The Feral Child Tied To A Toilet For 13 Years

Summary

The script recounts the tragic story of 'Genie,' a 13-year-old girl discovered in 1970, who had been isolated and abused her entire life, providing a unique opportunity for scientists to study the development of human language. Despite initial progress, her linguistic development plateaued, and the case was marred by legal battles and personal conflicts among her caretakers. The narrative explores the ethical dilemmas of scientific research on vulnerable individuals and the quest for knowledge at the expense of human suffering.

Takeaways

• 😢 Genie, a 13-year-old girl, was discovered having spent her entire life in isolation, subjected to severe physical, mental, and emotional abuse.
• 🧬 Her case was seen as a unique opportunity to study the development of human language, as her brain was considered a 'blank slate' at a critical period for language acquisition.
• 🏠 Genie's father was hyper-sensitive to sound and had extreme reactions to control noise, leading to Genie's confinement and abuse.
• 🌐 The scientific community was divided on whether Genie's停滞的语言 development supported Chomsky's theory of innate language structure or Lenneberg's critical period hypothesis.
• 🤝 Genie showed significant progress in language and cognitive development under the care of researchers and foster families, but her progress was inconsistent and eventually stalled.
• 💔 Conflicts among researchers and care providers, including disputes over custody and research methodologies, complicated Genie's care and recovery.
• 📉 The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) withdrew funding for Genie's research due to concerns about the direction and impact of the studies.
• 📚 The case of Genie raised ethical questions about the treatment of research subjects, especially those who are vulnerable, and the balance between scientific inquiry and human welfare.
• 🏡 Genie's life after the research project was marked by a series of failed foster care placements, returning her to a state of severe abuse and regression in her development.
• 🔍 The true identity of 'Genie' was kept anonymous to protect her privacy, highlighting the importance of safeguarding individuals involved in scientific studies.

Q & A

What was the significance of Genie's case in the context of scientific research?

Genie's case was significant because it presented a unique opportunity to study the effects of extreme isolation and abuse on human development, particularly in relation to language acquisition and neurological development.

How did Genie's father's reaction to sound impact the family's lifestyle?

Genie's father, Clark, was incensed by any and all sound, leading the family to have no TV or radio. This extreme sensitivity to sound contributed to the creation of an isolated and silent environment within the home.

What was the condition of Genie when she was discovered at 13 years old?

Genie was discovered at 13 years old weighing less than 60 pounds, walking like an injured bunny, and still wearing a diaper. She understood fewer than 20 words and could not speak beyond uttering a handful of protective phrases.

What was the role of Carl Linnaeus in the understanding of Genie's case?

Carl Linnaeus, known for formalizing binomial nomenclature and being the father of biological taxonomy, would have classified Genie as 'homo ferus,' suggesting she represented a distinct strain of feral human due to her extreme isolation and lack of socialization.

What were the conditions Genie was subjected to during her confinement?

Genie was strapped to a potty training chair in a 10ft x 10ft room during the day and at night was put in a crib with wire screens, essentially a cage. She was physically abused and had no exposure to language or social interaction.

How did Genie's case coincide with advances in linguistic theory?

Genie's case coincided with the publication of Noam Chomsky's 'Syntactic Structures' and Eric Lenneberg's 'Biological Foundations of Language,' which were challenging traditional views on language acquisition and proposing the existence of a critical period for language learning.

What was the critical period hypothesis proposed by Eric Lenneberg, and how did it relate to Genie?

The critical period hypothesis suggested that humans have a limited timeframe, from 2 years to the onset of puberty, in which they can acquire language naturally. Genie, being discovered at the age of 13, presented a test case to see if language could be learned outside this period.

What were the ethical concerns raised by Genie's case in the scientific community?

The ethical concerns included the manner in which Genie was studied, the potential exploitation of her tragic circumstances for scientific advancement, and the lack of clear guidelines on how to ethically and effectively rehabilitate and study a person in her unique situation.

How did Genie's linguistic progress initially and what challenges did she face later?

Initially, Genie showed remarkable progress, moving from a vocabulary of about 20 words to over 100 and starting to form simple sentences. However, her progress plateaued, particularly in her Broca's area development, which is responsible for grammar, raising questions about the limits of language acquisition in her case.

