As Nature Made Him: The Boy Who Was Raised as a Girl

This is a biographical account of the life of David Reimer. David, one of a set of twins, was initially assigned male at birth, but after a seriously mishandled circumcision, was raised as a female. However, in his teen years, David rejected the female identity that had been forced on him. At birth and during the time he was being raised as a girl, David was given different names (known as deadnames). However, out of respect for his choices and his struggle, this article will only use his correct, chosen name: David.

The decision to proceed with this drastic undertaking was the brainchild of then-eminent psychologist Dr. John Money of Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland. David’s family initially followed Dr. Money’s advice, but came to support David in his teenage years in his quest to reclaim his male identity. As Nature Made Him predominantly follows the life and struggles of David and his family through David’s teenage years. The book also highlights the significant impact of Dr. Money’s exploititive experimentation and reporting on the global medical community. It critiques his use of the twins in his exploration of the impacts of nature versus nurture on the development of gender identity.

As a young person forced to live as a girl, David experienced isolation, bullying, and struggled to adjust to the assigned female identity. His family also suffered through Dr. Money’s experiment and its impacts on David. Dr. Money’s lack of empathy or willingness to see the struggles of this family was nothing short of catastrophic. Worse still was his determination to portray the results of his experiment as a success to the scientific and medical community.

This recounting is an important reminder of the dangers of hubris amongst scientific professionals. Dr. Money’s refusal to recognize the warning signs of failure of this “experiment” led to years of further surgical interventions on intersex infants to give them what he considered to be normatively appropriate genitals based on his faulty research. David’s ultimate death by suicide only further underlines the importance of advocacy for intersex individuals. As educators strive to support trans and Queer youth, this story is a stark reminder that gender, while a construct, is the sole discretion of the individual—in David’s case, no amount of nurture could change the gender identity he knew was his.

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Book Review by Dr. Stacey Deneka (she/her)
Teacher, District 17, Simcoe

Harper Perennial, 2000.