Exactly which therapists in Southern California (where I myself live), if any, are willing to write recommendation letters for aspiring eunuchs? To clarify, I am talking about recommendation letters for surgical castration (orchiectomy) for aspiring eunuchs who are not transgender. After all, while I myself clearly have some cross-gender feelings, I want to see if there are any more inclusive therapists in regards to this close to where I myself live. After all, I myself also strongly value surgical castration for sterilization purposes (considering that even vasectomies can and sometimes do fail and considering that we have a strict liability theory of sperm in regards to child support here in the U.S.).

Anyway, any thoughts on this?

While I'm not familiar with any therapist in Southern California who is up to speed on Male-to-Eunuch, there are several in Northern California. Up here we also have surgeons who are willing to perform orchiectomies with only a single letter for those who are MtE. I've given workshops on MtE to various groups of providers.

For ANYWHERE in the United States, I would recommend checking the web site of the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (www.WPATH.org). One of the links from their front page is to a list of providers, searchable by city or state. A telephone call to their office should ask if they follow the WPATH Standards of Care, version 7, which specifically includes genders outside the binary. Version 6 still specified only "male" and "female" as possible target genders. An article to be published in the next issue of the WPATH journal will discuss its expansion to specifically include MtE. (I'm make copies available as soon as it's in print.)

While there are other therapists and surgeons scattered around the world who are members of WPATH, there are relatively few of them.

JesusA (imported) wrote: Thu Oct 29, 2015 3:14 pm While I'm not familiar with any therapist in Southern California who is up to speed on Male-to-Eunuch, there are several in Northern California. Up here we also have surgeons who are willing to perform orchiectomies with only a single letter for those who are MtE. I've given workshops on MtE to various groups of providers.

Exactly which surgeons are you talking about here, though? After all, I can probably travel to Northern California to get this done there if necessary.

Futurist, it's your lucky day... I went through a similar process as yourself in California. My people were up north though. Write me privately and I can ask my therapist that wrote the support letter for my penectomy to assist in my Male to Eunuch transgenderism if he has a colleague in SoCal that may be able to assist you. As for the surgery itself, my surgeon was also in California, in Marin County.

Again, write a private message to me. I would recommend the therapist letter first, then contact the surgeon when you feel you're close to obtaining the letter. My surgeon will not schedule surgery unless you have the letter. When I quizzed the lead surgeon of the practice at my consult appointment, I went over the gamut of all possible scenarios I could think of (Intact male to: Completely emasculated (nullo), penectomy only, castration only, partially modded male to nullo (either already has a penectomy or castration), etc.) when i asked him if he would help any of those, his answer was an unambiguous yes. I do not reveal the surgeon to folks until I'm reasonably sure the person who is talking to me is sincere and real, we have so few resources in our community I don't want those who are helping blaze the trail to get harassed.

--LT

Besides specific references, in my experience pretty much every mental health professional was willing to consider castration as a solution to various problems. For example, I often presented as having paraphilias (fetishes) that were affecting my ability to lead normal life and they always suggested chemical castration and indicated that if I spent a while chemically castrated they would consider surgical castration. It wasn't always their first recommendation of course but it was pretty easy to lead them through a conclusion that it could be the right thing for you.

If you furthermore find a therapist that specializes in transgender I would be extremely surprised that any wouldn't be supportive.

The only thing I should say though is that for many of us, castration isn't necessarily the best thing. I know we want it so much, but that doesn't mean it is right. I've seen people here who wanted to get castrated because they were ashamed of homosexual tendencies, or because they were just depressed, or because they were truly mentally ill. In those cases, a good psychiatrist would/should actually recommend other courses. So don't ignore suggestions about anti-depressants (they actually also reduce various obsessions and paraphilias, as well as libido) or therapy that tries to make you more comfortable in your own body. Castration IS a drastic thing, so please seek actual help rather than just trying to manipulate doctors to fulfill an unhealthy obsession.

Anyway, I think you could just see any transgender therapist, especially in big cities, and they will already have seen it all and will be supportive within the bounds of what they perceive is your motivation. You don't have anything to lose just by trying out a couple until you find one that is sympathetic.

Losethem (imported) wrote: Thu Oct 29, 2015 5:40 pm Futurist, it's your lucky day... I went through a similar process as yourself in California. My people were up north though. Write me privately and I can ask my therapist that wrote the support letter for my penectomy to assist in my Male to Eunuch transgenderism if he has a colleague in SoCal that may be able to assist you. As for the surgery itself, my surgeon was also in California, in Marin County.

OK.

