In 1966, 8-month old David Reimer was being circumcised at a Winnipeg hospital. During the procedure, a general practitioner filling in for the regular surgeon seared the boy’s penis with an electric cauterising machine. His penis was so badly burned that it eventually fell off.
David’s parents sought advice from Dr. John Money, a sex researcher at a Baltimore hospital. Money decided to use David as an experiment to prove that gender depends on how a child is raised.. Money claimed parental influences and society formed sexual identity. He suggested that the rest of David’s genitals be removed and that he be prescribed female hormones. David would live as a girl, it was determined. His name was changed to “Brenda” and his progress was compared with that of his identical twin, Brian. As they grew older, the differences between the two diminished. “I tried really hard to rear her as a gentle lady but it didn’t work,” said David’s mother.
Despite being dressed in girl’s clothing combined with years of counselling and therapy as well as hormone treatments, David insisted he was a boy. When David was 15-years-old, he learnt about the botched surgery from his father. From that point onward, he rejected further treatment, including an operation that was planned to create a vagina. David underwent surgery to remove his breasts and to construct a penis. He changed his name back to David and eventually went on to get married. He was never able to father children himself but became an outstanding stepfather.
His case created an upheaval in theories on sexual identity. Tragically, on the 4th of May, 2004, David committed suicide by shooting himself in the head.
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