The Long Shot

People have a need to accessorize. They buy pretty things and modify their bodies to fit a certain aesthetic they want to portray. Smith had a similar goal, something that most of society would consider odd or taboo. She was not afraid to bring out and embrace any side of her that could make other people feel uncomfortable.

Her desire to portray herself as a giraffe, really speaks to her determination and want for an individualized human experience. Smith endured painful procedures to get where she is today. This is her story, a story of strength in the face of trials.

Dream Young

Smith is from Los Angeles. She’s worked as a marketer, and started her own store called Verucaz, and is a professional model who’s better known for pursuing her desire to be a giraffe. Her obsession with the animals started at a young age when her peers started saying she resembled a giraffe.

One thing led to another, and she soon found herself idolizing the animal wanting to exaggerate her most criticized features. Her interest grew stranger as she began to admire the Kayan Lahwi people for their neck elongating traditions. She mimicked the rings they wore around their necks as a child, much to her mom and dad’s dismay and confusion.

From Asia To California

The Kayan Lahwi are a tribe of ethnic people from Thailand and Burma. The indigenous locals practice customs that most Western cultures would find a little extreme. Some cultures have different customs and traditions, even different standards of beauty and things so fiding something you’re not accustomed to is to be expected.

For example, the Kayan people think the longer a woman’s neck is, the more appealing she is. Smith felt like she resonated with that message, and soon after started practicing it in her own way during her younger formative years. According to her, she felt rather attached to the practice and the comfort it brought her.

Worth a Shot

Even though she started experimenting with herself to mimic the Kayan people from an early age, her fascination with giraffes was already present. She had a lot of possessions in the shape of the animal, a lot of things that carried a print of them. Her obsession with giraffes led her to embrace them as stuffed toys she adored.

Smith shared that her visits to the zoo often ended up with her staring at the animal enclosures and spending time with them. She was a young impressionable child who merely wanted to show her appreciation for the animal she would visit the zoo to see.

Dreams Are Real

Smith initially began her experiments on neck elongation by using wire coat hangers. They didn’t help much with the process, but the change was somewhat visible. Her neck did start to grow at least a little more than what’s usually expected of people her age. It wasn’t enough for her though.

Smith was young and willing to go the extra mile for her admiration of the Kayan neck ring custom. The budding interest would be her driving force to pursue a life where she can wear the authentic accessories even if she wasn’t at the right age for pursuing a procedure like this.

Humble Beginnings

Smith’s parents weren’t the most encouraging. They treated her dreams as just that. There wasn’t any serious considerable effort put into how she’d go about realizing it. Regardless, she persevered and constantly pushed on no matter the risks. The societal backlash she had received for her decision was something that took her a while to process and ignore.

She had to be sure that this was what she wanted. The comfort and peace it gave her was a familiar feeling that Smith just couldn’t set aside anymore. There were people halfway across the globe doing the same things she wanted to do, and perhaps that motivated her to take a leap.

An Ancient Custom?

The Kayan people have a rich history, and they resided within a region where expecting combat was necessary for survival. The ethics and rules for war weren’t mutually discussed between both sides, with the victors often displaying a gruesome show of merciless violence.

To mitigate the onslaught and protect their women, some anthropologists posit the idea that these neck rings were purposefully made to look unappealing to an aggressive outsider. Slavery was a common enemy the Kayan people had to endure through, so they might have constructed this system to protect their female tribe members from it. Their ideas of beauty organically changed over time.

The Science Behind it

Historians don’t just believe the Kayan people do it to ward off potential aggressors, though. It could be a case of s*xual dimorphism at play. They speculate it might be an imitation of a dragon, a very culturally important creature for the Kayan. The golden coils that encircle their necks might make them look more attractive to the local men.

The coils don’t actually elongate the neck, instead they’re using the weight to push down the ribs. They work to deform the body’s natural growth and promote a look that’s reminiscent of a floating head with a tower of gold above the body.

A Role Model

The Kayan customs weren’t the only thing that motivated her; it was also the popstar Lady Gaga. Smith is a huge fan and saw her favorite performer have the guts to wear whatever she liked regardless of the ramifications. She wore a stunning suit made entirely of different cuts of meat, to bring attention to how cruel the meat industry was and how removed the consumer really is from the cruelty.

This was the fuel that Smith needed to motivate her to take the next step and embrace the new lifestyle she was thinking of choosing. If someone like Gaga could pull off a meat dress while delivering a message, nothing could stop her either.

