# Will a man who has undergone a penectomy and orchiectomy avoid false rape prosecutions? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [March 16, 2016, 9:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-man-who-has-undergone-a-penectomy-and-orchiectomy-avoid-false-rape-prosecutions/749147 "2016-03-16T09:34:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2016, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-man-who-has-undergone-a-penectomy-and-orchiectomy-avoid-false-rape-prosecutions/749147/21 "2016-03-17T15:14:02Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I just wanted to say that I have never before heard of an _orchiectomy_. > It sounds like it should be the name for what Nero Wolfe does every morning up in his greenhouse Related words, actually. Orchids are so named because their tubers look like testes. ---
**Author:** ![Valgard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/7feea3/32.png) [@Valgard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Valgard)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2016, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-man-who-has-undergone-a-penectomy-and-orchiectomy-avoid-false-rape-prosecutions/749147/22 "2016-03-17T15:30:36Z")
To give a factual answer to this question: A couple of years ago I served on a jury in a sexual assault case here in California. There was nothing in the legal definition of sexual assault that we were given which specified that the defendants penis had to in any way touch the victim. Sexual assault can be committed using fingers, foreign objects, etc. A woman can sexually assault someone. If the victim said “The defendant stuck his penis in my vagina” and the defendant doesn’t have a penis then that’s probably a good defense, but just lacking a dick doesn’t mean you’re incapable of rape. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2016, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-man-who-has-undergone-a-penectomy-and-orchiectomy-avoid-false-rape-prosecutions/749147/23 "2016-03-17T16:21:04Z")
> [@andros](#): > > Actually it is. Stout’s deep cuts got _dark_. Fortunately, he didn’t perform an Archiectomy ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2016, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-man-who-has-undergone-a-penectomy-and-orchiectomy-avoid-false-rape-prosecutions/749147/24 "2016-03-17T16:22:19Z")
> [@Valgard](#): > > To give a factual answer to this question: A couple of years ago I served on a jury in a sexual assault case here in California. There was nothing in the legal definition of sexual assault that we were given which specified that the defendants penis had to in any way touch the victim. Sexual assault can be committed using fingers, foreign objects, etc. A woman can sexually assault someone. > > If the victim said “The defendant stuck his penis in my vagina” and the defendant doesn’t have a penis then that’s probably a good defense, but just lacking a dick doesn’t mean you’re incapable of rape. You are going back and forth between “sexual assault” and “rape”. I’m not sure they are synonyms in court. ---
**Author:** ![Jimmy\_Chitwood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jimmy\_Chitwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jimmy_Chitwood)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2016, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-man-who-has-undergone-a-penectomy-and-orchiectomy-avoid-false-rape-prosecutions/749147/25 "2016-03-17T16:29:37Z")
They’re not. The trend is toward not having an offense called rape at all, in part because of the clogging of the courts due to litigation over everpresent hot-button controversies like what if I lost my joint, root and branch, what then, then would I be free of your persecution. ---
**Author:** ![seal\_cleaner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@seal\_cleaner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seal_cleaner)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2016, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-man-who-has-undergone-a-penectomy-and-orchiectomy-avoid-false-rape-prosecutions/749147/26 "2016-03-17T23:12:36Z")
OP - are you the poster (formerly) known as Futurist? ---
**Author:** ![TonySinclair](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/49beb7/32.png) [@TonySinclair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TonySinclair)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2016, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-man-who-has-undergone-a-penectomy-and-orchiectomy-avoid-false-rape-prosecutions/749147/27 "2016-03-18T02:15:44Z")
The hard part will be backdating the hospital records. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2017, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-man-who-has-undergone-a-penectomy-and-orchiectomy-avoid-false-rape-prosecutions/749147/28 "2017-07-16T16:38:13Z")
> [@Claverhouse](#): > > You should consult a lawyer first; and as an American you have the right to opinions in writing from your representatives if you write to them or better still phone them at home ( prolly not more than six congresspeople since they are busy people ). Approach and ask as many policemen as you can; be sure to get written agreements for all procedures and consequences from your health insurers, and get as many internet forum answers as possible. Thank-you for sharing. And to also possibly add - have some one-on-one sit-downs with co-workers and sorta feel them out on this, probe them for input, challenge their orthodoxies, palpate their prejudices, provoke debate. If your family is progressive enough, then a discussion over the dinnertable with sweetbreads, smokies and Swedish meatballs should really clear the air over any differences or misgivings over OP’s penis obliteration. Sometimes in public washrooms one can be proffered sound advice on this. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2017, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-man-who-has-undergone-a-penectomy-and-orchiectomy-avoid-false-rape-prosecutions/749147/29 "2017-07-16T16:41:47Z")
what a weird bump. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2017, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-man-who-has-undergone-a-penectomy-and-orchiectomy-avoid-false-rape-prosecutions/749147/30 "2017-07-16T17:01:38Z")
…especially for how straight-laced the OP is. ---
**Author:** ![voltaire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voltaire/32/313_2.png) [@voltaire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/voltaire)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2017, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-man-who-has-undergone-a-penectomy-and-orchiectomy-avoid-false-rape-prosecutions/749147/31 "2017-07-16T17:27:52Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > what a weird bump. Yeah, I imagine that’s what having “no penis, no vagina, and no testicles” looks like. ---
**Author:** ![Weisshund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ba8739/32.png) [@Weisshund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weisshund)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2017, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-man-who-has-undergone-a-penectomy-and-orchiectomy-avoid-false-rape-prosecutions/749147/32 "2017-07-18T00:32:41Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Follow-up question: is cutting your legs off a cure for athlete’s foot? Yes, but i hear that the side effects are quite crippling 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/will-a-man-who-has-undergone-a-penectomy-and-orchiectomy-avoid-false-rape-prosecutions/749147.md?page=1)