E is for Eunuch

Out first E word is eunuch.  Eunuchs are usually castrated men.  They were often used in ancient cultures to guard harams and the royal family and in important government jobs.  They were trusted because they would keep their hands off the women of the haram or royal family and couldn’t father their own lineage to challenge the king.  Castrati singers were castrated before puberty to sing the high notes in choirs because women were not allowed to.  

The ancients actually had a much broader definition of eunuchs.  The Bible says “there are eunuchs who were born that way, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by others, and there are those who choose to live like eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 19:23).  In his Generation of Animals, Aristotle says procreation requires both the mental faculty and anatomical parts to do so.  By this definition homosexuals and asexuals who lack the mental faculty to procreate are eunuchs.  Roman emperor Justinian I even used the Aristotelian definition of eunuchs in his laws as “one with no generative power, an impotent person, either by nature or castration.”

By this broader definition many, if not most intersex people are “eunuchs who were born that way”.  Many intersex conditions result in sterility and we usually have our gonads removed.  There are also higher cases of homosexuality and asexuality (or at least celibacy) amongst intersex people.  I have occasionally used eunuch to describe myself.  I kind of like it because it is a gender nonconforming identity and also gives a nod to the genital mutilation I underwent (for better or worse it’s a part of me).  Eunuchs were prominent members of their societies, should we reclaim this title?  Leave comments, let me know what you think.