In 1947, at the age of 26, Money emigrated to the United States to study at the Psychiatric Institute of the
University of Pittsburgh. In 1948, he became a doctoral candidate at
Harvard University, and earned his PhD in 1952. Money became a professor of
pediatrics and
medical psychology at
Johns Hopkins University, where he worked from 1952 until his death. and
lovemap. He popularized the term
paraphilia (appearing in the
DSM-III, which would later replace
perversions) and introduced the term
sexual orientation in place of
sexual preference, arguing that attraction is not necessarily a matter of free choice. Believing that gender identity was malleable within the first two years of life, Money advocated for the surgical "normalization" of the genitalia of
intersex infants.
Sex reassignment of David Reimer In 1966, a botched
circumcision left eight-month-old Reimer without a penis. Money persuaded the baby's parents that
sex reassignment surgery would be in Reimer's best interest. At the age of 22 months, Reimer underwent an
orchiectomy, in which his testicles were surgically removed. He was reassigned to be raised as female and his name changed from Bruce to Brenda. Money further recommended hormone treatment, to which the parents agreed. Money then recommended a surgical procedure to create an artificial vagina, which the parents refused. Money published a number of papers reporting the reassignment as successful. David Reimer was raised under the "
optimum gender rearing model" which was the
common model for sex and gender socialization/
medicalization for
intersex youth. The model was heavily criticized for being
sexist, and for assigning an arbitrary
gender binary. According to
John Colapinto's biography of David Reimer, when Reimer and his twin Brian were six years old, Money showed the brothers pornography and instructed the two to rehearse sexual acts. Money instructed David position himself on all fours, and Brian was told to "come up behind [him] and place his crotch against [his] buttocks". Money also forced Reimer, in another sexual position, to have his "legs spread" with Brian on top. Reimer alleged that on "at least one occasion" Money took a photograph of the two children performing these acts. Colapinto speculated that Money's rationale for his treatment of the children was his belief that "childhood 'sexual rehearsal play at thrusting movements and copulation" was important for a "healthy adult gender identity". By the time this deception was discovered, the idea of a purely socially constructed gender identity and infant
intersex medical interventions had become the accepted medical and sociological standard. Soon after, Reimer went public with his story, and
John Colapinto published a widely disseminated and influential account in
Rolling Stone magazine in December 1997. This was later expanded into
The New York Times bestselling biography
As Nature Made Him: The Boy Who Was Raised as a Girl (2000), in which Colapinto described how—contrary to Money's reports—when living as Brenda, Reimer did not
identify as a girl. He was ostracized and bullied by peers (who dubbed him "cavewoman"), and neither frilly dresses nor female hormones made him feel female. Money argued that media response to Diamond's exposé was due to right-wing
media bias and "the antifeminist movement." He said his detractors believed "masculinity and femininity are built into the genes, so women should get back to the mattress and the kitchen". However, intersex activists also criticized Money, stating that the unreported failure had led to the surgical reassignment of thousands of infants as a matter of policy. Privately, Money was mortified by the case, colleagues said, and as a rule did not discuss it. He maintained that transgender people had an
Idée fixe which was unlikely to resolve on its own, In 1965, Money co-established the
Gender Identity Clinic at Johns Hopkins with the endocrinologist
Claude Migeon. Money screened adult patients for two years prior to granting them a medical transition, and reported that none regret the procedure. The hospital began performing sexual reassignment surgery in 1966, and was the first clinic in the United States to do so. According to Goldie, Money is seen as a "negative figure" among transgender people. In one paper, Money described trans women as "devious, demanding and manipulative in their relationships with people on whom they are also dependent" and “possibly also incapable of love.” Money believed that de-stereotyping sex roles might prevent people from wanting to transition, arguing “a tomboy-ish girl, prenatally androgenized, grows up to be a career-minded woman, not a transsexual who claims to need sex reassignment”.
Homosexuality and sexual orientation John Money was a leading proponent of the idea that human sexual orientation develops through learning and gendered socialization. He believed that males, if surgically reassigned and raised as girls around birth, would grow up to be attracted to males and live as heterosexual women. However, in the case of David Reimer, he grew up to be attracted to women. Money proposed that sexual rehearsal and play between children may be important for a healthy heterosexual development. He referred to aboriginal tribes where he apparently observed sex rehearsal between prepubescent children, and speculated that homosexuality could be prevented entirely if such a practice was embraced. In a 1975 opinion piece published in
The New York Times, Money argued that "The forces of antisex cry in moral outrage when confronted with the evidence of sexual disabilities, and blame the new freedom. In fact they should blame the excess of inhibition and punishment regarding sex during the child hood of those whose sexuality is now disabled."
Chronophilias Money coined the term
chronophilia and
nepiophilia (sexual attraction to toddlers and infants) in 1986. In two 1983
case study publications, Money stated that pedophilia, among other chronophilias, could be characterized as combining "devotion, affection, and limerence", "comradeship with a touch of hero-worship" and ultimately as "harmless... in most instances".'''' He stated that both sexual researchers and the public do not make distinctions between affectional pedophilia and
sadistic pedophilia. According to Colapinto, Money told
Paidika, a now defunct Dutch journal of pedophilia, that: Also in 1986, Money postulated the existence of multiple chronophilic forms of erotic
age-roleplaying, or age impersonation, which he named
"infantilism", "juvenilism", "adolescentilism", "gerontilism"
. ==Books on sexology==