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Inside ‘Nullo’ Culture, the Online Subculture Devoted to Genital Removal Fantasies

Researchers say nullo culture can involve sexual fantasy, body dysphoria, and psychological distress, but acting on it can be life-threatening.

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There are Reddit communities for almost everything, but a few give even the most terminally online people pause.

On any given day, a 2,300-person subreddit is actively devoted to fantasizing about glansectomy, the surgical removal of the rounded, nerve-dense tip of the penis. A separate 3,500-member forum orbits an even more comprehensive desire: penectomy. Both fall under the umbrella of what’s called “nullo” culture, a subculture defined by the wish to remove all external genitalia and achieve a smooth, featureless groin. For most people scrolling past these forums, the reaction probably stops at visceral horror. For researchers who study this population, however, the picture is much more complicated.

According to a study published in the Archives of Sexual Behavior, when men with castration interests were asked why they wanted genital ablation, roughly 40% said they wanted to achieve what........

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