In 1965 identical twin brothers were born in Canada
7 months later circumcision Bruce lost his penis
Parents had heard of Dr. Money as pioneer in the field of sexual development and gender identity they decided to send Bruce to see Dr. Money
Dr. Money saw that raising Bruce as a girl could be perfect test of his theory of gender neutrality Bruce was subjected into gender reassignment
His parents were told to raise him as a girl, but not to reveal this information to anyone
Evidence that individuals are not gender neutral at birth psychosexual development is not determined by genitalia or upbringing chromosomes and hormones affect the most (Milton Diamond in 1997)
Study had many ethical problems
Large change in the plan
However, Brenda didn't behave like a girl. She in example rejected girls' toys and clothes. She also had problems in school because of her masculine behaviour. (Dr. Money ignored the evidence that things didn't go as the way he predicted and still reported that Brenda had adapted to the role of female and stated that this was consistent with his theory)
In age of 14 Brenda was acting destructively parents told Brenda the truth about her childhood she cut her hair and changed into boy again and changed her name as David.
Dr. John Money
Evaluation of a study
Wanted to see if children were born gender neutral
His theory of gender neutrality: children could be raised in whatever sex was assigned for them (biological sex doesn't have to correspond to physiological sex)
In conflict with scientist Milton Diamonds examinations of the role of hormones on the developing fetus (gender-specific behaviour is pre-progammed in the womb)
Because it's real-life case, it has high ecological validity
Money always claimed that the study was successful in the reassignment of Bruce’s gender, but David later argued against this conclusions from the original study were false and didn't represent the true findings
Twins were not protected from mental harm (both of them commited suicide and Brian also got schizophrenia)
The case study only followed one child so results may not be applicable to all other children
Money may have encouraged the parents to change Bruce’s sex in order to get support to his theory