Warning: if you are squeamish reading about genitalia or cannibalism, this post is not for you.

You read the warning correctly, and you, our smart readers, have surmised correctly. There is a person in Japan who was born with cock and balls, but is not a man (OR a woman). They do not identify sexually in any way, be it gender or romantically. And they had their man bits removed.

So far, so good. Gender “reassignment” (quotes because the word isn’t really a perfect representation… it can sound like reassigning the identity a person is born with, not just the sex parts) happens all the time, and the surgery that goes along with it. Totally normal practice with nothing to be ashamed over, even though a lot of people shame the practice out of misunderstanding of what it means to be transgender.

In fact, lets do this really quickly. The beginners guide to sex and gender.

For the sake of ease in understanding complex terms, I’m going to divide “sex” into two categories. Sexual orientation is the term to describe what gender you are attracted to. Heterosexuals like the opposite sex exclusively or almost exclusively. Homosexuals like the same sex exclusively or near exclusively. Bisexuals like both men and women. Pansexuals are attracted to people, man, woman, and everything in between (it tends to be more “personality” with pans). Asexual is usually a sexual orientation term for not being sexually attracted to anyone, being a non-sexual person.

Gender identity is what gender you are. Not the bits you are born with, but who you are as a person. Transsexual people identify as the gender opposite that of their birth parts. This is not the same as a transvestite, a person who is more comfortable in the clothing of the opposite gender. And this is not the same thing as a person dressing in drag for performance or entertainment. Bi-gender means that the person is sometimes a woman, and sometimes a man. Androgyny is often used to describe either a “beyond gender” or a non-gender identity.

This can be a tricky concept for a person who was born with the right bits to match their gender identity. For instance, I am a woman. I am female, I’ve always been female, and I happened to be born with a uterus and able to give birth and no one has ever questioned my gender identity as female.

That’s not entirely true. I can be pretty *dude* sometimes, and someone once tried to label me as bi-gender. But when I check in with the core of me, I’m a woman. Not an inch of dude in me. -insert sex joke here-

Point is, sometimes people are born with different bits than they should have, and they go through surgery to get that fixed. I know if I woke up with a penis tomorrow, I’d go get that awkward growth removed. Well, after trying that whole “peeing standing up” thing the guys keep talking about.

Mao Sugiyama from Japan identifies as asexual. You remember that usually this is a term for a person whose sexual orientation is of no sex. But terms get tossed around, and this can also sometimes mean what some think of when they think androgyny.

Look, most of this is new to people, so cut them a little slack in definitions. Labels are awkward things anyway.

So Mao goes to get their (never call a person an it. If there is no gender, use they and their) bits removed. All fine and dandy. But then, as an artist and a chef, Mao decided to do a little performance piece with their piece. They offer to cook and serve the penis to the highest bidders.

Dinner time!

5 people were served bits of Mao’s bits while 70 others watched. And apparently in Japan, this is completely legal, as there is no laws against cannibalism. I mean, there probably will be shortly…

I saw the pictures of the, um, delicacy and will not be reposting them (you’re welcome). You can find them here if you really want to see. But the pictures show the food cooked and served in parts with button mushrooms.

And this is what makes Mao an artist and master chef. If it were me, I would have put that thing on a hot dog bun and smothered it in chili.