Some of the factors in Brenda/David life that affected his identity include the gender identity, gender roles, and perceptions of gender neutrality. These factors affected his life after the botched surgical operation to correct the condition of phimosis led to a second vain attempt of sex reassignment surgery. Psychologist, Dr. John Money at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore who had championed the theory of gender neutrality, conducted the sex reassignment efforts. According to the theory, gender identity could be constructed through social learning. As such, the psychologist thought that it would be possible to alter the identity of Brenda/David from boy to girl through surgery and social learning. The unsuccessful operation and subsequent gender retraining had a profound adverse impact on the young boy leading to recurrent bouts of depression and suicidal feelings. The boy incurred constant bullying from his peers and found it extremely difficult to gain social acceptance on either side of the gender divide.
The boy’s parents were equally devastated by the negative turn of events in the life of their son and did not really know what other therapy they could attempt to remedy the situation. The situation was worsened by the fact that they knew that the mistake on their son’s body would be irreversible. The sense of confusion can be seen from the fact that the parents continued believing and telling the doctors that the process of sex reassignment was proceeding as initially intended. It is possible that an African or Asian society would have chosen a different path for Brenda/David. In all likelihood, they would have insisted on raising the boy like any other boy without considering any form of reassignment. The dominant assumption in these societies is that the distinctions of sex and gender are natural and in-born and cannot be breached by human effort, surgical procedures, or social conditioning.
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