Sexual Identity In John Colapinto's As Nature Made Him

In this paper I plan to showcase the nature of sexual identity, and to do this I will draw from examples in the book As Nature Made Him written by John Colapinto. This book offers two contrasting opinions, one that says it is nature that determines the sexual orientation of a person, and one that says it is how one is raised. As a well-researched book, it offers a great foundation for this paper, and the issues discussed within. To start out, we will begin with John Money’s belief on sexuality, notably that it comes from nurture, and not nature.

John Money’s belief on sexual identity was steadfast from the day the Reimer family had first heard him speak. He was staunchly a proponent of gender neutrality (Colapinto 22), the idea that it is nurture,

Another comes from when he said he had lost track of the Reimer family, even though he was still trading letters between Mrs. Reimer and himself. On could possibly come up with excuses, was he just forgetful of sending letters? It could have been his secretary writing without his knowledge, but if one reads the book, they will get tired of making excuses for Money’s constant contradictions.

With all that being said the reader of the book can at the very least assume it was nature and not nurture in David’s case that formed him into his sexual orientation. Other examples are provided of those who were successfully raised as the other sex, but these arguments are not always on solid ground to prove that it was nurture, as we saw with Paula. She appears to not be living for herself as David did throughout his life. It is my hope that I have shown through solid examples that the evidence contradicts John Money’s view that nurture trumps nature.

Although there are always exceptions, this book and paper should show that it should be the child’s decision on what their sexual orientation should be in a less permanent solution than what was given to David and Paula. Especially considering surgery does not need to be done for medical reasons, and in the aforementioned cases, it was only done for psychological ones that don’t always add