Eunuchs in Contemporary Society: Characterizing Men Who Are Voluntarily Castrated (Part I)

[Yob]

Article In PDF Form

This article is about men that have voluntarily castrated themselves. Asexuality is mentioned a few times in the article. Here is an excerpt from the article concerning reasons why they decided to get the procedure done:

Origin of Interest

When the physically or chemically castrated participants were asked about the origin of their interest in castration, penectomy, or nullification, 22% and 26%, respectively, indicated that they were unable to explain the reasons. The rest of the participants selected from a list of choices we provided (Table 2). Multiple responses to the question were possible. Among the responses to this question, the two groups significantly differed in the number of participants who selected (i) reduction of libido; (ii) fantasy/curiosity/cyberplay; or (iii) male-to-female (MtF) transition as their origin of interest in castration (see below). Between the two groups, there were no significant differences in the remaining choices.

The primary putative origin of interest in castration was a desire to reduce libido. To quote one participant, “Libido-caused problems were affecting my work and sleep. Sexual thoughts were addictive and I couldn’t get free of them . . . The decommissioned penis isn’t a threat to anyone, so I don’t mind it now.” This reason for castration was significantly more common among the chemically castrated group, c2 = 5.31, P < 0.025. Participants sought to reduce their libido to address a variety of desires, including, but not limited to: allaying religious concerns, preventing the possibility of sexually offensive behavior, or pleasing their partner (see Table 2).

Religious concerns were expressed in a variety of ways. For example, one participant said, “I’ve always thought that I penectomized myself as penance for past sexual ‘sin’ . . . I was taught that sexual fun was sinful and degrading.” Another individual said, “Jesus’s words (‘If your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off’) played a major role in my decision [to be castrated].” Religious concerns also surfaced as one participant felt that his “over active libido” interfered with his “Christian walk.”

In some cases, the desire for a reduced libido stemmed from a desire to prevent “the further possibility of sexually offensive behavior.” One participant wrote, “History of inappropriate sexual behavior and exhibitionism, a legacy of my sexual abuse from my biological father. Now totally asexual and would NEVER go back. NO REGRETS!”

Several participants claimed that their interest in a reduced libido originated from a desire to please their partner. Some potent males specifically desired to match their wives’ reduced libido. This was seen among a few older married heterosexual males whose wives, because of age or disease, had become less sexual. One participant stated he “wanted [his] sex drive to be equal to [his] wife.” Other participants reported getting castrated to please their partner, including submitting to physical castration in a sadomasochistic relationship. One participant stated:

I am the wife of a man now, a real wife and as such he had me remove my testicles, sort of a engagement gift, to be his for life. I was reluctant at first but now I see it as a true gift of love to become his shemale wife. I will keep my penis for life, I will never get a pussy, but my balls are now his souvenir.

“Fantasy/curiosity/cyberplay,” including sadomasochistic impulses of a paraphilic nature, was statistically more common among the physically castrated group, c2 = 3.06, P < 0.1 (see Table 2). One individual reported, “I just wanted to have my genitals removed for the ‘hell of it’, and I love it.”

Some participants stated that their interest in castration began with thoughts of MtF transition. Significantly more, X2 = 5.07, P < 0.05, of the chemically castrated individuals cited this as an origin of interest, characteristic of a Gender Identity Disorder (GID) [21]. The majority of both groups, however, demonstrated a desire to transition out of male, but rejected the idea of becoming female. As one participant wrote, “[T]he desire [was] to lose my testicles and leave behind some of the effects of being male . . . I should say that I have absolutely no desire to be female.” Another wrote, “I never wanted to be a girl but I did not enjoy being male either.”

Several participants in both groups stated that the origin of their interest included a “dysmorphic view of their testicles/penis,” i.e., that their genitals were alien and did not belong, characteristic of a Body Integrity Identity Disorder (BIID) [21]. For example, one individual stated, “My penis started looking like it didn’t belong, and I wanted the whole mess gone.” This attitude often resulted in self-destructive behavior, most commonly demonstrated by genital self-mutilation. One participant wrote, “I spent time trying to nullify that area with tape, glue, wire, etc. I figured it would be better to retire from sex than to deal with it any more.” Two of the interviewees stated that their BIID had been professionally diagnosed.

In response to a question about the influence of Internet sites where castration is discussed (such as http://www.eunuch.org and various adult Yahoo! groups [see 2]), the majority of both physically and chemically castrated participants stated that their interest was independent of anything found on the Internet. However, some participants reported that they just happened across the topic on the Internet and became interested in it (see Table 2).

Several factors not listed as choices in our survey emerged as origins of interest for participants. Emotional abuse, parental threats, and exposure to animal castration were influencing factors for castration that repeatedly appeared in the personal narratives.

