Transgender Book Reviews
As Nature Made Him: The Boy Who Was Raised as a Girl
Non-fiction by John Colapinto
Copyright 2000, 279 pages, $26.00
HarperCollins Publishers
ISBN 0-06-019211-9 (Hardcover)
Capsule: What starts out as a simple expose of a famous sexologist's desire to play God ends up embracing the entire subject of gender assignment and what to do with intersexuals -- those born with ambiguous sexual organs and genitalia. In 1979, identical twin boys were born in Canada. After one lost his penis due to a surgical accident, a decision was made to raise the boy as a girl through conditioning and surgery (a decision heavily influenced by famed Johns Hopkins psychologist Dr. John Money). Although Money proclaimed the classic identical-twins case a success, the experiment eventually came to be seen as a failure, and the artificial girl reverted to manhood. This revelation along with others has begun to change the medical community's views about arbitrary gender assignments.
Full review:
Some years back, a TV ad began by saying teasingly, "You can't fool Mother Nature." The point of the ad was that a brand of margarine had done just that, convincing Mother Nature that she had eaten real butter. The commercial ended with "Butter ... no, better. Butter ... no, better."
* * * * * Although As Nature Made Him is straight-ahead, factual reporting and begins with the problems of an ordinary Canadian family, this story eventually becomes a full-blown Greek tragedy. There's a baby boy who loses his penis while his twin brother is spared. The distraught parents beseech the gods for help and one of them obligingly descends from the clouds.
This god, Dr. John Money of Johns Hopkins University, promises that the boy will be happier as a girl, so this is magically done. God assures the parents that if they dress and raise the child as a girl, the magic will hold. As the girl grows, though, she feels secrets are being kept from her -- especially about her origin.
And too, she beats up on boys.
Gods don't admit to failure easily, and Dr. Money continues to promote his powers. Mere mortals have always been impressed by the godlike ability to change one's sex, so other indeterminate children, too, are turned from boys into girls and vice versa.
But all is not well on Mt. Olympus. Lesser gods begin to poke holes in Money's power, saying his magic hasn't worked, that gender is pretty much set at birth, and no amount of surgery or nurturing will change that. Penises don't necessarily make the man, they say. The god is dethroned and partly banished, but is unrepentant and continues to fire bolts of lightning.
According to this book, Mother Nature does know the difference.
* * * * * Dr. John Money is put to the fire by this book. Although the author's writing is factual and even-tempered, the evidence of Money's misconduct is bound to make readers boil. If Money has any redeeming qualities, the book fails to point them out.
Here's a sophisticated, eloquent man who had a devoted professional following, whose ideas about gender and sex were often taken as gospel, and who authored well-known books such as Sexual Signatures; Man and Woman -- Boy and Girl; and Lovemaps.
A native of New Zealand, Money early on was attracted to the study of hermaphrodites (intersexuals). In his early doctoral dissertation at Harvard, he reached the conclusion that people with ambiguous genitalia, when allowed to follow their own chosen courses (to be male or female or in-between, and to have surgery or not) ended up surprisingly well-adjusted. Some time after that, though, when doing research at Johns Hopkins, Money reversed himself by concluding that very young individuals with genital ambiguity could be arbitrarily assigned as either male or female, with upbringing (nurture) and creation of the needed genitalia determining gender identity.
As the book puts it, by this time Dr. John Money "was known as the world's undisputed authority on the psychological ramifications of ambiguous genitalia and was making headlines around the world for his establishment of the pioneering Johns Hopkins clinic for transsexual surgeries."
* * * * * In the case of Bruce/Brenda Reimer that the book revolves around, Money's theories were not applied to a hermaphrodite, but to a normal baby boy whose penis had been destroyed in a botched circumcision. After doctors in Winnipeg weren't of much help, little Bruce's parents took Dr. John Money's advice (they had seen him on TV) by agreeing to surgical castration and raising Brenda in every way as a girl.
For years, Money used the classic Bruce/Brenda case (psychologically important because her identical twin, Brian, could be used as a control) as a shining example of how genital construction, upbringing and environment cemented gender identity. The case was used by feminists who sought to minimize differences between men and women, and it was quoted in other authors' sexual/gender books of note. Money also promoted his theories through appearances on popular TV shows.
Once a year Brenda's parents took her and her brother from Winnipeg to Baltimore for Dr. Money to examine. His sessions with them grew to be contentious and even bizarre. At one, he is reported to have had Brian simulate copulation with his sister, because of his theory that children need to act out adult sex to enhance their gender identification. Brenda grew fearful and apprehensive around Money, and he became ever more strident and demanding. (Money is depicted as a kind of try-everything, sexual Timothy Leary. On the flip side, he's cast as a scientist less interested in the facts than his own power and fame, capable of becoming profane and violent.)
The toll on Brenda's young, unpretentious Canadian family was extreme. Brenda didn't walk and act like a typical girl and was teased by schoolmates. In fact, she was more aggressive and likely to fight back than her own brother. Her schoolwork suffered and she became nervous and withdrawn. Brenda and her brother at one time or another attempted suicide. Her father began to drank to excess. Her mother had to be hospitalized. They moved to British Columbia and back. Eventually, due to Brenda's refusals to visit Money and to have further surgery, they ended the trips to John Hopkins.
The happy outcome that Money had painted in the media and described to his counterparts began to unravel. First, TV media began to smell something fishy, did some sleuthing, and obtained unflattering interviews with the family. Another researcher, Dr. Milton Diamond, an early Money critic, became interested in following up on the case and published a contradictory report in a respected medical journal. Finally, John Colapinto was entrusted with telling their story, first in a Rolling Stone article, and then in this book.
It's important to note Brenda of her own accord reverted to a male at age 14, had hormone-induced breasts removed and an artificial penis created, and is now married and a stepfather.
* * * * * As Nature Made Him provides riveting reading. One learns how psycho-physical theories, when carried to their logical conclusions without critical review, can damage lives. One also learns how, through politics and infighting, the medical handling of intersexual people (estimated to be .5 to 1.5 percent of the population) is slowly evolving from the dark ages.
(Reviewed by Valory Gravois) (Copyright ©2000 Alchemist/Light Publishing)
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