What were the conflicts that arose during Genie's case and what were their impacts?

Conflicts arose between researchers over the direction and focus of the study, between the research project and the National Institute of Mental Health over funding, and within Genie's own life as she was moved between different care situations. These conflicts led to a lack of consistent care, disrupted research, and ultimately, a negative impact on Genie's well-being and rehabilitation.

What was the ultimate fate of Genie, and what does her story say about the intersection of science, ethics, and human suffering?

Genie's story ended with her returning to state care, and the last known information suggests she was alive but in a state of severe regression, refusing to speak. Her story highlights the complex ethical dilemmas in scientific research, especially when it involves vulnerable individuals, and the potential for good intentions to lead to tragic outcomes.

Outlines

00:00

😢 The Tragic Discovery of Genie

The paragraph introduces the harrowing case of Genie, a 13-year-old girl who had been locked away her entire life, suffering from extreme physical, mental, and emotional abuse. This isolation made her a unique subject for studying human language development due to her brain being a 'blank slate.' The narrative delves into the dark circumstances of her life, including the abuse by her father and the tragic death of her sibling. Genie's limited vocabulary and inability to perform basic human functions like chewing solid food highlight the severity of her condition. The paragraph sets the stage for a discussion on the ethical dilemmas of scientific research and the potential insights Genie's case could offer into human language acquisition.

05:05

🌱 The Feral Child and the Mystery of Language Development

This paragraph explores the rarity of cases like Genie's, often referred to as 'feral children,' and the challenges in studying them due to high mortality rates. It raises critical questions about the potential for language learning in individuals who have had no exposure to language during their formative years. The discussion then pivots to the complexities of understanding language, using the analogy of bread to illustrate the nuances and variations in language that even a typical person must learn. The paragraph also touches on the revolutionary linguistic theories of Noam Chomsky, which suggest an innate human capacity for language structure, challenging traditional views of language learning. It sets the stage for examining Genie's case in the context of these theories.

10:06

🔬 The Scientific Scrutiny of an Isolated Mind

The focus of this paragraph is on the scientific community's reaction to Genie's case and the research that ensued. It discusses the critical period hypothesis proposed by Eric Lenneberg, which posits a limited window for natural language acquisition. Genie, being at the end of this period, became a subject of immense interest. The narrative describes the scramble among researchers to study her, reflecting the ethical and practical dilemmas of such an unprecedented case. The paragraph also touches on the initial medical assessments and the broad scope of the research, which aimed to understand the potential of Genie's brain after years of sensory deprivation.

15:07

🤔 The Cognitive Awakening of Genie

This paragraph delves into Genie's initial interactions with the world outside her isolation, highlighting her struggle to adapt and the challenges she faced in perceiving her environment. It discusses the gradual development of her cognitive abilities, particularly her emerging language skills, as she began to form basic words and understand concepts like 'doctor' and 'tie.' The narrative captures the excitement and optimism of the researchers as they witnessed Genie's progress, which included the development of object permanence and the ability to express simple desires. The paragraph also reflects on the emotional bond that formed between Genie and her caregivers, indicating her potential for further development.

20:08

📉 The Stalled Progress and Controversies

The paragraph discusses the stagnation in Genie's linguistic progress and the ensuing controversies. It outlines the conflicts between researchers, the National Institute of Mental Health's withdrawal of funding due to unfocused research, and the internal struggles within Genie's brain development. The narrative also touches on the personal dynamics and power struggles among the researchers, leading to a breakdown in the research collaboration. Furthermore, it describes the legal battles and the tragic series of abusive foster care placements that Genie endured after the research project concluded, ultimately leading to a regression in her communication abilities and a return to silence.

25:11

🏚 The Aftermath and Legacy of Genie's Story

This final paragraph reflects on the tragic aftermath of Genie's story, detailing her return to state care and the subsequent lawsuits and disputes over her well-being. It highlights the contrasting actions of those involved, from Susan Curtiss's genuine concern and donations to Genie's estate to the self-serving behaviors of others. The paragraph concludes with a poignant description of Genie's 27th birthday and the realization that her true identity and wishes were overshadowed by the ambitions of those around her. The narrative ends on a somber note, leaving the audience to contemplate the ethical implications of Genie's case and the human cost of scientific curiosity.

