Brooke Terry
Afshin Gharib
Psy 1100 3 Introduction to Psychology
1 November 2018
Nature vs Nurture
The argument of Nature vs Nurture can be considered the center of debate throughout the history of developmental psychology. In questioning this, we question whether we are a product of our biological genetic make up, or if we are the product of our environment. Most come to the agreement that we are a product of both nature and nurture, as it isn’t easily determined how much of who we become is based off of which aspect of our lives. It is important to realize the different ways nature and nurture affect us throughout our development. Through lecture, we have learned of the many ways nature and nurture can be considered to change our path of development. For example, there is a large debate whether language, potentially the one section of our lives which separates humans from other species, is a natural ability that is hardwired into our brains, or if it is a learned ability as the result of nurture. As a species we are strongly affected by both, and I strongly believe that as an individual there are many things that have developed innately as well as many things that I have been taught over time. However, some things cannot be taught and are based solely on our genetic make up. An extremely well known and controversial example of this would be the idea of sexual development, and whether it should be considered a result of biology or our environment. In As Nature Made Him: The Boy Who Was Raised As A Girl, John Colapinto depicted the story of the Reimer family and the way they were misled, and redirected by various doctors after an extremely unfortunate event. This nonfiction account of what this family went through depicts the lives of a set of twins, and takes a delve into studies of gender identity and sex assignment.
As a class we were assigned As Nature Made Him: The Boy Who Was Raised as a Girl, to have an in depth insight into the world of the Reimers, a family who together experienced a different hardship than most. This biography is an interesting read for anyone, but especially for those interested in the way gender identity and sex assignment play a role in human lives. Colapinto specifically focuses on an instance where biological sex, appearance, and gender identity do not match up, without the individual having any sort of choice. The book focuses on the case of David Reimer, born to parents Ron and Janet, alongside twin brother Brian, who was originally known by the name of Bruce. The twins, both born in good health, began to have long periods where all they would do was cry. Finding this nearly unbearable, their mother soon learns from doctors that her children suffer from phimosis, a condition which makes urination uncomfortable due to the children having too-tight foreskin. It was recommended that the children be circumcised, a procedure that can be done with little to no trouble and Bruce would go first. This became a decision that would change the entire course of his life. In an awful accident during the procedure, using the device meant to slice away his foreskin, the doctor burns off Bruce’s penis. Seeing that it is a common belief within society that people who identify as male require a penis, the doctors were extremely afraid that Bruce would never be able to enjoy a normal life and felt he would feel that he was defective. Doctors alerted the young boy’s parents, letting them know that they could construct a penis using skin from the boy’s leg, but it wouldn’t look or function as an ordinary penis, only allowing him to use the restroom. Having been left devastated, and fearing their child would never live a normal life, the Reimer’s contemplated the doctor’s suggestions.
Soon after the unfortunate accident, Bruce’s mother Janet sees an interview on television. This interview was of the incredibly charming Dr. John Money, a sex researcher and psychologist who specialized in gender reassignment surgeries. Convinced that Money would be the best help to their son the Reimers brought Bruce to him, and the thought that raising Bruce as a girl after constructing a vagina for him, compared to reconstructing his penis, would be the best option. This belief was based solely on Money’s idea, which was not backed by evidence, that if a gender was reassigned at a young age, the child would develop psychologically as the gender that was assigned to them. Essentially convincing the family that because Bruce’s accident had happened at only eight months old, they would be able to teach him to believe that he was in fact biologically born female. Money believed that nurture could overpower nature, and the environment in which a child was brought up was more important than their genetic makeup. This was enough for the Reimers to allow Money to perform sex reassignment surgery on Bruce and have his name changed to Brenda. They agreed to raise him as a girl alongside twin brother Brian, who was genetically and physically male, and unknowingly agreed to have their children became test subjects under Money’s close observation.
