Kristi was raised by her older brother in Baton Rouge, La., and was definitely a tomboy. In adolescence, she decides she is a lesbian, and in college, she needs gynecological surgery. When she asks to see her medical records, Kristi learns she was born with “indeterminate sexual organs”, actually born a boy (XY) chromosomes, with a
very small sexual organ. The doctor at the birth then removed the testicles and penis and told the parents to raise him as a girl.
He explained that this was the best outcome in that situation. Kristi (who later took the name Jim) was distraught. As you might imagine, all his life, he had been unhappy and never felt right. At least now he knows he wasn’t crazy. He didn’t blame his parents, knowing they felt they were doing the only thing they could do, plus they thought the doctor knew best.
Unfortunately, that doctor was apparently basing his decision on a previous case reported by Doctor John Money. He had a similar case years earlier, twin boys, one suffered an accident during a circumcision that left him with virtually no penis. The same
decision was made; one twin was raised as a girl, and the two siblings were tracked by Dr Money for years, all of whom were reported as perfect. Supposedly, the injured twin was now a perfect little lady. It wasn’t till some years later, after Kristi’s birth that the
truth was revealed. The child was not happy no matter how often Dr Money told him that he was a girll.
Eventually, the one twin changed his identity to male, took testosterone treatments, and married a woman. Things seem ok, but the undamaged twin, after years of turmoil in part due to Dr Money’s visits, took his own life. Then, the remaining twin spiraled and did the same. Dr Money never revised his case study or mentioned those new facts.
Director Grace Hughes-Hallet gave us previously the excellent Three Identical Strangers, which also pointed out the problems of the medical field when they decide to experiment on people but have no checks and balances in place. Her empathetic and thoughtful film brings us into the world of gender, which is a hot topic in many political venues. We should have more of these calm and
reasoned films to expand on the subject.