castration castration castration is any action, surgical, chemical, or otherwise, by which an individual loses use of the testicles: the male gonad. surgical castration is bilateral orchiectomy (excision of both testicles), while chemical castration uses pharmaceutical drugs to deactivate the testes. castration causes sterilization (preventing the castrated person or animal from reproducing); it also greatly reduces the production of hormones, such as testosterone and estrogen. surgical castration in animals is often called neutering. not to be confused with penis removal or emasculation. a 15th century persian medical illustration by sharaf ad-din depicting an operation for castration part of a series onviolence against men issues domestic violence outline against men management forced genital mutilation forced circumcision involuntary castration malicious castration involuntary penis removal shame-stroke groom kidnapping killing androcide patricide mariticide fratricide avunculicide sexual assault and rape rape prison rape statutory male rape sexual violence related topics reverse sexism prosecution of gender-targeted crimes men's rights movement masculist views on violence sentencing disparity violence against women the term castration is sometimes also used to refer to the removal of the ovaries in the female, otherwise known as an oophorectomy, or the removal of internal testes, otherwise known as gonadectomy. the equivalent of castration for female animals is spaying. estrogen levels drop following oophorectomy, and long-term effects of the reduction of sex hormones are significant throughout the body. castration of animals is intended to favor a desired development of the animal or of its habits, as an anaphrodisiac or to prevent overpopulation. the term castration may also be sometimes used to refer to emasculation where both the testicles and the penis are removed together. in some cultures, and in some translations, no distinction is made between the two. history the castration of uranus: fresco by vasari & cristofano gherardi (c. 1560, sala di cosimo i, palazzo vecchio, florence) it is unknown when castration was first practiced, nor where it was invented. it may be that it arose independently in more than one place, but there is evidence that it was practiced as far back as 4,000 bc based on descriptions in the cult of ishtar and uruk. it may have arisen in the neolithic period in response to animal husbandry, rising populations and population specialisation. castration was frequently used for religious or social reasons in certain cultures in europe, south asia, africa, and east asia. castrated men—eunuchs – were often admitted to special social classes and were used particularly to staff bureaucracies and palace households: in particular, the harem. castration also figured in a number of religious castration cults. other religions, such as judaism, were strongly opposed to the practice. the leviticus holiness code, for example, specifically excludes eunuchs or any males with defective genitals from the priesthood, just as castrated animals are excluded from sacrifice. eunuchs in china had been known to usurp power in many eras of chinese history, most notably in the later han, late tang and late ming dynasties. in ancient times, castration often involved emasculation or the total removal of all the male genitalia. this involved great danger of death due to bleeding or infection and, in some states, such as the byzantine empire, was seen as the same as a death sentence. removal of only the testicles had much less risk. either surgical removal of both testicles or chemical castration may be carried out in the case of prostate cancer. testosterone-depletion treatment (either surgical removal of both testicles or chemical castration) is used to slow down the cancer, greatly reduce sex drive or interest in those with sexual drives, obsessions, or behaviors, or any combination of those that may be considered deviant. surgical removal of one or both testicles known as orchidectomy is the most common treatment for testicular cancer. castration has also been used in the united states for sex offenders as a way of avoiding incarceration. trans women often undergo orchiectomy, as do some other transgender people. orchiectomy may be performed as part of a more general sex reassignment surgery, either before or during other procedures. it may also be performed on someone who does not desire, or cannot afford, further surgery. involuntary castration appears in the history of warfare, sometimes used by one side to torture or demoralize their enemies. it was practiced to extinguish opposing male lineages and thus allow the victor to sexually possess the defeated group's women. africa and the middle east chief eunuch of abdul hamid ii (1912) over the 13 centuries of the arab slave trade in africa, unknown numbers of africans were enslaved and shipped to the middle east. "the caliphate in baghdad at the beginning of the 10th century had 7,000 black eunuchs and 4,000 white eunuchs in his palace." the arab slave trade typically dealt in the sale of castrated male slaves. black boys at the age of eight to twelve had their scrotum and penis completely amputated. reportedly, about two of three boys died, but those who survived drew high prices. myth in ancient greek mythology, cronus castrated his father, uranus, after the latter imprisoned the cyclopes and hecatonchires. slavery the employment or enslavement of eunuchs (castrated men) as a separate gender role was practiced in classical and roman antiquity and continued into the middle ages. in the 10th century, slave traders in verdun in france and in becâne (pechina), spain, castrated captives who were then enslaved as harem attendants in al-andalus. punishment edward gibbon's decline and fall of the roman empire reports castration of defeated byzantine greeks at the hands of the frankish marquis theobald of camerino and spoleto in the course of 10th-century wars in italy. gibbon also alludes to a 12th-century incident set out in william fitzstephen's vita sancti thomae (life of st. thomas) in which geoffrey of anjou castrated the members of the cathedral chapter of sens as a punishment for disobedience. in the medieval kingdom of georgia, the 12th-century pretender demna was castrated by his uncle george iii of georgia to ensure the