Victim of childhood gender experiment takes own life -

[ElsewheresDaughter]

David Reimer was born a boy, but a psychologist convinced his parents to raise him as a girl. At age 38 he took his own life. Who's to blame for what went wrong?
http://www.planetout.com/news/article.html?date=2004/05/11/3David Reimer, a Canadian man who was raised as a girl in a controversial case that drew international attention to issues of gender and biology, took his own life last Tuesday.

According to press reports, Reimer, 38, had been depressed following a series of personal and professional setbacks, including the loss of his job, separation from his wife and the death of his identical twin brother two years ago.

Reimer's unusual gender history was the subject of a book, "As Nature Made Him: The Boy Who Was Raised a Girl," by journalist John Colapinto, and a 2001 PBS documentary film, "Sex: Unknown."

Born male in 1966 and named Bruce, Reimer and his identical twin brother, Brian, were circumcised at eight months old. Doctors botched Reimer's surgery, and later convinced his parents to fully castrate the boy and raise him as a girl. Bruce was renamed Brenda and subjected to numerous surgeries, hormone treatments and psychological conditioning to become a girl.

more....

JM&J :(

[soleft]

1. Oh man, I saw his story in a TV documentary

it was so incredibly sad, the psychologist who treated him was a complete fucked up bastard - subjected him and his brother to humiliating inappropriate examinations, I was really hoping this guy would be able to overcome this.

what a tragedy.

[Benhurst]

3. An unbelievably sad story.

May he rest in peace.

[roguevalley]

2. this is ghastly news. that quack doctor that treated him took gazillions

of pictures of him and his sister disrobed and 'doing things' to each other. Sounds sickening and pedophilic. He belongs in prison.

[bhunt70]

4. how horrible.

[Spazito]

5. This is very sad news...

I watched the documentary also and his interview. What was done to him was unconscionable, imo.

[hunter]

6. Whatever news I read today,

This is perhaps the worst.

[skypilot]

7. This is really sad.

I read that book and saw the documentary about him. I remember thinking that he looked as though he ws still having a very rough time of it despite the fact that he was married and seemed to be carrying on with his life. This is just a tragedy from beginning to end.

[nolabels]

8. Well that is sad, but on the other side of the globe they have this

India's first eunuch mayor unseated



India's eunuchs have long lived on the fringes of society


BY Charles Haviland
BBC correspondent in Delhi

The first eunuch mayor to have been elected in India has been unseated by a court over a disagreement about what sex she is.

Kamla Jaan has been mayor of Katni, in central India, since January 2000, and like other eunuchs in India, commonly refers to herself as "she".

But a judge has now ruled that this eunuch is in fact a man, and has no right to occupy a seat reserved for women under a quota system.

For two and a half years, Kamla Jaan has run the city of Katni with an iron hand.

She sank wells, fixed the drains and renovated the bus station.

She told the usual advisory council they weren't needed, and berated those who objected.

Treated with contempt

Kamla Jaan is one of India's so-called "third sex", who number several hundred thousand, and are mainly either castrated men or transvestites.
(snip)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/2224164.stm

I think the biggest tragedy was the contempt for the boys free will after it happened

[mzmolly]

9. Oh no this is so sad. His brother killed himself about a year ago.

I think the entire family suffered greatly.

[Skinner]

10. OH MY GOD. I can't believe it.

That is so sad.

I highly recommend the book about this guy: "As Nature Made Him: The Boy Who Was Raised a Girl." It's absolutely heartbreaking. An amazing work of nonfiction. It will really make you think very hard about the meaning of gender and sexual orientation. I could not put the book down.

I am so sorry to hear about this. Such a sad ending to a very sad story.

[mzmolly]

11. PS the link isn't working above... here it is again.

http://www.planetout.com/news/article.html?date=2004/05/11/3

[eridani]

12. Intersexed individuals should be left alone--

--until they are old enough to decide what, if anything, to do about it themselves.

Maybe one day it will be OK to answer the question "Is it a boy or a girl?" with "We don't know. S/he hasn't told us yet."

[LibLabUK]

14. Okay two things...

This chap wasn't inter-sex... he was accidentally injured during a circumcision and thereafter had gender reassignment.

It isn't actually a good thing to leave truely inter-sex children withh an undecided gender, psychologically nor from a surgical and medical standpoint.

The gender re-assignment surgery is much less difficult and traumatic when it is done in a newborn.

If I were you I wouldn't comment on things I didn't have the first clue about.

It is very sad news about this chap... I saw a BBC documentary on him recently and the troubles he had to go through were indeed heartbreaking.

[eridani]

15. I'm going by what I hear from intersexed people themselves

Agreed, the origninal subject was not intersexed--sorry for the diversion, as it really is a different issue.

http://www.itpeople.org/

[Cronus Protagonist]

17. I saw a documentary about intersexuals who did not have the operation

And they all agreed they wanted to stay just as they are. So I take issue with your comment that gender re-assignment surgery is in any way an acceptable "solution" for natural born intersexuals.

It is not. Nature knows best.

[Eye and Monkey]

16. I believe his problem came about due to botched circumcision.

on edit: sometimes I forget to read a couple posts down before I post.

[Devils Advocate NZ]

13. Ahh yes, the joys of male genital mutilation...

Whoever said circumcision was wrong?