I'm a student in the midst of research on voluntary castration and other forms of genital modification. I'm reaching out in the hopes of conducting some interviews (via email/chat/etc) with Eunuch Archive members.
If you are interested, please pm me -- I'd love to hear your thoughts.
Welcome aboard. I've been trying to convince someone else to take an active role in studying this community. Private messages, though, don't work until after you've made a minimum of FIVE posts so that the members here have a better idea of who and what you are.
If you are a student, tell us where you are and what your major is. There is a small, but growing, literature on the EA community. Maybe a review or two on the literature might get you over the five post hurdle.
JesusA wrote: Sat Nov 07, 2015 12:06 pm
Welcome aboard. I've been trying to convince someone else to take an active role in studying this community. Private messages, though, don't work until after you've made a minimum of FIVE posts so that the members here have a better idea of who and what you are.
If you are a student, tell us where you are and what your major is. There is a small, but growing, literature on the EA community. Maybe a review or two on the literature might get you over the five post hurdle.
Thanks Jesus! I didn't realize there was a pm post requirement..
I'm currently an undergraduate at the University of Pennsylvania and am majoring in anthropology with a minor in religious studies.
My main academic interest is religion (the social function, sociology of the supernatural/ghosts/monsters, etc). However, I've always been interested in gender and sexuality and after stumbling across BME zine about a year ago and discovering some of the more "intense" body mods, I became fascinated by castration/nullification/penectomy/etc.
I'm hoping to get a better picture of who the modern day eunuch is and would love to talk to as many people as possible!
mgibson0305 (imported) wrote: Sun Nov 08, 2015 1:05 am
Oh and where do I find the literature review section? I can't seem to find it?
Some of the most interesting research begins with serendipity. It is how I discovered my dissertation topic in the 1960s, a topic which led me into years of fascinating research, writing, and teaching. Serendipity is what led me to discover the Eunuch Archive and its fascinating set of people. Some of the nicest people I've ever known I've met through this site. Together with some colleagues in neuroanatomy and psychology, I now have over 20 articles in print based on what we have learned here. There is enough more that needs to be done to keep several additional researchers busy for a long while. Another anthropologist is certainly needed. I'm into my mid-70s and won't be active for too many more years (though I probably have enough projects in my file cabinet to keep me busy past 100, if I last that long).
Drop me a <Private Message> with an email address that will accept attachments (the EA server does not) and I will send you a few of the articles to start you off. I'm also willing to help with any questions that you have.
I expect that you will get a great education in anthropology at Penn, though everyone whom I worked with there has long since retired and I'm don't know any of the current faculty.
Let me add, as a voluntary nullo/emasculated man, that it's going to take you a while to build up trust with us because we've been burned (badly) in the past by others coming here telling us the same things you have. This is not said to discourage you, but understand some of us may not be willing to chat with you for a while until we know you're the real thing. I do hope it turns out that way in this case, we need more legitimate people working on this subject as we're in medical no-man's land right now.
Working with Jesus will be an excellent start to overcome our concerns/apprehension.
devi (imported) wrote: Mon Nov 09, 2015 5:52 am
We have quite a bit personal variety here, -a huge amount! Much more than anyone would suppose, I think.
Losethem (imported) wrote: Mon Nov 09, 2015 10:56 am
Let me add, as a voluntary nullo/emasculated man, that it's going to take you a while to build up trust with us because we've been burned (badly) in the past by others coming here telling us the same things you have. This is not said to discourage you, but understand some of us may not be willing to chat with you for a while until we know you're the real thing. I do hope it turns out that way in this case, we need more legitimate people working on this subject as we're in medical no-man's land right now.
Working with Jesus will be an excellent start to overcome our concerns/apprehension.
--LT
I totally understand (and appreciate) your apprehension.
I have limited hands on experience with fieldwork thus far (I'm only an undergraduate), but I do believe that honesty is the best policy when interacting with anyone in "the field."
While I can't say whether or not anything will become of my research (it stems mainly from my own curiosity), but I can say that honesty and discretion are my top priorities -- in my opinion, data means nothing if you've burned bridges in the pursuit of it.
For what it's worth, most of those burned bridges with us are journalists (or so-called journalists in some cases) that have treated our community poorly. You're coming from an academic direction, and you're freely admitting at this point that it's simply an interest you're pursuing. I would continue to talk to our friend here Jesus. It took him a long time to build the trust with us, but he did, and he's an excellent resource.
We are always looking for younger folks to take this up academically, and work towards getting us to legitimate sources of help other than the dead ends we often find. I successfully navigated all this only this year, but it is still very difficult for most men who desire to do these things to feel comfortable in their bodies to find help. We need more folks like you researching this legitimately and moving our cause forward. The "holy grail" for us would be the development of a standards of care process such as that which exists for those who are gender binary.