The Starting Line

Sometime in 2011, Smith decided it was time to finally do it. She was already mature enough to start living life autonomously, and there was nothing left to do but to find where to get her hands on those rings. Initially, she contacted a friend. They were nice enough to make her rings that would fit around her neck. It was only a few coils at first; eventually, more would come.

She initially started off taking it slow. Smith didn’t want to risk developing any complications and wanted to be sure her body could adjust before she put on more than the few she started with.

Haste Makes Greatness

Gradually, Smith’s body started reacting weirdly to the situation it was put in. The skin around her neck started to burn and this made her feel concerned at first. Eventually, she changed her mind and buckled up under the pressure. She already had a friend who could help her out with customized rings for her neck.

They were contacted and told to produce more, to facilitate a faster transformation for Smith. She managed an incredible feat for herself around five years later when her journey led her to wear a grand total of 13 brass rings on her neck. The average length of a neck is around four inches, but hers was significantly longer around 10 inches.

Genie in a Bottle

It wouldn’t take long before her pictures shared online saw some traction. She generated quite a buzz while being the Giraffe Woman of California. She was even featured on an episode of “Ripley’s Believe It or Not,” a show about oddities around the world and people being their whacky individual selves. She fit right in with the theme of the show, with her pursuits bringing attention to the Kayans and their rituals.

Soon after, she was getting photo-op opportunities, media attention, and had some news interviews fill up her schedule for a while. The fame was due in part to her being someone practicing an obscure South-East Asian ritual in America.

Not All Smiles

Self-expression is easy, but the way people can react to your expression can make it seem hard. There are many ways people feel insecure about how they look, but other people judging them is the most prominent concern most folks share, and this was especially true for Smith.

Her endeavor was looked down upon by most of the general public. They didn’t perceive it as positively as they could have like some people did. Smith wasn’t going to let their disdain dictate her life choices. Her five years of pain and determination meant more to her than public approval.

Backlash

Fame isn’t always as nice as it’s perceived to be. Sure it may seem nice at first, but eventually, the lack of privacy catches up to you. Being under the public eye can expose anyone to a lot of things that make them uncomfortable. For Smith, it was strangers focusing on her appearance rather than who she was.

She faced criticism for being an attention seeker; some people claimed it was cultural appropriation. The attention wasn’t limited to her online audience because people started to annoy her at convenience stores, malls, and other public spaces. She got tired of receiving questions regarding her rings all the time.

Alone Again, Naturally

Not being able to do everyday tasks can feel draining; it can make a person feel incompetent when they can’t do what they used to effortlessly. Smith found herself stuck in a similar situation. Her rings were too heavy and restricted her neck movement, which made cooking and swimming almost impossible for her. It was tough for her to keep a job, and normal tasks felt too arduous and draining.

The amount of attention she got limited the kind of jobs she could apply for, often opting for remote opportunities rather than an in-house ones. Her new look started taking away the things she took for granted, and the way the public treated her made Smith feel lonely and alienated.

Unwanted Advice

A doctor came forward and gave his opinion on Smith’s journey, stating legitimate health concerns for her. He shared that the Kayan coil-wearing ritual around the neck only works for women who were born into a tribe that practiced doing it from an early age. It takes years for your body to adapt to the change, and a neck like Smith’s couldn’t endure the pain since she started the process far too late.

This didn’t stop her from continuing to persevere and be patient with her new life. Her look was something she worked hard for, and it was finally yielding results for her, Smith’s neck was at the size she preferred.

Hard Choices

Since Smith wasn’t five years old when she started wearing brass coils, her collarbones couldn’t adjust to the new weight exerted on them, this led to her ribs being pushed down and her body being left with awful burn marks on her skin. The medical advice she got was important.

Be that as it may, she was hesitant. She couldn’t just shed away the new identity she forged for herself. The toll from wearing those rings for so long on her body was invisible to her; she could only feel the pain. It was clear to her that she’d had enough.

Rings of Power, No More

As cool as being California’s Giraffe Woman was, Smith decided it would be best to have those rings around her neck removed. After five grueling years of pain, she finally went through with the procedure to get the accessories removed. She asked the same friend who helped her with the customized pieces to remove them for her.

It was a long process, but eventually, they carefully removed each ring from her neck, cutting along them slowly to make sure nobody got hurt. They were rather heavy, and taking them off felt like a huge amount of weight was lifted from her shoulders for Smith.

