Penis removal refers to the act or process of severing the penis from a male’s body. The penis may be removed for medical reasons, such as cancer. A transsexual or transgendered individual may wish to have his penis surgically removed in sexual reassignment surgery. Cases have been documented in which the penis was removed involuntarily through some form of personal assault. Penis removal is rare in nearly all modern societies.
The medical term for surgical removal of the penis is penectomy. The most common medical reasons for performing a penectomy are penile cancer and injury to a child’s penis during circumcision. Penile cancer is an uncommon occurrence in North America and Europe, but in Africa and South America, penile cancer makes up nearly 10% of all cancers developed by men. On rare occasions, a childhood circumcision can result in a serious deformity that renders the penis almost useless. In severe cases, the only medical option may be penis removal.
A penectomy may be either partial or radical, depending on the severity of the condition. A partial penectomy can be undertaken to save part of the penis, with only some portions, usually the tip or glans, requiring removal. A radical penectomy removes the entire penis. In such cases, the entire shaft of the penis is removed, and a tube is inserted into the male urethra at the torso to aid in urination.
Transsexual women, individuals who were born into the male sex but who identify themselves with the female gender, may pursue sexual reassignment surgery. The operations required for this procedure are numerous, but eventually, a penectomy is undertaken. This type of penis removal is most often partial, as the surgeons do not completely remove the organ, but reshape it into the desired female anatomy.
During penectomies for sexual reassignment, the shaft of the penis is inverted to create a vagina, while the glans of the penis is formed into a fully functioning clitoris. The urethra is displaced into its anatomically correct female position. In rare cases, a radical penectomy may be necessary due to medical complications.
Cases of assault, in which the penis is removed involuntarily by force, have been reported. Often the motive of forced penis removal is said to be revenge or a desire to see the male emasculated. Some conquering armies in ancient times were reported to have cut the penises off their subjugated foes. It may have been done either to assess the total losses of the opposing side or to collect a trophy.