Unmanned: An Unnatural History of Human Castration | Psychology Today - 0 views
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castration also greatly reduces production of the male hormone testosterone
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Emasculation has been variously employed to make male slaves more docile, to punish enemies or criminals, and to reduce the noxious urges of sex offenders. In modern medical practice, orchidectomy is most commonly employed to treat testicular cancer, and is generally confined to removing only one testis. But removal of both testes may be performed to counter prostate cancer by lowering testosterone levels, or following major physical injury.
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Castration after puberty, turning men into eunuchs, diminishes or completely eliminates the sex drive. Muscle mass, physical strength and body hair are all typically reduced, and eunuchs are usually beardless. Breast enlargement is also common.
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Castration was performed not only as a punishment but also as a prerequisite for entering imperial service. Towards the end of the Ming Dynasty in the mid-17th Century some 70,000 eunuchs were employed to serve the emperor.
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In an entirely different context, castration has also been carried out on young boys before puberty to prevent their voices from breaking
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Men castrated before puberty retain an unusual high-pitched singing voice broadly comparable to that of a soprano, mezzo-soprano, or contralto, but covering a strikingly wide range.
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the effects of castration, including strikingly long limb-bones, incomplete bone fusion and low bone density (osteoporosis
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With Italy as its epicentre, enthusiasm for musical performances of castrati prevailed for over three hundred years,