I've been reading about castration recently. There's something impressively transgressive about the idea of removing the male sex organs, especially in an age where masculinity is thoroughly bound up with virility. The urge to remove sex organs of the body seems to exist in a weird space that partakes of both body dysmorphia and sexual fantasy at different times and different places.
I remember coming across a man who styles himself 'Gelding' in the late nineties (possibly through Adam Parfrey's Apocalypse Culture although I wouldn't swear to it). At the time he had been voluntarily castrated and was very much the poster boy for the process due to his willingness to expose himself publicly. There's an interview with him from 2000 here where he talks candidly about the process. I was intrigued to discover that he has since had a penectomy leaving him with only a hole through which to piss and cum. It seems that for Gelding the identity of eunuch, or nullo, is intensely bound up with his his identity as a submissive gay man. There's a more recent interview where he talks about having his penis removed here. Gelding claims that the majority of eunuchs and nullos are gay but, as a gay man himself, he may not be getting a complete picture of the wider world. I've found a few people who claim to have engaged in castration play as part of a heterosexual, extreme submissive lifestyle but its not clear how much of that is reportage and how much is fantasy. There's a curiously bloodless video of a castration here and a decidedly more bloody series of photographs of a castration operation here. A eunuch called Talula who runs The Eunuch Archive posted an account of a man whose underground castration went badly wrong, leading to a deeply embarrassing visit to the emergency room. For those interested in nullo sexuality there's an Xtube user called Sidewiner who has posted videos of himself masturbating to orgasm, a curiously hypnotic sight. With HRT many modern eunuchs and nullos can enjoy a full and active sex life. There are also people who engage in castration play that stops short of actual removal of the testicles but may involve incisions being made in the scrotum allowing the testicles to briefly hang out. I did try and find a video of this practice that I remembered having seen but unfortunately I couldn't track it down.
There are also people who elect to become castrated for other reasons. I was fascinated to read about the existence of a castration focused sect within Russia called the Skoptsy. They practiced castration as a form of asceticism and apparently thrived throughout Russia between the 18th and 20th century, apparently having as many as 100,000 members at their height. There's a book about the group called Castration and the Heavenly Kingdom which I have ordered but haven't read yet so I can't comment on whether it's any good. It's amazing to think that such a large number of people could be attracted to such a radical solution to the issue of sexual continence, especially considering the health issues that can result from a complete lack of male hormones. I can't help but think that there would be a benefit to the Catholic church in requiring their priests to undergo a similar process (or chemical castration). There would certainly be a benefit to vulnerable children.
A high profile case of someone who identifies as asexual undergoing complete genital nullification was the case of Mao Sugiyama who had his sex organs completely removed and then served them up at a banquet to which curious guests paid a fee to taste minute portions of his sex organs. Apparently they didn't taste very nice. Gelding claims to have eaten penis and testicles on occasion and predictably claims that they tasted 'like chicken'. As as a side note on the consumption of genitals there is also the case of Armin Meiwes who killed and ate a willing victim. They attempted to share his cooked penis and testicles before the victim expired. Mao Sugiyama remains known largely for this piece of gastronomical provocation although I did turn up a photo attributed to Lu Yang x Mao Sugiyama of Mao cosplaying as Uterusman from 2013 which is a collaboration with Chinese artist Lu Yang.
Finally there's the world of penis modification that stop short of full removal but still render the penis no longer suitable for penetration. There's also simple removal of the glans which is often seen as a sex positive modification for those that undergo the procedure. It's intriguing to think what kind of options might become available for genital reconstruction in the future as the technology improves. Could it be possible to radically alter the function and appearance of the penis so that it resembles something else, such as a popular dildo or vibrator such as the rabbit? Could it possible to reconfigure the testicles as internal organs, allowing people who want to become eunuchs the appearance of castration without the potential health risks? As always the future is the most interesting place to visit.
