He Lost His Penis as a Baby. The Solution Was Gender Reassignment

The tragic case of David Reimer's gender reassignment is a lesson in what determines gender identity.

Pexels | Photo by Magda Ehlers

*The following contains accounts of castration and sexual abuse. This week’s article is free to all subscribers due to the importance of having these discussions. If you enjoy this article, please share it with a friend or consider becoming a paid subscriber. Wednesday’s article is always free. Sunday’s article is for paid subscribers only.

It began as a simple infant circumcision. Identical twin boys Brian and Bruce (David) Reimer were diagnosed with phimosis — a congenital abnormality in which the foreskin of the penis does not retract. When phimosis is severe, it is often corrected with circumcision.

On April 27, 1966, the surgeon, Dr. Jean-Marie Huot, circumcised Bruce with a cautery machine. During the procedure, the machine malfunctioned, and Bruce's penis was burnt off. His twin brother Brian was spared the same fate.

Desperate for a solution, Mr. and Mrs. Reimer consulted Dr. John Money — a leading psychologist and pioneer in gender identity. Dr. Money advised the Reimers that their baby would lead a happier life if he was castrated (i.e., testes removed) and had a rudimentary vulva and vaginal canal constructed.

And with a wave of the let's play God wand, surgeons castrated Bruce at the age of two.

Bruce did not sign the consent form.

I know most of my male readers are now shifting uncomfortably in their seats, but we must remember gender identity beliefs in the 1960s were f*cked up. Most psychologists and sexologists taught that gender was learned from early childhood. Dr. Money took this theory a step further. He believed all humans were born "gender neutral" and could be molded and shaped by parental and cultural influences.

Basically, gender was like a Chia Pet. Throw the right seeds in the head and let them sprout the preferred gender.

Given these whacked beliefs, we can understand why Dr. Money salivated over Brian and Bruce Reimer. Identical twins share 100 percent of their DNA, so Money had the perfect case study. Brian was the control group. Bruce was the guinea pig.

What could go wrong?

Let's just say there's a reason David Reimer is still one of the most cited cases in the nature vs. nurture debate regarding gender.

After Bruce’s castration, Dr. Money consulted the Reimers on how to raise Bruce as a girl but warned them that they must follow one instruction —NEVER reveal the truth to Bruce about his gender reassignment.

So Bruce was renamed Brenda, and Mrs. Reimer dressed him in dresses and make-up.

Meanwhile, Dr. Money cajoled (a.k.a brainwashed) Brenda to accept her new identity in weekly therapy sessions.

As Brian and Brenda matured, Dr. Money basked in his gender reassignment success story and wrote a book on his "gender neutrality" theory. To conclude his case study, Dr. Money planned to have Brenda undergo a complete surgical sex change by age 13.

He had only one problem. Brenda refused to accept her new gender identity.

At first, Mrs. Reimer assumed Brenda was a Tom Boy who wanted to play with her brother's trucks instead of dolls. Brenda even preferred to pee standing up. But when feminizing Brenda didn't work, Dr. Money tried to coerce her to accept her new identity through unethical and abusive practices.

According to the twins, he forced them to look at and fondle each other's genitals while reenacting sexual positions. Then he took photos. If the twins resisted, Dr. Money berated them.

Today, Dr. Money's defenders claim that the twin's accounts were “false memories” – an accusation commonly used to discredit sexual abuse survivors.

Understandably, Brenda begged her parents to stop sending her to therapy sessions. Eventually, Brenda got so distressed that she threatened to kill herself if she was forced to continue her sessions with Dr. Money.

David Reimer. (2023, June 17). In Wikipedia | Fair Use

Finally, when Brenda was fifteen, his concerned father confessed the truth to the twins — Brenda had been born a boy.

Brenda decided immediately that he wanted to return to being a boy. So he changed his name to David and underwent surgery to reconstruct his penis. Although he could never have kids due to being castrated, he eventually married.

But his relationship with his twin brother suffered. Brian rejected his brother and was later diagnosed with schizophrenia.

During this time, Dr. Money publicly claimed his experiment was a success. He gave talks, and his work was well-respected in academia.

But As Money's fame grew, Brian had several mental breakdowns, and David appeared on Oprah calling Dr. Money “perverted.”

It was all too much for Brian. Sadly, Brian Reimer committed suicide when he was 37 years old.

His brother's suicide broke David.

And then David's wife asked for a separation. Two days later, David put a shotgun to his head. He was only 38.

Dr. Money never apologized to the Reimers. Money is still considered a pioneer in gender identity research.

“To despair over oneself, in despair to want to be rid of oneself, is the formula for all despair.” — Soren Kierkegaard

Today, sex is typically assigned at birth and based on genital appearance. Babies that have penises are boys. Babies that have vulvas and vaginas are girls. But sometimes, the genitalia is ambiguous, and a determination must be made.

Cases of gender reassignment at birth are rare but do occur. Infants with undeterminate genitals are often called intersex or given the medical nomenclature — "disorders of sex development (DSD)." (Hermaphrodite is considered a derogatory term unless applied in a historical context.)

DSD patients have a mismatch between their chromosomes and the appearance of their genitals. In other words, their genetic material doesn't match their outward appearance, or as the sexologist Harry Benjamin more eloquently articulated, "Sex is what you see, and gender is what you feel."

DSD patients don't feel what others see.

While culture undeniably influences gendered behavior, it is not as simple as raising a boy as a boy and a girl as a girl. If it were, we wouldn't be having these debates.

In Hindu philosophy, the soul (atman) carries more weight than the body (sarira). I agree. I have repeated it many times — all sex begins in the brain.

In David Reimer's case, gender also began in the brain.

Carlyn Beccia is an award-winning author and illustrator of 13 books. If you enjoyed this article, please share this publication with friends. Wednesday’s content is always free. Sunday’s content is available only for paid subscribers.