Eunuch: Difference between revisions

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{{content warning|processes by which one becomes a eunuch, so expect some talk about surgery and genitals}}

<nowiki></ref></nowiki>{{content warning|processes by which one becomes a eunuch, so expect some talk about surgery and genitals}}

[[File:Eunuch.svg|thumb|200px|Eunuch [[gender symbols|symbol]]. It is a male symbol with the extending arrow having been "sliced through".]]

A [[eunuch]] generally means a person who was [[AMAB|assigned male at birth]], and who was [[castration|castrated]]. Though many historical eunuchs were made so without their consent, eunuchs often occupied a nonbinary [[gender role]] (often called [[third gender]]), and some of them were what we now call [[transgender]]. Then, as now, some people are eunuchs by choice, and some of them see this as a [[nonbinary]] [[gender identity]].

A [[eunuch]] generally means a person who was [[AMAB|assigned male at birth]], and who was [[castration|castrated]]. Though many historical eunuchs were made so without their consent, eunuchs often occupied a nonbinary [[gender role]] (often called [[third gender]]), and some of them were what we now call [[transgender]]. Then, as now, some people are eunuchs by choice, and some of them see this as a [[nonbinary]] [[gender identity]]. Nowadays eunuchs are recognised more and more as being part of the transgender spectre.

Since this is not Wikipedia (see [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eunuch Wikipedia's article on eunuchs]), this page should focus on eunuchs as a nonbinary identity, people throughout history who have become eunuchs by choice, and eunuchs in the context of nonbinary gender.

==Definitions and history==

Usually a eunuch is one who has been castrated either by at least taking away the gonads (testicles), called [[orchiectomy]], or by taking away the gonads as well as the phallus (penis), called [[emasculation]]. Eunuchs have existed for virtually all of written history: the earliest record of them was in Sumer, in the 21st century BCE.<ref>Maekawa, Kazuya (1980). Animal and human castration in Sumer, Part II: Human castration in the Ur III period. Zinbun [Journal of the Research Institute for Humanistic Studies, Kyoto University], pp. 1–56.</ref><ref> Maekawa, Kazuya (1980). Female Weavers and Their Children in Lagash – Presargonic and Ur III. Acta Sumerologica 2:81–125.</ref>

Usually a eunuch is one who has been castrated either by at least taking away the gonads (testicles), called [[orchiectomy]], sometimes including the removal of the scrotum, or by taking away the gonads as well as the phallus (penis), called [[emasculation]]. Eunuchs have existed for virtually all of written history: the earliest record of them was in Sumer, in the 21st century BCE.<ref>Maekawa, Kazuya (1980). Animal and human castration in Sumer, Part II: Human castration in the Ur III period. Zinbun [Journal of the Research Institute for Humanistic Studies, Kyoto University], pp. 1–56.</ref><ref> Maekawa, Kazuya (1980). Female Weavers and Their Children in Lagash – Presargonic and Ur III. Acta Sumerologica 2:81–125.</ref>

Before the creation of more elaborate kinds of [[surgery|gender-validating surgeries]], [[gender-variant identities worldwide|nonbinary and other transgender people in many cultures]] were also eunuchs by choice. Traditionally, [[Hijra]]s were eunuchs, and many of them today prefer to be so, even when they have the option to get the kind of surgeries that [[transgender women]] can get today. Some other identities that have often been eunuchs include Ashtime and [[Gallae]].

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==See also==

*[[Gender-variant identities worldwide]]

*[[Androgyne]]

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==External links==

* [https://people.well.com/user/aquarius/index.htm "Born Eunuchs" Home Page and Library]

*[https://people.well.com/user/aquarius/index.htm "Born Eunuchs" Home Page and Library]

==References==

[[Category:Identities]]

[[Category:Nonbinary identities]]