One of the most egregious cases of ideological belief ruining a life has to have been the case of David Reimer. After a botched circumcision (which some of us have long considered an utterly unnecessary surgical procedure that should never be inflicted on boys without their permission--but that's a different subject), doctors talked his parents into having their infant son surgically altered and treated with hormones so he would develop as a little girl.
They were assured by the doctors as well as a psychologist that "gender is a social construct" and that, as such, it should be quite possible to raise the boy as a healthy girl. And, well, if "she" could never have children, so what? "She" could be just as happy adopting anyway.
So not only was the kid surgically castrated and treated chemically, but he was told he was a girl his entire life, raised exactly like a little girl, while his twin brother was raised as a boy. They named "her" Brenda.
Since this was all done to him very shortly after birth, he had no idea what was done to him--but the kid was miserable his entire life. He insisted on developing classically boyish behavior patterns even more strongly than what's typically found in tomboy girls. They couldn't even get him to stop peeing standing up. Extensive counseling and other medical interventions never helped much, but they never told him the truth until he was a teenager.
As soon as he did find out the truth, he immediately and inhesitantly did everything in his power to restore what was possible to restore of his masculinity, renaming himself David and doing everything medically and socially possible to regain what was taken from him.
He never was able to fully cope, however. Recently, tragically, David Reimer killed himself.
With all we know now about the differences in brain structure and chemistry between men and women that start as early as the womb, let's hope no child is ever subjected to a horribly abusive experiment like this again.
(Via Toren, who really ought to restart that weblog.)
Dean, that is such an awful, awful story. I had heard about David before, I did not realize that he had a twin brother, also, until I read the linked article.
As a parent, I cannot imagine putting a child through such horror. I really cannot understand how a mom can allow someone to do that to her baby.
I'm glad you posted this, but I'm going to be depressed for the rest of the day. _As Nature Made Him_ was a fascinating, horrifying book, but at least it seemed to say that David's story had a happy ending under the circumstances. I'm so saddened to find that in the end the damage done was fatal.
What a disaster. I didn't realize he'd committed suicide. How awfully sad. If he'd been left to make his own life/health-decisions as he approached adulthood (instead of his parents making that decision for him when he had no voice of his own), I should think he may have had a healthier outlook on his life...knowing he'd been in control of his own destiny. Very, very sad.
I remember seeing a documentary about Reimer a few years ago. Such a sad story that now has a sad ending. All this misery was caused by some doctor who decided he wanted to play God.
When I was younger, I believed, as so many of my generation, that the differences between women and men were really only "surface" and minor physical differences, and that men and women were otherwise identical.
A lifetime of empirical data now tells me that this is not the case at all.
How sad for this poor man that his parents tragically assumed as I did when he was a baby - and that much of his life was terribly botched.
I can only wonder, however - what will it take for some of us to realize that humans do have some programmed differences? And that you cannot wish them away?
The Amazon page for this book tries to talk me into buying it together with one called "Sexing the Body: Gender Politics and the Construction of Sexuality."
The author of this book claims that "labeling someone a man or a woman is a social decision...only our beliefs about gender--not science--can define our sex."
i've had a hypnosis practice since 1992. on several occasions, i've had the honor of treating people who didn't know why they were anxious or upset or edgy and on other occasions, people who wanted to find out what happened when they were born.
i know alot of people believe that babies and very young children remember nothing. that their minds aren't developed well enough to know what's going on....
one person had been on anxiety meds for most of the adult life. in hypnosis, when i asked this person to take me back to the point where the need occurred the first time, this individual was a tiny baby, literally hours old, going through surgery without enough anesthetic. the individual began screaming and shrieking in my office with rage and pain. it took an hour's work to calm, soothe and work through it... i won't go into the details. we verified by phone immediately when done that the surgery had indeed been performed, but the parents had never mentioned it so this individual 'didn't know' it had happened.
with a little more hypnotherapy,this individual no longer needed anxiety medication or any psychotrophic drugs that had been previously prescribed.
this is one of many. when you are blessed with a tiny soul to care for, you are being given a gift and the soul/body are only on 'loan', as they belong to themselves, not their parents. when you raise a child remember that they are human beings, deserve respect and need to be treated with such and spoken to as though they understand... because the chances are that they will later if they don't at the moment.
most people also remember vividly the emotional climate of the mother in particular and the father, while still in the womb. i've had several sessions with those things coming up and yes, we were able to verify them.
not all memories are accurate; but those relating to birth and prenatal issues seem to be all too vivid and long lasting.