Definition

Verb: 1. To remove sexual qualities or functions from; to make non-sexual or asexual. This meaning involves stripping something of its sexual nature, attributes, or implications. 2. To deprive of the ability to reproduce; to sterilize. This is a specific, often surgical, medical procedure to make an organism incapable of reproduction. 3. In psychoanalytic theory, to redirect libidinal energy into non-sexual activities or aims. This refers to a psychological process of sublimation.

Usage and Examples

• Meaning 1 (Remove sexual qualities):
  • The director chose to desexualize the character's costume to focus attention on her intellectual prowess.
  • Some argue that strict school uniform policies aim to desexualize the learning environment.
• Meaning 2 (Sterilize):
  • The veterinary clinic will desexualize the stray cats to control the local population.
  • Historically, unethical programs sought to desexualize individuals deemed "unfit."
• Meaning 3 (Redirect libido):
  • According to Freudian theory, an artist may desexualize their impulses by channeling them into creative work.

Advanced Usage

• Conceptual Desexualization: The term is often used in sociological and cultural critiques to discuss the process of removing sexual connotations from objects, behaviors, or representations.
  • The debate centered on whether the advertisement desexualized the product or merely used a different aesthetic.

Variants and Related Words

• Desexualization (noun): The act or process of desexualizing.
  • The desexualization of the artwork changed its perceived meaning entirely.
• Desex (verb): A less common synonym, primarily used in biological contexts meaning to sterilize.
• Sterilize (verb): A direct synonym for the second meaning (to make infertile).
• Neuter (verb): Often used specifically for animals, meaning to remove the reproductive organs.

Synonyms

• For meaning 1: De-eroticize, asexualize.
• For meaning 2: Sterilize, neuter, spay, castrate, fix (informal).
• For meaning 3: Sublimate.

Antonyms

• Sexualize, eroticize.
• Fertilize (for meaning 2).

Verb

1. make infertile
   • in some countries, people with genetically transmissible disabilites are sterilized
2. direct one's libidinous urges into another direction