supremacy of george's branch of the family. another victim of castration was the 12th-century medieval french philosopher, scholar, teacher, and (later) monk pierre abélard. he was castrated by relatives of his lover, héloïse. bishop wimund, a 12th-century english adventurer and invader of the scottish coast, was blinded and castrated after losing a power struggle. in medieval england, men found guilty of high treason were hanged, drawn and quartered, which often included emasculation (removal of the genitalia). william wallace, the scottish resistance leader, was castrated as part of his execution in 1305 for high treason.the procedure of castration as punishment during the 16th century modern era in 1878, pope leo xiii prohibited the church from hiring any more castrated singers, leading to the end of castrated singers in italy. wim deetman was criticized by the dutch parliament for excluding evidence of castration in his report on sexual abuse by the roman catholic church, where ten children were allegedly "punished" by castration in the 1950s for reporting sexual abuse by roman catholic priests. however, the deetman commission had rejected it as the person who reported the incident admitted it was speculative. voluntary castration for homosexuality was also state policy in netherlands at that point, as well against catholic canon law, and there has been no evidence suggesting the church had a part in organizing the procedures. in 1952, alan turing—the father of computer science and the inventor of the turing machine—was criminally prosecuted for homosexual acts and chose chemical castration as an alternative to a period of imprisonment. in spain, a law against castration was used to deny sex-reassignment surgery to transgender people until the penal code was reformed in 1983. chemical castration has been and is used as part of sentencing in criminal cases. china according to legend, during the reign of the legendary emperor shun and yu in china, in 2281 bc, castration was passed into law as a punishment, remaining so until the reign of gaozu of tang (589–600 ad). however, it was still practiced after his reign. according to historians, it was incorporated into chinese law during the zhou dynasty. it was one of the five physical punishments that could be legally inflicted on criminals in china. records of castrations in china date to the shang dynasty (c. 1700–1050 bc), when the shang kings castrated prisoners of war. during the reign of mu of the zhou dynasty (10th c. bc) the minister of crime, marquis lu, reformed the law in 950 bc to make it easier for people to be sentenced to castration instead of death. as long as the practice existed in china, not only were the testicles removed but castration included the severing of one's entire genitalia. both organs were cut off with a knife at the same time. men were castrated and made into state slaves during the qin dynasty (221–206 bc) to perform forced labor for projects such as the terracotta army. the qin government confiscated the property and enslaved the families of rapists who received castration as a punishment. men punished with castration during the han dynasty were also used as slave labor. in the han dynasty (206 bc–220 ad), castration continued to be used as a punishment for various offences. chinese historian sima qian was castrated by order of the han emperor of china for dissent. in another incident multiple people, including a chief scribe and his underlings, were subjected to castration. during the early part of the ming dynasty (1368–1644 ad), china demanded eunuchs to be sent as tribute from korea. some of them oversaw the korean concubines in the harem of the chinese emperor. when the chinese overthrew mongol rule, many mongol captives were castrated and turned into eunuchs. when the ming army finally captured yunnan from mongols in 1382, thousands of prisoners were killed and, according to the custom in times of war, their young sons—including zheng he—were castrated. during the miao rebellions (ming dynasty), chinese commanders castrated thousands of miao boys when their tribes revolted, and then distributed them as eunuch slaves as gifts to various officials. at the end of the ming dynasty, there were about 70,000 eunuchs (宦官 huànguān, or 太監 tàijiàn) employed by the emperor, with some serving inside the forbidden city. the last imperial eunuch in china was sun yaoting who died in 1996. non-han peoples many of the non-han chinese peoples who founded states in china after invading originally did not have eunuchs as part of their culture, but adopted it from the han chinese. the khitan people adopted the practice of using eunuchs from the chinese and the eunuchs used were non-khitan prisoners of war. the khitan were a nomadic mongolic people and originally did not have eunuchs as part of their culture. when the khitan founded the liao dynasty they developed a harem system with concubines and wives and adopted eunuchs as part of it. all of the eunuchs captured were ethnic chinese from the central plains that came from two sources. the khitan captured chinese people who were already eunuchs at the jin court when they invaded the later jin. another source was during their war with the chinese song dynasty: the khitan would raid china, capture han chinese boys as prisoners of war and emasculate them to become eunuchs. the emasculation of captured chinese boys guaranteed a continuous supply of eunuchs to serve in the liao dynasty harem. the empress dowager xiao chuo (chengtian) played a large role in the raids to capture and emasculate the boys. chengtian took power at age 30 in 982 as a regent for her son. some reports suggest that she personally led her own army against the song chinese in 986. her army defeated them in battle, fighting the retreating chinese army. she then ordered the castration of around 100 ethnic chinese boys she had captured in china, supplementing the khitan's supply of eunuchs to serve at her court, among them was wang ji'en. the boys were all under ten years old and were selected for their good looks. the history of liao 遼史 described and praised empress chengtian's capture and mass castration of the chinese boys in a biography on wang ji'en. some legends say that the mongol genghis khan was castrated by a tangut princess using a knife, who wanted revenge against his treatment of the tanguts