Again, write a private message to me. I would recommend the therapist letter first, then contact the surgeon when you feel you're close to obtaining the letter. My surgeon will not schedule surgery unless you have the letter. When I quizzed the lead surgeon of the practice at my consult appointment, I went over the gamut of all possible scenarios I could think of (Intact male to: Completely emasculated (nullo), penectomy only, castration only, partially modded male to nullo (either already has a penectomy or castration), etc.) when i asked him if he would help any of those, his answer was an unambiguous yes. I do not reveal the surgeon to folks until I'm reasonably sure the person who is talking to me is sincere and real, we have so few resources in our community I don't want those who are helping blaze the trail to get harassed.

--LT

OK, and understood!

SplitDik (imported) wrote: Thu Oct 29, 2015 8:41 pm Besides specific references, in my experience pretty much every mental health professional was willing to consider castration as a solution to various problems. For example, I often presented as having paraphilias (fetishes) that were affecting my ability to lead normal life and they always suggested chemical castration and indicated that if I spent a while chemically castrated they would consider surgical castration. It wasn't always their first recommendation of course but it was pretty easy to lead them through a conclusion that it could be the right thing for you.

OK, and that's great to hear!

SplitDik (imported) wrote: Thu Oct 29, 2015 8:41 pm If you furthermore find a therapist that specializes in transgender I would be extremely surprised that any wouldn't be supportive.

The only thing I should say though is that for many of us, castration isn't necessarily the best thing. I know we want it so much, but that doesn't mean it is right. I've seen people here who wanted to get castrated because they were ashamed of homosexual tendencies, or because they were just depressed, or because they were truly mentally ill. In those cases, a good psychiatrist would/should actually recommend other courses. So don't ignore suggestions about anti-depressants (they actually also reduce various obsessions and paraphilias, as well as libido) or therapy that tries to make you more comfortable in your own body. Castration IS a drastic thing, so please seek actual help rather than just trying to manipulate doctors to fulfill an unhealthy obsession.

Understood. That said, though,

Futurist (imported) wrote: Thu Oct 29, 2015 1:47 pm considering that we have a strict liability theory of sperm in regards to child support here in the U.S.,

surgical castration certainly should be considered to be an appropriate sterilization method. After all,

Futurist (imported) wrote: Thu Oct 29, 2015 1:47 pm even vasectomies can and sometimes do fail.

Plus, the doctors who performed vasectomies are certainly not the ones who are going to be paying child support in the event of a vasectomy

SplitDik (imported) wrote: Thu Oct 29, 2015 8:41 pm failure.

Of course, I also previously mentioned my desire to strongly feminize my body and my face, so yeah.

Anyway, I think you could just see any transgender therapist, especially in big cities, and they will already have seen it all and will be supportive within the bounds of what they perceive is your

motivation. You don't have anything to lose just by trying out a couple until you find one that is sympathetic.

OK.

Both Losethem and SplitDik have provided excellent information for you and for many other readers of this site and this thread.

As SplitDik says, any good therapist/mental health professional is trained to ask important questions to make certain that you have thoroughly considered all of your alternatives and that you are making a wise choice for your own personal situation. This is what their training is supposed to provide. You want a therapist who is comfortable with the questions that you will ask and be asked. This will mean one who is a gender therapist and one who is familiar with Male-to-Eunuch and other GenderQueer alternatives to the male/female binary.

A referral letter from the therapist will reassure a surgeon (should that be the best alternative) that you are sane, that you thoroughly understand your alternatives, and that surgery is your best alternative. A gender therapist will also help you to find a cooperating surgeon, of whom there are an increasing number scattered across North America. (They are still quite rare in the rest of the world, but we're working on that!)

Losethem had excellent results from a surgeon who is in my neighborhood. I've spent time in his office consulting with him on the nature of genderqueer and MtE patients. I know of two other, nationally recognized as excellent, surgeons in the San Francisco Bay Area who are willing to perform an orchiectomy with a single letter from a therapist.

You need to begin with the therapist, preferably one who is both up-to-date on the WPATH Standards of Care, Version 7 and who is nearby, rather than a long commute from you. The WPATH web site is probably the best place to begin your journey.

Some of the stalwarts of the Eunuch Archive, such as Losethem and SplitDik and others, are generally ready to help with good advice. I am always ready and willing to send articles from medical and psychiatric journals about MtE to any therapist who may need reassurance that it is a valid condition requiring appropriate help. Just sent me a Private Message should you need the articles either for a therapist or for yourself. (The EA server does not handle attachments, so I need an email address which does to which to send the articles.)

Thank you very much for your extremely detailed response here, Jesus.

That said, though, exactly which part(s) of

JesusA (imported) wrote: Fri Oct 30, 2015 3:44 pm the WPATH Standards of Care, Version 7

discuss male-to-eunuch gender dysphoria? Specifically, exactly which pages of these Standards of Care discuss male-to-eunuch gender dysphoria? Also, though, can you please send me a link of the full edition of these standards of care?

Finally, I will certainly make sure to ask you any additional questions which I will have in regards to this in the future, Jesus.

Does anyone else here want to reply to this thread?