ABSTRACT
"John" was an 8-month-old infant when his penis was destroyed in botched surgery. On the advice of doctors at Johns Hopkins Medical School, his parents decided to change him into a girl so he might one day have a normal sex life. His testicles were removed, a rough version of a vagina was created, and "John" was raised as "Joan." This is a famous case in sexual medicine, if medicine is the correct term for what was done. Therapists couldn't convince "Joan" to accept her role as a girl, as theory said she should. The John-Joan case is a classic example of how an untested idea, backed up by no evidence at all, can be used by well-meaning people to ruin someone's life. On campus, the old debate over male and female characteristics mutated into "gender studies," it was simply assumed that differences were either trivial or socially constructed by males to oppress women.
