Biological Studies
| For this section you need to be able to:
a Describe and evaluate two studies relating to the Biological Approach. One must be Money J (1975) Ablatio penis: normal male infant sex-reassigned as a girl, and David Reimer’s subsequent testimony and one other. This must be selected from the following: Gottesman I, and Shields J (1966) Schizophrenia in twins, 16 years’ consecutive admissions to a psychiatric hospital Raine et al (1997) Brain abnormalities in murderers indicated by positron emission tomography de Bellis et al (2001) Sex Differences in Brain Maturation during Childhood and Adolescence |
Money J (1975) Ablatio penis: normal male infant sex-reassigned as a girl, and David Reimer’s subsequent testimony
In 1965 in Winnipeg, Canada, Janet Reimer gave birth to identical twin boys; Bruce and Brian. At the age of 10 months, the boys were taken for circumcision to correct a medical problem, Bruce was treated first. However, an accident during the procedure resulted in Bruce’s penis being completely burnt off so that it was unrecognisable.
After the accident the Reimers happened to see a TV programme where transgender issues were being discussed and the theory of gender neutrality was explained by Dr John Money.
They contacted Dr Money and asked his advice. Acting on this the Reimers decided to raise Bruce as a girl called ‘Brenda’. They thought that not having a penis would be too difficult for a boy to cope with and that it would be better for him to be raised as a girl so that the lack of penis would not be an issue. With ‘Brenda’ socialised as female Money planned surgery when she got older so that she had female genitalia.
Money’s theory was that gender development was determined by upbringing more than biological factors. By studying the twins he would be able to see if this was true. He believed that all children were ‘gender neutral’ until the age of about 2 years old, meaning that boys and girls were essentially the same until then. Because Bruce Reimer was less than a year old when the accident happened, and the decision to raise him as a girl was made before the age of 2, it would be possible, according to Money, to raise Bruce as a girl called ‘Brenda’ and no one would ever know ‘she’ was actually a ‘he’.
From before she was 2 ‘Brenda’ was dressed in female clothing, encouraged to play with ‘girls’ toys and always told that she was a girl – she was not aware of the accident at all! Basic genital surgery was performed on Brenda at the age of 2, where she was surgically castrated (had the testicles removed) and a basic vulva was created to give the appearance of female genitals. At the age of 12, ‘Brenda’ was given Oestrogen to try to encourage female puberty and prevent male features developing such as a deepening voice or facial hair.
Money tracked ‘Brenda’s’ development over her childhood by organising annual visits for her and Brian to the University. In these he would ask them questions about their preferences and behaviour.
Money interpreted the data he got from Bruce and ‘Brenda’ as supportive of his theory. He used the case as evidence in a book he wrote on the subject (Man & Woman; Boy & Girl). He stated that ‘Brenda’ had accepted her new role and was successfully living as a female.
In successive interviews with the twins he reported that ‘Brenda’ had adapted to the role of female and stated that this was consistent with his theory. However ‘Brenda’ was considered by everyone who knew her to be a tomboy who liked to play with her brother’s toys and enjoyed aggressive play. She reported feeling ‘different’ and her teachers said she was generally more masculine than feminine. ‘Brenda’ was even seen urinating standing up. Either Money did not know or he chose to ignore this evidence.
‘Brenda’ consistently refused to have further surgery and at the age of 15 was having severe emotional and behavioural problems, even threatening her parents that she would commit suicide if they made her see Dr. Money again.
Her parents then decided that she should be told the truth about who she was and ‘Brenda’ finally knew she had been born a boy. From this point onwards ‘Brenda’ became known as David and lived as a male.
At the age of 16, David had plastic surgery to create a penis and at the age of 22, further surgery was conducted to make the penis more realistic. During his mid-20’s, David married a divorcee with 3 children to whom he became a step-father finally fulfilling his masculine identity.
After Dr. Money published his findings and reported that you could successfully raise a boy as a girl, David and his family appeared in a documentary where they put forward their views on what happened. David and his brother Brian reported that Money had used unethical practices to encourage the development of their different gender identities, including photographing them naked in different sexual positions. This could never be proven as 2 years worth of the case notes on the twins were never released by Money.
David’s brother, Brian, had mental health problems (he developed schizophrenia shortly after finding out the truth about his twin). In 2002 Brian was found dead in his apartment after an overdose of drugs. After losing his brother, David became depressed, his marriage broke down as a result of financial pressures, and then in 2004 he committed suicide.
Evaluation of Money’s care study
Raine et al (1997) Brain abnormalities in murderers indicated by positron emission tomography
The aim of the experiment was to discover if murderers who have pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity (NGRI) show evidence of brain abnormalities.
The study used PET scans to examine the brains of 41 people (39 males and 2 females) who were charged with murder and were pleading Not Guilty for Reasons of Insanity (NGRI), and compared them with 41 controls. All the NGRIs were referred to the imaging centre for legal reasons, such as to obtain evidence for the defence. The reasons for the referrals included schizophrenia, head injury, and personality disorders.
The participants were matched by age and sex to a control group of participants. The participants with schizophrenia were matched with other people with the same diagnosis but no history of murder.
All offenders were in custody and were kept medication free for the two weeks before brain scanning. The control group were also medication free.
All of the participants were injected with a glucose tracer, required to work at a continuous performance task that was based around target recognition for 32 minutes, and then given a PET scan. The NGRIs were compared with the controls on the level of activity (glucose metabolism) in right and left hemispheres of the brain in 14 selected areas. The researchers looked at activity in six cortical areas (part of the cerebral cortex which is the outermost layer of nerve tissues of the cerebral hemispheres) and eight subcortical areas (brain structures below the cortex);
The cerebral cortex is commonly described in terms of four areas or lobes; the prefrontal, parietal, temporal, and occipital. In this study, compared to the controls, the NGRIs were found to have less activity in their prefrontal and parietal areas, more activity in their occipital areas, and no difference in their temporal areas.
The results from the subcortical areas found less activity in the corpus callosum They also found an imbalance of activity between the two hemispheres in three other subcortical structures. In the amygdala and the hippocampus, compared to the controls, the NGRIs had less activity in the left side and more activity in the right side. Also, in the thalamus the NGRIs had more activity in the right side, though no difference in the left side.
Raine et al. argue that the difference in activity in the amygdala (which is part of the limbic system) can be seen to support theories of violence that suggest it is due to unusual emotional responses such as lack of fear. The authors also comment on the differences in corpus callosum activity between the NGRIs and the controls, and suggest this can be matched up to evidence of people with a severed corpus callosum which show they can have inappropriate emotional expression and an inability to grasp long-term implications of a situation.