Unrobing the Emasculated Body

Abstract

This chapter examines how emasculation affected eunuchs both physically and psychologically. As will be seen, despite common knowledge regarding what made one a eunuch, very little appears in the historical record about what this looked like. Emasculation physically marked the eunuch body and caused society to read it as different. How the body was read, though, depended upon who was reading it (Han Chinese, the Manchu imperial court, Westerners, or eunuchs themselves). While genital mutilation was intended to subjugate and neuter Chinese men, in reality emasculation rendered eunuchs “sexually and politically charged.” Representing a nexus of gender and political power, eunuchs provide unique insight into late imperial views towards masculinity and political power during the Qing.