His name was David Reimer.
Kinda insane that any doctor would diagnose phimosis in an infant -- phimosed is the normal, healthy condition of an infant -- but this was almost 45 years ago and mad pediatricians were advocating forced retraction for "cleaning".
There was nothing wrong with either twin. After David's penis was burned off with the electrocautery device, his brother Brian's scheduled circ was scrapped and he developed perfectly normally. As David would have.
The story of the devastation wrought on David Reimer, his brother and their parents is the story of medical ignorance. Twin boys, perfectly healthy, but their parents were mis-instructed by doctors and nurses to fiddle with their sons' developing penises. And when they encountered problems, which were predictable, the over-the-top solution was to burn off the infants' foreskins. Or in this case, an entire penis. And then craft a vulva. And then try to turn an XY human being into an XX human being. And watch him revolt.
Bottom line: no more circumcisions, no more cases like David Reimer. Or Allen A. Ervin. Or Demetrius Manker. Or Dustin Evans. Or Ryleigh McWillis.
Kinda insane that any doctor would diagnose phimosis in an infant -- phimosed is the normal, healthy condition of an infant -- but this was almost 45 years ago and mad pediatricians were advocating forced retraction for "cleaning".
There was nothing wrong with either twin. After David's penis was burned off with the electrocautery device, his brother Brian's scheduled circ was scrapped and he developed perfectly normally. As David would have.
The story of the devastation wrought on David Reimer, his brother and their parents is the story of medical ignorance. Twin boys, perfectly healthy, but their parents were mis-instructed by doctors and nurses to fiddle with their sons' developing penises. And when they encountered problems, which were predictable, the over-the-top solution was to burn off the infants' foreskins. Or in this case, an entire penis. And then craft a vulva. And then try to turn an XY human being into an XX human being. And watch him revolt.
Bottom line: no more circumcisions, no more cases like David Reimer. Or Allen A. Ervin. Or Demetrius Manker. Or Dustin Evans. Or Ryleigh McWillis.