The man who invented gender identity
John William Money (July 8, 1921 – July 7, 2006) was a New Zealand-born sexologist and author known for his controversial theories about sexual identity and biology of gender. Money first used the term “gender” as a human characteristic. Money introduced the terms gender identity, gender role and sexual orientation and popularised the term paraphilia, a condition characterized by abnormal sexual desires, typically involving extreme or dangerous activities.
Money established the first clinic in the United States to perform sexual reassignment surgeries on both infants and adults. He spent a considerable amount of his career in the United States.
A 1997 academic study criticised Money's work, particularly in regard to the involuntary sex-reassignment of the child David Reimer. Reimer committed suicide at 38 and his brother died of an overdose at 36. Some of Money's therapy sessions involved sexual activity between the two brothers.
David Reimer, born Bruce Reimer, was Money's most famous case and was fundamentally flawed. In 1966, a botched circumcision left eight-month-old Reimer without a penis. Money persuaded the baby's parents that sex reassignment surgery would be in Reimer's best interest. At the age of 22 months, Reimer underwent an orchiectomy, in which his testicles were surgically removed. He was reassigned to be raised as female and his name changed from Bruce to Brenda. Money further recommended hormone treatment. Money then recommended a surgical procedure to create an artificial vagina, which the parents refused. Money published a number of papers reporting the reassignment as successful.
According to David Reimer's biography, starting when Reimer and his twin Brian were six years old, Money showed the brothers pornography and forced the two to rehearse sexual acts, with David playing the bottom role as Brian "[pressed] his crotch against" David's buttocks. Money also forced the two children to strip for "genital inspections,", inspect each others genitals and would even photograph the twins doing these acts.
For several years, Money reported on Reimer'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. Though his claim was not true, Money continued to misrepresent the results as a success for decades. By the time this was discovered, the idea of a purely socially constructed gender identity and infant Intersex medical interventions had become accepted theory in some circles, and is widely promoted by academics in the educational field, teachers unions and members of the Democratic Party today.
At 14 years old and in extreme psychological agony, Reimer was finally told the truth by his parents. He chose to begin calling himself David, and he underwent surgical procedures to revert the female bodily modifications to normal.
David Reimer's 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 in Rolling Stone magazine in December 1997. 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 ostracised and bullied by peers (who dubbed him "cavewoman"), and neither frilly dresses nor female hormones made him feel female.
On July 1, 2002, Brian was found dead from an overdose of antidepressants. On May 4, 2004, after suffering years of severe depression, financial instability, and marital troubles, David committed suicide by shooting himself in the head with a sawed-off shotgun at the age of 38. Reimer's parents have stated that Money's methodology was responsible for the deaths of both of their sons.
Among those who have criticized Money are intersex activists, stating that the unreported failure had led to the surgical reassignment of thousands of infants as a matter of policy.
Money established the first clinic in the United States to perform sexual reassignment surgeries on both infants and adults. He spent a considerable amount of his career in the United States.
A 1997 academic study criticised Money's work, particularly in regard to the involuntary sex-reassignment of the child David Reimer. Reimer committed suicide at 38 and his brother died of an overdose at 36. Some of Money's therapy sessions involved sexual activity between the two brothers.
David Reimer, born Bruce Reimer, was Money's most famous case and was fundamentally flawed. In 1966, a botched circumcision left eight-month-old Reimer without a penis. Money persuaded the baby's parents that sex reassignment surgery would be in Reimer's best interest. At the age of 22 months, Reimer underwent an orchiectomy, in which his testicles were surgically removed. He was reassigned to be raised as female and his name changed from Bruce to Brenda. Money further recommended hormone treatment. Money then recommended a surgical procedure to create an artificial vagina, which the parents refused. Money published a number of papers reporting the reassignment as successful.
According to David Reimer's biography, starting when Reimer and his twin Brian were six years old, Money showed the brothers pornography and forced the two to rehearse sexual acts, with David playing the bottom role as Brian "[pressed] his crotch against" David's buttocks. Money also forced the two children to strip for "genital inspections,", inspect each others genitals and would even photograph the twins doing these acts.
For several years, Money reported on Reimer'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. Though his claim was not true, Money continued to misrepresent the results as a success for decades. By the time this was discovered, the idea of a purely socially constructed gender identity and infant Intersex medical interventions had become accepted theory in some circles, and is widely promoted by academics in the educational field, teachers unions and members of the Democratic Party today.
At 14 years old and in extreme psychological agony, Reimer was finally told the truth by his parents. He chose to begin calling himself David, and he underwent surgical procedures to revert the female bodily modifications to normal.
David Reimer's 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 in Rolling Stone magazine in December 1997. 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 ostracised and bullied by peers (who dubbed him "cavewoman"), and neither frilly dresses nor female hormones made him feel female.
On July 1, 2002, Brian was found dead from an overdose of antidepressants. On May 4, 2004, after suffering years of severe depression, financial instability, and marital troubles, David committed suicide by shooting himself in the head with a sawed-off shotgun at the age of 38. Reimer's parents have stated that Money's methodology was responsible for the deaths of both of their sons.
Among those who have criticized Money are intersex activists, stating that the unreported failure had led to the surgical reassignment of thousands of infants as a matter of policy.
