Summary Of As Nature Made Him The Boy Who Was Raised As A Girl

We watched the documentary on As Nature Made Him: The Boy Who Was Raised as a Girl. This documentary was very interesting and sad at the same time. The documentary mainly focuses on the life of Bruce Reiner. Identical twin boys, Bruce and Brian Reiner, was born in the summer of 1965 to Janet Reiner. Months after birth, Bruce and Brian had some urinary problems. Both boys underwent a circumcision to correct the problem. However, the circumcision did not correct the problem for Bruce. Bruce was burned from a cauterization technique during the procedure, which resulted in his penis being destroyed accidently. His penis could not be reconstructed. Bruce's parents consulted with a psychologist by the name of John Money, who had a theory that environmental

The gender reassignment surgery involved Bruce’s testes being removed- a vagina was not made at this time. Dr. Money advised his parents to raise him as a girl and never tell anyone about the surgery, not even Bruce. Bruce was then given the name Brenda. Brenda’s parents treated him and raised him as a girl. There was never any discussion made regarding the surgery Brenda received as a toddler. Brenda and Brian went to yearly therapy sessions to follow up with their therapy. In later years, Dr. Money wrote and published an article about man/boy raised as a woman/girl. He never mentioned Brenda’s name in his report, but the report was about him. He left out a lot of identifying information. During the yearly check up, Brenda was always required to get naked and look at sexually explicit images. The doctor would even make Brian stand behind Brenda checking for sexual arousal. During childhood Brenda lived as a girl but still had male tendencies. She fought like boys, did not like baby dolls, and she still walked like a boy. Brenda took estrogen until

By the time she was a teenage, Brenda had begun looking like a boy and developed male features such as broad shoulders and a deep voice. Dr. Money then suggested to the family that Brenda have surgery for a vagina, but Brenda declined the surgery. After declining the surgery, the boy’s father decided to inform the boy of the family secret. Bruce was devastated and became depressed. Immediately, Bruce started calling himself a boy and going by the name David. He cut his hair, dressed and behaved like a boy. He had a mastectomy to remove his breast and refused to see Dr. Money ever again. His story became well-known by other doctors across the world in the medical community. Dr. Money denied access to his records and stories for a while then later published the full story with all details. David later had more surgeries to correct his genital problems. He got married and adopted children. He lived his life normally. His brother Brian suffered from schizophrenia and later killed his self by a drug overdose. Years later after his wife requested to be separated, David killed himself by gunshot; he suffered from depression. He was thirty-eight