Task #2: Terms
- Sex
- Gender
- Intersex
- Coming out
- Sexual orientation
- Gender expression
- Gender Identity
Task #4:
Summary:
Bruce and Brian Reimer were born as twin brothers on August 22, 1965. Both babies were healthy but yet without even knowing yet, both babies were going to have a very hard life. Seven months after birth, the twins went to the hospital to get the routine circumcision. Bruce was the first of the twins to undergo this procedure. During the procedure an unexpected accident occurred during the process. Unfortunately, Bruce's penis was burnt off due to an electrical malfunction. The doctors informed the parents of the situation and the parents were unsure of what was to come. They had a major choice to make on how to raise their child from there. They continued to raise Bruce as a boy until they saw a show about transgender people. The parents then decided that they wanted to raise Bruce as a girl and renamed her Brenda. Brenda went 13 years not knowing her true identity. Her parents also kept this information from her twin brother, Brian. The one rule the parents agreed upon was that they were not allowed to tell Brenda about her true identity. They came to this conclusion because doing so might ruin the idea she has about her gender identity. Gender identity refers to a person’s sense of oneself as a male, female, or transgender. This struggle is what Brenda went through her whole childhood. Although she looked like a girl, she still enjoyed playing with boy toys such as trucks and legos. As she began to grow up, Brenda became more and more of what society calls a tomboy, in the way she looked and the way she expressed herself. This is called Gender expression, which refers to the way a person acts to communicate gender within a given culture. Since, Brenda was dressing in more boy like clothing, she was viewed as more of a tomboy than a girl. This idea comes with the struggle she was going through with the differences between her sex and gender. The sex of a person is indicated by his or her biological status, meaning male, female, or intersex. On the other hand, gender is defined as the attitudes, feelings, and behaviors that a given culture associated with a person's biological gender. In Brenda's case, she did not go into any of the set categories, or definitions. She fell mostly under the category of intersex because it refers to a variety of conditions in which a person is born with a reproductive or sexual anatomy that doesn't seem to fit the typical definitions of a female or a male. Brenda best fit in this description because she was born a boy, but the accident made her lose the male reproductive anatomy. This then means that she would not be considered a boy anymore she would be considered a girl. When the parents Reimer children were informed that the twins about the true identity of Brenda, they were the ones that persuaded the coming out. Coming out is when one acknowledges and accepts their own sexual orientation. Because Brenda was only 13 years old when she was told about the tragic procedure, she was not quite old enough to know which sex she was most attracted to. This is problem comes because she does not know her own sexual orientation. Brenda later changed her name to David. He lived a normal life after his childhood of confusion. He ended up getting surgery to reconstruct the male anatomy. He also, got married and because of that was able to become a father by legally adopting his wife’s children. Even with being able to have a normal life, David began to slowly slip into depression. This happened because he felt like he was unable to please his wife. Although they did not get a divorce, his wife wanted to take a break. Along with that and many other factors is what pushed David to take his life by putting a bullet through his head. David’s life ended on May 5, 2004.
Contributions to the World of Psychology and Dr. Money's role in David's live:
David's story brought a lot of interest in the psycology world. Twin studies already caught psycologist's attention however, David's story was the perfect way to compare nature versus nurture. His developmental study was pursued by the psycologist named Doctor John Money. Dr. Money took up this experiement to see if nature would be able to outdo nurture throughout David's life. He observed the way David would interact with other children and adults along with the way he would play including the toys he played with.
Did Dr. Money help or hurt the process? Explain:
In my opinion, Dr. Money did not help the process for David. Instead he made it more difficult to go through. Throughout David's development, Dr. Money's experiments weren't logical. Showing David nude photo's of women at that young of an age only frightened him and make him timid. Also, when Dr. Money made both twins take off their clothes and photographed them in sexual positions on the counch did not only show their differences on what makes them a boy and a girl. I also was uncalled for in the sense of how the twins were very young and only made the twins want to distance themselves from him. Although David did learn the observable difference between a boy and a girl, his experiments did not help the process. Dr. Money just wanted to help his career and show that he has a successful theory and experiment.
