This penalty was mostly conducted against male criminals, but it was also applied to female criminals in some cases such as confinement and forced labour instead; however, it also appears to be true that even female criminals were sterilized in some cases.
主に男性を対象とした刑罰であったが、女性に宮刑を科す場合には、代わりに幽閉して強制労働させたとも言われているが実際に去勢された事例も若干数あったようである。