We Have to Pay For This Pervert's Sex Change?

[Cow Poke]

I was curious about the origin of the distinction between sex and gender, so went looking and found a clear answer:

Sexologist John Money introduced the terminological distinction between biological sex and gender as a role in 1955. Before his work, it was uncommon to use the word gender to refer to anything but grammatical categories.^[1][2]...

The term gender had been associated with grammar for most of history and only started to move towards it being a malleable cultural construct in the 1950s and 1960s.^[15]

So at no point in the history of the English language was the term "gender" identical in meaning with the term "sex". Before 1955, the English word "gender" solely referred to the part of grammar relating to gendered nouns and verbs etc. In 1955 a new meaning for "gender" was deliberately invented in order to contrast 'biological sex' with 'cultural gender roles'. And that's been a common use of it ever since.

At no point was the word "gender" identical in meaning to "biological sex", precisely the opposite, it was a word invented precisely in order to contrast to it.

I can't help but laugh that you base your entire post on what a "sexologist" said. Search and search until you find something that backs up what you want to believe, then use that as THE authoritative answer!

[Cow Poke]

I was curious about the origin of the distinction between sex and gender, so went looking and found a clear answer:

Sexologist John Money introduced the terminological distinction between biological sex and gender as a role in 1955. Before his work, it was uncommon to use the word gender to refer to anything but grammatical categories.^[1][2]...

The term gender had been associated with grammar for most of history and only started to move towards it being a malleable cultural construct in the 1950s and 1960s.^[15]

So at no point in the history of the English language was the term "gender" identical in meaning with the term "sex". Before 1955, the English word "gender" solely referred to the part of grammar relating to gendered nouns and verbs etc. In 1955 a new meaning for "gender" was deliberately invented in order to contrast 'biological sex' with 'cultural gender roles'. And that's been a common use of it ever since.

At no point was the word "gender" identical in meaning to "biological sex", precisely the opposite, it was a word invented precisely in order to contrast to it.

So, let's look at this "sexologist" you appear to accept as THE authoritative expert on gender. From YOUR OWN LINK.... (bolding and enlarging mine :smug)

John William Money (8 July 1921 – 7 July 2006) was a New Zealand psychologist, sexologist and author specializing in research into sexual identity and biology of gender. He was one of the first researchers to publish theories on the influence of societal constructs of gender on individual formation of gender identity. Money introduced the terms gender identity, gender role and sexual orientation and popularised the term paraphilia.^[1][2] He spent a considerable amount of his career in America.

Recent academic studies have criticized Money's work in many respects, particularly in regard to his involvement with the involuntary sex-reassignment of the child David Reimer,^[3] his forcing this child and his brother to simulate sex acts which Money photographed^[4] and the adult suicides of both brothers.^[4]

Money's writing has been translated into many languages and includes around 2,000 articles, books, chapters and reviews. He received around 65 honors, awards and degrees in his lifetime.^[1] He was also a patron of many famous New Zealand artists, such as Rita Angus and Theo Schoon.

What an absolutely sick son of a biscuit eater!

[seer]

At no point was the word "gender" identical in meaning to "biological sex", precisely the opposite, it was a word invented precisely in order to contrast to it.

Who invented it:

gender (n.)c. 1300, "kind, sort, class, a class or kind of persons or things sharing certain traits," from Old French gendre, genre "kind, species; character; gender" (12c., Modern French genre), from stem of Latin genus (genitive generis) "race, stock, family; kind, rank, order; species," also "(male or female) sex," from PIE root *gene- "give birth, beget," with derivatives referring to procreation and familial and tribal groups.

Also used in Latin to translate Aristotle's Greek grammatical term genos. The grammatical sense is attested in English from late 14c. The unetymological -d- is a phonetic accretion in Old French (compare sound (n.1)).

The "male-or-female sex" sense is attested in English from early 15c. As sex (n.) took on erotic qualities in 20c., gender came to be the usual English word for "sex of a human being," in which use it was at first regarded as colloquial or humorous. Later often in feminist writing with reference to social attributes as much as biological qualities; this sense first attested 1963. Gender-bender is from 1977, popularized from 1980, with reference to pop star David Bowie.

https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=gender

[Starlight]

I can't help but laugh that you base your entire post on what a "sexologist" said. Search and search until you find something that backs up what you want to believe, then use that as THE authoritative answer!

I can't help but laugh at your for your absurd assumptions.

I did one google to learn when the term "gender" gained its current meaning. The answer was 1955 when some person I hadn't heard of gave it its modern meaning. I didn't base any part of my post on what any sexologist said.

[Starlight]

So, let's look at this "sexologist" you appear to accept as THE authoritative expert on gender.

Your obsession with this false assumption is sad.

Perhaps it speaks to how repressed you are that you're obsessed with this.