Summary:
Bruce and Brian Reimer were born as twin brothers on August 22, 1965. Both babies were healthy but yet without even knowing yet, both babies were going to have a very hard life. Seven months after birth, the twins went to the hospital to get the routine circumcision. Bruce was the first of the twins to undergo this procedure. During the procedure an unexpected accident occurred during the process. Unfortunately, Bruce's penis was burnt off due to an electrical malfunction. The doctors informed the parents of the situation and the parents were unsure of what was to come. They had a major choice to make on how to raise their child from there. They continued to raise Bruce as a boy until they saw a show about transgender people. The parents then decided that they wanted to raise Bruce as a girl and renamed her Brenda. Brenda went 13 years not knowing her true identity. Her parents also kept this information from her twin brother, Brian. The one rule the parents agreed upon was that they were not allowed to tell Brenda about her true identity. They came to this conclusion because doing so might ruin the idea she has about her gender identity. Gender identity refers to a person’s sense of oneself as a male, female, or transgender. This struggle is what Brenda went through her whole childhood. Although she looked like a girl, she still enjoyed playing with boy toys such as trucks and legos. As she began to grow up, Brenda became more and more of what society calls a tomboy, in the way she looked and the way she expressed herself. This is called Gender expression, which refers to the way a person acts to communicate gender within a given culture. Since, Brenda was dressing in more boy like clothing, she was viewed as more of a tomboy than a girl. This idea comes with the struggle she was going through with the differences between her sex and gender. The sex of a person is indicated by his or her biological status, meaning male, female, or intersex. On the other hand, gender is defined as the attitudes, feelings, and behaviors that a given culture associated with a person's biological gender. In Brenda's case, she did not go into any of the set categories, or definitions. She fell mostly under the category of intersex because it refers to a variety of conditions in which a person is born with a reproductive or sexual anatomy that doesn't seem to fit the typical definitions of a female or a male. Brenda best fit in this description because she was born a boy, but the accident made her lose the male reproductive anatomy. This then means that she would not be considered a boy anymore she would be considered a girl. When the parents Reimer children were informed that the twins about the true identity of Brenda, they were the ones that persuaded the coming out. Coming out is when one acknowledges and accepts their own sexual orientation. Because Brenda was only 13 years old when she was told about the tragic procedure, she was not quite old enough to know which sex she was most attracted to. This is problem comes because she does not know her own sexual orientation. Brenda later changed her name to David. He lived a normal life after his childhood of confusion. He ended up getting surgery to reconstruct the male anatomy. He also, got married and because of that was able to become a father by legally adopting his wife’s children. Even with being able to have a normal life, David began to slowly slip into depression. This happened because he felt like he was unable to please his wife. Although they did not get a divorce, his wife wanted to take a break. Along with that and many other factors is what pushed David to take his life by putting a bullet through his head. David’s life ended on May 5, 2004.
Contributions to the World of Psychology and Dr. Money's role in David's live:
David's story brought a lot of interest in the psycology world. Twin studies already caught psycologist's attention however, David's story was the perfect way to compare nature versus nurture. His developmental study was pursued by the psycologist named Doctor John Money. Dr. Money took up this experiement to see if nature would be able to outdo nurture throughout David's life. He observed the way David would interact with other children and adults along with the way he would play including the toys he played with.
Did Dr. Money help or hurt the process? Explain:
In my opinion, Dr. Money did not help the process for David. Instead he made it more difficult to go through. Throughout David's development, Dr. Money's experiments weren't logical. Showing David nude photo's of women at that young of an age only frightened him and make him timid. Also, when Dr. Money made both twins take off their clothes and photographed them in sexual positions on the counch did not only show their differences on what makes them a boy and a girl. I also was uncalled for in the sense of how the twins were very young and only made the twins want to distance themselves from him. Although David did learn the observable difference between a boy and a girl, his experiments did not help the process. Dr. Money just wanted to help his career and show that he has a successful theory and experiment.