soci011 - sex unknown

Soci111 Human Societies

At the time that Bruce's Reimer's penis was destroyed in the circumcision accident, what reasons did John Money have for believing that Bruce's sex could be "reassigned" and the child raised successfully as a girl? (Hint: evaluate the role of surgical treatment of hermaphrodite children with an "intersex condition".)
What reasons did critics of the "social construction" model of sexual identity, such as Milton Diamond, have for doubting that sex could be "reassigned" surgically and a child raised in a sex other than the biological one? (Hint: evaluate the role of animal research that revealed the hormonal determination of sexual behavior in utero, and the discovery of a region of the hypothalamus that differs between men and women in humans.)
Did the childhood development of Bruce/Brenda Reimer support the social-constructionist or biological model of the determination of sexual identity?
Speculate as to the reasons why John Money continued to publish articles presenting the experiment as a success story, even though "Brenda's" life was falling apart and it was becoming clear that he was rejecting a female identity.
If this episode had happened to you personally (i. e., if you were in David Reimer's place), what would you do (different from what he has done)?
Overall, what does this program tell us about the relative importance of "nature" versus "nurture" concerning the specific issue of the determination of sexual identity?

David Reimer committed suicide on 5 May 2004 at the age of 38. There is an excellent article on his life, with additional links, on Wikipedia at

Created 27 Feb 2002; last modified 19 Sep 2006