Castration as Post-Gender Grinding
I would like to get the community's thoughts and advice on a rather hypothetical idea.
I don't know what the perfect non-gendered genitals would look like, if they would be for waste and/xor play and all that (if anyone is familiar with Ian McDonald's 2004 novel River of Gods ([which] proposes a new sexual identity and subculture, neuters or "nutes," that evolve out of the hijracultin India, and whose members have their external sex organs surgically redesigned into a smooth androgynous form... [taken quote from hughes dvorsky 2008 essay on post genderism {short/good read}]) please let me know.) so I am all ears to ideas there, but the 'male' testicles are certainly less than useful at times.
There are some effects besides just sitting down more comfortably and having a better defense against kicks. Some risks of this/that medical thing go up, some down. I am not worried that much on that front. The thing that makes it such a big leap for me is the effect on the endocrine system. Replacing the hormone producing glands within the body without the sperm factory seems difficult (would need to grow replacements or GMOify humans).
The hormone thing in itself could often be a plus. Less gendered, lowered sex drive, less aggression. If you have already had puberty (which is the relevant demographic in my current thinking for now), bone/muscle/voice does not seem to be too great a change.
What do you think biohack, practically as well as thematically/whatever.
Relevant links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endocrine_system#Testes
http://ieet.org/archive/IEET-03-PostGender.pdf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-genderism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castration#Medical_consequences
I don't know what the perfect non-gendered genitals would look like, if they would be for waste and/xor play and all that (if anyone is familiar with Ian McDonald's 2004 novel River of Gods ([which] proposes a new sexual identity and subculture, neuters or "nutes," that evolve out of the hijracultin India, and whose members have their external sex organs surgically redesigned into a smooth androgynous form... [taken quote from hughes dvorsky 2008 essay on post genderism {short/good read}]) please let me know.) so I am all ears to ideas there, but the 'male' testicles are certainly less than useful at times.
There are some effects besides just sitting down more comfortably and having a better defense against kicks. Some risks of this/that medical thing go up, some down. I am not worried that much on that front. The thing that makes it such a big leap for me is the effect on the endocrine system. Replacing the hormone producing glands within the body without the sperm factory seems difficult (would need to grow replacements or GMOify humans).
The hormone thing in itself could often be a plus. Less gendered, lowered sex drive, less aggression. If you have already had puberty (which is the relevant demographic in my current thinking for now), bone/muscle/voice does not seem to be too great a change.
What do you think biohack, practically as well as thematically/whatever.
Relevant links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endocrine_system#Testes
http://ieet.org/archive/IEET-03-PostGender.pdf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-genderism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castration#Medical_consequences
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Also, what yall think about hormone therapy and such to compensate for this, or for other post-gendered activities?
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn22298-eunuchs-provide-clues-to-longer-life.html
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/09/eunuchs-testosterone-longevity
Statistically increasing lifespan a bit does not really get me that excited, as an individual, though the more of the future I get to see the better, though ill be old. Oh well.
If you don't mind me asking, what would it take for you to do it?
(assuming you are able to me male-castrated)
@intrapostal, you asked what "perfect, non-gendered genitals" would look like. It might interest you to know that male and female genitals are actually rather similar in structure. Indeed, you can find pictures of intersex genitals (which can range anywhere from mostly male to mostly female, even including ones that are more-or-less hermaphroditic) on Google Image. Not sure if those qualify as "perfect," but it's a start.
controlling nerves might not fix whole sex drive issue, and this would not either, even less so, but maybe a controlled device that pinches the blood-flow to the genitals, preventing erection unless you enter your password ('password') into your device/genitals.
Good point on the human genitals being similar, will boot up google sketch up if i think of something and also i get my computer working.
(once were robots, we wont need to go to the bathroom, and this will be much easier)
I think that postgendered people could definitely coexist with a world in which there are more than two sexes or genders. Postgenderism could itself be a gender identity, much like people have gender identities now. As for 80 genders being a solution to the gender stratification, I'm sure it would probably be a great improvement over what we have now.
"When testosterone is lacking, the demand for amino acids to support cell proliferation and muscle-building is decreased, and it's thought that the body then shifts the use of these basic building blocks towards cellular defense and stress resistance," says Holly Brown-Borg
IGF-1 stimulates growth, cell division, protein production, etc, and is associated with aging degeneration. Testosterone does basically the same thing and there is a lot of overlap between the endocrine effects of both. When IGF-1 is low, we switch from a "growth mode" to a "repair mode" where immunity, cellular repair, etc are prioritized.
Eunuchs (low testosterone) also have a similar mortality profile to mice deficient in IGF-1 (insulin-like growth factor 1) which is marked by lowered cancer risk, later onset of metabolic syndrome, increased lifespan, etc. It has also been established that low IGF-1 is a mechanism of action behind the life-extension effects of either calorie restriction or aspirin.
So it's possible, even likely, that low testosterone lengthens lifespan via the same signaling pathways as low IGF-1.
Lukas: Supplementing hormones afterward would probably defeat the purpose. Presumably the health benefits are because of reduced testosterone.
As far as a post-gendered society goes, I think it is a fantastic idea but I would think that this is more of an issue that would be solved purely through a change in society, rather than technology. I would like to think that we, as people, should be free to publicly acknowledge the gender that we identify with. Be that opposite to our birth assigned sex, none, or any other. To make this achievable seems like purely cultural acceptance, rather than any 'fix' we can do to our bodies. Saying that, I don't want to speak for anyone else that disagrees with this! What do you think?
Sex, on the other hand, is definitely something that we can tackle. While it is possible to re-assign one's birth sex to their gender, I am sure there is more to be done. I don't know, how available is the option to de-assign sex? And then on from that, assigning any number of 'personal' genders that one could fit to?
Aside from (or combining!) both, I think that affecting change on the link between our physical sex and our minds (which is, after all, where our gender lives) seems like a worthwhile pursuit. Sex drive, as many people have already said here, can definitely be a burden that a lot of people would like to live without. But, what are there people who would still like to enjoy sexual activity but to stop the hormonal 'push' for it? Developing some sort of hormonal stop, or tap, could be great.
Looking at something like the Contraceptive Implant (the small, three year devices that sits in the arm), this just slow releases progestin in order to cease fertility. Is it possible to hack these devices, or easliy make new ones, that release any other hormone? Perhaps to cut out sexual urges for three years while you need to focus on a particular project for example? From that, how easy would it be to build, essentially, an on/off switch? Imagine having a cluster of implants, each controlling a different hormone. Obtaining genuine control over aspects of how our body and mind interact.
This might be a nice solution for controlling our bodies better while retaining any current function we might find desirable.
If anyone takes issue with anything I said about gender or sex, I'd love to open discussion about it! These were purely my individual thoughts and I certainly don't claim to speak for more than that!