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