Keywords

💡Feral Child

A 'feral child' refers to a child who has lived isolated from human contact, often raised by animals or in extreme cases of neglect. In the video, Genie is described as a 'feral child' due to her extreme isolation and lack of human interaction, which makes her case a subject of study for understanding human development and language acquisition.

💡Linguistic Theory

Linguistic theory encompasses the scientific study of the nature, structure, and variation of language. The video discusses how Genie's case coincided with advances in linguistic theory, particularly Chomsky's theory of 'universal grammar' and Lenneberg's 'critical period hypothesis,' which suggest that there is a specific window in childhood during which language is most easily acquired.

💡Isolation

Isolation, in the context of the video, refers to Genie's lack of social interaction and sensory stimulation, which is a critical factor in her developmental delays and language acquisition challenges. The video explores the devastating effects of such isolation on Genie's cognitive and emotional development.

💡Child Abuse

Child abuse is a general term for any harmful act or behavior towards children. In the video, Genie's case is described as one of the most tragic cases of child abuse, involving physical, mental, and emotional torment, which raises questions about the morality of the scientific study conducted on her.

💡Critical Period Hypothesis

The critical period hypothesis, as mentioned in the video, is the idea that there is a specific period in early life during which language acquisition is most effective. Genie's case was of interest because she was discovered outside of this period, leading researchers to question whether language could still be learned after this 'critical period' had passed.

💡Object Permanence

Object permanence is the understanding that objects continue to exist even when not within one's line of sight. The video describes Genie's development of object permanence as a significant milestone, indicating her growing cognitive abilities and understanding of the world beyond her immediate perception.

💡Egocentrism

Egocentrism is the inability to differentiate between one's own perspective and that of others. The video describes Genie's initial state as one of 'clinical egocentrism,' where her world was entirely centered on herself, reflecting the lack of social interaction and understanding of others' existence.

💡Language Acquisition

Language acquisition refers to the process of learning a language. The video discusses Genie's progress in language acquisition as a key area of study, highlighting her initial limitations and the challenges she faced in developing language skills due to her isolated upbringing.

💡Mental Retardation

Mental retardation, now more commonly referred to as intellectual disability, is a reduced ability to understand new or complex information. The video mentions that Genie was tested for mental retardation, but her results were inconclusive, indicating the complexity of her condition and the impact of her isolation on her cognitive development.

💡Ethical Considerations

Ethical considerations in research involve the moral principles that guide the treatment of human subjects. The video raises ethical questions about the study of Genie, as her case was exploited for scientific progress without adequate consideration for her well-being and consent.

💡Scientific Tragedy

A scientific tragedy refers to a situation where the pursuit of scientific knowledge leads to unintended negative consequences. The video's title and narrative frame Genie's story as a scientific tragedy, highlighting the harm caused by the research and the failure to protect her interests.

Highlights

The case of a 13-year-old girl, Genie, who had been locked in a room her entire life, presents a tragic yet scientifically intriguing study on the development of human language.

Genie's limited exposure to language and social interaction made her a unique subject for understanding the critical period for language acquisition.

Genie's father's extreme aversion to sound and the family's isolation contributed to her abnormal development.

The discovery of Genie at 13 years old, with the mental and physical abilities of a toddler, shocked the scientific community.

Genie's case was seen as a potential Rosetta Stone for understanding human language development due to her brain's 'blank slate'.

The video explores the ethical dilemmas of using Genie's tragic life for scientific advancement.

Genie's initial vocabulary was extremely limited, with fewer than 20 words, highlighting the severity of her isolation.

The absence of language input during Genie's formative years raises questions about the innate vs. learned aspects of language.

Genie's case coincided with Noam Chomsky's revolutionary linguistic theories, providing a real-world test for his ideas.

The video discusses the critical period hypothesis and its implications for Genie's potential to learn language.

Genie's progress in language acquisition was initially rapid, suggesting a natural capacity for language despite her late start.

The video highlights the complex ethical and legal battles that arose from Genie's case, including disputes over her care and research access.

Genie's story illustrates the devastating long-term effects of child abuse and neglect on cognitive and emotional development.

