Genie: Secret of the Wild Child

1997, Society  -   37 Comments
Ratings: 7.98/10 from 207 users.






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37 Comments / User Reviews

  1. Stef

    A lot of people stating that "she needed love before testing and therapy" don't realize that at that time, most people would not have known what to do with Genie as she was the first case America had ever seen of severe social isolation. Parents of that era were not as intuitive and in fact, were just newly coming into emotions and child psychology. Kids in prior generations were almost treated like little adults. So you can't really pin the blame on the scientists who took her in.

    Furthermore, as witnessed by those videos, these scientists contributed greatly to not only developing Genie's language and civility skills, but also her ability to form bonds of trust. She blossomed emotionally in their care, even as a research subject. She showed joy, expression, learned how to verbalize, even showed she had a sense of humor.

    Who really dropped the ball here was the NIMH. In determining that certain parameters weren't being met, they denied any further funding to the project, which led to Genie going back to her mother, and then being placed in a series of abusive foster homes. What Genie experienced was a break of trust that led to her developmental regression. She had an emotional bond with her researchers/therapists/foster parents, and that bond was broken when the grant was discontinued and she was forced to return to the scene of her abuse and then forced into new scenes of abuse. If this were you, would you lose trust in everyone around you? You definitely would! And you would regress to defensive behaviors, just as Genie did.

    She had been abused, was naive and trusting, and making strides in her development as part of the research project. People who had no idea what was going on made erroneous assumptions and destroyed her stability, and thus her progress.

    I'm not sure why anyone trusted her biological mother, especially in the case of a lawsuit. The woman didn't see fit to protect her own children from the horrors they experienced at the hands of her husband. She was mentally warped herself. Perhaps not maliciously, but her judgment could not be trusted. To even entertain the suit, much less award it, was also bad judgment on the part of the legal system. The video evidence of her progress is clear. The video evidence of her regression after broken trust and a return to abuse is also clear. Humans who imperiously thought they knew better than the people who worked with her daily are to blame.

    1. Donald Speicher III


  2. Kathy H

    All because of a domineering, subhuman male beast: Genie’s father! And like the coward he really was, he killed himself. There are men who should never be allowed to procreate or even to live!

    1. Kathy U

      Awww be quiet....Its not all men doing this. He killer himself. He’s dead. That’s the end. Stop with the feminist’s childish.

    2. Camron Shelton

      And some women as well.....

  3. Richard johnson

    Ilove that story because it tell you more about how to care for you babies and even though it was sad but the story also help you to learn more about brain functioning

  4. Said

    It's a very sad story. Genie needed to have love and care instead of being treated as a scientific object. Moreover, it's wrong to call her the 'Wild Child'. This is inhuman.

  5. Michelle

    I want to add that I can see why people found her captivating. The last film of her offered in this, of her describing in sign language what happened to her in the foster home, is heartbreaking but also mesmerizing. Her face, her hands -- so gentle but powerfully expressive. Her description is like a dance, telling a very sad story. It is poetry.

  6. Michelle

    They say knowledge is power--and it is. But it is not enough, and it is not what comes first. What we all need most, and a child most crucially, is love. We need at least one person in this world to care about us above all else, and to stick by us through everything. What Genie had been deprived of was love, the love of a competent and healthy person. She needed a mother and a family. Then, she needed therapy, whose priority would be her emotional health. And then, finally, they needed to teach her what she could learn to reclaim her life as a social human being, perhaps even with the goal of eventual self-sufficiency. 1) A loving family, 2) therapy, 3) education. In the course of all that, perhaps someone could have stood by with a clipboard and taken notes. But "experiment" or "study" are not the words I would use anywhere near the nurturing and rehabilitation of a traumatized child. I hope the scientific community learned from this humanitarian disaster and nothing like it will ever happen again.

