Emasculation of a human male is the removal of both the penis and the testicles, the external male sex organs. Depending on the context, this may be seen as consensual body modification, or non-consensual genital mutilation. The term can also refer more generally to anything that renders a male less masculine.
In ancient China, emasculation was performed as a punishment up until the Sui dynasty and Tang dynasty. Additionally, some men underwent the procedure as means of becoming employed as an imperial servant or bureaucrat. In English, the wordeunuch is generally used to refer to these Chinese people who underwent emasculation, and they are often referred to as having been "castrated" rather than "emasculated". As of the Qing dynasty, emasculation was still performed in China. Zheng He, a Ming dynasty noted admiral of the imperial navy was castrated as a boy. In the 19th century, the surviving sons and grandson of rebel Yaqub Beg were punished by being emasculated and enslaved. The last Imperial eunuch was Sun Yaoting, who died in 1996. For more information on emasculation in China, see Castration in China. The ancient Vietnamese adopted China's practice of emasculation and the use of eunuchs as servants and slaves for the monarchy. The procedure was reportedly very painful as both the testicles and penis were removed. In 1838, Minh Mạng, Emperor of Vietnam, made a law that said only adult men of high social standing could be emasculated. In the end, most eunuchs ended up being men who had been born with genital abnormalities and then handed over to the authorities. During the late 19th century, the French used the existence of eunuchs in Vietnam to degrade the Vietnamese. For more information on emasculation in Vietnam, see Castration in Vietnam. The Khitan people of northeast Asia also adopted the Chinese practice of emasculating slaves.
On the Indian subcontinent, some members of hijra communities reportedly undergo emasculation. It is called nirwaan and seen as a rite of passage. In the United States, males in the Nullo subculture voluntarily undergo emasculation.
By extension, the word emasculation has also come to mean rendering a male less masculine, including by humiliation. It can also mean to deprive anything of vigour or effectiveness. This figurative usage has become more common than the literal meaning. For example: "William Lewis Hughes voted for Folkestone’s amendment to Curwen’s emasculated reform bill, 12 June 1809..." In horticulture, the removal of male parts of a plant, largely for controlled pollination and breeding purposes, is also called emasculation.
