What was the point and purpose of a Eunuch?

I don't understand why there is an entire class of people in our civilization who wish to castrate themselves.

For the same reason George Mallory gave when asked why he wanted to climb Mt. Everest, Rose: because they are there.

Eunuchs can’t have their own children so they don’t threaten a hereditary power structure.

So that they'd not be able to reproduce and have complete loyalty to the crown. The naval explorer Zheng He was a famous eunuch in the Ming dynasty. Li Lianying was a famous, meddlesome eunuch who served Empress Dowager Cixi in the late 19th century, causing a lot of trouble.

R3 and R4, so none of it was sexual?

No, it wasn't sexual, at least in the case of China. It was to keep them from creating a power base of their own.

I thought it was also to have men who could guard the harem without partaking in the ladies.

My grandfather had a lot of his investments in a eunich's truss.

Singing.

Big Foot! Drink the ink!

Ask Ross Mathews.

The purpose of these men were to watch over the harems . This way, there was no temptation. It was a position of honor.

Guard the harems.

Depending when they were cut and how many eunuchs could have sex and did. More importantly eunuchs could not have their own sons and heirs. Which would supposedly make them "loyal" only to the ruling families sons and heirs. The reality was somewhat different.

Has anyone mentioned guarding the harem?

Guarding the ham.

Guardhar.

to remain eye candy for his cougar paramour when all her gbfs abandon her for someone with balls.

Read Mary Renault's "The Persian Boy" a really excellent historical novel told from the perspective of Alexander the Great's eunuch, Bagoas. It starts out when Bagoas was a boy, telling what happened to his family and what led to him being made a eunuch. It then tells how he was trained to perform eunuch duties, which would include anal sex, what he thought of other (older) eunuchs (one whom he respected and decided to try to be like as he aged and those whom he loathed (MARY!), how he coped in general, and how he came into Alexander's possession, vowing to become more important to Alexander than Hephaestion.

What about modern-day eunuchs? The one thing that stands out tome most about the Heaven’s Gate cult (apart from the suicides) is that all the men were castrated.

WTF R20???

Are you serious?

I had no idea.

That's even more fucked up than I had originally thought.

I misspoke, I guess some/most were castrated & not all.

Are Eunuchs different from Castrati?

And were Castrati's balls cut off just so that they could sing higher?

It's bizarre that this practice was so common in ancient cultures.

I can't believe that none of you big Anne Rice fans have read this book.

You're welcome.

Nowdays, we don't need Eunuchs because women cut off men's balls on a daily basis.

r23 the culture of castrati is a bit more perverse. . . and obviously done young for the voice and aesthetics, to be cherub like, while eunuchs were generally done old. Italy's cultural castrations are more elaborate and varied by local customs. There was even a sect of priests that prostrated and self castrated themselves in front of the town upon confirming but the practice died out by the 1920s when it was largely down to one village and too many of young men were becoming priests (though, not necessarily staying as such).

[quote] What about modern-day eunuchs? The one thing that stands out tome most about the Heaven’s Gate cult (apart from the suicides) is that all the men were castrated.

When in doubt, it's because the cult leader does not want the competition and have all the girls for himself.

I remember reading a book about harem culture as a teen, that some eunuchs became very skilled pussy lickers to make up for what they lacked below the waist.

Men saw penetration as a threat, licking pussy is servicing the woman. Going down on someone = Going on your knees and worship instead of being worshiped.

That's men with small dicks too r28.

[quote] …so that they could sing higher…

R31 is Andreas Scholl a Castrati?

Farinelli was a Castrato.

Andreas Scholl, @ R31, sings beautifully.

r27 he was believed to be a repressed gay/bi man that went through conversion therapy. He had a wife at one point but also had affairs with his students. There's several documentaries about it... the Australian one a bit better as there were surviving members in Oz. They do updates every few years. So, it doesn't get as rewritten as much as the American.

On a side note, there's a connection between them and the g0y (G-zero-y) nutters.

Alessandro Moreschi was a castrato, and the only one who recorded his voice for posterity. He made these recordings at an older age, past his prime, so critics vary on how that might have affected how he sounded (whether or not he sounded good).

[Quote]Critical opinion is divided about Moreschi's recordings: some say they are of little interest other than the novelty of preserving the voice of a castrato, and that Moreschi was a mediocre singer, while others detect the remains of a talented singer unfortunately past his prime by the time he recorded, as Moreschi was in his mid-forties when he made his recordings. Still others feel that he was a very fine singer indeed, and that much of the "difficulty" in listening to Moreschi's recordings stems from changes in taste and singing style between his time and ours. His vocal technique can certainly seem to grate upon modern ears, but many of the seemingly imperfect vocal attacks, for example, are in fact grace notes, launched from as much as a tenth below the note – in Moreschi's case, this seems to have been a long-standing means of drawing on the particular acoustics of the Sistine Chapel itself. The dated aesthetic of Moreschi's singing, involving extreme passion and a perpetual type of sob, often sounds bizarre to the modern listener, and can be misinterpreted as technical weakness or symptomatic of an aging voice.

How is a counter tenor different from singing in falsetto?

Fascinating, R36 -- thanks for posting!

I actually worked with a guy who had sung opera in the UK as a countertenor. Sadly, I did not get to know him very well. I wish I'd had more time to spend with him. His life story was incredible, because he was originally from an African country which (of course) I can't recall.

This is a question for all the posters who say gay men can't have kids, OP.

I heard a counter tenor at Lincoln Center. Or was it at the met. He had a weaker voice than Andreas Scholl.

When you have a harem you can't service them all. Eunuchs were to guard the harems against intruders without impregnating the women themselves.

Imperial daughters of some Muslim courts were not allowed to marry but they looked the other way when they took lovers. So there was a lot sex among these royal ladies, whether Princess or wives. Figures.

I read somewhere once that if they are castrated later in life some eunuchs can still have sex. These were understandably popular with the ladies of the harems.

R7

Some eunuchs could have erections. They couldn't impregnate a woman.

We stand on their shoulders.

How are eunuchs able to get erections R41, if their balls are cut off.

I thought that it completely takes away their sex drive?

Ancient Rome had a class of people called the Galli, men who castrated themselves and lived as women in dedication to the goddess Cybele.

Imagine the poor children whose families agreed to their castration, thinking it would lead to a successful career, only to discover the kid wasn't that gifted of a singer.

There are bottoms that are into this. They just want to be a hole 🕳️

Only pedophiles identify as eunuchs and they are legalized now thanks to the trans movement.

R43 Some still are able to have erections and sex.

[Quote]He can still have an erection. In general, castrated men experience a much-diminished sex drive, because their bodies have very low levels of the male hormone testosterone. This lowers the frequency, strength, and duration of erections, and can cause hot flashes, vertigo, loss of body hair, and breast growth. But depending on the individual, it may be possible for him to become aroused and even to ejaculate, although his erection may be modest and there won’t be any sperm in his semen.

[quote] There are bottoms that are into this. They just want to be a hole 🕳️

So do they go through with it, R46?

Some people are hard core with their fetishes, and will do some crazy shit.