Nature or Nurture: the Case of the Boy Who Became a Girl

NATIONAL CENTER FOR CASE STUDY TEACHING IN SCIENCE

Nature or Nurture:

The Case of the Boy Who

Became a Girl

by

Keith K. Schillo

Biology Department

SUNY College at Oneonta

Part I – A Tragic Error

In 1965, Janet Reimer of Winnepeg gave birth to twin boys named Bruce and Brian (Colapinto, 2004; CBC, 2004).

Both infants were normal and healthy, but because they had difficulty urinating doctors recommended that they

undergo circumcision (i.e., surgical removal of the foreskin of the penis) at six months of age. Although this is a

routine operation, the doctors who performed this procedure used an unconventional method that resulted in the

destruction of Bruce’s penis. Mr. and Mrs. Reimer sought the advice of numerous specialists, but all agreed that Bruce

would have to live without a penis.

At the time that the Reimers were coping with the mutilation of their son’s genitalia, a Johns Hopkins University

psychologist was receiving considerable attention for his ideas on the biology of gender and sexuality. He promoted

the theory that a child’s gender identity (i.e., the identification of the self as male or female) was determined by

environmental variables such as the social conditions in which the child is raised. This idea is a form of the “nurture

theory” of development. A competing view is the so-called “nature theory”; that is, the idea that a person’s innate

qualities are determined solely by biological mechanisms.

The psychologist was essentially advocating the view that a feminine identity could be developed simply by rearing a

child as a girl. This possibility, together with the fact that the surgical construction of a vagina is less risky and less

difficult than construction of a penis, compelled the Reimers to explore the possibility of changing Bruce’s gender and

raising him as a girl. The Reimers arranged an appointment with the Johns Hopkins psychologist who concluded that

Bruce was an ideal candidate for gender re-assignment. At...