has driven some to self-emasculation. In some cases, a person with a mental illness has emasculated other people. Involuntary or accidental In some circumstances, a person may be emasculated involuntarily as the result of an accident, as part of a ritual attack, or due to poor circumcision practice. In these cases, the objective of medical treatment is different than for cases of voluntary emasculation. The goals of treatment are to either reattach the severed genitals or to reconstruct an artificial penis and testes. From 1960 to 2000, involuntarily emasculated infants were surgically reassigned female, similar to the treatment received by David Reimer after his penis was burnt off during a circumcision procedure. It is now understood from cases like Reimer's that gender reassignment surgery in infancy can interfere with gender identity formation. Therefore, gender reassignment is no longer the standard practice for involuntarily emasculated infants. Other meanings 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 (pollen) parts of a plant, largely for controlled pollination and breeding purposes, is also called emasculation. See also Penis removal Genital modification and mutilation Castration anxiety Eunuch Feminization (sociology) Masculinity Notes References Male genital modification Male genital surgery Castration Men and sexuality Penis Sexual abuse Torture Violence against men Eunuchs Sexual abstinence