Stranger Than Fiction

I was watching a documentary tonight on TLC that reminded me of an episode I had once seen on Law and Order: SVU. The story was truly disturbing and heartbreaking all at once. It was was called Born a Boy, Raised a Girl. It was about a psychologist from Johns Hopkins University named John Money (aka John Colapinto), who went to great lengths to prove his theory that in the battle that is nature vs. nurture, nurture is the winner. He sought to experiment with real human beings to test his hypothesis. When a family came along with twin boys, he saw his chance. One of the boys suffered through a botched circumcision surgery on his genitals that destroyed his penis, so the good doctor told the parents that it was in his best interests to be raised as a girl. The parents naively took his word as gospel and followed his recommendations. After his sex was reassigned through surgical, hormonal, and psychological interventions, the young child's odyssey began. The young boy's name was changed from Bruce to Brenda. He was treated like a girl in every way. Until the age of seven, it seemed as though he his experiment was successful. His research became famous and the case came to be known as John/Joan.

The twins met with the doctor for annually for seven years. The girl began to struggle with her gender identity. So the doctor took it upon himself to use unorthodox and extreme methods to treat Brenda and her twin brother deal with their unique situation. In addition to being forced to look at pornographic photos, the siblings were encouraged to experiment with each other in front of the doctor. Needless to say, this was very traumatizing for them both. Neither child knew that Brenda was really a boy. Brenda was brought up to believe that she was a girl, despite her genital issues. It wasn't until they were thirteen and Brenda became suicidal, that their parents finally owned up to the terrible truth. Brenda was relieved and decided to make things right. He renamed himself David and never looked back. His twin brother, Brian, took things much harder and never fully recovered. It was believed that the therapy traumas coupled with shocking revelations about his brother, drove him mad. He became schizophrenic and eventually died an untimely death from drugs and alcohol.

David tried to move on from his childhood traumas and make a life for himself. He was sterile, so he could never father children of his own. However, he found love with a mother of three and all was well in his life for a time. The doctor published his findings as successful, even though it was all a big lie. When his twin brother died, David was pushed to the edge as well. After a series of events, he ended up committing suicide at age 38.

The tragic end to this tale truly shocked me. It such a stranger than fiction story that was true. The doctor was held partially responsible for the twin boys' demise, though I'm not sure what became of him. He was widely discredited for his scandalous techniques to simply prove a theory. It was sad that he couldn't just let the boys alone. The sad truth is that parents should've sought a second opinion before making such a drastic decision to raise their son as a boy. I saw another documentary on transgender children that exhibit a preference for all things not associated with their actual sex. I can understand that sort of situation to a point, but David/Brenda was a boy through and through, just an unfortunate surgical error put him in this predicament. It is sad that they suffered so much pain. I think the doctor should've just learned what the rest of us already pretty much know...nature and nurture work hand in hand to shape us as human beings. You can read more about David's story at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Reimer.