The World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) published its Standards of Care 8 (SOC 8) seeking to:
Provide clinical guidance for health professionals to assist transsexual, transgender, and gender nonconforming people with safe and effective pathways to achieving lasting personal comfort with their gendered selves, in order to maximize their overall health, psychological well-being, and self-fulfillment.”
WPATH, through its “Standards of Care” recommendations, heavily influences lawmaking and the approach the medical community takes towards gender issues. So, the Chronicle did a deep dive into some of the source material behind their SOC 8 and found disturbing results.
Chapter Nine of SOC 8 is dedicated to the gender identity “Eunuch.” Eunuchs have existed for thousands of years and can be summarized as a man without testicles, often castrated. Most times a man would become a Eunuch for religious reasons, however, there is a recent push to take the concept of being a Eunuch as a gender identity rather than being an atypical man.
There appears to be a discrepancy for the citations given for their research as to the sexualization and subsequent identification as a Eunuch. The direct citation in SOC 8 is www.Eunuch.org. At your own discretion, following the link leads to a website called Eunuchworld.org, a website where people who fantasize about castration can meet and discuss their fantasies and stories. By WPATH’s own admission, “Two threads giving instructions for self-castration by injection of different toxins directly into the testicles have about 2,500 posts each, and each has been read well over one million times.” WPATH continues, stating, “Many former Eunuch Archive members have achieved their goals and no longer participate.” Thus implying that those looking to castrate themselves in the name of a sexual fetish succeeded.
Further investigations by the Chronicle using false emails determined that the website precludes specific threads depending on the interests selected at the signup screen. Therefore, for safety and moral reasons, investigations into the complete depths of the site were halted. It is speculated this obstruction is to protect the darker fantasies and forums on the site from prying eyes.
However, sample stories on the website have allowed a look into the kinds of content posted on the website. For obscenity reasons the content will not be quoted, but can be summarized as follows: two key stories involved forced castration and the selling and feminization of slaves for the purposes of sexual amusement. Additionally, it is known that some of these forums fantasize about castrating children.
Additionally, there is evidence that pornography heavily influences an individual’s sexual desires, contrary to the prevailing theory that individuals seek out pornography that aligns with their preexisting sexual fantasies. While the average exposure to porn is around twelve years old and 90% of young men look at pornography regularly, it is incredibly likely that pornography use is leading to higher rates of both transgender identification and eunuch identification. Therefore, it is no surprise that WPATH is using a castration fetish website as a source for their standards of care.
Additionally, the standards outlined by WPATH state, “Some other eunuch individuals feel acute discomfort with their male genitals and need to have them removed to feel comfortable in their bodies.” In summary, if a man were to feel as though he didn’t want his testicles for a sexual reason, WPATH suggests that removing them is a legitimate and healthy option to affirm their identity. Furthermore, WPATH admits “eunuch individuals may be aware of their identity in childhood or adolescence.” This leaves open the possibility that current suggestions of surgeries on minors will be considered with further research. WPATH currently does not set a lower age limit for such surgery.
Possible side effects of this castration involve “hot flashes, fatigue, metabolic effects, and loss of bone mineral density,” along with low testosterone and infertility. WPATH equates treating a “eunuch gender identity” with men who have received hormonal treatment for prostate cancer, citing their data of hormonal treatments from studies involving prostate cancer treatment.
Finally, WPATH’s criteria for eligibility for castration is as follows:
“Like other gender diverse individuals, those seeking castration can engage in an informed consent process in which qualified providers conduct assessments to ensure individuals are capable of providing informed consent prior to medical interventions and to ensure a mental health problem is not the etiology of the desire.”
However, many would argue that seeking voluntary castration could be construed as a sign of mental illness. Additionally, with the link between pornography and sexual and gender identity disorder, it is entirely possible porn is driving this rise in eunuch identification and subsequent castration advised by WPATH.
From The Cougar Chronicle
The Cougar Chronicle is an independent student-run newspaper and is not affiliated with Brigham Young University or The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
