# eunuchs... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [May 27, 2002, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eunuchs/111059 "2002-05-27T16:29:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![hillbillycavewoman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/bc8723/32.png) [@hillbillycavewoman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hillbillycavewoman)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2002, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eunuchs/111059/1 "2002-05-27T16:29:26Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2002, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eunuchs/111059/2 "2002-05-27T16:49:55Z")
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](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_058.html) ---
**Author:** ![ThreeSarahBirds](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/43a26b/32.png) [@ThreeSarahBirds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThreeSarahBirds)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2002, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eunuchs/111059/3 "2002-05-27T20:07:04Z")
Oh we are mere onions compared to this! ---
**Author:** ![hillbillycavewoman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/bc8723/32.png) [@hillbillycavewoman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hillbillycavewoman)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2002, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eunuchs/111059/4 "2002-05-27T20:25:34Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by AskNott \* > \*\*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](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_058.html) \*\* Well DUH-uh… What did you think I was commenting on in the first place? Don’t send me in circles. ---
**Author:** ![Ben](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/df788c/32.png) [@Ben](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ben)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2002, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eunuchs/111059/5 "2002-05-27T21:12:46Z")
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 ---
**Author:** ![ThreeSarahBirds](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/43a26b/32.png) [@ThreeSarahBirds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThreeSarahBirds)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2002, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eunuchs/111059/6 "2002-05-27T21:21:58Z")
They say Margaret Thatcher was a eunuch, but we don’t believe them. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2002, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eunuchs/111059/7 "2002-05-28T06:08:54Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Neurodoc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/848f3c/32.png) [@Neurodoc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neurodoc)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2002, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eunuchs/111059/8 "2002-05-28T07:15:32Z")
I presume you meant “eune” and not “enue” (sorry, I can’t access Greek characters in this response). ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2002, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eunuchs/111059/9 "2002-05-28T12:40:14Z")
Advantages: 1. It frees up your weekends 2. No Viagra bills ---
**Author:** ![John\_Bredin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@John\_Bredin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Bredin)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2002, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eunuchs/111059/10 "2002-05-28T13:47:29Z")
“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?! 😕 ---
**Author:** ![hillbillycavewoman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/bc8723/32.png) [@hillbillycavewoman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hillbillycavewoman)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2002, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eunuchs/111059/11 "2002-05-28T15:00:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Irishman \* > \*\*… > > 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. \*\* Oops. Sorry. I stand chastised. ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2002, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eunuchs/111059/12 "2002-05-29T03:20:23Z")
[http://www.drkoop.com/conditions/ency/article/003246.htm](http://www.drkoop.com/conditions/ency/article/003246.htm) > [@](#): > > Both men and women lose hair density as they age. Men develop a typical pattern of baldness, associated with the presence of the male hormone testosterone . Men who do not produce testosterone (because of genetic abnormalities or castration) do not develop this pattern of baldness. Woo-hoo! At last–a cure for male pattern baldness! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![PlanMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/2bfe46/32.png) [@PlanMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlanMan)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2002, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eunuchs/111059/13 "2002-05-29T03:27:18Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Hazel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e56c9b/32.png) [@Hazel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hazel)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2002, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eunuchs/111059/14 "2002-05-29T05:11:26Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Pablito](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@Pablito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pablito)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2002, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eunuchs/111059/15 "2002-05-29T14:43:41Z")
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? ---
**Author:** ![RiverRunner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/977dab/32.png) [@RiverRunner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RiverRunner)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2002, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eunuchs/111059/16 "2002-05-29T15:55:19Z")
> [@](#): > > Also, I thought I remembered hearing (not quite a reliable cite, I know) that castration would increase the recipient’s lifespan, . . . Well, it could certainly make life _seem_ a lot longer. RR ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2002, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eunuchs/111059/17 "2002-05-29T19:27:50Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2002, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eunuchs/111059/18 "2002-05-29T23:08:14Z")
**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.** ---
**Author:** ![hillbillycavewoman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/bc8723/32.png) [@hillbillycavewoman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hillbillycavewoman)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2002, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eunuchs/111059/19 "2002-05-30T00:44:52Z")
Do it Because of the fish… You know, for the halibut. ---
**Author:** ![JillGat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9fc29f/32.png) [@JillGat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JillGat)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2002, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eunuchs/111059/20 "2002-05-30T00:52:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Chronos \* > \*\*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. \*\* 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. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eunuchs/111059.md?page=2)