Sydney’s Comeback to a Normal Life

Her bruises were serious, and felt rather drained after the rings were cut off. It took a significantly long amount of time to get them off, and the skin underneath did not look aesthetic in the slightest. She was lucky her body endured the ordeal; her neck is still longer than what she started with according to Smith.

With enough rehabilitation and muscle therapy, she’ll regain her actual neck size and will be able to perform normal activities again. Learning to move her neck and shoulders was a hurdle, but nothing she couldn’t overcome with her grit and determination.

New Horizons

Doing what you want should never be something you should be ashamed of. of. Smith wore those rings because they gave her a sense of comfort. She bore the brunt of the negative repercussions of her decisions and persevered with no regrets. There is a lesson to be learned from her story, one about embracing ourselves and our desires after we finally realize who we are and what we want.

Sydney Smith is now married and has a husband, and a daughter. She spends her time devoted to taking care of them and her body. She gained a lot of insight from her experiences over the years, and she still keeps the brass coils in her closet as a reminder of her strength.

His past is riddled with confusion and let-downs meant to mitigate the damage of his initial misfortune. With his twin brother being the control group, the child felt deprived of his shot at a normal life as they grew apart over the years.

David Reimer: The Undeserving

Coming up is a story about a man’s struggle with his horrifying past as a test subject for modern science. His body was modified too, but not of his own accord. This is the story of a baby who faced a botched circumcision, and that was the first domino in a chain of events that cascaded into a depressing symphony.

The Reimer brothers were identical twins born in 1965 in Canada. Their names are David, and Brian Reimer. David and Brian were your average run of the mill siblings; they were healthy, adorable, and practically looked the same in every way. Until an incident occurred due to which the differences between them started to increase over the following years.

When the kids were almost eight months old, it was time for them to get circumcised but that plan had a few problems that left young David with a physiological change that set him apart from Brian. The hospital they visited was in Winnipeg, during a time when medical practices weren’t quite as refined.

Convenient Yet Dubious

David needed reconstructive surgery, but medical science couldn’t deliver at the time. There was just far too much damage for the medical practitioners to do anything for him. The family was devastated, and their parents felt like they had been pushed up against the wall by fate.

Things were looking rather bleak for David, up until a certain individual happened to enter his life, a researcher on gender and father of the term “Gender Identity,” Dr. John Money. Reconstructive surgery was impossible and off the table for David, so Dr. Money did the next best thing by calling the Reimer family in and performing a reassignment surgery on David instead.

Why a Procedure?

The procedure itself was new and rather risky at the time, but it was better than leaving young David to his own devices. He had to be put through the process of hormone treatments, therapy sessions, and surgery. There wasn’t much David’s parents could do.

Dr. Money was a researcher working at John Hopkins University, a person who believed in gender reassignment and performed the first surgery for it in the United States in 1965. His contributions to the field were monumental, and that certainly played a role in convincing the Reimers their son was in good hands and ready for the change.

The Setup

The family was enrolled in an invasive type of experiment where they were told to nurture David uniquely while his therapy was underway. Dr. Money believed society and the way kids are raised were what decided the orientation of an individual. David and his twin brother Brian were the perfect candidates for his experiment.

The lack of differences between the siblings made it easier to gauge the physiological and characteristic changes to be observed developing within David after his procedure began. His interests and personality were expected to differ from his siblings, with Dr. Money’s main hypothesis being the idea that children develop their s*xual identity as they keep aging.

Nurture Over Nature

Nobody could have expected things to turn out this way. David was a normal child, and one ill-begotten mistake stripped him of his normal life. Dr. Money’s surgical procedure started with Reimer receiving a genital cleft, simply for cosmetic reasons, and a complete castration. These procedures were accompanied by hormone supplements and therapy to deal with the aftermath.

Soon, David became known as Brenda and was assigned feminine gender roles to make their transition into a woman easier. This kind of operation happening today without the consent of a child who understands what they’re getting into would face immediate protest and condemnation. The ethical limitations present today are there to benefit the patient.

Reading a Book Helps!

The Reimers’ desperation was preyed upon by an individual who was rigid with his views. Dr. Money was well educated and worked at John Hopkins whereas David’s folks were not. They had no idea how gender development worked nor were there many studies one could research that were easily accessible to the public.

