ninfa - , reviewed on 10/22/2010 + 25 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 3

A painful but inspiring read that shows the need for humility over even our most "educated" beliefs. Journalist John Colapinto dives into the memories and medical records of a child who, having lost his penis during a botched surgery as an infant, was assigned a female gender identity. With the child's twin brother serving as a control, his family becomes part of a cruel and famous experiment on the formation of gender identity. This is required reading for every feminist who, like myself, was trained in the primacy of socialization over biology in the construction of gender identity -- not necessarily to change your mind about the issue, but to understand where those ideas developed and whose lives were destroyed in the process.

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