Several participants discussed the influence of emotional abuse upon their decision to pursue castration. One participant said, “My father told me that when I was young that I should be castrated as I was ‘not man enough’ to father children. My father sexually abused me from a young age. I believed him.” Another reported that his “mother threatened to cut off [my] penis when I was seven.” Threats of genital mutilation for behaviors that were considered inappropriate by the parent were commonly described by participants; for example, one informant remembered being caught playing with his penis when he was young. “As I recall she (my mother) became unglued. She took me into the kitchen, pulled my shorts down around my ankles. She picked up a knife and gripped my little boy thing in the other hand. She asked me if I wanted her to ‘cut it off’ because I was playing with that thing.”

Several participants associated the origin of their castration paraphilia with having assisted or witnessed animal castration in their youth. One participant said explicitly, “ assisted castration of pigs and calves during puberty—it was very sexually exciting then and a fascination ever since.”

Thoughts?

[Sally]

Just because the article mentions "asexuality" doesn't mean that it has anything to do with asexuality. It doesn't. The guy who mentions aexuality mistakes it for meaning no libido.

If this were asexuality, just how would you explain female asexuals? Geez.

[Parth]

I know a eunuch that was in a documentary I saw when I was in the UK. I got in contact with him and ended up meeting him as he lived in Manchester when I was in Liverpool. We talked about that stuff a bit - he figured he was most likely demisexual.

He is, as far as I know, quite willing to be in an asexual relationship (i.e. one that doesn't include sex).

What you might find interesting is that the end of the documentary mentioned he was looking for asexual companions, so I took a long shot and searched for him on AVEN.

That was how I tracked him down and got in contact with him.

[Yob]

The guy who mentions aexuality mistakes it for meaning no libido.

I thought the same. I just wanted to see other people's opinions.

[Yob]

I know a eunuch that was in a documentary I saw when I was in the UK. I got in contact with him and ended up meeting him as he lived in Manchester when I was in Liverpool. We talked about that stuff a bit - he figured he was most likely demisexual.

He is, as far as I know, quite willing to be in an asexual relationship (i.e. one that doesn't include sex).

What you might find interesting is that the end of the documentary mentioned he was looking for asexual companions, so I took a long shot and searched for him on AVEN.

That was how I tracked him down and got in contact with him.

Did he identify the same way before the operation?

[Parth]

Did he identify the same way before the operation?

Well, he didn't know about it until I brought it up. All he knew was that he was only willing to have sex with someone if he really loved them.

But I believe it was a number of factors that caused him to be castrated, one of which was that he thought his body was betraying him by causing arousal.

[Yob]

Did he identify the same way before the operation?

Well, he didn't know about it until I brought it up. All he knew was that he was only willing to have sex with someone if he really loved them.

But I believe it was a number of factors that caused him to be castrated, one of which was that he thought his body was betraying him by causing arousal.

Do you think that his dissatisfaction for his arousal was because he was demisexual?

[oneofthesun]

My first thought is... OMFG! I didn't think any doctor alive would do this except for on MTF's and sex criminals. I can't believe they let men do it voluntarily. That's awesome!

[Face]

I did once read somewhere that eunuchs lived longer (providing they get it done early enough) so that made me briefly think of the idea since I had little to lose, being asexual anyway and would gain the ability to go around without being vunerable to a kick in the groin.

Again, it was just a one-off bit of fantasicing when I was a bit young :)

[Lord Happy Toast]

For various reasons, I've been following some of the papers on this issue. At least one of them cites Tony Bogaert's 2004 paper on asexuality (I found the paper by looking at who cited Bogaert's paper.)

From a paper called Modern Day Eunuchs we find the following quote:

Just over half of the voluntary eunuchs were single (including both divorced and separated). One third were married, and an additional 5% were unmarried

but partnered with females. One in ten were partnered with males. Over a half of the individuals considered themselves either homosexual (27%) or bisexual (29%). Just over 35% identified as heterosexual. Surprisingly, just 4% considered themselves asexual (whereas about 1% of the general population considers themselves asexual; Bogaert 2004).

Anyway, whether this should become a diagnosis is an issue getting increased visibility. The major concern is that often people use underground "cutters" to get things done, and this is often not especially safe. There are some people who think "If they're gonna do it, let's make sure they can get it done safely" and that means by a trained surgeon. And having a diagnosis helps in doing that.

[Kelly]

My first thought is... OMFG! I didn't think any doctor alive would do this except for on MTF's and sex criminals. I can't believe they let men do it voluntarily. That's awesome!

The late Dr. Spector in Philadelphia would do a castration no questions asked, and Dr. Bellringer in England will do a complete nullification. Many doctors in Thailand will do either/both.