The BBC headline read “‘Eunuch-maker’ mutilator jailed for 22 years” – it was enough to grab anyone’s attention. The article spoke of a degenerate group, led by Marius Gustavson, impersonating surgeons and performing “extreme body modifications” on paying customers, then streaming the procedures online for subscribers.
I will not recount the story in detail, but the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-68977469"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">BBC article</mark></a> does highlight one significant phrase used by the defence to explain Gustavson’s actions: “Body Integrity Dysphoria” (BID).
BID is defined as “a rare…condition in which there is a mismatch between the mental body image and the physical body”. Surgery for it is illegal in the UK, and its sufferers are recommended intense psychotherapy.
Seeing themselves as “transabled” (identifying as having a physical disability or impairment, despite being physically able-bodied), those claiming they experience BID wish to "transition" their able body into one of disability. This may include undergoing surgical intervention to disable them, allowing them to live as their “true” selves. Gustavson claims to be one of these BID individuals. Having had his own genitalia and part of his nipple removed along with freezing his leg, he displays BID traits.
In Gustavson’s case, Judge Lucraft concluded that sexual gratification was a significant factor informing Gustavson’s actions. All sixteen charges were related to the mutilation of the testicles or penis of his victims – although his website also advertised ‘limb freezing’ – hence, "Eunuch-maker". Lucraft also remarked that the 22,800 subscribers to the website, which broadcast these butcheries, were doing so “no doubt…for their own sexual gratification”.
The men obtaining Gustavson’s “services” were often asking for these procedures to be done; he was not forcing them by way of kidnapping – Lucraft concedes there was some element of consent. So clearly, some of Gustavson’s victims desired their emasculation. The sexualised emasculation and BID elements of this case show the intersection between “transitioning”, either sexually or in ability, and autogynephilia.
Autogynephilia is “a male's propensity to be sexually aroused by the thought of himself as a female”. It can range from imagination or cross-dressing to surgical intervention. BID fantasies also often cause sexual arousal, and without resorting to surgical “help”; BID-identifying individuals may wrap limbs or use wheelchairs to “present” as disabled.
The issue at the core of the Gustavson case is, therefore, autogynephilia taken to its most extreme paraphilic extent. In the 1980s, psychologist Ray Blanchard showed that male-to-female transsexuals, if not driven by homosexuality, were overwhelmingly autogynephilic. This study was reemphasised by Dr Anne Lawrence (a transsexual and self-proclaimed autogynephile) in 2017.
With many in society already accepting surgery for autogynephilia, why not also accept "transabling" surgeries? The logic is the same. A person, believing themself to be something different to their bodily structure, desires to adjust their body to "align" with their view of self.<br><br>Added to that, the medical ethic of non-maleficence has already been <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/will-we-allow-cyborg-ambition-and-abortion-to-defeat-christian-protest/?swcfpc=1"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">eroded by gender-reassignment and abortion</mark></a>; it’s not lunacy to consider that this will soon include “transabling” people.
The horrific Gustavson case has rightly been seen as evil, but how long before correct empathy for the victims is allied to the <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/only-jesus-can-offer-us-a-glorified-body-not-transhumanism-and-visions-of-a-technological-human-future/?swcfpc=1"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">trans-rights movement</mark></a>; before “my body my choice” is not just the right to kill babies and to have surgical gender-reassignment, but to remove limbs and sever spinal cords? The research is already moving down this slippery slope.
Intersectional literature on BID and transsexuality often supports surgery for BID. In their <em>BJPsych </em>article, Barrow and Oyebode conclude that, despite medical ethics opposing it, BID may require surgical intervention:
“There is, in our view, no logical difference between the conceptual status of BID and transsexualism. Hence, given that individuals with transsexualism are offered gender reassignment surgery it seems to us that individuals with BID ought at least to be considered for treatment, including elective amputation in some cases.”
This information isn’t in some whacky magazine, it’s in a scientific journal endorsed by the Royal College of Psychiatrists.
Barrow, Oyebode and some others see little difference between a transsexual getting surgery to remove genitalia, and transabled person getting surgery to amputate an arm.
Sadly, they are right.
Christians <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/the-cult-of-sexual-transitioning-and-disembodied-transhumanism-is-a-misguided-quest-for-eternity-in-denial-of-the-incarnation/?swcfpc=1"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">need to be ready to respond</mark></a> if or when BID inevitably gathers public support. Catholics are uniquely positioned to do this.
The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith recently published <em>Dignitas Infinita</em>. It <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/dignitas-infinita-is-a-much-needed-rebuttal-to-secular-human-rights-waffle-but-that-wont-stop-the-declaration-being-used-by-its-antagonists-to-create-more-waffle/?swcfpc=1"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">reemphasises the dignity and value of human bodies</mark></a>, stating that unnatural bodily change (in this case, sex-change) “risks threatening the unique dignity the person has received...”
Some helpful lines from the document, originally about “gender theory” but applicable to BID, say:
“Desiring a personal self-determination…apart from this fundamental truth that human life is a gift, amounts to a concession to the age-old temptation to make oneself God...”
Additionally, the document reminds us, as Pope Francis said, that “we are called to protect our humanity, and this means, in the first place, accepting it and respecting it as it was created.”
Catholics must be ready to oppose calls for surgical intervention for BID, even if it means being labelled “transabilist” or “transablephobic” and <a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/challenging-liberal-christianity-jesus-gave-very-clear-warnings-about-losing-saltiness-and-watering-down-our-beliefs/?swcfpc=1"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">once again being the “unpopular” ones in society</mark></a>.
However, there is hope. Small shifts are happening in public perception.
The recent <em>Cass Review </em><a href="https://catholicherald.co.uk/distribution-of-puberty-blockers-to-children-halted-by-nhs-england-amid-increasing-political-and-theological-pushback/?swcfpc=1"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color"><em>s</em>howed the lack of evidence to support the "transitioning" of children</mark></a>, recommending non-medical interventions to “manage gender related distress”. In 2022, the Tavistock centre, which offered gender reassignment to children, was closed. In both cases Dr Cass has recommended greater psychological help for gender dysphoric children; particularly around neurodivergence and autism.
In 2023, the Department for Education published its guidance for schools around “gender questioning children”. Outlining a “parent-first approach”, it protects pupils and staff from any legal obligation to comply with a pupil’s chosen pronouns.
Despite these positives, Catholics need to ready for BID. Thankfully, <em>Dignitas Infinita </em>gives us a good starting point.<br><em><br>Photo: Trans rights activists take part in a protest against the ban on hormone blockers implemented following the Cass Review, London, England, 20 April 2024. (Photo by Carl Court/Getty Images.)</em> <br><br><em>Thomas Casemore teaches RS and is pursuing a master’s degree in divinity, researching St Bede and early British ecclesiastical history and spirituality.</em>
