The changing face of the community in the information age

[raymar2020 (imported)]

Hi All,

I have noticed lately that in every place I visit that deals with castration and eunuchism, that there is a shift downward in age of members. Not to say that older people are not involved but that there seem to be many more younger people interested.

As a child born with undescended testicles in the late 50's , there was always little hope that I would mature in the usual way. My parents were devoted to trying to "cure" my problem and as a result, I was often seen by doctors who tried in vain to correct the situation. One of those doctors who actually was a pediatric urologist felt that boys such as myself needed to know that they were not alone. To that end he encouraged parents of children like me, to develop interactions with each other, so that eunuch boys and those like myself with undescended testicles knew others in the same situation.

I ended up befriending two brothers who had both lost both testicles to infection as infants , due to being undescended. Thru them I actually met a couple other boys who came and went. We were as a result much more comfortable with ourselves than we would have been had there been no interaction with other eunuch boys.

Beyond that though , information was scarce. Other than what I managed to glean from my parents discussions with the doctors, I knew nothing of the history of eunuchs, or of the condition from which I suffered. In my early teens driven by curiosity , I traveled to the Pratt Library here in Baltimore seeking more knowledge. Some texts were flat out denied me, and the ones that I could access were strictly reference, and could not leave the library. Reading and learning beyond the most basic knowledge was nearly impossible.

Also in that era, I was seen as a child, and the doctors I saw tended to dismiss my questions , even though it was MY body they were dealing with. Treatments I received were not discussed with me, they were simply imposed. Some of them were pretty damned brutal!

As I reached maturity, and adulthood, I still found that trying to really understand what I was, and the history of eunuchs was difficult. The material was simply not there to be found by the average person.

Fast forward 30 years and times have surely changed. Back in the day, the idea of simply reaching out and finding others to talk to about their experiences was simply a pipe dream. Today, I have at my disposal literally thousands of options. There are sites such as this archive, and groups on internet sites like tribe, and Yahoo that present the opportunity to interact with others. There are links by the thousand to get to virtually any piece of writing either factual or fiction that relates to the subject of castration or eunuchs. Back in the day , a search in the library for castration led you to animal husbandry.

With these tools available, and the broader knowledge base the internet provides, I think that many who have questions are now able to get to the information they seek. Those who have a nagging feeling that something isn't right with their anatomy can find others who feel the same way. The curious can find the answers they seek.

This I believe has led many younger men to sites like the archive. They come to try to understand their own feelings. and find a wealth of information that was not available to my generation. They can then make important decisions about their own situation , that many of us older members were forced to postpone.

Couple this with the change in social mores regarding tattoos and other body modifications, and eunuchs and castration are becoming more mainstream. I have spoken to some who seek it, as a means to have total control over their sexual appetite. Others are seeking to display their submissive side openly. Whatever the reason, each individual now has the option to explore which we did not earlier.

I welcome these younger members to our community, and applaude their bravado to seek out and act on the feelings they have within. The more diverse our group, the better. Times have changed greatly over the last 30 or so years, and the new openness that exists is very refreshing. There was a time when I was very cautious beyond those I was intimate with to even discuss castration or eunuchs. My own unique situation being a thing to be hidden from most . Today , there are very few people in my life who are not aware of my status, and that number shrinks more every year. I am proud of who and what I am, and we now live in a world where I am not thought some sort of freak, but merely a unique individual.

Raymar

[tugon (imported)]

Knowledge is power. I am glad young people have access to accurate information. When I first began dealing with thoughts of castration I only could find fantasy stories and as I know now not very accurate. I am as happy for those who decide being eunuch is right for them as much as I am for those who realize it would be the wrong choice.

Growing up physically correct but having gender issues it would have made life easier to have someone with whom I could relate. I think your Doctor was very smart to put you into contact with others. The EA has been my source of people I could relate to as I was redefining the new me.

I think it is great that there are so many resources today. I am glad young people are coming for information and others' life experiences. Dealing with these issues alone is truly a lonely experience.

[Mac (imported)]

If greater information had been available when I was a child I would have taken any steps within my power to prevent the onset of male puberty. However, I would have had to do whatever possible on my own as my parents would not have provided any help. I would not even have been able to discuss the matter with them.

I would still like to find a way so that my doctor would say my penis, testicles and scrotum have to be removed for medical reasons. That is the only hope I have for getting rid of them.

[nullorchis (imported)]

Nice posts everyone

Having been through the lack of knowledge mill, and wasted 40 years of having functioning testes, I am at least glad that I finally found a useful solution to my needs.

My two big lessons learned:

1. Once I finally managed to stop the production of testosterone, my ocd craving to be castrated drastically subsided. Testosterone, not testes were the issue for me.

2. Once the craving for sex diminished, I gained control of my thoughts, emotions, life. Nature's testosterone was in control before. Now I am in control.

Anyone who has no interest in sex, no need to reproduce, and is being driven to distraction by testosterone owes it to themselves to take a test drive of how different life can be without testosterone. I say different, for me I mean better. Not do this via any permanent method at first but by something like Siterone. That's what I did, and discovered that the elimination of testosterone opened a whole new world of possibilities and freedom. Not wishing to pay for or use a strong drug like Siterone forever, I pursued a permanent method to destroy the production of testosterone. For me it was alcohol injection, not necessarily a safe method either, but I was desperate, and had 100 percent success with no negative repercussions. Sad that we have to go to that extreme, but this did help me keep my needs completely private and secret from anyone, medical community included; and I could not have afforded a medical solution anyway, even if one had been available. (as I am not a transgender candidate)

With luck, eventually, they will be removed as they are liabilities now. But removal is no longer an ocd craving.

It would appear that an increasing number of younger men are discovering how debilitating testosterone can be.

Hopefully any who pursue reduction or elimination of it will do intensive research, and pursue a method that is safe.

Once castrated, there is still a social stigma on doing it because you wanted it done.

But, today, using the cancer card is always an option. cancer is the cause of oriechtomy in young men, so that is a good pretend reason for having had them removed.

[SplitDik (imported)]

I think generally knowledge is a good thing, and that realizing you are not alone is a huge boon to people suffering from embarrassing or rare issues.

However, the ability to find like-minded people can also be a social problem that is starting to be studied. For example, people into suicide now are finding people that confirm their feelings and they share information on how to commit suicide, even encourage each other to go through with it. Similarly for issues like anorexia. S&M I think has entered a dangerous era as well -- it is cool that there are now "communities" but I also know from first-hand experience that it is also allowing for some truly sick happenings (I don't like to be judgmental, but I know from personal experience that there are people who have fully enslaved others and have them in continuous extreme torture and mutilation). In other words, there is a point where human behavior is "mentally ill" and the internet actually allows mental illness to get worse in many ways.

You can even see this with political discussions. There are some sociologists now, who I agree with, that claim that Internet is actually dividing people more than uniting them. This is because people no longer have to mingle, or to moderate their views, or tolerate opposing views -- instead you can hang out (in the social networking sense) only with like-minded people.

Another issue is Internet addiction (in its various forms). The human craves information, which is good, but the Internet has an unending amount of information. So you can get hooked on it. There is of course things like porn addiction, but there are also people just spending way too much time doing things like writing on web forums (heck I come here every day), monitoring social networks, playing repetitive games, etc.

I guess we just have to let it all play out, and I love freedom of information so much that I prefer it. But it has some serious downsides as well.