Growing up, Brenda was dressed in feminine clothing, expected to play with female typical toys, and occasionally met with Dr. Money who questioned her and her gender identity. While her classmates were developing normally alongside her, Brenda felt something wasn’t quite right about her own life as she continued to grow. She felt much more comfortable with male typical behaviors than that of a female, even down to the fact that she much prefered peeing while standing as a boy would. During the time when sexual development was becoming most prevalent, commonly known as the start of puberty, Money would force the twins into participating in extremely questionable experiments, he showed Brenda pornographic images in order to check his assumption that raising her as female would cause her to be attracted to men. In addition to this, without their parents knowing, Money would force Brian to act out sexual situations with his sister, which he believed would help shape Brenda’s sexuality.
Each of the Reimers began to struggle during this extremely difficult time in Brenda’s life. Their mother Janet attempted suicide, their father Ron developed a drinking problem, and upset with the attention Brenda received over him, Brian began to lash out and similarly to their mother attempted suicide. At age fourteen, parents Janet and Ron decided to tell the truth about the accident and Brenda’s biological sex. She immediately decided to live as male, and decided to continue life from that moment on as David. He then goes on to have his penis reconstructed, later marries a woman, and fathers the her children through adoption.
Money, who had stopped writing about the Reimer case, never admitted to having had any fault in his unproven theories, and even reported that Brenda had successfully adapted to the role of female. This tale of Brian, Bruce, Brenda, and David, was better known to the public as the “John/Joan” case because of the 1997 report made by Milton Diamond. Diamond is a strong believer in the idea that sex alterations should not be made in infants, as sex should be determined by looking at the brain rather than the genitals or the way the genitals appear.
As we’ve learned in our course, sex can be determined biologically by genetics and genitals, as well as behaviorally which can be referred to as gender identification, gender role, or sexual orientation. The argument of sexual development and nature versus nurture is a topic which can be discussed and even argued over for hours. But if the case of David Reimer teaches us anything, we should realize that sexual development is different per individual. Society tends to label people based on their biological sex characteristics. As Money’s flawed experiment proved the labels assigned at birth can most definitely be true, some can be identified by their biological sex makeup, as in their genetic and genital sex. But for others this isn’t necessarily the case.
Biological sex can be complicated, often times for males specifically. Testosterone can be troublesome in the process of development, and this can create various issues. Androgen Insensitivity and Turner’s Syndrome are both examples of people who are genetically male, but appear to be female and live life as such, often never realizing that there is any sort of dispute within their genetic makeup until they attempt to have children and are unable. Using this as an example, I feel that as a society we should continue our progression toward a system of being able to determine our own gender or sexual orientation, seeing as no one person should have the right to determine or change another person’s sex.
Language is a common aspect of human life that can be debated as to whether we develop it through natural ability or the nurture aspect of our environments. It’s interesting to see each perspective on language, because it isn’t something we tend to think about. To me it was simple, I figured that I merely learned how to speak as an infant, how to write in preschool, how to string together sentences in preschool, and then how to use correct grammatical structure from then on. But according to many psychologists, it isn’t such a simplistic idea. I found the notion that everyone has the same sensitivity to language at birth, and even during development, to be quite interesting. Regardless of hearing ability, at around two months every child begins to babble, that in itself was enough to begin to alter my perception of the way we develop our language ability. If everyone begins to babble, even if deaf, there must be a specific aspect of our brains that allows us to do that. Evidence for this has been presented, specifically by an American linguist by the name of Noam Chomsky. We automatically have universal grammar, which is just one example of why language can be considered natural development. On the other hand, there is evidence for language being a learned aspect of our lives, something that is developed through nurture. B. F. Skinner was a strong believer in the nurture aspect of language. He believed that language is reinforced and gradually shaped, mainly through positive reinforcement. It can be noted in many instances that mothers who speak in more complex sentences, end up raising children who speak in complex sentences as well.
Through our studies of both sexual and language development, I feel that I find nature and nurture to be equally important in human development. It’s hard to believe that as an individual I haven’t been shaped by those around me, and equally hard to believe that certain aspects of my development haven’t occurred because of innate ability. It’s important for people to understand the ways that their development has been affected by those around them, as well as the ways their development is predetermined by genetics. Our experiences and environment define us as much as our biology does, and realizing this could create a better sense of self in many.