Sex: Unknown

On July 3, 1967, Bruce Reimer, an 18-month-old twin son whose penis was accidentally destroyed from a rare--yet medically accepted--practice of circumcision by burning, became the first child originally born with normal genitalia to undergo a sex change operation: after having his testicles removed and being surgically equipped with a vagina, "Bruce" became "Brenda" and was raised as a girl alongside his brother Brian. Prior to Bruce Reimer, sexual reassignment for infants with hermaphroditic or malformed genitals was fairly common, given that the condition is actually more frequent than instances of Down syndrome and cystic fibrosis combined. But it took the widely accepted psychological mid-20th century theories of John Money, who argued that nurture rather than nature was the deciding factor in questions of gender, to set the stage for Bruce Reimer's history-making operation. In this fascinating NOVA episode, interviews with doctors, scientists, and members of the Reimer family are intercut with archival stills and footage, both from the Reimer's personal collection and various scientific sources, as the program traces the growing acceptance of Money's ideas (solidified by the Reimer twins case) followed by the steadily eroding confidence in Money's arguments once hard scientific data about physical differences between the brains of men and women began to tip the scale from nurture back to nature. I won't reveal the conclusion of the Bruce/Brenda story, but I will say that it makes for a very interesting end to this amazing program, which is quite tastefully done, but does include a few graphic stills (of the sort that you might even find in a consumer-oriented comprehensive medical guide). Highly recommended. Aud: H, C, P. (R. Pitman)