John Colapinto

John Colapinto is a Canadian-born journalist , author , and former staff writer at The New Yorker , best known for his 2000 nonfiction book As Nature Made Him: The Boy Who Was Raised as a Girl , which chronicles the David Reimer case and its implications for understanding human sexual identity.

In the book, a New York Times bestseller, Colapinto documents how Reimer—born Bruce Reimer—suffered a botched circumcision at eight months old in 1965, leading psychologist John Money to recommend raising him as a girl named Brenda as part of an experiment to test the theory that gender identity is socially constructed and malleable through nurture alone; Reimer's subsequent severe psychological distress, rejection of the imposed female identity, and successful transition back to living as male after learning the truth at age 14 provided empirical counterevidence to Money's claims, highlighting the primacy of biological factors in gender development.

Originally stemming from Colapinto's 1998 Rolling Stone article on the case, which earned a National Magazine Award, the work drew scrutiny from proponents of environmental determinism in gender studies —often aligned with academic institutions where such theories have faced criticism for overlooking causal biological realities—but has been praised for its rigorous sourcing from primary interviews and medical records.

Colapinto's broader oeuvre includes novels like About the Author (2001), nominated for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award, and nonfiction such as This Is the Voice (2021), examining the science of human vocalization, alongside contributions to outlets including Vanity Fair and Esquire on topics from medical history to behavioral science.

John Colapinto was born in Toronto , Ontario , in 1958 and spent his formative years raised in the city. This upbringing in Toronto 's urban setting provided the initial context for his development, though no specific family or environmental details beyond standard biographical accounts are documented in available sources.

Colapinto completed his early education in Toronto before advancing to the University of Toronto, where he earned a Master's degree in English literature. The program's emphasis on literary analysis and critical thinking contributed to honing his analytical skills, setting the stage for his later pursuits in writing without notable disruptions or controversies during this period.

Following his Master's degree in English literature from the University of Toronto , Colapinto began a four-year period of freelancing for Canadian magazines, marking the start of his professional journalism career around 1985. This foundational phase involved developing core reporting and writing abilities through assignments in lower-profile outlets, prior to his relocation and higher-visibility work.

In 1989, Colapinto moved to New York City —initially without legal status—and expanded into the U.S. market with short-form nonfiction pieces for publications such as Vanity Fair , Esquire , Mademoiselle , Us , New York , and The New York Times Magazine . These early efforts, conducted amid challenging personal circumstances including residence in a high-crime area, focused on human interest topics and laid groundwork for his investigative approach, though specific pre-1990 articles remain sparsely documented in public records.

In 1995, John Colapinto became a contributing editor at Rolling Stone , where he focused on long-form investigative features exposing ethical lapses in medicine and media. His reporting often delved into scandals involving institutional overreach, prioritizing firsthand accounts and documentary evidence over prevailing expert narratives.