Body mods and motivations
Posted: Thu Sep 27, 2018 7:44 pm
About a month ago I started a thread called "Mod addiction" in which I expressed worry that I might become addicted to body modification. In response, sparkey49 gave a great summary of the different reasons why men modify their genitals. The part that jumped out at me read:
"- Some people are dealing with an 'aesthetic dysmorphia' where they are interested in creating something that looks a specific way or maybe something that looks unusual/shocking -- such a person may indeed just keep going with other amputations and such (I would say Adam Curlykale is in this category as not only was he interested in nullification, but wants ribs removed, tattooed his eyes, bleached his beard, and so forth). If you're already really into tattoos and piercings and also interested in nullification then you might be this type."
I'd never thought of classing genital modification as a "body mod" in the same way that one classifies piercings and tattoos as body mods. While some people want castration or penectomy because they're experiencing gender or body dysphoria, how many of us are motivated by the same urge that drives other people to get their septums pierced? Obviously, getting castrated is a much bigger and more life altering commitment. But the idea that the underlying mechanism for some of us is the same as the underlying mechanism for a person who's into piercing actually resolves some things for me. Specifically, I was never able to fully articulate *why* I needed to be castrated...I just did. I thought of myself as genderqueer for a while, but I've since circled back around to identifying as male. I never really wanted to be not-male...I wanted to be a male without balls.
That brings me to the present. Over the past couple years, I've been perplexed by my recurring desire to go nullo. I don't hate my penis. I have no issue with using it to get off. Sometimes I even top! So why would I want to have it removed? Honestly--the look really, really resonates with me, and the thought of being smooth down below just feels amazingly RIGHT. These were, honestly, the same motivations I had for castration, but I was afraid that if I wanted to be a eunuch solely because of aesthetics, that wouldn't be a good enough reason. I chose to dress it up in gender dysphoria to make myself feel better about my decision. This is not to say that some eunuchs aren't doing it out of gender dysphoria. Just not me. Now I realize that as long as I'm informed and prepared to deal with the consequences, there's really no "bad reason" to get modded. And if I go nullo and then decide to get subdermal beads or something, that's cool too. Life's an adventure and so are our bodies.
"- Some people are dealing with an 'aesthetic dysmorphia' where they are interested in creating something that looks a specific way or maybe something that looks unusual/shocking -- such a person may indeed just keep going with other amputations and such (I would say Adam Curlykale is in this category as not only was he interested in nullification, but wants ribs removed, tattooed his eyes, bleached his beard, and so forth). If you're already really into tattoos and piercings and also interested in nullification then you might be this type."
I'd never thought of classing genital modification as a "body mod" in the same way that one classifies piercings and tattoos as body mods. While some people want castration or penectomy because they're experiencing gender or body dysphoria, how many of us are motivated by the same urge that drives other people to get their septums pierced? Obviously, getting castrated is a much bigger and more life altering commitment. But the idea that the underlying mechanism for some of us is the same as the underlying mechanism for a person who's into piercing actually resolves some things for me. Specifically, I was never able to fully articulate *why* I needed to be castrated...I just did. I thought of myself as genderqueer for a while, but I've since circled back around to identifying as male. I never really wanted to be not-male...I wanted to be a male without balls.
That brings me to the present. Over the past couple years, I've been perplexed by my recurring desire to go nullo. I don't hate my penis. I have no issue with using it to get off. Sometimes I even top! So why would I want to have it removed? Honestly--the look really, really resonates with me, and the thought of being smooth down below just feels amazingly RIGHT. These were, honestly, the same motivations I had for castration, but I was afraid that if I wanted to be a eunuch solely because of aesthetics, that wouldn't be a good enough reason. I chose to dress it up in gender dysphoria to make myself feel better about my decision. This is not to say that some eunuchs aren't doing it out of gender dysphoria. Just not me. Now I realize that as long as I'm informed and prepared to deal with the consequences, there's really no "bad reason" to get modded. And if I go nullo and then decide to get subdermal beads or something, that's cool too. Life's an adventure and so are our bodies.