I noticed that Cecil doesn’t seem to really answer the question here. While I am not an expert on the subject, I can share my personal experience and limited knowledge ( I was surgically castrated in my early thirties.)
I have experienced a great reduction of sex drive, but the drive is still there. Sex is also less pleasurable. I guess it could be compared to the difference between sugar and artificial sweetner.
It has been about 6 years now, and I have gained about 35 pounds in the last year, but I’m not exactly very active, so it may or may not be related. My physical strength may be a tad less.
I have heard on the net that castration may reduce the odds of becoming bald.
My castration was performed by Dr. Felix Spector, in Philly. He has since retired, but somebody else has apparently taken over his practice. He asked few questions, though he did ask me to imagine how I might feel if I got married in a few years, and couldn’t have children. It costed $1,600 at the time. I did it hoping I would lose interest in women (not that I was hoping to gain an interest in men.) It didn’t work, though I have never really regretted it.
NOTE to anyone considering this!! There is something called chemical castration, which involves injections which temporarily inhibits the production of testosterone, so permanent removal of the family jewels isn’t the only option. Of course, either type of castration isn’t as easy as walking into the neighborhood doctor’s office…
Well, lets just say I have had problems with relationships. I had a tendency to “fall in love” with women I hardly knew, and it was emotionally excrutiating. The hope was that I would be cured of that, even to the point of no romantic relationships whatsoever. I know, pretty extreme, and it largely didn’t work, though it is kinda nice to not be so distracted every time I see some cleavage.
I also had a secondary angle here. I am interested in spirituality, and (according to Dr. Spector), spirituality is one of the three main reasons people get castrated, along with transgender issues and just wanting to lower or eliminate the sex drive.
I will admit, one time for a few seconds I thought “what have I done?”. Honestly, if I could go back, I would not have done it, but I don’t regret it. I knew I was taking a risk. Besides, it makes me feel kind of eunique
Are you seriously trying to tell us that you wanted to have your testicles removed for no reason other than to avoid emotional entanglements? And that a qualified surgeon actually removed them for no medical reason?
IANADoraL, but that strikes me as about as unethical as you can get.
On Googling him I see he does in fact do this kind of surgery, is considered a complete butcher by other doctors, is a retired osteopath (!) and has now been suspended. I should think so. “Bilateral Orchiectomy” indeed.
I dunno, if a person is coherent, oriented, and otherwise possesses decision-making capacity, is an adult and making the choice of free will, I should think it is his body, and that electing such surgery is as much his right as obtaining sex reassignment surgery.
Prostate disease should make the list as well. Altough “chemical castration” is commonly done in these cases, surgical castration is sometimes chosen as a simpler optiion.
Do you realize that if a qualified surgeon did not exist to do the surgery, many individuals desiring the surgery would find an unqualified individual to help them out?
Normally I’d agree with you here, as someone who’s had some run of the mill, if somewhat mild, body mods done (various piercings and tattoos) and both enjoys the ones I have and look forward to more, but this is more along the lines of those folk who insist on having an otherwise healthy arm or a leg removed.
A person uses and needs arms and legs in a really fundamental, everyday, constant kind of way for zillions of tasks. (No offense intended to the disabled folks who nevertheless cope with absences thereof).
There are damn few things you can do with your balls aside from the very activities and characteristics that the OP cites as what he was trying to eliminate. Furthermore, except for the reproductive part of the equation, should the eunuch in question regret and wish to reverse the decision, there are hormonal replacements available that do a damn sight better job than Dorrance stainless-steel hooks, if you get my drift.
Robert J. Sawyer explores some of the effects of an (involuntary) castration in the third book of his Neanderthal Parallax, Hybrids. Some of the effects actually sounded kind of nice, although there were negative effects mentioned as well, such as loss of muscle mass and gaining of weight. Of course, in the book, the castrated guy was a rapist, so his feelings were probably abnormal to begin with, and thus his response may not be ordinary. In any case, removal of testes hardly seems worth it.
Too bad it doesn’t work for the complete cessation of sex drive, though. I guess that’s pretty much in line with Larry Niven’s oft-repeated story of the middle-aged guy who got his testicles ripped off by the angel-with-big-raised-wings hood ornament when riding around on the hood of a car that suddenly stopped. “The only change in his sex life was that his wife stopped worrying about late-term pregnancy. His habits were formed and deeply ingrained.”, to paraphrase.
I dispute “many”. A few perhaps. There are tales like that you find when Googling for Mr Spector. But his track record hardly rates the term “qualified surgeon”, and there are accounts of people having emergency treatment after one of his “operations” to save their lives.
