As Nature Made Him
While reading the first half of the following book “As
Nature Made Him” I was shocked and mostly disappointed in the way things played
out for this family. No family should ever deserve for this type of event to
happen to them, but it did. I think that David’s parents decision was in there
best interest for David but it only ended up hurting not only him but the whole
family. Not to mention the pressure that Dr. Money put on them to change their
child sex from boy to girl.
At
first I thought that his plan was the best option that David’s family had it
sounded like the only option. But as I continued to read I started to get the
feeling that Dr. Money interest in this case was only to get some sort of
famous status for his latest experiment. I was even more shocked the way he
would treat the twins in their annual visit with him. Once he started to notice
that his ‘experiment’ wasn’t going as planned he would do horrible things to
the twins especially David to make sure he knew that he was a ‘girl’. David’s
parent and everyone else always treated and made sure to David that he was a
girl. Dressing him up as a girl buying him girl toys but it only made him more
confused because he felt like a boy on the inside.
This
is where gender roles come in David felt he was a boy but society and his
parents tried to make him believe he was a girl by dressing him like a girl
making him act like a girl. They were trying to Nurture him into this gender
role but they couldn’t because in reality nature had made him a boy. His
parents were so terrified he wouldn’t have a normal life as a boy, that he
wouldn’t be the same as other boys and that they were afraid he wouldn’t fit in
with the rest because he was missing the most important part that made him a
boy. Of course they would think this but when they turned him into a girl I
think it did more damage to him growing up than it would have if he didn’t have
a normal working boy organ. He felt so alone and often referred to himself as
an ‘it’ because he felt like a boy but on the outside he was a girl. Which in
my opinion just made it worse on the child and not to mention his twin brother
was also affected by the way his ‘sister’ acted.
I also thought that the plan was a good choice since I thought maybe he could change into a girl and be happy with that. However, after reading the book further, I realizes that regardless of whatever the way they raised him, he is still a male! The maleness forever exists inside him and he couldn't help. And yes, I was so furious when i read about the way Dr. Money treated the twins, too immoral!!!
ReplyDeleteI too agreed with the initial plan of his parents, it didn't turn out like they believed it would though. Medicine and treatments can only go so far as to put a mask over something, but the mask only changes the outside, the inside is still the same. I think that David was always a male even though he didn't have the parts to show for it, and there was no changing that.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your opinion on David’s parents choices; I think that the family pressured him so much to be a girl that it hurt his mind. Changing the boy’s gender was a good idea because his whole genital was completely burned off, but the result of having him become a girl was out of the question. I think the parents should have let him be who he wanted to be and not let him be a research guinea pig. By not listening to David’s feeling and listening to Dr.Money’s suggestion, they completely destroyed his life. I also agree with your statement about how the fear that the parents had made their fear come into reality because of the nurture experiment. As he gets older the parent should explain to their David why he has a different genital not when he is a kid. I think it is too much for the kid to handle.
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