Thee John/Joan Case PDF

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A brief critique of the mysterious case of John Money....

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The John/Joan Case: David Reimer’s Story

Experimental Psychology

The John/Joan Case: David Reimer’s Story 1. Research Problem/ Purpose of the Study In the midst of 1960, although the toddler twins who named Brian and Bruce were born healthy, they faced difficulty in urination. Both undergone circumcisions yet for Bruce, it ended up as a mishap due to the result of a burnt off penis. This damage made his parents sought for advices and ended up to the suggestion of a psychologist, John Money. Interestingly, the said expert was having a study that adheres to the ‘nurture theory,” a condition in which children, regardless of their biological components could be shaped by exposing them solely to the environment in which they will grow to. 2. Method/Data Collection Activity Sampling Strategies The sampling strategy of the study was a convenient one under the nonprobability sampling. Convenience Sampling is where the subjects of the study participated by chance and due to their accessibility. Data Collection Forms Upon rearing the child, the advice of John Money to Mr. and Mrs. Reimer was to upbring Bruce as Brenda. With their agreement, Bruce, the experimental subject, must not know his genuine and biological sex. Having this, his penis was already removed at the young age and when he stepped in adolescence, he was inserted with female hormones. Brenda was also encouraged to wear feminine clothes, act like a girl and play with biologically born females. John Money used

to meet Benda along with her brother, Brian (control subject) and compared each other’s behavior and inconsiderately, to track the progress of the experiment. According to Bruce, after finding out the truth, John Money would force him and his brother to re-enact sexual intercourse to rekindle their arousal. They were also to observe each other’s genitals in front of Money and along with his six co-workers. Data Collection Issues Having a piled up of unethical actions executed by the researcher, first in the list would be the beneficence and non-maleficence. Dr. Money with his unwanted and seemingly self-serving goals, he had put to risk the whole life of Bruce. All throughout, he suffered from gender dysphoria and suicidal attempts. Another one is deception and full-disclosure. The parents only knew that there was no way for them to mend the burnt off genital organ of their child. Additionally, Money would mask himself with a nice demeanor to the parents yet allegedly abused the children during their check-ups especially when the children refused. Obviously, if it were not for the confrontation of his father when Bruce was 14, he would never know his real identity. That being said, the violation for justice and respect people’s right and dignity is concerned. Lastly, the professional and scientific responsibility to society was compromised. For the sake of knowledge, Money claimed the fraud success of his study, claiming that nurture has a great access to one’s behavior and personality. However, in the case of Bruce, even before pre-school, he had already the desire to think, feel and act like a man. According to the Oprah Winfrey show where

they got the chance for interrogation, Bruce’s mother would say that Brenda was a “tomboy,” a girl who associates his personality with boys. 3. Results When Brenda found out the truth about him, he decided to take the name of David and undergone mastectomy, this surgery targets the re-formation of his original sex organ. The Reimer’s parents also accused the doctor for the psychological trauma possessed by their children. On the other side, Money concluded that his study was a success yet it was disapproved when David, his subject, confronted that he did not felt like a real woman. Although David was broken free from the continuation of the study, the depression and crisis that he faced still continued. Living the life of a real man, he had a wife and became a step father of three children. However, at the age of 38, David committed suicide.

4. Conclusions The researcher’s claim was rejected, this means that the gender preference and identity of a person is not malleable to what the society dictates. Although David was inserted with female hormones and his sexual organ was re-arranged, it was seen to his testimony that the unexplainable desire to be a man was already felt in his childhood.

References OWN. ( 2018, September 24). Why the Boy Who Was Raised as a Girl Forgave His Mother | The Oprah Winfrey Show | OWN [Video]. Youtube. Taken from https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=eQJHPQpf6mI Keith K. Schillo. (n.d.). Nature or Nurture: The Case of the Boy Who Became a Girl. https://sciencecases.lib.buffalo.edu/cs/files/gender_reassignment.pdf Gaetano, P. (2017). David Reimer and John Money Gender Reassignment Controversy: The John/Joan Case. https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/7304/14aa72fd05566574c1f72afa836f9b0fd28c.pdf Convenient Sampling. Taken from https://explorable.com/convenience-sampling...