Sexual Signatures: On Being a Man or a Woman

by John and Tucker Patricia. Money

Softcover, Little Brown & Co 1975. 8" x 5" x .75". Written by a medical psychologist from Johns Hopkins University, Director of the Psychohormonal Research Unit and co founder of the JH Gender Identity Clinic. What makes you a man or a woman? Certain physical characteristics or particular mental attitudes? What are the actual differences cultural sterotypes aside between male and female?

Genres: Psychology, Sexuality, LGBT, Womens

192 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 1976

Reviews

[Ty · Rating 1 out of 5]

Dr. Money was a pioneer in gender theory. He introduced concepts such as "gender identity" and "gender role". He differentiated "gender" from "sex", thinking that the former is a social construct of sorts.
During the '60's, one Reimer family got twin boys, Bruce and Brian. Bruce's penis was ruined in a botched circumcision.
The concerned parents brought their boy to Dr. Money, who saw this as an opportunity to prove his theory that gender is taught.
He advised the Reimers to remove Bruce's testicles and raise him as a girl ("brenda"), expecting that he'll become a legitimate girl.
However, "Brenda" didn't feel like a girl and soon fell into a deep depression. What's worse, Money forced the twins to perform sexual acts and strip for "genital inspections", and took photos of them.
"Brenda" later changed his name to David and tried to return to a boy by installing an artificial penis and testicles.
In the end, Brian developed schizophrenia and died by overdose from antidepressants. David shot himself after years of depression, financial instability and marital issues.
Dr.Money wrote his critics off as bigots who believe that "masculinity and femininity are built into the genes so women should get back to the mattress and the kitchen.

[Imo Greenwood · Rating 3 out of 5]

super well-written, but cannot rate it higher as i have learned from it little that i did not already know.

however, passages following child trans folk did prove quite interesting.

[Federico Sanchez · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ahead of its time, (naturally) outdated for our own. The sections on prenatal development and intersex identities are interesting and well explained, and the authors' breakdown of sexuality and gender appears promising at first, but eventually gets muddied into a single amorphous mega category that doesn't fully get explained. For example, early on it is clarified that make homosexuality is not in any way equivalent to a female identity, but later on homosexuality is presented as a deviation of normal 'gender' development. The authors also pose an interesting theory on the codevelopment of gender and language, but the argument remains too enmeshed in the artificial nature-nurture debate that was typical of psychology at the time. And despite successfully separating gender identity and biological sex (and very elegantly explaining the inexistence of a true binary for the latter), the authors actively deny that there may be a sizeable number of people with gender identities intermediate to man and woman.

[Cara · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was well written and ahead of its time. It helped me a lot in understanding who I am. It shows that one needs to break and challenge what society thinks of sex and the status quo of male/female. It teaches one to find and be yourself regardless of what current society thinks.

[Terra · Rating 5 out of 5]

per chi fa confusione tra orientamento sessuale, sesso biologico e identità di genere. chiarisce le idee - e ce n'è bisogno, di questi tempi.

[Lysergius · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite fascinating.