The story of David Reimer

 Throughout this section we learn about not just sex and partner preferences but also about hormones such as androgens and estrogens. These hormones levels are different in each sex. Males tend to have higher levels and androgens, such as testosterone, and females tend to have higher levels of estrogens. A topic that is briefly discussed in module 11.2 is that of gender identity later followed by gender assignment and rearing. Our text briefly mentions (in the later section mentioned) the case that I am presenting to you today. I would like to warn you though the footage I have attached could cause you to become upset or disturb you.

Be it due to lack of technology or lack of Dr. Money's interest in hormones and the affect they have on determining sex it can be regarded that he crossed certain ethical boundaries that should not have been breached. As you can recall (if you read the chapter) the "differentiation of external genitals and several aspects of brain development depend mainly on the level of testosterone." (Kalat, et al, 2009) If this knowledge had been known Dr. Money's theory on rearing could have had a strong opposition. Yet no such information from my knowledge was available when Mr. Reimer's parents were looking for a solution to his situation.  We come to understand as this section progress' that childhood behavior is impacted by socialization but not just that alone. In a study by Alexander, Wilcox and Woods in 2009 infants (of both sexes) were placed in front of an array of toys ranging from either feminine (dolls, tea sets), masculine (toy trucks) or neutral toys (crayons, etc). The infants used in this study ranged from ages of 3 to 8 months old. The researchers were able to gauge preference by the amount of times each sex looked at either the female, masculine or neutral toys. The end result being that the girl infants looked more at the dolls whereas the boys looked at the trucks or neutral objects. Now that being said it is easier to understand why Brenda had such a great deal of inner turmoil when it came to dealing with being a girl. 

 There are a few more videos in regard to David Reimer and his life; which I encourage you to watch. Learning about his story not only appalled me but brought to my awareness what gender confusion could be like and I hope that you will think twice before judging someone because they might look like a certain sex but adopt lifestyles of the other.