Oh come now…
Isn’t Wayne Newton a castrato as well?
Btw–one of the less-touted benfits of castration:
it cures, or at least prevents, male “pattern” baldness.
So I’ve heard.
After rejecting several lame jokes and head-spinning “possible benefits,” I can only offer a link to Cecil’s column. http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_058.html
Oh we are mere onions compared to this!
Well DUH-uh…
What did you think I was commenting on in the first place?
Don’t send me in circles.
All the jokes about a “little jar” reminded me of a tidbit from Chinese history. On a particular day each year, Chinese eunuchs (whose entire external genitalia were amputated, not just the testicles) were expected to prove their eunuch-hood to the appropriate bureaucrats by producing their pickled genitals in a jar. Apparently there was a class of merchants who would keep the jars in a secure place until eunuch-testing day came, and would charge the eunuchs outrageous prices to get their jars back.
I should also mention that the greatest explorer in Chinese history, Zheng He, was a eunuch. Ultimately, China’s exploratory voyages were shut down as a result of a power struggle between the palace eunuchs and the Confucianist scholars.
-Ben
They say Margaret Thatcher was a eunuch, but we don’t believe them.
Ben, wouldn’t there be an easier way to prove one’s eunichhood?
hillbillycavewoman, in this forum it is expected to include a link to the column so that everyone will be on the same page. Any moment a moderator will come along and chastise you all official-like. AskNott was just being helpful.
I presume you meant “eune” and not “enue” (sorry, I can’t access Greek characters in this response).
Advantages:
- It frees up your weekends
- No Viagra bills
“Apparently there was a class of merchants who would keep the jars in a secure place until eunuch-testing day came, and would charge the eunuchs outrageous prices to get their jars back.”
Cite? Why would someone deposit anything valuable with a person they knew was going to extort them to get it back?! 
Oops.
Sorry.
I stand chastised.
http://www.drkoop.com/conditions/ency/article/003246.htm
Woo-hoo! At last–a cure for male pattern baldness! 
The column talked about how there aren’t many jobs specifically for the castrated, but it didn’t touch on how that “condition” would affect holding “normal” jobs. Except in a few cases (singing bass [no,not that stupid fish you hang on the wall], Chippendale dancer, etc.) doesn’t seem that it would matter one way or t’other.
Well, PlanMan, I think hiring eunuchs would seem to most employers to be a good strategy. None of this annoying business of having wives and kids to distract them from their jobs.
I’m a little unclear on the eunuch=soprano voice concept. Wouldn’t an adult man’s voice, since it has already changed, stay the same, following a castration?
Also, I thought I remembered hearing (not quite a reliable cite, I know) that castration would increase the recipient’s lifespan, something about not being subject to the supposedly deleterious effects of all that testosterone running around. True?
Well, it could certainly make life seem a lot longer.
RR
It’s an indisputed fact that women live longer than men, and this is usually attributed to testosterone. So, a longer lifespan would not be an unreasonable thing to expect.
hillbillycavewoman, I’m not above posting lame jokes (a few real groaners.) Sometimes, though, my lame-joke filter kicks in, and I tell myself things like, “Nope, nope, not funny, get out, nope, that won’t do.” When that happens, I can’t release any but the truly funny stuff. Sometimes, it’s hard to tell the filter from depression. Recently, some friends told me I couldn’t sit with them at the bar anymore because the filter wasn’t working. Sorta threw a kink in my style. Now it’s working too well. It’s a bloody nuisance. I was too serious before, but at least I was funny.
Egad! Shut up, Nott! These people are going to call me a lachrymotormouth.
Do it
Because of the fish…
You know,
for the halibut.
I think it’s more a case of lack of estrogen than presence of testosterone. … though I’m sure it’s more complicated than that.