Milton Diamond

Milton Diamond
Born (1934-03-06) March 6, 1934
New York City
Nationality American
Fields The study of human sexuality
Institutions University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
Alma mater University of Kansas
Known for Following up the case of David Reimer

Milton Diamond (born March 6, 1934 in New York City[1]) is a Professor Emeritus[2] of anatomy and reproductive biology at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. He has had a very long and productive career in the study of human sexuality. Diamond retired from the University in December 2009 but continues with his research and writing and also continues to travel extensively, consulting in his field.

Early career

Milton Diamond graduated from the City College of New York with a B.S. in biophysics in 1955,[1] after which he spent three years in the Army as an engineering officer, stationed in Japan.[3] On returning to the United States, he attended graduate school at University of Kansas from 1958–1962 and earned a Ph.D. in anatomy and psychology from that University.[3] His first job was teaching at the University of Louisville, School of Medicine where he simultaneously completed two years toward an M.D., passing his Basic Medicine Boards,[1] and in 1967 he moved to Hawaii to take up a post at the recently established John A. Burns School of Medicine. Milton Diamond had a long running feud with the psychologist Dr. John Money. In the early seventies, Diamond and Money were attending a conference on transgenderism in Dubrovnik. According to the book As Nature Made Him: The Boy Raised As a Girl (p. 174)[4] at this conference Money initiated a loud and aggressive argument with Diamond. One witness claims that Money punched Diamond; however, Diamond himself said that he could not recall any physical contact during this encounter.

David Reimer

Diamond is known for following up the case of David Reimer, a boy raised as a girl after a botched circumcision. This case, which Diamond renamed that of "John/Joan" to protect Reimer’s privacy, has become one of the most cited cases in the literature of psychiatry, anthropology, women's studies, child development, and biology of gender. With the cooperation of Dr. H. Keith Sigmundson, who had been Reimer’s supervising psychiatrist, Diamond tracked down the adult Reimer and found that John Money’s sex reassignment of Reimer had failed. Diamond was the first to alert physicians that the model of how to treat infants with intersex conditions that Reimer's case proposed was faulty.[5] He recommended[6] that physicians do no surgery on intersexed infants without their informed consent, assign such infants in the gender to which they will probably best adjust, and refrain from adding shame, stigma and secrecy to the issue, by assisting intersexual people to meet and associate with others of like condition. Diamond similarly encouraged considering the intersex condition as a difference of sex development, not as a disorder.[7]

Current work, appointments and awards

Diamond has written extensively about abortion and family planning, pornography, intersexuality, transsexuality, and other sex- and reproduction-related issues for professional sex and legal journals, as well as lay periodicals. He is frequently interviewed for public media and legal matters, and often serves as an expert in court proceedings, and is known for his research on the origins and development of sexual identity . Although he has retired from teaching, he continues to research and consult concerning transsexuality, intersexuality and pornography.

Appointments

Diamond was based at the John A. Burns School of Medicine, now at the University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, from 1967.[3] He was appointed Professor of Anatomy and Reproductive Biology in 1971, and from 1985 until his retirement he was Director of the Pacific Center for Sex and Society[3] within the School of Medicine.

In 1999 Diamond was appointed as President of the International Academy of Sex Research,[8] and in 2001/02 as President of the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality.[9]

Awards

The awards Diamond have received include:

Publications

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Scientific Advisory Board". Archive for Sexology. Retrieved 16 September 2009.
  2. "Board of Regents' Meeting, Thursday, September 25, 2014" (PDF). University of Hawaii. Retrieved 8 February 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "An Introduction to Professor Milton Diamond Ph.D.". Changeling Aspects. Retrieved 16 September 2009.
  4. Colapinto, John (2000). As Nature Made Him: The Boy Who Was Raised As a Girl. HarperCollins. ISBN 0-06-092959-6
  5. "Sexual Identity, Monozygotic Twins Reared in Discordant Sex Roles and a BBC Follow-Up". Milton Diamond, Ph.D. Retrieved 1 August 2011.
  6. Diamond, Milton; Sigmundson, H. Keith (October 1997). "Management of intersexuality. Guidelines for dealing with persons with ambiguous genitalia.". Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 151 (10): 1046–50. doi:10.1001/archpedi.1997.02170470080015. PMID 9343018. Retrieved 24 April 2013.
  7. Diamond, Milton; Beh, Hazel. (2008). "Changes In Management Of Children With Differences Of Sex Development.". Nature Clinical Practice Endocrinology & Metabolism. 4 (1): 4–5.
  8. "Meeting History". International Academy of Sex Research. Retrieved 15 September 2009.
  9. "Society Presidents". The Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality. Retrieved 15 September 2009.
  10. "Past awards for research". Gender Identity Research and Education Society. Retrieved 24 November 2010.
  11. "Archive for Sexology". HUMBOLDT-UNIVERSITÄT ZU BERLIN. Retrieved 11 November 2009.
  12. "Intersexuelle Menschen e.V.". Retrieved 15 September 2009.
  13. "Zwischengeschlechtliche ehrten Milton Diamond". Zwischengeschlecht.info. Retrieved 15 September 2009.
  14. "Regents' Medal for Excellence in Research awarded to outstanding UH faculty". University of Hawai'i System. Retrieved 15 September 2009.
  15. "Kinsey Award". The Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality. Retrieved 1 August 2011.
  16. "WAS Newsletter 2015, Volume 12 Issue 1" (PDF). The World Association for Sexual Health. Retrieved 4 October 2015.
  17. http://www.hawaii.edu/PCSS/online_artcls/historical/PreContactHawaii.htm
  18. http://www2.hu-berlin.de/sexology/BIB/DIAM/pre_contact.htm
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