Religiosity, childhood abuse, and other risk factors correlated with voluntary genital ablation.

Abstract

We explored the personal history of men who voluntarily seek genital ablation for reasons other than male-to-female transitioning. We focused on three groups: (a) men who have had voluntary genital ablation; (b) men who desire genital ablation and fantasize about it (self-described "wannabes"); and (c) those who claim to be merely interested in the subject of castration. An online survey was posted at eunuch.org that asked about religiosity, childhood abuse, sexual orientation, parental threats of castration, and whether the respondents had witnessed animal castrations in their youth. Data were collected on 301 men who had obtained genital ablations (mean age 45.4 years old), 1,385 wannabes (44.3 years old), and 1,242 individuals who were reportedly "just interested" in castration (41.8 years old). We have confirmed that: (a) having witnessed animal castrations during childhood, (b) having been threatened with castration as a child for behaviours deemed inappropriate by a parent figure, and (c) being homosexual or bisexual, are all common among individuals with extreme castration ideations. In addition, the prevalence of childhood sexual abuse among men who had genital ablations and wannabes was 1.4 times greater than among "just interested" individuals. For men who had obtained genital ablations, "very devout" parental religiosity was 1.8 times more common than it was for wannabes and 1.3 times more common than it was for "just interested" individuals. Individuals who were raised by "very devout" parents and who were also sexually abused had significantly greater odds and likelihood of reporting being voluntarily castrated and/or penectomized than respondents without those risk factors. Our study may aid clinicians in identifying and distinguishing individuals who are at risk of genital ablation through self-surgery or by nonprofessionals.

Gender Preference in the Sexual Attractions, Fantasies, and Relationships of Voluntarily Castrated Men

“…There were more than 3,000 respondents to the survey, and more details on the methods have been described by Vale et al. 5 Included were respondents who had obtained physical or chemical castration, who desired or actively sought castration (self-described “wannabes”), or who claimed that they were “just interested” enough in the topic of castration to complete the survey. For this study, we used the subset of data from this sample that included only men who reported being voluntarily castrated chemically or physically.…”

“…Our research group previously explored factors that contribute to extreme castration ideation in this population, 4 , 5 personality changes after castration, 6 and some side effects of voluntary genital ablation. 7 However, how voluntary androgen deprivation affects male sexuality has been minimally investigated.…”

Infertility, impotence, and emasculation - psychosocial contexts for abandoning reproduction

“…A small number of men, largely unknown to the public, desire castration outside of generally accepted medical reasons. 36 These individuals are modern day eunuchs, but typically present as males and are thus inconspicuous in society. 37 They are clearly not MtFs for they seek emasculation, without feminization.…”

“… 41 42 43 Many of them, however, find their sex drive conflicting with their religious beliefs. They were often raised in a strictly religious household 36 that condemned corporal desires and were enculturated to believe that, if they gained full control of their sexual urges while on Earth, they would be rewarded for perpetuity in a heavenly afterlife. For those men, the perceived cost of being infertile now (i.e., W = 0) is outweighed by what they believe they will gain in the future.…”

Voluntary Genital Ablations: Contrasting the Cutters and Their Clients

“…There is a lack of formal standards of care for “male‐to‐eunuch” unlike those provided for male‐to‐female transsexuals in the Standards of Care of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (see [12,13]). As a result, these individuals are unable to find appropriate medical care and may seek services outside of the medical community for their genital surgeries [2,3,14].…”