desexualizev.
/ˌdiːˈsɛkʃʊəlʌɪz/, /ˌdiːˈsɛkʃᵿlʌɪz/, /ˌdiːˈsɛksjʊ(ə)lʌɪz/, U.S. /ˌdiˈsɛkʃ(əw)əˌlaɪz/ 1. transitive. To deprive (a person) of male or female characteristics; to cease to attribute distinctive qualities of sex or gender to (a person or thing).Sometimes difficult to distinguish from sense 3.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > sex and gender > [verb (transitive)] > deprive of sex or gender
unsexa1616
desexualize1863
desex1889
asexualize1914
degender1965
1863 G. Fleming Trav. Horseback Mantchu Tartary xv. 268 In the Eden promised by Fô..there is but one sex, and that the masculine. The women admitted will be desexualised.
1926 Spectator 19 June 1038/2 The self-flatterer..desexualizes the human form that he may pride himself on his idealization of it.
1993 Social Hist. 18 20 It was impossible to ‘de-sexualize’ the language of class oppression, just as it was impossible for women to leave their sexual role behind in order to enter struggles on identical terms with men.
2008 Times 15 Mar. 83/2 God..will not be ‘our king’ any more, but ‘our ruler’. Desexualising God may seem pedantic to some, but carries an important theological message.
2. transitive. To deprive (a person or animal) of the ability to reproduce, as by removing the sexual organs or limiting their function surgically or by the use of drugs; to sterilize; to castrate or spay. Cf. asexualize v. 1. Now historical and rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > biology > biological processes > procreation or reproduction > infertility > infertile [verb (transitive)]
to shut up the womb1530
sterilize1828
yeld1831
desexualize1886
1886 Med. Times 2 Oct. 26/2 That a patient shall decide whether she will be desexualized may be sufficient to warrant metropolitan gynaecologists in removing the ovaries.
1914 Texas Jrnl. State Med. May 19/1 Adult epileptics in whom marriage can not be regulated should be desexualized.
1955 Compton's Pictured Encycl. (new ed.) VI. 428/2 A male horse that has been desexualized is called a gelding.
2004 D. K. English Unnatural Select. 226 Hundreds of feebleminded and delinquent males and females residing in state institutions were desexualized or unsexed (to use the jargon of the period) by castration, vasectomy, oopherectomy, or tubal ligation.
3. transitive. To remove or minimize the sexual or erotic character, associations, or appeal of (a person or thing).
ΚΠ
1886 H. Pratt New Aspects Life & Relig. 206 It strives to de-sexualize him on earth, telling him that sex relations are impure and..to be shunned.
1964 French Rev. 38 20 The Pléiade had undertaken to desexualize the link between the knight and his lady, but she transcends them in the sophisticated sensuousness to be extracted from this kind of union.
1991 J. Hoff Law, Gender, & Injustice 341 Of the four groups, only one is attempting to ‘desexualize’ society by banning or severely regulating..pornography.
2017 W. E. Thompson & J. C. Gibbs Deviance & Deviants vi. 107 Naturists and nudists..make every effort to desexualize their nudity.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2018; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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