[Cow Poke]

Your obsession with this false assumption is sad.

Perhaps it speaks to how repressed you are that you're obsessed with this.

The guy's a pervert! No wonder you cite him!

[seer]

I can't help but laugh at your for your absurd assumptions.

I did one google to learn when the term "gender" gained its current meaning. The answer was 1955 when some person I hadn't heard of gave it its modern meaning. I didn't base any part of my post on what any sexologist said.

But you were wrong - linking gender to sex has a long history and in the 20th century was commonly used that way in the English.

[Cow Poke]

I can't help but laugh at your for your absurd assumptions.

I did one google to learn when the term "gender" gained its current meaning.

Ah, EXTENSIVE research!

The answer was 1955 when some person I hadn't heard of gave it its modern meaning. I didn't base any part of my post on what any sexologist said.

Next time, do a little homework, because his name - AND HYPERLINK - were right there in the post in which you provided the cite, and he was a freakin PERVERT.

[rogue06]

So, let's look at this "sexologist" you appear to accept as THE authoritative expert on gender. From YOUR OWN LINK.... (bolding and enlarging mine :smug)

John William Money (8 July 1921 – 7 July 2006) was a New Zealand psychologist, sexologist and author specializing in research into sexual identity and biology of gender. He was one of the first researchers to publish theories on the influence of societal constructs of gender on individual formation of gender identity. Money introduced the terms gender identity, gender role and sexual orientation and popularised the term paraphilia.^[1][2] He spent a considerable amount of his career in America.

Recent academic studies have criticized Money's work in many respects, particularly in regard to his involvement with the involuntary sex-reassignment of the child David Reimer,^[3] his forcing this child and his brother to simulate sex acts which Money photographed^[4] and the adult suicides of both brothers.^[4]

Money's writing has been translated into many languages and includes around 2,000 articles, books, chapters and reviews. He received around 65 honors, awards and degrees in his lifetime.^[1] He was also a patron of many famous New Zealand artists, such as Rita Angus and Theo Schoon.

What an absolutely sick son of a biscuit eater!

Looks like just the sort of person we should cite as an "authority" in such matters

From the The Embryo Project Encyclopedia,

Source: David Reimer and John Money Gender Reassignment Controversy: The John/Joan Case

In the mid-1960s, psychologist John Money encouraged the gender reassignment of David Reimer, who was born a biological male but suffered irreparable damage to his penis as an infant. Born in 1965 as Bruce Reimer, his penis was irreparably damaged during infancy due to a failed circumcision. After encouragement from Money, Reimer’s parents decided to raise Reimer as a girl. Reimer underwent surgery as an infant to construct rudimentary female genitals, and was given female hormones during puberty. During childhood, Reimer was never told he was biologically male and regularly visited Money, who tracked the progress of his gender reassignment. Reimer unknowingly acted as an experimental subject in Money’s controversial investigation, which he called the John/Joan case. The case provided results that were used to justify thousands of sex reassignment surgeries for cases of children with reproductive abnormalities. Despite his upbringing, Reimer rejected the female identity as a young teenager and began living as a male. He suffered severe depression throughout his life, which culminated in his suicide at thirty-eight years old. Reimer, and his public statements about the trauma of his transition, brought attention to gender identity and called into question the sex reassignment of infants and children.

Bruce Peter Reimer was born on 22 August 1965 in Winnipeg, Ontario, to Janet and Ron Reimer. At six months of age, both Reimer and his identical twin, Brian, were diagnosed with phimosis, a condition in which the foreskin of the penis cannot retract, inhibiting regular urination. On 27 April 1966, Reimer underwent circumcision, a common procedure in which a physician surgically removes the foreskin of the penis. Usually, physicians performing circumcisions use a scalpel or other sharp instrument to remove foreskin. However, Reimer’s physician used the unconventional technique of cauterization, or burning to cause tissue death. Reimer’s circumcision failed. Reimer’s brother did not undergo circumcision and his phimosis healed naturally. While the true extent of Reimer’s penile damage was unclear, the overwhelming majority of biographers and journalists maintained that it was either totally severed or otherwise damaged beyond the possibility of function.

In 1967, Reimer’s parents sought the help of John Money, a psychologist and sexologist who worked at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland. In the mid twentieth century, Money helped establish the views on the psychology of gender identities and roles. In his academic work, Money argued in favor of the increasingly mainstream idea that gender was a societal construct, malleable from an early age. He stated that being raised as a female was in Reimer’s interest, and recommended sexual reassignment surgery. At the time, infants born with abnormal or intersex genitalia commonly received such interventions.