The scientific community's handling of Genie's case raises questions about the balance between research and the welfare of human subjects.

Genie's eventual withdrawal from speaking and her return to a state of silence underscore the profound impact of her abuse.

The video concludes with a reflection on Genie's life, the scientific knowledge gained, and the ethical costs of such research.

Transcripts

One of the most horrific cases of  childhood tragedy ever documented  

will make you question the morality  of modern science -- and bread.

A 13 year old girl who had spent her entire  life locked in a room, physically, mentally,  

and emotionally abused, was somehow a mix of  petri dish and Rosetta Stone that could unlock  

the mysteries of human language -- because her  brain was a blank slate at exactly the right time.

It’s a story of good intentions, horrible  execution, greed, scholarly ambition,  

and the deepest depths of human suffering --  all in the service of scientific progress.

When you spend the most important  developmental years of your life in total  

isolation, a decade of deranged solitary  confinement and torture -- what happens?

Genie’s discovery in 1970 was an accident. Her  mother, Irene Wiley, was nearly blind from a  

mix of cataracts and neurological damage from  being hit by the handcrank of a wringer washer,  

and that’s why she walked into the wrong social  services office with her daughter -- a 13 year old  

who weighed less than 60 pounds, who walked like  an injured bunny, and who still wore a diaper.  

She understood fewer than 20 words, like “Mother”  and the colors red and blue. She spat and clawed,  

and she couldn’t speak beyond uttering a  handful of protective phrases like “stopit.”

Carl Linnaeus, the formalizer of binomial  nomenclature and the father of biological  

taxonomy, would have classified Genie as  homo ferus, a distinctly separate strain  

of feral human. A New York Times writer  classified her as a “shattered creature.”

Genie’s father Clark was incensed by any  and all sound. The family had no TV or  

radio. Clark and Irene’s first child  died after being placed in the garage,  

probably to create distance from the crying.  The 2 month old infant succumbed to what was  

deemed to be “quick pneumonia,” but  which was almost certainly exposure.

Genie was tortured much more slowly.

During the day she was strapped to a potty  training chair in a 10ft x 10ft room. There  

were two shaded windows and a single light  bulb and nothing on the salmon-colored walls.  

A piece of wood leaned against one corner --  Clark would beat Genie with it to punish her  

for making noise. At night she was put in  a crib with wire screens, basically a cage,  

and she was wrapped in a sleeping bag that  researchers described as a straitjacket.  

She occasionally was allowed to play with two  vinyl raincoats and an empty cottage cheese  

container -- and when social workers tried to feed  her, they discovered that she couldn’t chew food.

After a lifelong diet of baby food and other  soft foods, she simply didn’t know how.

Genie’s life was the most tragic  case of child abuse anyone involved  

in her care had ever seen -- or would ever see.

And Genie also presented  one of the most incredible  

scientific opportunities in modern history:

“The girl was apparently uttering infantile noises  and still wearing diapers discovered the case two  

weeks ago, but the authorities are hoping she  still may have a normal learning capacity.”

That was the question: what could a human  being subjected to a lifetime of sensory,  

experiential, and social deprivation actually  learn once immersed in… normal life? And the  

most interesting course of study was around  language -- because Genie’s life coincided  

perfectly with advances in linguistic theory that  challenged literally thousands of years of wisdom.

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There had been a few notable cases of the ‘feral  child’ who existed in as close to a Hobbesian  

state of nature as we’re likely to get -- starting  with Jean Itard’s study of Victor of Aveyron,  

a “wild child” who emerged from a forest in  France in 1800. Why don’t we have thousands  

of cases like Victor and Genie to examine?  Well… most people don’t abandon kids in  

the woods or tie them to a potty training  chair all day -- and whether it’s isolation,  

neglect, or abuse… kids in their circumstances  tend to die before they can be rehabilitated  

physically and mentally, let alone be  studied fully and ethically by scientists.

But Genie checked all the boxes the natural  world never really lets us check. Could a  

girl who had virtually no exposure to  language learn how to communicate with  

words despite being on the precipice of  adulthood? Can a teenager learn to talk?

WHAT IS BREAD?

You’ve spent a lifetime learning  about the nuances of bread without  

even realizing it -- and Genie was starting  with literally nothing at 13 or 14 years old.

