syndrome]].<ref name=GUnews>{{cite news | title=Being Brenda
|date=2004-05-12
| publisher=''Guardian Unlimited''
| url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,1214525,00.html
}} Retrieved [[December 19]], [[2005]]</ref>, but David's brother and mother both agreed that the therapy was simply and obviously not "working" in the sense that "Brenda" was in any way developing a female self-image<ref name=CBCnews>{{cite news | title=INDEPTH:David Reimer
|date=2004-05-10
| publisher = ''Canadian Broadcast Corporation''
| url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/reimer/
}}</ref>. Dr. Money never publicly stated that his conclusions were incorrect.
The reputation of Johns Hopkins Medical Center as an institution at the forefront of progressive care for people with intersex and [[transgender]] conditions was hurt as well. <!-- References needed for this passage: Despite the uniqueness of this case, many people cited it as evidence that physicians should not attempt to surgically treat the problems created by birth defects of the genitalia.--> Finally, theories of the malleability and cultural construction of gender identity, already falling out of academic fashion in the 1990s, became harder to defend, as the case was used by many to argue that "nature" trumped "nurture".{{Fact|date=November 2007}} Today most academics believe that a combination of brain differences as well as hormones are more important in determining gender identity than cultural influences.
==In popular culture==
* The "[[Boys will Be Girls]]" episode of ''[[Chicago Hope]]'' that aired on [[February 3]], [[2000]] was based on Reimer's life {{Fact|date=June 2007}}.
* Additionally, the [[Identity (Law & Order: Special Victims Unit)|"Identity"]] episode of ''[[Law & Order: Special Victims Unit]]'' that aired on [[January 18]], [[2005]] featured a male twin who had undergone sex reassignment therapy after an accident similar to David Reimer's and subsequent therapy by a psychiatrist reminiscent of Dr. Money (however, that episode ended with the murder of the doctor by one or both of the twins, who successfully tricked the police into being unable to tell which twin had committed the crime—effectively insulating both from prosecution).
* On the album ''[[Reunion Tour]]'' by the band [[The Weakerthans]] a song entitled "Hymn of the Medical Oddity" was inspired by the story of David Reimer.
* Television special "Born a Boy, Brought up a Girl" is based on his life.
==See also==
*[[Penectomy]]
*[[History of intersex surgery]]
==References==
{{reflist}}
* {{cite news | title=Sex: Unknown (transcript) |date=2001-10-30 | publisher=NOVA (TV series) | url=http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/transcripts/2813gender.html}}
==External links==
* Chalmers, Katie (May 10, 2004). "[http://canoe.ca/NewsStand/WinnipegSun/News/2004/05/10/453481.html Sad end to boy/girl life]", ''[[Winnipeg Sun]]''
*[http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/011/136eioki.asp Review of John Colapinto's book on David Reimer from "[[The Weekly Standard]]"]
* Colapinto, John (June 3, 2004). "[http://slate.com/id/2101678/ Gender gap: What were the real reasons behind David Reimer's suicide?]" [[Slate (magazine)|Slate]]
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/sn/tvradio/programmes/horizon/dr_money_prog_summary.shtml BBC documentary: "Dr Money and the Boy with No Penis"] shown (2007) in North America on TLC under the title ''Born a Boy, Brought Up a Girl''.
* [[CBC News|CBC]] online article ''David Reimer The boy who lived as a girl'' additional background information [http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/reimer]
* {{imdb name|id=1635172|name=David Reimer}}
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[[Category:1965 births]]
[[Category:2004 deaths]]
[[Category:Biology of gender]]
[[Category:Canadians of German descent]]
[[Category:Identical twins]]
[[Category:People from Winnipeg]]
[[Category:Suicides by firearm]]
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