  7. Anna

    First, this goes out to shaody who stated that people shoul only be able to procreate(have sex and reproduce) after going through thousands of papers and programs ?????!!?! I really want to know some of your pros and cons and ideas in general thoughts that led you to this...this..I truly don’t even have words. If having to go through tons of paper work to make a child is what u stand for how about just having to go through paper work just to have sex in general. I don’t mean to come out in a afensive way but I think that’s a little to much,sure people don’t make the best decision some times when it comes to when’s the right time to have kids but that doesn’t mean you should have to go through a load of paperwork to start a family I feel as if there’s other ways to handle situations like that

  8. Anna

    First, I want to start by saying that if your going to start something then u should finish it which wasn’t the case in this situation and for FERENC CSICSERI who said “her mother should be in prison for the rest of her life,she is not a mother” seems to me as if he wasn’t really paying attention to the story and put a little to much blame on the further explain the documentary clearly states that her mother was blind and was also a victim of her husbands(genies dad) abusive ways.second it also mentions how genies mother did try to take her back but as a blind person of course she found some issues in were she most likely was not able to interact much with genie. Lastly, for all of you comparing her to “unwanted puppies “ or”scientific guinea pig” I don’t believe that these were the best terms to use as she was also a human being and not some animal as some of u most likely non intendedly regarded to her.
    - I give credit to Marc as a truly agree with his statement and beliefs on this tragic story.

  9. Sally

    Maslows hierarchy of needs......

  10. Marc

    It's sad to see her horrid Father's views on society be echoed by the professionals that surrounded her, unintentionally and through their actions but still distressing to see the lack of irony in it all.

    The real lesson here was to not study a poor soul who has been put through such a terrible experience. Just teach them what you can and try to give them a place to belong were they can love and be loved, we wouldn't put somebody through such torture simply to study it and so we shouldn't look upon such a thing happening outside of our control as an opportunity to do it either because then the only problem you're having is that you couldn't get away with it if you did emulate it rather than it being a problem of ethics at all.

    Very interesting documentary, I hope she has had a better life since the last events of the documentary.

  11. shannon williamson

    California and the ppl who so called CARED for this child dropped the ball .Seems to me since she contributed to science so much...and she did contribute...they would have taken special interest in her well being. She was used and then tossed into a system that was severly lacking. That I think is the hardest thing to wrap my head around. To give a little happiness then snatch it away.

  12. Anna Velazquez


    1. Piper

      The foster system is messed up and cruel all in itself because you don't know what kind of household a child is going into. People weren't as aware of this as they are now, all the doctors and scientists waned to do was give her a good place to live(their intentions were good) and they expected that out of the foster system. This is a mistake that has led to people being more aware of the places they are putting their children into. The foster system was not as thorough as it is now, and people were scared to give Genie a chance because she wasn't a normal child and didn't have a normal childhood, or any social interaction. It would have to take an extremely caring, patient, stay at home parent to take care of Genie, and some people weren't up to the challenge. Now, I'm not saying this was a good thing to put Genie through, I realize that this, Genie's conditions was only worsened by making her go from place to place, but what else were they supposed to do with so little options? Many people are frightened of the unknown, and of something (or someone in this case) who could disrupt their way of living.

  13. morrisseyowesmemoney .


  14. Piera Sestini


  15. InvisibleHandInMyPants


    1. Sean Duong

      'Merica! land of the FREE

  16. Ramome


  17. Sands


    1. InvisibleHandInMyPants


    2. Maks


  18. shaody


    1. InvisibleHandInMyPants


  19. Shadowblur


  20. Shadowblur


  21. Eric Lawson


  22. Gaia ODea


  23. aggie45


  24. cyberfrank




  26. drobertbaker



    Shame on those respectable scientists!

  27. ~Oliver B Koslik Esq

    Oldie but goldie!

    ...Thanks TDF
    :-) +1

    1. Robby Fithen

      Life is hell on every life, some more than others. God will take care of us all though! I would have taken her and put her on the farm with me and our family. I could have had some of my workers watch out for her and let her feed the chickens, cows, gunnies, pigs, horses, turkey, ducks, sheep, goats, dogs, cats, and the rabbits. Genie would have had a lot better memories and a whole lot of less frustration. That goes for everyone! Its the simple things! Loving what God made, feeding his animals for instance. :)

    2. Richard johnson

      Love the story