DIAMOND IN THE ROUGH
Pioneer in intersex research Milton Diamond has died aged 90. He was best known for his involvement in the David Reimer case. Reimer himself wasn’t intersex – a botched circumcision left him without a penis – and his parents went to John Money for guidance. Money was known for his advocacy, now discredited, that intersex genitalia should be “normalised” and whichever gender was imposed on a child during their first two years would stick with them for life. Reimer was thus raised female.
Money claimed the Reimer case a success, but Reimer’s trauma-laden life – the truth was told to him in his teens after he experienced suicidal depression, but living as his male self ultimately wasn’t enough to overcome his upbringing and he committed suicide aged 38 shortly after his wife filed for divorce – prove otherwise. Diamond was Money’s sharpest critic, correctly arguing that gender cannot be forced and that it’s up to the children themselves to figure out who they are. His outreach to Reimer in the 90s thoroughly debunked Money’s bollocks and Diamond’s research rewrote the guidelines for treatment of intersex babies. We, and certainly David Reimer, would be in a much better place had the Milton Diamonds of the world always controlled the narrative instead of the John Moneys.
Diamond was unique for Gooseberry Crumble, the first hit for the Crumble trio this year with recent times seeing his fascinating figures occupy the LotM space far more often!
Milton Diamond
6 March 1934 – 20 March 2024, aged 90
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