Milton Diamond: American professor of anatomy and reproductive biology at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa

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Milton Diamond | |
---|---|
Diamond in 2010 | |
Born | March 6, 1934 New York City, U.S.[1] |
Died | March 20, 2024 (aged 90) Honolulu, Hawai’i, U.S. |
Alma mater | City College of New York (BS) University of Kansas (PhD) |
Known for | Following up the case of David Reimer |
Scientific career | |
Fields | The study of human sexuality |
Institutions | University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa |
Milton Diamond (March 6, 1934[2] – March 20, 2024) was an American professor of anatomy and reproductive biology at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.[3] After a career in the study of human sexuality, Diamond retired from the university in December 2009 but continued with his research and writing until retiring fully in 2018.[4] He died on March 20, 2024, at the age of 90.[5][2]
Early career

Milton Diamond graduated from the City College of New York with a BS in biophysics in 1955,[1][2] after which he spent three years in the Army as an engineering officer, stationed in Japan.[6] On returning to the United States, he attended graduate school at University of Kansas from 1958 to 1962 where he earned a PhD in anatomy and psychology.[6][2] His first job was teaching at the University of Louisville, School of Medicine where he simultaneously completed two years toward a Doctor of Medicine, 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 1965 Diamond published “A Critical Evaluation of the Ontogeny of Human Sexual Behavior Archived September 13, 2021, at the Wayback Machine” a critique of Money’s work. 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 Who Was Raised as a Girl (page 174)[7][2] at this conference Money initiated a loud and aggressive argument with Diamond. Eyewitnesses claimed Money punched Diamond; however, Diamond himself said that he could not recall any physical contact during this encounter.[2]
David Reimer

Diamond was best known for following up on the case of David Reimer, a boy raised as a girl under the supervision of John Money after his penis was damaged beyond surgical repair during a botched circumcision, which was performed using an unconventional method of electrocauterization instead of a clamp and scalpel.[8][9] This case, which Money 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.[citation needed] With the cooperation of H. Keith Sigmundson, who had been Reimer’s supervising psychiatrist, Diamond tracked down the adult Reimer and found that Money’s sex reassignment of Reimer had failed. Diamond was the first to alert physicians that the model, proposed by Reimer’s case, of how to treat infants with intersex conditions was faulty.[10][2]
Diamond recommended[11] that physicians should not perform surgery on intersex people without their informed consent,[2] should assign such infants to the gender to which they will probably best adjust, and refrain from adding shame, stigma and secrecy to the issue, by assisting intersex 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.[12]
Work, appointments and awards
Diamond wrote 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 was frequently interviewed for public media and legal matters, and often served as an expert in court proceedings, and was known for his research on the origins and development of sexual identity. He retired from teaching in 2009, but continued to research and consult concerning transsexuality, intersexuality and pornography until he retired fully in 2018.
Appointments

Diamond was based at the John A. Burns School of Medicine at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, from 1967.[6] 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[6] within the School of Medicine.
In 1999 Diamond was appointed President of the International Academy of Sex Research,[13] and in 2001/02 President of the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality.[14]
Awards

