Just curious...

Did anyone here see the essay about being a eunuch in the September issue of OUT magazine?

Remember that a good chunk of Archive members are straight and unlikely to subscribe to OUT or to read it on the newstand. Another chunk are outside the U.S. and will have great difficulty finding it short of a special order. It would be helpful if you posted a ONE PARAGRAPH synopsis of the article. That might lead some of us straight sorts to purchase the issue and might lead some of those outside the country to place a special order. Even without the synopsis, I plan to check it out on my next trip to Barnes & Noble.

Fair enough...From what I can tell, the author isn't particularly gay, but he sure exposes himself. The title of his essay doesn't really tie in with the article. But he may not have written it.

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CASTRATION ANXIETY

I am a eunuch. The chances are you already know a eunuch or two, although they may not have revealed that fact to you.

There are tens of thousands of us in the world today simply because castration is used to treat prostate cancer. Castration reduces testosterone production, the male hormone that stimulates prostate cell growth. Each year over 40,000 men in North America die of prostate cancer and, along the way, virtually all of us are offered either surgical or chemical castration as a treatment option. Given the choice--early death or castration--the majority of us opt for castration. Regardless of which method we choose, the results are the same: We remain genetic males, but without the hormone that made us masculine.

Few people could spot a eunuch, castrated after puberty, among other citizens on the street. We are not sopranos. We still have facial hair, although it grows slower than most guys'. However, in the months following castration our penises shrink (as do the tesiticles of those who've opted for the chemical procedure) and we start to grow breasts. Most of our body hair disappears. Thus in the locker room we do look different from males. We even smell different. It is my impression (from that same locker room) that we smell better, or at least less than our uncastrated compatriots. That's to be expected, since we don't have the hormones that promote the pheromones that give sexually mature males their musky odor.

As a group, though, we hide the fact that we are castrated. Few castrated men would ever call themselves eunuchs in public, for there is little pride in being a eunuch. I'd like to change that.

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It goes on from there....

EU

JesusA (imported) wrote: Sun Aug 24, 2003 4:36 pm Remember that a good chunk of Archive members are straight and unlikely to subscribe to OUT or to read it on the newstand. Another chunk are outside the U.S. and will have great difficulty finding it short of a special order. It would be helpful if you posted a ONE PARAGRAPH synopsis of the article. That might lead some of us straight sorts to purchase the issue and might lead some of those outside the country to place a special order. Even without the synopsis, I plan to check it out on my next trip to Barnes & Noble.

Richard Wassersug’s three-page article is very nicely done, though there should be nothing new for any regular reader of the Archive. And the Archive does get mentioned:

“A study of the narratives of modern eunuchs and eunuch wanna-bes (see www.eunuch.org) shows that among those interested in partnership, some seek males, others females. Thus neither history nor modern eunuchdom gives a clear answer about whether sexually active eunuchs were/are heterosexual or homosexual.”

Wassersug states that he is most definitely heterosexual, though since his castration for prostate cancer he is far less concerned about other people’s sexual orientation. He’s become much more open and accepting:

“It took me a long time to realize that the lack of a single answer was an answer in itself. Being free of hormonal compulsion, a modern eunuch can elect whatever gender orientation he wishes. If men are from Mars and women from Venus, then eunuchs can tour the whole solar system!”

In addition to the section on gender and gender orientation, there’s a brief tour of eunuchs in history. There’s some on health, though Andrew should probably send his list of eunuch health issues directly to Wassersug.

Well-written, with a nice sense of humor, the article is probably worth the price of the magazine.