First, it’s got a name. Bread, and eventually  you learn that name. But is bread only the whole  

thing? When it gets sliced or ripped up, are those  pieces also bread? Is there a new name for that,  

or does it have to be qualified with a  new word like “slice?” … which doesn’t  

sound anything like bread. How small  can slices get before it stops being  

bread and suddenly turns into a crumb?  If there’s a new name when it gets tiny,  

why isn’t there a new name when it’s a huge  collection, like on a rack at a bakery?

This is French Peasant bread. Are the brown  ones like pumpernickel also bread even though  

it looks nothing like this and tastes completely  different? Fluffy, leavened bread and compressed  

unleavened flatbreads are both bread. But if  it’s called “dough” and not bread when it’s  

squishy before it’s baked, is it still called  bread when it’s molded on the counter for a  

month? Is the hard outside a distinctly separate  entity from the soft inside, with different names,  

or is it all just bread? If the individual  pieces like the crust have different names,  

why don’t we list all those pieces when we talk  about it? Why do we just lump together all those  

separate parts as “bread,” and how do we know  when the components stop and the whole begins?

You eventually discover that bread is food  -- is it bread both before you’ve eaten it  

and as you completely transform it in your  mouth, and then pass it through your body?  

Is it still bread as you chew on it, but  stops being bread when you swallow? Why?!

And if we make a sandwich out of it, why do we  just stop noticing the bread? It’s still there,  

it’s the top and the bottom of the thing,  

but all of a sudden we’re talking about  a totally new word. SANDWICH. That… has  

nothing to do with the sand at the beach  or Halloween decorations, or… bread.

If I have two of the same loaf, why  would I talk about the bread as a  

singular unit -- but if I sampled  a few different breads I wouldn’t?

And WHAT IS TOAST?

These questions constitute only a  portion of understanding what one  

single word in one language actually means --  and vocabulary isn’t even the interesting part.

Two things were born in 1957: one was  Genie. The other was a linguistic upheaval  

so significant that its publication is  often just referred to as “The Event.”

Noam Chomsky was almost completely  unknown when he published “Syntactic  

Structures,” which argued that humans  don’t learn or acquire grammar and  

syntax -- they’re born with a built-in  sense of language construction that is  

wholly separate from the development of  semantics, or the meaning of language.

Around 300 BC, Epicurus theorized that  man developed sounds as a reaction to  

what he saw and experienced in nature,  but that only explains how we got words.  

Most everyone before and since thought  language was a mixture of gift and curse  

from deities -- it’s such a complex phenomenon  that there couldn’t be any other explanation.

Chomsky’s theory rejected all of that -- including  

the notion that we learn language  from the other people around us,  

especially our parents. They just built on  a universal grammar we already contained.

By the time Genie materialized in 1970, the  field of linguistics had spent more than a  

decade at war with itself over the validity  of Chomsky’s “Syntactic Structures” -- and  

Eric Lenneberg’s “Biological Foundations of  Language” complicated things even further by  

suggesting the critical period hypothesis --  that humans have a limited timeframe from 2  

years to the onset of puberty in which  they can acquire language naturally.

Genie was… a perfectly imperfect test  subject. She was as close to a blank  

slate as any researcher would ever get. Her  ‘critical period’ window had just closed,  

and they were about to find out whether she  had a natural grammar and syntax programmed  

before birth. Was Chomsky right, or was it  Lenneberg? Were they both right? Or neither?!

Genie spent the first 13 years  of her life in total isolation.  

She spent the next 13 years under the spotlight  in the center ring of a big-top science circus.

To be fair, no one really knew what to do with  her. There was no playbook for this kind of case,  

and there were no rules beyond the law and general  morality. Genie had been taken immediately out of  

the home -- on the morning Clark and his wife were  to appear in court on charges of willful abuse of  

a minor, he shot himself with a revolver. He left  2 notes -- one to his son John, Genie’s brother,  

whose testicles Clark had routinely  assaulted with a 3-foot board: John said,  

“I don’t think he wanted me to have children, and  it’s a wonder I did,” and that, "He would write me  

a note excusing me from gym so the kids didn't see  my privates in the showers." The note to John told  

him where clothes would be for the funeral, and  it ended with, “I love you. Goodbye and be good.”