Their lack of awareness helped make Dr. Money’s case, and the preceding events brought his shady practices unparalleled fame in his field. He received recognition and praise for his bold decision to conduct such an experiment on an unwilling child. He destroyed David’s potential of living a somewhat normal life.

Was it Just Homophobia?

David had folks who both grew up on a farm, they weren’t ready to understand what was happening. When Dr. Money prescribed the two-year-old hormone treatments, their questions were met with homophobic fear-mongering, rumors claim. They were told it was the only way to mitigate a future where David would be compelled to partake in such an altercation.

Life during the ‘60s was simple, things weren’t as nuanced as they are today because people’s sensitivities were generally glossed over or demonized. David’s supposed future was no exception to that rule. Things that deviated from the norm were considered taboo and immoral. His mom and dad felt like they had no choice.

The Toll We Pay

Assuming the Reimers went through with this procedure for the sake of making sure their “daughter” partakes in heterosexual relationships, it was unfathomably cruel seeing him adjust to his new life. David’s mother was not a fan of the experiment, and the guilt of her decision would eat away at her to the point where she contemplated committing suicide twice, while the father developed an alcohol addiction.

The brothers had a connection, but the toll the procedure was beginning to take on David’s psyche was something they both experienced, Brian fell into a depressive spiral and started to act out when he reached his teenage years.

A Painful Transition

The experiments were a success, David was Brenda now, a little girl trying to fit in with society but that wasn’t entirely the case. Things changed for David, and he could notice it. His prior upbringing as a boy was something he could still recall or at least feel nostalgic for.

David experienced bouts of dysphoria, his new body was something he was still confused about and refused to entirely accept. It was important to make sure David was not aware of his condition and the life he was leading.

Smile For The Camera

Brenda rejected the roles that were assigned to her, again and again. They had to reluctantly endure each instruction, each mislabeling, and each session with their therapist to come to grips with the idea of being a girl now. Even though they did not know about being a different gender prior.

This was something that contested Dr. Money’s theory, his understanding of nurture being more instrumental for child development than nature alone. Thus it was something that was ignored or swiftly shot down in favor of all the accolades and recognition he received for his valiant efforts. His peers respected him for his bold new ideas and their execution.

Lies Spread Faster

The experiment’s success opened up several doorways for Dr. Money. He was highlighted as a respected physician and someone dedicated to the progress of human sciences. He gave several interviews and hyped up his research to make sure people thought what he was doing was about to be revolutionary.

His attention garnered a loyal fanbase that dispelled rumors of his misconduct and unethical behavior at every turn. These loyalists had great respect and admiration for the medical practitioner and his somewhat progressive procedure at the time. His ideas were applauded, and he even received a feature article in Times Magazine in 1973.

Heard But Neglected

Brenda was beginning to act up. Much to Dr. Money’s bemusement, the experiment started showing glitches that weren’t accounted for. David started acting like a tomboy, without even knowing she was initially a boy in the first place.

Perhaps his traditionally male upbringing for the first eight months of his life was enough to poke through the disguise he was forced to adorn for the public. The therapy was not helping him completely accept his new identity as a woman and his parents were starting to take notice of his desires as they deviated from what they or his doctors expected.

It Was Inevitable

David knew he was a boy, something inside him kept screaming at him to let it out. It was shown by the way his body was growing, he was visibly different from most girls and that contributed to his self-isolation and doubt. “Brenda” wasn’t a fan of playing with barbie dolls or kissing boys, they were just lonely.

David tried desperately, but he couldn’t fit in with the girls nor the boys as effectively as he’d wanted. He faced discrimination for his body and the condition he was put in, his life was spiraling into a sinkhole in front of him and it led him to be suicidal and depressed. He was facing all of this, as an unlucky nine-year-old.

The Gruesome Truth

The gaslighting wouldn’t stop, though. Unfortunately for David, he was about to face the brunt of what Dr. John Money had in store for him soon enough. His folks were strictly forbidden from telling him the truth that he was a boy.

Brenda grappled with his identity crisis for years, and isolation wasn’t doing him any favors. They consulted therapists, but that wouldn’t change how things were for them. It was clear to them and everyone around that he was a boy. David’s brother Brian struggled with drug addiction as a result of all the discord he found at home; the entire family was suffering.

Nefarious Intentions

The one-on-one sessions with the twins were beginning to transition into something David would recall as a contributing factor to the schizophrenia he’d be diagnosed with later in life. He recalled horror stories of Money showing him and his twin obscene imagery for the sake of his work and their welfare.

