David Reimer: Difference between revisions

Money and physicians working with young children born with [[intersex]] conditions believed that a penis could not be replaced but that a functional [[vagina]] could be constructed surgically. It was also the safest and most conventional pathway to take: Money told the parents it was what would be best for the boy.<ref name=BBCHealthCheck/><!-- the closest to this is Colapinto-2001 p.32: "it was easier for surgeons to construct a synthetic vagina than to create an artificial penis", but that source doesn't support the claim. --> Money also claimed that Reimer would be more likely to achieve successful, functional sexual maturation as a girl than as a boy.{{sfn|Colapinto|2001b}}{{page needed|date=June 2016}}{{Failed verification|date=June 2016|reason=cannot find a supporting quote for this in Colapinto-2001 (print copy) }} For Money, a case where identical twin boys were involved where one could be raised as a girl provided a perfect test of his theories.<ref name=bbc-horizon-tv-2000>{{cite episode |date=7 December 2000 |title=The Boy Who Was Turned into a Girl |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/horizon/2000/boyturnedgirl_transcript.shtml |series=[[Horizon (BBC TV series)|Horizon]] |publisher=BBC |access-date=19 May 2015}}</ref><ref name=bbc-horizon-tv-followup>{{cite episode |year=2005 |title=Dr Money and the Boy with No Penis |series=[[Horizon (BBC TV series)|Horizon]] |publisher=BBC |access-date=27 September 2014}}</ref>

 

 

==Later childhood and adolescence==

His case came to international attention in 1997 when he told his story to [[Milton Diamond]], an academic [[sexology|sexologist]] who persuaded Reimer to allow him to report the outcome in order to dissuade physicians from treating other infants similarly.{{sfn|Diamond|Sigmundson|1997}} Soon after, Reimer went public with his story and [[John Colapinto]] published a {{citation needed span |date=May 2018 |text=widely disseminated and influential}} account in ''[[Rolling Stone]]'' magazine in December 1997.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Colapinto |first=John |author-link=John Colapinto |year=1997 |title=The True Story of John/Joan |magazine=Rolling Stone |issue=775 |location=New York |publisher=Straight Arrow Publishers |pages=54–97 |issn=0035-791X}}</ref> The article won the [[National Magazine Awards|National Magazine Award]] for Reporting.{{sfn|Bockting|2010|p=378}}

 

 

In addition to his difficult lifelong relationship with his parents, Reimer had to deal with unemployment and the death of his brother Brian from an overdose of [[antidepressant]]s on 1 July 2002. On 2 May 2004 his wife Jane told him she wanted to separate. On the morning of 4 May 2004, Reimer drove to a grocery store's parking lot in his hometown of Winnipeg<ref name="LA Times"/> and took his own life by shooting himself in the head with a [[sawed-off shotgun]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Colapinto |first=John |author-link=John Colapinto |date=3 June 2004 |title=Gender Gap: What Were the Real Reasons behind David Reimer's Suicide? |url=http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/medical_examiner/2004/06/gender_gap.html |work=Slate |access-date=13 February 2009}}</ref> He was 38 years old.<ref name=nyt-obit>{{cite news |date=12 May 2004 |title=David Reimer, 38, Subject of the John/Joan Case |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/12/us/david-reimer-38-subject-of-the-john-joan-case.html |newspaper=The New York Times |agency=The Canadian Press |access-date=19 May 2015}}</ref> He was buried in St. Vital Cemetery in Winnipeg.<ref>{{cite web |title=St. Vital Cemetery Burial Search |url=http://www.winnipeg.ca/ppd/cemeteries/cemetery_stvital_alpha.stm |publisher=City of Winnipeg |access-date=7 May 2018}}</ref>

|issn=1940-5030

|access-date=7 May 2018

|ref=harv

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