John Money
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1921–2006 · New Zealand–American psychologist · founder of the modern concept of gender
Key points
John Money coined the term "gender role" around 1955 to distinguish social behavior from biological sex. He built his thesis — that children are born gender-neutral and can be shaped into either sex through upbringing and surgery — on a single clinical case: David Reimer. That case turned out to be fraudulent. The child died by suicide at the age of 38. The thesis still forms the theoretical foundation of international transgender healthcare.
Biography
John William Money was born on July 8, 1921, in Morrinsville, New Zealand. He earned his doctorate from Harvard in 1952 and built his career at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. There, in 1966, he founded the Gender Identity Clinic — the first of its kind in the world. He published more than 2,000 articles and books. He died on July 7, 2006, in Towson, Maryland.
The term gender
Before Money, "gender" was used in English almost exclusively in linguistics, to denote masculine and feminine grammatical gender. In his dissertation and subsequent publications from 1955 onward, Money introduced "gender role" as the sociopsychological counterpart to anatomical sex. In the 1960s, American psychiatrist Robert Stoller added "gender identity," among other places in his book Sex and Gender (1968). These paired concepts were subsequently adopted by the DSM, ICD, WPATH, and activist frameworks.
The Reimer experiment
On April 27, 1966, eight-month-old David Reimer suffered severe penile damage during a failed electrocautery procedure. Money advised the parents to raise the child as a girl from then on. At 22 months, David underwent castration and surgical construction of female genitalia. He was given the name "Brenda." His identical twin brother Brian remained untreated and served as Money's ideal natural control group.
The 1972 publication
In Man & Woman, Boy & Girl (Johns Hopkins University Press, 1972), Money presented the case as evidence that gender is almost entirely socially learned. "Brenda" was said to behave entirely as a girl. The New York Times called the work the most important contribution to the social sciences since the Kinsey Reports. Scientific acceptance of gender theory was built on this single case.
The sexual abuse
Money required David and Brian to attend annual visits. During these visits, when the twins were between six and eight years old, he made them undress, inspect each other's genitals, and assume sexual positions. Money described this in his publications as "childhood sexual rehearsal play" and defended it as scientifically necessary. David later described it in interviews and to Colapinto as profoundly traumatizing.
Detransition and exposure
At the age of fourteen, David learned the truth from his father. He immediately stopped living as a girl and began testosterone treatment, a mastectomy, and phalloplasty. In 1997, Milton Diamond and Keith Sigmundson published Sex reassignment at birth in Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine. It documented conclusively that David had never functioned as a girl and that Money had concealed the failure for years. John Colapinto reconstructed the case in As Nature Made Him (2000). Until his death in 2006, Money never published a retraction.
Deaths
David Reimer made two suicide attempts before the age of 21. His twin brother Brian Reimer developed schizophrenia and died in 2002 from an antidepressant overdose. David Reimer died by suicide on May 4, 2004, at the age of 38.
Legacy
Money's core premise — gender as a socially malleable phenomenon, with the body as the object of correction — forms the theoretical basis of: the modern concept of "gender identity"; the WPATH Standards of Care (since 1979); the Dutch Protocol (Cohen-Kettenis, 1990s); puberty blockers for minors; and the legal concept of "gender by self-declaration." None of these later developments has provided empirical support for Money's premise. The Cass Review (2024), NICE (2020, 2021), SBU (Sweden, 2022), and COHERE (Finland, 2020) conclude that the evidence base for medical transition treatment in minors is weak. More on the continuing influence of Money's theory can be found at transgenderidentiteit.nl; the Reimer case is described in detail at genderid.nl.
Other cases
The Reimer case was not the only failure. Money treated several children with DSD (Disorders of Sex Development) according to the same protocol — early castration or clitorectomy and social assignment to the other sex. A significant proportion of these patients returned to their original sex in adulthood or suffered from severe psychological problems. Money primarily published about his alleged successes.
Sources
- Diamond M, Sigmundson HK. Sex reassignment at birth: long-term review and clinical implications. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 1997;151(3):298-304.
- Colapinto J. As Nature Made Him: The Boy Who Was Raised as a Girl. New York: HarperCollins; 2000.
- Money J, Ehrhardt AA. Man & Woman, Boy & Girl. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press; 1972.
- Money J. Gender: history, theory and usage of the term in sexology and its relationship to nature/nurture. J Sex Marital Ther. 1985;11(2):71-79.
- Cass H. Independent Review of Gender Identity Services for Children and Young People: Final Report. London: NHS England; 2024.
- Biggs M. The Dutch Protocol for Juvenile Transsexuals: Origins and Evidence. J Sex Marital Ther. 2023;49(4):348-368.
Last revised May 23, 2026