The awards Diamond received include:
- 1999: the British GIRES Research Prize[15]
- 2000: the German Magnus Hirschfeld Medal for sexual science[16]
- 2005: the Norwegian Diversity Prize for his research efforts on behalf of transsexual and transgender people worldwide
- 2008: the first of a proposed annual award made by the German Intersex Society (Intersexuelle Menschen e.V.)[17] “for his decades-long commitment to the benefit of intersex people”;[18]
- 2009: the Regents’ Medal for Excellence in Research by the University of Hawaiʻi;[19]
- 2010: the Kinsey Award for 2011, made by the Midcontinent Region of the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality.[20]
- 2015: the World Association for Sexual Health gold medal[21]
Selected publications
[edit]
- Diamond, Milton; Karlen, Arno (1980). Sexual Decisions. Boston: Little, Brown. ISBN 978-0-316-18388-8. OCLC 607164700 – via Internet Archive.
- Sexwatching: Looking into the World of Sexual Behaviour. London: Prion. 1992 [1984]. ISBN 978-1-85375-024-3. OCLC 1285752977 – via Internet Archive.
- “Sexual Behavior in Pre-contact Hawai’i”. Revista Española del Pacifico (16): 37–58. 2004. Retrieved August 1, 2024 – via University of Hawaii System.
References
^ Jump up to:a b c “Scientific Advisory Board”. Archive for Sexology. Archived from the original on August 30, 2009. Retrieved September 16, 2009.
- ^ Jump up to:a b c d e f g h Risen, Clay (May 8, 2024). “Milton Diamond, Sexologist and Advocate for Intersex Babies, Dies at 90”. The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on May 8, 2024. Retrieved July 23, 2024.
- ^ “Board of Regents’ Meeting, Thursday, September 25, 2014” (PDF). University of Hawaiʻi. Retrieved February 8, 2015.
- ^ “Pacific Center for Sex and Society – Home Page”. University of Hawaiʻi. Retrieved January 21, 2020.
- ^ “Obituary – Professor Emeritus Milton Diamond Ph.D.” University of Hawaii. Retrieved March 22, 2024.
- ^ Jump up to:a b c d “An Introduction to Professor Milton Diamond Ph.D.” Changeling Aspects. Retrieved September 16, 2009.
- ^ Colapinto, John (2000). As Nature Made Him: The Boy Who Was Raised as a Girl. HarperCollins. ISBN 0-06-092959-6
- ^ Colapinto, John (2001). As Nature Made Him: The Boy Who Was Raised as a Girl. New York: HarperCollins. pp. 11-13. ISBN 978-0-06-019211-2.
- ^ “Health Check: The Boy Who Was Raised a Girl”. BBC News. November 23, 2010. Retrieved December 19, 2014.
- ^ “Sexual Identity, Monozygotic Twins Reared in Discordant Sex Roles and a BBC Follow-Up”. Milton Diamond, Ph.D. Retrieved August 1, 2011.
- ^ 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 April 24, 2013.
- ^ Diamond, Milton; Beh, Hazel. (2008). “Changes In Management Of Children With Differences Of Sex Development”. Nature Clinical Practice Endocrinology & Metabolism. 4 (1): 4–5. doi:10.1038/ncpendmet0694. hdl:10125/66380. PMID 17984980. S2CID 13382948.
- ^ “Meeting History”. International Academy of Sex Research. Archived from the original on March 30, 2009. Retrieved September 15, 2009.
- ^ “Society Presidents”. The Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality. Archived from the original on November 15, 2009. Retrieved September 15, 2009.
- ^ “Past awards for research”. Gender Identity Research and Education Society. Archived from the original on July 18, 2011. Retrieved November 24, 2010.
- ^ “Archive for Sexology”. HUMBOLDT-UNIVERSITÄT ZU BERLIN. Archived from the original on September 1, 2009. Retrieved November 11, 2009.
- ^ “Intersexuelle Menschen e.V.” Retrieved September 15, 2009.
- ^ “Zwischengeschlechtliche ehrten Milton Diamond”. Zwischengeschlecht.info. Archived from the original on September 20, 2009. Retrieved September 15, 2009.
- ^ “Regents’ Medal for Excellence in Research awarded to outstanding UH faculty”. University of Hawaiʻi System. Retrieved September 15, 2009.
- ^ “Kinsey Award”. The Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality. Archived from the original on August 9, 2011. Retrieved August 1, 2011.
- ^ “WAS Newsletter 2015, Volume 12 Issue 1” (PDF). The World Association for Sexual Health. Archived from the original on October 5, 2015. Retrieved October 4, 2015.
External links
“Pacific Center for Sex and Society”. University of Hawaii System.
- Milton Diamond’s YouTube channel
- “Interview with Dr. Milton Diamond”. GayOut. August 19, 2018.
- 1934 births
- 2024 deaths
- Academics from New York City
- American sexologists
- City College of New York alumni
- Intersex healthcare
- American medical academics
- Transgender studies academics
- United States Army officers
- University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa faculty
- University of Kansas alumni
- University of Louisville School of Medicine alumni
- University of Louisville faculty
MILTON DIAMOND Obituary

