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Eric Hamell, March 21, 2009 (view all comments by Eric Hamell)
I read this book a long time ago and it had a considerable, and continuing, impact on me. John Money has done a good deal of research, stemming from his clinical experience as a pediatric sexologist, demonstrating the role sexually repressive upbringings have in contributing to various psychosexual pathologies. Clinical observations, for instance, suggest that violent erotic fixations, such as those typically motivating serial killers, arise from violent adult reactions to children's expressions of sexuality such as masturbation.

It's unfortunate that many people seem to remember Money only for a misguided experiment in which an infant who'd lost its penis to a surgical mishap was, on his recommendation, raised as a girl -- only to develop serious gender dysphoria and ultimately become a transman. But it's clear that he learned from his mistake, as this book represents a decisive repudiation of the sort of cultural reductionism that prompted it.

Money is not quite as radical here as I would like, however, in that he still thinks intersex children need to be raised with a gender. I frankly see no reason for this. In fact, if children in general were raised without having any gender imposed on them, it would surely preclude gender dysphoria and many other problems as well. Could homophobia, for instance, persist in a world where men's identities weren't tied to seeing themselves as different from women in socially prescribed ways?

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Product Details

ISBN:

9780879754563

Subtitle:

Sexual/Erotic Health and Pathology, Paraphilia, and Gender Transposition In...

Author:

Money, John

Publisher:

Prometheus Books

Location:

New York :

Subject:

Psychology

Subject:

Human Sexuality

Subject:

Sex

Subject:

Sexual disorders

Subject:

Sex change

Subject:

Identification

Subject:

Psychosexual disorders

Subject:

Sex characteristics.

Subject:

Paraphilias.

Copyright:

c198

Edition Number:

1st pbk. ed.

Edition Description:

Bibliography: p. 299-306.

Series Volume:

no. 64-014

Publication Date:

February 1989

Binding:

Paperback

Language:

English

Illustrations:

Yes

Pages:

331

Dimensions:

8.48x5.38x.75 in. .90 lbs.