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Ron And Janet Reimer: Documentary Analysis

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In 1965, a young couple in Canada, Ron and Janet Reimer, had two healthy twin boys. When the babies were eight months old, they went to have circumcisions performed. However, a freak accident occurred and baby Bruce Reimer’s penis was almost completely burned off by an electric machine. Bruce was badly injured and his parents were concerned how this accident would affect him in the future. One night while watching television in 1967, the parents saw hope when they saw Dr. John Money, a Harvard graduate and Ph.D. who was working out of John Hopkins, talk about success with sex change operations, and the how easily his patients were having with their new genders. The parents decided that they would have baby Bruce undergo a sex change and …show more content…

David had also lost all his money in a bad investment and was unemployed at the age of 38. His marriage underwent a strain and when his wife suggested a temporary separation, David became very upset and saddened. He left his parents’ home one day took a shot gun with him and killed himself.
My opinion on this documentary is the parents wanted the best for their child, however, they did not think about the long term effects not just physically but also emotionally and mentally. There was no need to castrate David when they could have reconstructed his penis like they eventually did anyway. Brenda/David was definitely having a gender identity crisis and could not understand why. This experiment proved that gender is something biological.
Brenda was facing a gender identity disorder. Gender identity disorder (GID) or transsexualism is defined by strong, persistent feelings of identification with the opposite gender and discomfort with one 's own assigned sex. People with GID desire to live as members of the opposite sex and often dress and use mannerisms associated with the other gender. For instance, a person identified as a boy may feel and act like a girl. This is distinct from homosexuality in that homosexuals nearly always identify with their apparent sex or gender. (Psychology Today,

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