Following their consultation with Money, Reimer’s parents decided to raise Reimer as a girl. Physicians at the Johns Hopkins Hospital removed Reimer’s testes and damaged penis, and constructed a vestigial vulvae and a vaginal canal in their place. The physicians also opened a small hole in Reimer’s lower abdomen for urination. Following his gender reassignment surgery, Reimer was given the first name Brenda, and his parents raised him as a girl. He received estrogen during adolescence to promote the development of breasts. Throughout his childhood, Reimer was not informed about his male biology.

Throughout his childhood, Reimer received annual checkups from Money. His twin brother was also part of Money’s research on sexual development and gender in children. As identical twins growing up in the same family, the Reimer brothers were what Money considered ideal case subjects for a psychology study on gender. Reimer was the first documented case of sex reassignment of a child born developmentally normal, while Reimer’s brother was a control subject who shared Reimer’s genetic makeup, intrauterine space, and household.

During the twin’s psychiatric visits with Money, and as part of his research, Reimer and his twin brother were directed to inspect one another’s genitals and engage in behavior resembling sexual intercourse. Reimer claimed that much of Money’s treatment involved the forced reenactment of sexual positions and motions with his brother. In some exercises, the brothers rehearsed missionary positions with thrusting motions, which Money justified as the rehearsal of healthy childhood sexual exploration. In his Rolling Stone interview, Reimer recalled that at least once, Money photographed those exercises. Money also made the brothers inspect one another’s pubic areas. Reimer stated that Money observed those exercises both alone and with as many as six colleagues. Reimer recounted anger and verbal abuse from Money if he or his brother resisted orders, in contrast to the calm and scientific demeanor Money presented to their parents. Reimer and his brother underwent Money’s treatments at preschool and grade school age. Money described Reimer’s transition as successful, and claimed that Reimer’s girlish behavior stood in stark contrast to his brother’s boyishness. Money reported on Reimer’s case as the John/Joan case, leaving out Reimer’s real name. For over a decade, Reimer and his brother unknowingly provided data that, according to biographers and the Intersex Society of North America, was used to reinforce Money’s theories on gender fluidity and provided justification for thousands of sex reassignment surgeries for children with abnormal genitals.

Contrary to Money’s notes, Reimer reports that as a child he experienced severe gender dysphoria, a condition in which someone experiences distress as a result of their assigned gender. Reimer reported that he did not identify as a girl and resented Money’s visits for treatment. At the age of thirteen, Reimer threatened to commit suicide if his parents took him to Money on the next annual visit. Bullied by peers in school for his masculine traits, Reimer claimed that despite receiving female hormones, wearing dresses, and having his interests directed toward typically female norms, he always felt that he was a boy. In 1980, at the age of fifteen, Reimer’s father told him the truth about his birth and the subsequent procedures. Following that revelation, Reimer assumed a male identity, taking the first name David. By age twenty-one, Reimer had received testosterone therapy and surgeries to remove his breasts and reconstruct a penis. He married Jane Fontaine, a single mother of three, on 22 September 1990.

In adulthood, Reimer reported that he suffered psychological trauma due to Money’s experiments, which Money had used to justify sexual reassignment surgery for children with intersex or damaged genitals since the 1970s. In the mid-1990s, Reimer met Milton Diamond, a psychologist at the University of Hawaii, in Honolulu, Hawaii, and academic rival of Money. Reimer participated in a follow-up study conducted by Diamond, in which Diamond cataloged the failures of Reimer’s transition.

In 1997, Reimer began speaking publicly about his experiences, beginning with his participation in Diamond’s study. Reimer’s first interview appeared in the December 1997 issue of Rolling Stone magazine. In interviews, and a later book about his experience, Reimer described his interactions with Money as torturous and abusive. Accordingly, Reimer claimed he developed a lifelong distrust of hospitals and medical professionals.

With those reports, Reimer caused a multifaceted controversy over Money’s methods, honesty in data reporting, and the general ethics of sex reassignment surgeries on infants and children. Reimer’s description of his childhood conflicted with the scientific consensus about sex reassignment at the time. According to NOVA, Money led scientists to believe that the John/Joan case demonstrated an unreservedly successful sex transition. Reimer’s parents later blamed Money’s methods and alleged surreptitiousness for the psychological illnesses of their sons, although the notes of a former graduate student in Money’s lab indicated that Reimer’s parents dishonestly represented the transition’s success to Money and his coworkers. Reimer was further alleged by supporters of Money to have incorrectly recalled the details of his treatment. On Reimer’s case, Money publicly dismissed his criticism as antifeminist and anti-trans bias, but, according to his colleagues, was personally ashamed of the failure.Chicago Hope, Law & Order, and Mental. The BBC series Horizon covered his story in two episodes, “The Boy Who Was Turned into a Girl” (2000) and “Dr. Money and the Boy with No Penis” (2004). Canadian rock group The Weakerthans wrote “Hymn of the Medical Oddity” about Reimer, and the New York-based Ensemble Studio Theatre production Boy was based on Reimer’s life.