The other note was for the police. It  said, “The world will never understand.”

The Children’s Hospital’s immediate concern  was Genie’s physical health and safety,  

and professionals from several disciplines  tried to assess the situation. Dr. James  

Kent was the first to examine her -- he said,  “As far as I’m concerned, Genie was the most  

profoundly damaged child I’ve ever seen,” and he  concluded that, “Genie’s life was a wasteland.”

Jay Shurley’s field of expertise was the brain  -- he conducted sleep analysis that showed  

a high number of neural oscillations called  “sleep spindles,” indicating to him that Genie  

had a degree of mental retardation. But despite  having very low functionality on some measures,  

she was perfectly normal on other tests that  would have indicated a mental disability.

What Genie did have was an incalculable number  of problems and mysteries. Shurley said,  

“From being a totally neglected waif at the time I  did my consultation, by the time I came back Genie  

had become a prize. There was a contest about  who was going to investigate her, and how.”

Dr. David Rigler led the application for grant  funding to study Genie through the National  

Institute of Mental Health -- in February of 1971,  they were approved for $21,500, the equivalent of  

about $150,000 today, to run through September of  that year. What was actually going to be studied?

Everything.

What could a brain dormant for 14 years,  undernourished and interspersed with bouts  

of what amounted to torture, eventually learn  to do? Was it possible for researchers to  

even measure Genie’s progress, when their human  subject first had to get used to… other humans?

And the first real experiment  here was Genie studying Genie.

Normal human development consists of seeing,  hearing, touching, and experiencing things,  

all guided by veterans of humanity who have  an interest in facilitating your advancement:  

that’s usually your parents and family. You  eventually learn that one person who’s around  

all the time is some version of “mama,” who  is a distinctly separate being from yourself,  

and the big furry loud thing is a “dog,” and  you like “eating.” But you don’t like eating  

“broccoli,” especially when you’d rather be  watching “Cocomelon.” And you begin to develop  

an internal monologue using those terms that  draws on this increasingly-organized catalog  

of information with greater efficiency  and precision. The more you do and see,  

the larger that database, and the more you  make use of it, the better you get at it.

How does a child think, “I want to watch  Cocomelon” when they have no sense of the  

act of sitting down and watching a TV show, or  who Cocomelon is, or why he doesn’t look like  

a real life person, or why it’s nicer  to watch when the dog isn’t barking,  

or why “mama” trying to force “broccoli” down your  gullet is a distraction -- when that child doesn’t  

know what anything is, what anything is called,  or how to express their relationship to any of it?

What can even go on in their head?

That was Genie, but with the entire world  -- and she was starting at 14. For her,  

even seeing things was hard. She had trouble  focusing on anything beyond 10 feet away,  

because she’d spent her life in a  10 x 10 room -- she literally had  

never had to process with her eyes  anything further away than the wall.

She slowly began to get comfortable with the  medical doctors and researchers -- which was  

a serious conceptual hurdle. Genie  had existed in a state of clinical  

egocentrism -- her entire world  was just her. Now it was her and  

other people -- but Dr. Kent felt that  she could improve with relationships:

“Up until one particular day, Genie  didn’t seem to respond in any special  

way to my coming or going at the end of  our sessions. Then one day when I left  

her expression changed from happy to sad, to  indicate that there was some sadness in the  

separation for her. And that was the first  indication I had that we were beginning to  

form this relationship. I thought if as long  as she had the capacity to form attachments,  

she had the capacity to learn,  and the capacity to get better.”

And then something incredible happened.

There’s a video of a session with Genie that  shows Jean Butler -- a special education  

teacher who would become a major player in  Genie’s tragic life -- trying to get Genie  

to tie her own shoes. Genie doesn’t  want to do it -- and linguist Susan  

Curtiss noted that she never really initiated  anything, because how would she even know to?

BUTLER: “You do it, and then we can  tell Doctor Kent what you can do.”

GENIE: “Doctor!”

BUTLER: “Doctor Kent! Right  there is says that, doesn’t it?

GENIE: “Doctor!”

BUTLER: “Doctor Kent. You tie it?”

GENIE: “Tie!”