DR. MILTON MICKEY DIAMOND 6 March 1934 20 March 2024 Dr. Milton (“Mickey”) Diamond passed away peacefully at his Honolulu home on 20 March 2024 (age 90) with his wife by his side. Dr. Diamond was Professor Emeritus of Anatomy and Reproductive Biology at the University of Hawai’i at Manoa, John A. Burns School of Medicine. Throughout his lengthy career, his passionate advocacy of gender equity, diversity, and identity has empowered and saved lives globally.
Internationally, Dr. Diamond was known for the case of David Reimer, a boy whose penis was destroyed during a failed circumcision. Based on advice from behavioralists, the infant boy’s genitals were surgically transformed to female, and the child was reared as a girl. Reports about the success of this experiment led to thousands of inter-sex infants being surgically assigned as female. Based on his research, Dr. Diamond doubted claims about the success of this case.
When he investigated, Dr. Diamond found that he was proven correct. The now adult, David Reimer, had reclaimed his birth gender and was living as a married man. Known as the John/Joan case, this story was memorialized in the book, “As Nature Made Him,” by John Colapinto and fictionalized in the play, “Boy,” by Anna Ziegler.
Dr. Diamond’s work resulted in physicians around the world reconsidering performing cosmetic surgery on the genitals of inter-sex infants. “Mickey” was born to Jewish Ukrainian immigrants on 6 March 1934 in the Bronx, New York. He graduated from the now Bronx High School of Science (1951) and the City College of New York (1955), where he received an ROTC commission. Lieutenant Diamond joined the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and served in Tokyo, Japan.
This led to his lifetime love of Japanese culture. Later, he mentored numerous Japanese students who are now prominent Japanese sexologists. Dr. Diamond earned his Ph.D. (1962) in Anatomy and Psychology at the University of Kansas. His studies of the development of psychosexual differences in response to prenatal hormones would inform much of his future career.
He is famous for his conclusion: “Nature loves variety, but Society hates it.” His professional career began at the University of Louisville School of Medicine (Kentucky). In 1967, he joined the newly established John A. Burns School of Medicine at the University of Hawai’i at Manoa. In 1971, he was appointed Professor of Anatomy and Reproductive Biology and taught until his retirement in 2009. From 1985, he was also Director of the Pacific Center for Sex and Society within the School of Medicine. Dr. Diamond’s contributions to Hawaii were not limited to the classroom.
He was active in Hawaii’s becoming the first state to legalize abortion (1970); hosted an educational human sexuality series on Hawaii Public Television (1970s); formed a campus support group for gay, lesbian, and transsexual students at the UH Manoa (1970s); and organized the Hawaii AIDS Task Group in the early 1980s. A true Renaissance man, Mickey’s intellectual pursuits were matched only by his zest for adventure and love of travel. His numerous hobbies included photography, flying, and a lifelong love of music.
Mickey’s kindness and generosity touched countless lives. He was devoted to his family and friends, to whom he bestowed wisdom and boundless affection. His warm smile, sense of humor, and adventurous spirit will be deeply missed and fondly remembered by all who knew him. He is survived by his second wife, Constance Brinton-Diamond; daughters, Hinda, Irene, Sara, and Leah Diamond, and spouses; stepchildren, Maia James Tidwell, Kristina Brinton, and Andrew Brinton, and spouses; and 14 grandchildren.
He was preceded in death by his first wife, Grace Whitney Diamond. According to his final wishes, Dr. Milton Diamond will be buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (Punchbowl) with full military honors. My son-in-law, Rabbi Kenneth Aronowitz, will officiate this private service. A public remembrance/celebration of Dr. Diamond’s life will be held at 7:00 pm, Saturday, 3 August 2024, at the William S. Richardson School of Law courtyard at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Parking will be available at the UH Manoa Lower Campus parking structure. Make any donations you wish in Dr. Diamond’s honor to an organization that would make him proud.
To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.
Published by Star-Advertiser from Jul. 28 to Jul. 31, 2024.
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Andrea
July 29, 2024
He told some very interesting stories at a party I attended once in Honolulu. Celebrate that he happened in your life of you knew him. He will be missed. My sympathy to the family.
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