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Orchiectomy may be performed as part of a more general sex reassignment surgery, either before or during other procedures. Trans women often undergo orchiectomy, as do some other transgender people. Ĭastration has also been used in the United States for sex offenders as a way of avoiding incarceration. Surgical removal of one or both testicles known as orchidectomy is the most common treatment for testicular 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. Removal of only the testicles had much less risk.Įither surgical removal of both testicles or chemical castration may be carried out in the case of prostate cancer. 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. In ancient times, castration often involved emasculation or the total removal of all the male genitalia. 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.Įunuchs 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.
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Other religions, such as Judaism, were strongly opposed to the practice. Castration also figured in a number of religious castration cults. Ĭastration was frequently used for religious or social reasons in certain cultures in Europe, South Asia, Africa, and East Asia.Ĭastrated men- eunuchs – were often admitted to special social classes and were used particularly to staff bureaucracies and palace households: in particular, the harem. It may have arisen in the Neolithic period in response to animal husbandry, rising populations and population specialisation. 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 is unknown when castration was first practiced, nor where it was invented.
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1560, Sala di Cosimo I, Palazzo Vecchio, Florence) The Castration of Uranus: fresco by Vasari & Cristofano Gherardi (c. In some cultures, and in some translations, no distinction is made between the two. The term castration may also be sometimes used to refer to emasculation where both the testicles and the penis are removed together. Castration of animals is intended to favor a desired development of the animal or of its habits, as an anaphrodisiac or to prevent overpopulation.
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Estrogen levels drop following oophorectomy, and long-term effects of the reduction of sex hormones are significant throughout the body. The equivalent of castration for female animals is spaying. 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. Surgical castration in animals is often called neutering. 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 is bilateral orchiectomy (excision of both testicles), while chemical castration uses pharmaceutical drugs to deactivate the testes. Castration is any action, surgical, chemical, or otherwise, by which an individual loses use of the testicles: the male gonad.