BUTLER: “Tie it.”

A lot is happening here. In just a few months,  

Genie’s vocabulary had grown from about  20 words to 100 -- if words were crayons,  

that’s like going from a small set of basic  colors like red and blue to a big box that  

even contains ‘Chicken Nugget Golden-Brown.’  It’s not 32-bit, but it’s serious progress.

She knows that “doctor” refers to Doctor Kent --  who is not in the room. It means she’d developed  

“object permanence” -- she knows Doctor Kent  exists even when he’s not there. She’s smiling  

and happy when she says it -- she’s proud of  knowing the word, she’s happy about making Jean  

Butler happy by saying it, she understands that  the conceptual Doctor Kent will be happy, too.

She was starting to understand  how the world worked.

A headline proclaimed “Doctors Judge  Isolated Girl Able to Learn” -- right  

next to “Skinnies May Take it Easy,” about  how it’s okay for underweight people to relax.

And the researchers all adored Genie. She was a  kind of prize and opportunity for them -- but her  

innocence and emerging personality was magnetic.  Susan Curtiss was particularly taken by her:

CURTISS: “I could tell as all of us could  by looking at her that there was a lot to  

Genie. And that what we had to do was to make  sure we gave her opportunities to express,  

find a way to take what was latent  and express it, or somehow then,  

you know, acquire it because the  potential just seemed so great.”

Genie’s progress was remarkable.  And that was part of the problem.

DOCTOR: “Oh, we were off in a million directions.  Each expert, each person in their own discipline  

thought, oh wow, I can do this, I can do that.  We were flooded with our own associations and  

with the pursuits that each of us might  have thought, wow, look what we can do,  

look what we might learn from this, a  girl who has appeared out of nowhere.”

As the NIMH grant progressed, and was renewed,  

they started to ask questions about… what was  really going on with the research. To them,  

it seemed unfocused. It wasn’t clear what  anyone was trying to accomplish scientifically.

Susan Curtiss’s work on Genie’s linguistic  development was exceptional -- she tracked how  

Genie eventually produced two-word phrases with  verbs, like a subject + verb construction -- “Dave  

hurt,” or “Curtiss come” -- and verb + object  constructions like “shake hand.” Bbecause she  

was thinking in language, not simply mimicking  the adults around her. She occasionally used  

plurals, and her emotional development led to  reactions like, “Go way, Joel, finish story!”

Perhaps the most important development was  that Susan Curtiss became Genie’s friend.

And then three wars broke out: one between  David Rigler and Jean Butler, one between  

the research project and the National Institute  of Mental Health, and one inside Genie’s brain.

Because Genie’s linguistic progress just…  stopped. The brain’s language center is  

divided into Wernicke’s area and Broca’s area --  Wernicke’s area handles speech processing, Broca’s  

deals with grammar. Genie’s Broca development  hit a wall, and it was impossible to tell whether  

it was the limits of her abnormally-developed  brain, or the limits of language acquisition.  

Was research on Genie proving that Chomsky or  Lenneberg were right, or that they were wrong?

Ehhhh?

And that meant the NIMH really had no idea what it  was continuing to fund. They eventually pulled the  

grants because David Rigler and most of the other  researchers were, in the eyes of the Institute,  

asking for money to sort of… just see what  happened to Genie. David Rigler tried to explain:

DAVID RIGLER: “Nobody knew exactly how to deal  with this. We were doing our best -- we got the  

best kind of counsel, the best kind of advice,  we had to sort that out and take that as it came,  

but we did the very best we knew how, and  we believed that nobody knew any better.”

That’s… that is not a strong grant proposal.

But the conflict over how Genie would live  -- and with whom -- destroyed everything.

Genie had been at the Children’s Hospital,  until Jean Butler -- the special education  

teacher -- said she had been exposed to  German measles, and had exposed Genie as  

well. So Genie was quarantined in Butler’s  home, and both of them seemed to like that  

arrangement -- so she stayed. Butler claimed  fantastic progress with language, emotions,  

manners, physical health -- though researchers  were never quite able to actually verify it.

Butler even kicked the  researchers out for the summer,  

claiming it was too much strain on  Genie. Susan Curtiss was concerned:

CURTISS: “... we didn’t have such a fun summer.  It was a summer that included weeks of concern  

and anxiety and anger and all kinds of things  because he and I were kicked out of Jean’s house.”

