As Nature Made Him : The Boy Who Was Raised as a GirlOther Selections By: John Colapinto Perennial
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- Author(s): John Colapinto
- Publisher: Perennial
- Release Date: 19 February, 2001
- Media: Paperback
- ISBN: 0060929596
- Sales Rank: 14,947
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Editorial
| Once you begin reading As Nature Made Him, a mesmerizing story of a medical tragedy and its traumatic results, you absolutely won't want to put it down. Following a botched circumcision, a family is convinced to raise their infant son, Bruce, as a girl. They rename the child Brenda and spend the next 14 years trying to transform him into a her. Brenda's childhood reads as one filled with anxiety and loneliness, and her fear and confusion are present on nearly every page concerning her early childhood. Much of her pain is caused by Dr. Money, who is presented as a villainous medical man attempting to coerce an unwilling child to submit to numerous unpleasant treatments. Reading over interviews and reports of decisions made by this doctor, it's difficult to contain anger at the widespread results of his insistence that natural-born gender can be altered with little more than willpower and hormone treatments. The attempts of his parents, twin brother, and extended family to assist Brenda to be happily female are touching--the sense is overwhelmingly of a family wanting to do "right" while being terribly mislead as to what "right" is for her. As Brenda makes the decision to live life as a male (at age 14), she takes the name David and begins the process of reversing the effects of estrogen treatments. David's ultimately successful life--a solid marriage, honest and close family relationships, and his bravery in making his childhood public--bring an uplifting end to his story. Equally fascinating is the latest segment of the longtime nature/nurture controversy, and the interviews of various psychological researchers and practitioners form a larger framework around David's struggle to live as the gender he was meant to be. --Jill Lightner |
Top Customer Reviews
 A STORY THAT PROVOKES EVERY EMOTION!
As one reads the true-life story of David Reimer, one will be affected by almost every emotion. There will be saddness for the horrifying life David was forced to live during his childhood, and relentless anger at Dr. John Money who, himself, should have been committed to a psychiatric facility or faced a hefty prison term for the acts committed upon David and his twin all in the name of treatment. How many of us could possibly imagine the emotional or physical horrors of being raised as the opposite sex of what one was born to be, to be stripped of your name, self-identity and all the charastictics that make you who you are as an individual? David tells his story in a manner that grips the reader's attention from page one and never lets go. One, however, will also be left with a sense of joy and peace as David miraculously finds his true self and puts the pieces of his life back together against all odds. A fascinating, though often difficult account to read, and definitely worth a rating of five-stars plus!
Best book so far this year!
I saw the subject of this book, David, interviewed on Oprah, and I had to read it! I finished it all in no time. The author has completely researched David's life, including the scientific/psychological debate surrounding his botched circumcision and being raised as a girl, in a manner easily understandable to those not professionals in these fields. Initially, his parents were horrified knowing that their son could never be a "normal" male after his botched circumcision and pinned all their hopes on one doctor to make him normal. It was heartbreaking to witness all the torture that he went through being raised a girl but acting more male than even his twin brother. Socially, this made him a pariah everywhere especially at school causing him to live most of his youth in misery and leading to depression and suicide attempts. This also caused more pain to his parents knowing that this experiment was failing but trusting the "famous" doctor, who recommended this sex reassignment, without question. Additionally, this book demonstrates the tendency of some social scientist researchers to take one side on the nature vs. nurture debate and to make their findings parallel their own beliefs. Dr. Money takes the cake in being so confident in his belief that children could be completely changed to either sex with the right environment that he ignored the torture it caused David and his family. If you are interested, even remotely, about the origin of sex roles, this is must read. I, myself, was a sociology major in college; therefore, I learned about this case in a gender class and loved every part of this book.
 Tragic story, indeed...
Incredible book, and one wonders how something like this could happen, but truth is stranger than fiction, they say. What makes this story incredibly sadder is that David committed suicide in May of this year, two years after his twin brother, Brian, died of a drug overdose. I can't imagine the sorrow that is felt by their parents... :(
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