Nature 1, Nurture 0

Compelling as the story o f John/Joan may be, the boy whose penis was accidentally severed by a surgeon when he was an infant and who was raised as a girl cannot be held up as the iconographic case that defines the natural pull of human sexual identity. In John's case, des pite extensive surgery to fit him with female genitalia and long socialization by a family that raised him as a girl, he always felt and acted like a boy. When he finally learned the truth about his identity in his teens, he was overjoyed, sought ou t reverse surgery and is now happily married. TIME's Christine Gorman points out, though, that the range of human sexual identity is far more complex than simple male versus female, nor is it bound by flesh. The main lesson to be learned from John is that people cannot be told how to feel about their sexuality. While most of us are irrevocably grounded in a clear sexual identity, some boys will always feel like girls, and vice versa, regardless of what society or plastic surgeons may do. % 0A