A report by Peter Williams
Are we born with our sexual identity? Or do we learn it?
In 1963 a twin boy, just a few months old, had his penis accidentally burnt off during circumcision. The parents were advised to reassign the baby as a girl. Ten years later the child was, according to Time magazine, 'psychologically, at least, a girl.' Last year, sex researchers Masters and Johnson, in a new textbook, referred to the case as 'dramatic documentation'. But how successful has the reassignment been? And what can it teach us? Peter Williams looks beyond the first question - boy or girl?