INTERVIEWER: “Why?”

CURTISS: “Why? She was crazy… she didn’t want  the other attachments. I mean, she wanted,  

she used to walk around saying ‘I am  going to be the next Annie Sullivan,  

this girl is going to make me famous.’

Annie Sullivan was the nurse  who rescued Helen Keller.

Jean Butler’s application to become Genie’s foster  parent was denied -- and then Genie spent 4 years  

living with David Rigler and his family, including  his wife who was doing her own work with Genie. It  

is extremely unorthodox for the lead researcher on  a project to have the main research subject live  

with them -- but it did give Genie an opportunity  to function as part of a real family for 4 years.

When the research project concluded in 1975, Genie  went back to live with her mother in the home she  

grew up in. Her mother had been considered by  the courts to be blameless in her abuse, and  

Genie had a bond with her -- but Genie required  24/7 care and her mom just couldn’t manage it.

So Genie went into a series of foster placements,  and each was more physically and mentally abusive  

than the last. She eventually came back to  the Children’s Hospital -- where doctors  

found that the foster home had used an  ice cream stick to extract feces from  

her when she had become constipated. And Genie  refused to open her mouth at all. Even eating,  

she forced the food between her  lips. It turned out that she had  

been severely beaten for vomiting at the  last foster home -- and in Genie’s mind,  

if you never open your mouth, you can’t vomit,  and if you can’t vomit, you can’t be beaten.

So she went back to silence and  using hand signals to communicate.

Genie’s mother, backed by Jean Butler, sued the  hospital and its researchers for excessive and  

outrageous testing on Genie. David Rigler  submitted a demand for owed compensation to  

Genie’s miniscule estate -- which was a few  thousand dollars controlled by John Miner,  

a lawyer who had investigated the deaths  of Marilyn Monroe and Robert Kennedy,  

and who now had control over Genie’s affairs  after becoming enamored with the whole  

case. He’d actually bought the gun Genie’s  father had shot himself with as a memento.

What began as an incredible opportunity to give  an abused girl the chance at life she never had,  

and to learn about how the human mind  worked, turned into a nightmarish  

garbage plate of lawsuits, money,  and self-serving rescue fantasies.

Genie went back into state care.  In Genie: A Scientific Tragedy,  

Russ Rymer described her 27th birthday party:

“A large, bumbling woman with a facial  expression of cowlike incomprehension … her  

eyes focus poorly on the cake. Her dark  hair has been hacked off raggedly at the  

top of her forehead, giving her  the aspect of an asylum inmate.”

Susan Curtiss never really got caught up  in the drama with Genie. The book she wrote  

about Genie’s linguistic developments?  She donated every dollar of the proceeds  

to Genie’s estate. The woman who had spent  so many hours, days, and years with Genie,  

partly as a linguistic researcher, and mostly as  a friend who took her on walks and shopping trips,  

said, “I missed her when she wasn’t in my  life… I would pay a lot of money to see her,  

I would do a lot. I’d give up my job,  I’d change careers, to see her again.”

But no one ever did.

The last anyone knew, Genie was still alive,  

somewhere in state care. She would  have just turned 67 two months ago.

And her name isn’t even Genie.

She was called “Genie” to protect  her privacy as a minor -- there’s no  

information on who chose it or how it  came to be. “Genie” is the Anglicized  

version of the Arabic ‘jinn,’ invisible  beings that can be either good or evil,  

and who can be called upon for protection  or magical aid. Our modern tales have  

Genies appearing out of bottles and granting  a series of wishes to whomever releases them.

Over the years, how many researchers and  self-interested parties rubbed the bottle,  

and then pressured Genie to grant their wishes?  How many called upon a horrifically abused teen  

to give them protection, and a kind of deus  ex machina solution to their career ambitions?

All while Genie herself needed to  be protected and to have her wishes  

granted -- her wish to speak, her wish to  love and be loved, her wish to live a life.

Wishes devastated by an abusive father,  wishes exterminated in the name of science,  

and a life dehumanized by a codename.

Her name is Susan.

As always, thanks for watching.