Okay, for the fishes. Most eunuchs had their career paths chosen very early, by their parents, for money. As for the pickled specimens, they’d be very small. And like them, the grown eunuch spoke in a…ballssetto. The European castrati’s voices were valued not only for that frozen-in-time soprano, but for the emotional pain of being a chick magnet and being powerless to do anything for one’s fans after the concert.
Well, several days late and several dollars short, here I am! hillbillycavewoman, please read the sticky thread in this forum asking posters here to please provide a link.
John Bredin said:
Maybe because they didn’t have safety deposit boxes?
PlanMan, one of the other threads on this topic has a link to a guy who did this. It mentions some of the effects as being a loss of general energy, and a loss of physical strength. Muscle mass reduces. The guy in question had trouble doing some heavy lifting after the surgery, and eventually quit that job.
Pablito, you are correct, losing your balls does not make your voice go higher. If you lose them in childhood, however, it will prevent the voice change. Same comment applies to being kicked in the balls - a common slang usage being “made him sing soprano”.
Nobody seems to have mentioned this column yet:
Why are Indian eunuchs warned about unsafe sex?
While skating all over this pond, I want to know if this is true or not:
I have seen references to the effect that loss of testes only does not prevent erection, ability to penetrate, and produce orgasm, albeit a spermless affair. Anne Rice describes such in a novel, “Cry to Heaven.” That was before she got hung up on stupid vamprire tomes. Far Out!
Testosterone is also produced by the adrenal glands, though in smaller quantities. That’s how women get their share. I have read that a woman’s sex drive is in proportion to her testosterone count. Anyway, it’s conceivable that a guy without his balls would still have enough to get the job done, if his adrenals are thriving.
–Nott
Another thread ( More info on eunuchs ) refers to this site ( http://www.geocities.com/sherrylanina/Castration.html ) which states:
The following link describes the male anatomy.
WARNING!!! This page does include pictures of the male sex organ. I included it for the diagram and descriptions below, but the top of the page has three pictures for comparison (circumcised, uncircumcised, erect). PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK. (I hope that’s enough disclaimer.)
http://www.luckymojo.com/faqs/altsex/penis.html
The corpora cavernosa are blood vessels inside the penis that become engorged with blood to cause an erection. This is isolated from the scrotum (nut sack). Similarly, the prostate gland, the cowper’s gland, and seminal vesicles are all located in the torso behind the pubic bone, below the bladder and in front of the rectum. These are not included in the scrotum. Each of those glands creates some of the fluid that makes up the semen. Only the sperm itself comes from the testes. Note that a vasectomy cuts the vas deferens, the tube from the testes to the seminal vesicle which leads to the eurethra. As such, it does not affect the contribution of testosterone to the body from the testes. Whereas a castration does remove the testicles.
So the nerve endings for stimulation, the erectile tissue, and the glands that create the seminal fluids are all intact. While sex drive is reduced by the reduction of testosterone, the equipment is still functional (except for the reproductive part), if slower to respond.