# Should eunuchs guard the harem? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 14, 2003, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-eunuchs-guard-the-harem/148623 "2003-01-14T23:07:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jclune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9dc877/32.png) [@jclune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jclune)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2003, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-eunuchs-guard-the-harem/148623/1 "2003-01-14T23:07:31Z")
An odd question, but one important for understanding some important literature classics (e.g. The Arabian Nights). What _exactly_ is done to make a man a “eunuch”? I was told recently that they remove the testicles but leave the penis. I then inquired if the eunuch would still be able to pleasure the women, even though impregnating them would be impossible (a result that would still be unacceptible to the caliphs). My friend replied, “With the nuts goes the sex drive.” Is that true? Is that what is done to eunuchs? Can they physically get it up but just cannot be bothered? Or, with a lack of sex drive does one lose the ability to get it up? Why don’t they just go the whole nine when making a man a eunuch? Hmm…almost wish I had an alias to post this under…but I am curious as it impacts many of the plots from The Thousand Nights and the One Night. ---
**Author:** ![Padeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2003, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-eunuchs-guard-the-harem/148623/2 "2003-01-14T23:48:11Z")
You don’t expect them to trust that job to a Windows programmer do you? Ahem. I think harem gaurding eunuchs must have been castrated before puberty. As with steers they develop big bodies but not sexual maturity. ---
**Author:** ![Daij](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/45deac/32.png) [@Daij](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daij)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2003, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-eunuchs-guard-the-harem/148623/3 "2003-01-14T23:51:21Z")
My understanding is there are 3 catagories of Eunuchs. Testicals removed only, penis removed only and both penis removed. In China when the word Eunuch was used, they meant the latter. In Islam they had a different word for each catagory. As for sexual desire, remember it is partly psychological and partly physical. In todays society, people (who choose it willing do to some reasons- and have to under go pshycological testing, etc.) can have HRT (Hormone Replacement Therapy). The physical need for sexual gratification disappears, or nearly so. But the person’s mental desire for sexual contact will vary person to person depending on their psychological desires (or lack thereof). [http://members.tripod.com/Barry\_Stone/eunuchs.htm](http://members.tripod.com/Barry_Stone/eunuchs.htm) Seems to be a fairly good site on historical eunurch’s… a friendly caution when searching, I found more then one graphical site of a modern man choosing the operation (before and after pictures, etc.). ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2003, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-eunuchs-guard-the-harem/148623/4 "2003-01-15T00:05:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Daij \* > My understanding is there are 3 catagories of Eunuchs. Testicals removed only, penis removed only and **both penis removed.** [My emphasis] Both penis? How many you got? ---
**Author:** ![raygirvan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ac91a4/32.png) [@raygirvan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raygirvan)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2003, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-eunuchs-guard-the-harem/148623/5 "2003-01-15T00:11:03Z")
_Daij_ Here’s a confirming feature on [Chinese eunuchs](http://www.usrf.org/news/010308-eunuchs_china.html). _jclune_ As Daij says, the degree of removal varied; there’s a reference to the categories in [this article](http://www.allaboutturkey.com/harem.htm) about the harem in the Ottoman Empire. The effect also varies: pre-puberty removal of testicles definitely removes sexual desire; post-puberty, it generally reduces it, though not invariably (testosterone is also produced by the adrenal glands). ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2003, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-eunuchs-guard-the-harem/148623/6 "2003-01-15T01:01:00Z")
according to Cecil > [@](#): > > Many, but fewer than half, of the country’s 400,000 eunuchs retain their penises, so it may be optional ---
**Author:** ![Master\_Wang-Ka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/master_wang-ka/32/3325_2.png) [@Master\_Wang-Ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Wang-Ka)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2003, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-eunuchs-guard-the-harem/148623/7 "2003-01-15T01:06:37Z")
Quite so. There are any number of stories where harem guards who retained penises are found to have retained full penis function and the full interest in using it. Depending on the sheikh in question, this may or may not have been considered a big deal. After all, the main reason for having a large unpleasant eunuch guarding your harem in the first place was so you could be quite certain who your sons were. It seems a safe bet that once your testicles are gone, you won’t be breeding any illicit heirs to the throne. The Chinese, on the other hand, seem to have been considerably more priggish about it than that… which may account for the accounts that Chinese eunuchs tended to be considerably more ambitious (and dangerous) than their Islamic counterparts. Believe me when I say that if you sawed off MY testicles and penis, without the use of anaesthetic, and sealed the wound with boiling tar, leaving me only a straw to pee through, I would certainly be interested in achieving as much control and personal power as possible, if only to someday find you and kill you in such a way that would take years, yet have you begging for death in the first twelve seconds… ---
**Author:** ![betenoir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2003, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-eunuchs-guard-the-harem/148623/8 "2003-01-15T01:58:25Z")
My understanding is removing the testicles interfers with the sex drive because it removes the chief source of testosterone. However, it’s also producted by the adrenal gland (okay, a lot less of it) so a man who has been castrated would still have some chemical lust to fall back upon… (this beyond the question of sex in terms of affection, sentuality, etc, etc, etc.) Anyway, if the question is should eunuchs guard harams- well if your objective is to have your women protected by big burly men, avoid them harrassing you with incessent sexual demands, while at the same time not have to take care of any bastard…then yes, I would say eunuch are the ones you want. I think that was the thinking. ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2003, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-eunuchs-guard-the-harem/148623/9 "2003-01-15T03:18:24Z")
Hmm… I always thought that one of the purposes of an eunuch was to “pleasure” the many hundreds of women in the harem without leaving any tricky questions about heriditary. After all, when you have 100+ females and only 1 male, a bunch of them are going to get testy after a while. ---
**Author:** ![Daij](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/45deac/32.png) [@Daij](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daij)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2003, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-eunuchs-guard-the-harem/148623/10 "2003-01-15T03:28:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Princhester \* > \*\*[My emphasis] > > Both penis? How many you got? \*\* Well since I am female, I don’t have a penis. It was a typo, I am sorry. I was going to phrase it differently and was in a rush :o ---
**Author:** ![raygirvan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ac91a4/32.png) [@raygirvan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raygirvan)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2003, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-eunuchs-guard-the-harem/148623/11 "2003-01-15T14:48:22Z")
_betenoir_ I have no cite, but I recall reading this in relation to studies of US soldiers who had lost both testicles from ‘castration mines’. Many, surprisingly at the time, didn’t lose sexual desire or performance - and this turned out to be related - alongside psychological factors - to testosterone production from the adrenals (which, according to the figure I’ve heard, produce about 5% of the body’s testosterone). ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2003, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-eunuchs-guard-the-harem/148623/12 "2003-01-15T16:10:06Z")
\>\> Well since I am female, I don’t have a penis. I am sure you can easily find someone who will let you borrow his for a while _\__ ---
**Author:** ![Mac\_Guffin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2bfe46/32.png) [@Mac\_Guffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mac_Guffin)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2003, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/should-eunuchs-guard-the-harem/148623/13 "2003-01-15T18:37:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Shalmanese \* > \*\*Hmm… I always thought that one of the purposes of an eunuch was to “pleasure” the many hundreds of women in the harem without leaving any tricky questions about heriditary. > > After all, when you have 100+ females and only 1 male, a bunch of them are going to get testy after a while. \*\* But I thought the testes were removed! What?