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David Peter Reimer, whose turbulent life story had been featured in the bestselling book "As Nature Made Him" by John Colapinto, passed away on Tuesday, May 4. He was 38 year old when he committed suicide. Reimer was the subject of John Money's notorious "John/Joan" experiment when he was surgically re-assigned female after a circumcision accident destroyed his penis. Money went on to report that the patient was well-adjusted as female, hence proving his theory that babies are born gender-neutral and can be manipulated into living as a boy or a girl; however, follow-up investigation by Milton Diamond and others exposed that Reimer never felt at peace with being female and changed back into living as a man when he found out the truth and was old enough to do so.
The Canadian Press reports: "David recently slumped into a depression after losing his job and separating from his wife. He was also still grieving the death of his twin brother two years earlier, their mother said." Janet Reimer, the mother, said she would "remember her son as 'the most generous, loving soul that ever lived'" despite his lifelong struggle with confusion and trauma caused by Money's experiment. Janet partly blames Money's experiment for David's death.
The family asks those grieving his untimely death to make donations to the Children's Wish Foundation, 350 St. Mary Avenue, Winnipeg, R3C 3J2, Canada.
(Note: Intersex Initiative withheld this story for two days, but chose to publish it when a slew of media outlets began reporting the story.)
Posted by Emi on May 10, 2004