Source

© Copyright Original Source

Terry Goldie, who wrote the biography The Man Who Invented Gender: Engaging the Ideas of John Money, said that Money did not really believe in two genders as an absolute.

"But what he did believe was that this world is so incessantly binary in terms of male and female that we have to figure out ways to help people deal with that. And that was one of Money's big mistakes related to the Reimer case. Money felt that a boy without a penis [would not be believed to be a boy]."

So this whole notion of gender being a societal construct was a crock based largely on the unethical and failed research and experimentation on a pair of twins that would have made Josef Mengele proud

[Cow Poke]

Looks like just the sort of person we should cite as an "authority" in such matters

Yeah, as part of ongoing certifications, I took a psychology class at a local college about a year or two ago. The professor, who was incredibly liberal (admittedly so), seemed rather embarrassed to even cover Money's "contribution" to gender studies. I recognized the name when Starlight made his colossal blunder (if, in fact, that's what it was) bringing him into the discussion.

[Starlight]

The guy's a pervert! No wonder you cite him!

I cited wikipedia's article about "gender", not him.

You're the one who's bizarrely latched onto the biography of the first user of the word in a modern context, which has no relevance here, and you're so utterly obsessed with him that you keep writing irrelevant post after irrelevant post about him. Do you love perverts or something?

[Starlight]

But you were wrong - linking gender to sex has a long history and in the 20th century was commonly used that way in the English.

Your source said so, the one I cited said not. That's an interesting difference, which makes me wonder which is correct.

[LiconaFan97]

Who invented it:

gender (n.)c. 1300, "kind, sort, class, a class or kind of persons or things sharing certain traits," from Old French gendre, genre "kind, species; character; gender" (12c., Modern French genre), from stem of Latin genus (genitive generis) "race, stock, family; kind, rank, order; species," also "(male or female) sex," from PIE root *gene- "give birth, beget," with derivatives referring to procreation and familial and tribal groups.

Also used in Latin to translate Aristotle's Greek grammatical term genos. The grammatical sense is attested in English from late 14c. The unetymological -d- is a phonetic accretion in Old French (compare sound (n.1)).

The "male-or-female sex" sense is attested in English from early 15c. As sex (n.) took on erotic qualities in 20c., gender came to be the usual English word for "sex of a human being," in which use it was at first regarded as colloquial or humorous. Later often in feminist writing with reference to social attributes as much as biological qualities; this sense first attested 1963. Gender-bender is from 1977, popularized from 1980, with reference to pop star David Bowie.

https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=gender [TABLE]

Is your source really that far off from what Starlight posted? He shouldn't have said 'at no point' when his own quote used the word 'uncommon' but that seems to agree with what you wrote which is that it didn't become used typically in place of 'sex' in English until into the 20th century.

[LiconaFan97]

Is your source really that far off from what Starlight posted? He shouldn't have said 'at no point' when his own quote used the word 'uncommon' but that seems to agree with what you wrote which is that it didn't become used typically in place of 'sex' in English until into the 20th century.

Ok, finally found what I was looking for earlier. Here you can see a graph from wolfram alpha which shows frequency of usage of 'gender' in English over time. I don't have pro so I can't provide a zoomed in graph but you can see around 1975 is when usage of the word really starts to take off. You can contrast this with sex though obviously sex has more than one common meaning so that will only get you so much.

I wouldn't bet more than a few dollars on this methodology but I think it argues more in favor of a late emergence in general usage than the alternative. The 'uncommon' word from Starlight's quote seems appropriate.

[Starlight]

Is your source really that far off from what Starlight posted? He shouldn't have said 'at no point' when his own quote used the word 'uncommon'

Fair enough, small boo-boo by me.

but that seems to agree with what you wrote which is that it didn't become used typically in place of 'sex' in English until into the 20th century.

Ok, finally found what I was looking for earlier. Here you can see a graph from wolfram alpha which shows frequency of usage of 'gender' in English over time. I don't have pro so I can't provide a zoomed in graph but you can see around 1975 is when usage of the word really starts to take off. You can contrast this with sex though obviously sex has more than one common meaning so that will only get you so much.

Perhaps what you were thinking of was Google Books' Ngram viewer, which tells you how word frequencies in published books changed over the years:

SexGender.JPG

x-axis is year. y-axis is how frequently the word is used in the published books google has scanned.

Looks like the word 'gender' was used a little bit in the 19th century, probably for its grammar meaning of noun genders given both the rare frequency and the account of the word's history I cited. Then it dropped almost to zero usage in the first half of the 20th century, before shooting up in the 1970s when feminists and sexologists who shall not be named began using it in its modern meaning and "gender studies" became a thing.