Things took a far sinister turn when the medical practitioner ordered David to disrobe himself and participate in activities with his twin that were objectionable and largely traumatizing, with David recounting his brother was forced to physically interact with him in a deviant way under the physician’s supervision and encouragement.

Denied Accountability

The truth of the matter was, gender reassignment research and the children’s welfare weren’t things Dr. Money was concerned with. His main focus was the propagation of his name and ideas, and finding an outlet that could cater to his inhumane desires. Money had some mud flung on his name for his suspicious behavior but wasn’t outright accused of anything.

His prior work at John Hopkins had him respected by his peers, so much so that they’d posit theories to justify his actions. Some even went so far as to speculate David’s recollections were a product of a fabricated story his mind made up under the stress.

Casting a Dark Shadow on Dr. Money’s Reputation

Unfortunately, nothing could prevent the Reimer twins from falling prey to a sick man. The individual in question is well-renowned even today, with a settlement fund to boot. Money was a titan in his field and inspired many medical practitioners. His work was criticized to an extent, but the backlash from his supporters silenced most of the dissent.

The physician had a large following of supporters who praised his theories and considered him a hero for his medical developments. As allegations of his dubious methods bubbled to the surface, his followers claimed them all to be false. Followers of his suggested that David struggled with False Memory Syndrome as a result of his schizophrenia.

The Truth Shall Set You Free

The lunacy had finally ceased, David’s folks consulted a local therapist, and on his insistence, they opened up to him. They told him the truth about the nefarious experiment they were a part of, sharing how guilty they felt for putting him through such an ordeal.

David was relieved to hear it; he thought he was crazy, but it wasn’t just him. He was right, after all that he was a boy. The truth didn’t break him; he started his rehabilitation process immediately after. He pulled away from his Estrogen treatments and started work on reversing the modifications made to his body without his consent.

The Pain Comes Undone

Brenda was finally, no more. David had replaced her, and that was a new identity that Bruce felt was closest to himself now that it was finally being portrayed. David’s real name was Bruce Henry Reimer, but he felt more comfortable adopting David as his new name.

Recovery for David was tough. His mental health deteriorated further and further, as he was dealing with schizophrenia, and his family was in disarray after the truth came out. He underwent double mastectomy to get rid of his mammaries and reconstructive surgery to reverse the damage done to his body with a brave face.

The Final Straw

Struggling to get back on his feet, David still didn’t feel like himself entirely. During his 20s, he had a bout with depression and almost took his own life on two separate occasions. Readjusting himself into society was tough, and now that he changed everything, he was bound to feel alienated and afraid all over again.

The tough times couldn’t hold him down forever though. Sometime after his 20s he met his significant other and started giving the new “normal” a chance. They spent 12 long years of marriage together but David was sterile, so he never had any children of his own.

A New Friend

Things were beginning to slip out from under the cracks; the floor beneath Reimer was shattered and his loose footing was what scared him into seeking professional help. His mental health was in ruins despite his newfound joy. The therapist he met was Dr. Milton Diamond.

Diamond was a staunch adversary of Money, he was very interested in understanding what David had been through. Diamond was very apprehensive about the experiment, and constantly pushed David and supported him. This helped give David the support he needed. He and Diamond would go on to publish a paper entirely discrediting Money’s work.

Sweet Victory

The paper made headlines, and the scientific world was shaken. The loyalists who stood by Dr. Money were dwindling in numbers. The expose brought a spotlight onto the botched experiment, and Money’s nefarious deeds were made public, to his dismay. The theories of gender identity that he posited were about to be put into practice nationwide, so this prompted Reimer and Diamond to act fast and publish the paper.

Although shocking, the news didn’t change much but brought some healthy skepticism to the table. The truth coming out wasn’t enough for some to deject all of Money’s work, David would later go on to write a book about himself and the torture he endured.

Good News And Bad News

Dr. Money took his sins to the grave, without uttering a single word about it all. The damage he’d done to David was irreparable, not only was he physically and mentally hurt, but his entire family was affected by it all too. His brother grew distant, as he was unable to cope with the stress and grief.

Brian developed schizophrenia and eventually died from overdosing himself on pills. David mourned his brother’s death, and took care of his gravestone after the incident; they were twins so they shared a connection that was now severed forever.