Administration draws its legitimacy from neutrality in cultural contexts where power relations are shaped by gendered norms. Neutrality bestows legitimacy where power is vested in the male generative force and is heritable. In the public sphere, neutrality renders administration nonthreatening to politicians and justifies administrators’ use of discretion despite their lack of democratic accountability and oversight. We examine historical and cultural roots of administrative neutrality as embodied by the physiologically transformed man and the resulting genderedness of public administration. We highlight two examples of power and sexuality in anime and different implications of neutered maleness. We also discuss enforced administrative neutrality in practice—the Hatch Act in the United States—which prevents administrators from engaging in political activity, rendering them “political eunuchs.”

在权力关系由性别规范决定的文化背景下，政府从中立中汲取合法性。中立赋予合法性，即权力归属于男性的生成力并具有可继承性。在公共领域，中立性使行政管理对政客没有威胁，尽管缺乏民主问责制和监督，行政管理人员仍可以使用自由裁量权。我们考察了由生理上转变的人所体现的行政中立的历史和文化根源，以及由此产生的公共行政性别。我们重点介绍了动漫中权力和性的两个例子，以及绝育的男性的不同含义。