kitchkinet18 (imported) wrote: Fri Oct 05, 2012 1:59 am
I know this thread is a little old but i wanted to post anyway. I say the age of six. Why so young? By age 5, 90-95% of brain development is complete. Also, a young boy being castrated won't be regrettable. He will never have known what it was like to be a horny teenager so being a eunuch would be normal to him.
I have to strongly disagree. The person being castrated must be able to give informed consent. I feel some 21 yearolds are not
Paolo wrote: Mon Mar 22, 2010 8:18 am
old enough to make an informed decision
I guess i can understand that. Thinking harder about it, i think six may be too young. But 10 or 12, it would depend on the person. Maybe some sort of test should be given. I just feel bad for someone who wants to retain boy-like features but has to wait until after puberty to be castrated. This is actually a tougher subject than i first thought.
As a general rule, I believe that anyone who has reached the age of majority should be able to do as he / she pleases. When this board was in its early years it seemed that the average age here was about 45-50 years, or more. A lot of folks were acknowledging what they had experienced for many years. As time has worn on it seems that we are getting a great many more younger folks. The internet, as it grew, was opening the doors of discovery for many more and younger folks (the young have led the revolution in technology). Self discovery and acknowledgment comes earlier. Many folks over the years, in my experience, have frequently wished that their opportunity for castration had been available many years before. I think it is a good thing that younger folks are discovering what they need and acting on it earlier. My only wish, aside from attaining what many find necessary, is that thorough thought and introspection be done first, before action.
_g (imported) wrote: Fri Oct 05, 2012 10:36 am
I have to strongly disagree. The person being castrated must be able to give informed consent. I feel some 21 yearolds are not
Paolo wrote: Mon Mar 22, 2010 8:18 am
old enough to make an informed decision
but some 10 and 12 yearolds are.
_g
Have you looked at this year's voters? There are people in their forties who are not mature enough to make an informed decision; they all have Romney signs on their lawns.
The few men here on EA who were castrated under age 25 seem to be among the very few who regret it. Two that I know have become "former eunuchs" , rejecting their decision as much as possible.
I don't think this is a "one size fits all" kind of question.
Could a 10 year old boy be castrated, and later when they are 50, regret that they had it done? Sure.
Could a 10 year old boy who's not allowed to be castrated, later when they are 50, regret that they spent the last 40 past years of their life unfulfilled? Sure.
You can't get your balls back. But you equally can't get 40 years of your life back either. There is no "replay" in life for anything.
Personally, I knew an 11 yo who wanted to be castrated. He knew basically what that meant. Can't make babies. Will not get hair on your chest and face. But I was a kid too, and therefore I can't make any judgments on mental fitness.
The youngest eunuch I know was 18 when he did it, and it was something he wanted to do ASAP once he turned 18. We've drifted apart over the years, so I can't speak of any regrets he might have (if he has any at all).
But I do read of eunuchs who were done in their 50's or 60's, and do regret having not done it sooner.
KewlDawg (imported) wrote: Mon Oct 22, 2012 11:31 am
I don't think this is a "one size fits all" kind of question.
Could a 10 year old boy be castrated, and later when they are 50, regret that they had it done? Sure.
Could a 10 year old boy who's not allowed to be castrated, later when they are 50, regret that they spent the last 40 past years of their life unfulfilled? Sure.
You can't get your balls back. But you equally can't get 40 years of your life back either. There is no "replay" in life for anything.
Personally, I knew an 11 yo who wanted to be castrated. He knew basically what that meant. Can't make babies. Will not get hair on your chest and face. But I was a kid too, and therefore I can't make any judgments on mental fitness.
The youngest eunuch I know was 18 when he did it, and it was something he wanted to do ASAP once he turned 18. We've drifted apart over the years, so I can't speak of any regrets he might have (if he has any at all).
But I do read of eunuchs who were done in their 50's or 60's, and do regret having not done it sooner.
I don't know if there is any real answer.
I think anything you decide to do of your own free will can be something that you regret having once done later in life, and castration is usually associated with being forced against one's will..
When it comes to the topic of regret over one's castration, on this site, it is usually code for suicidal thoughts. I wouldn't want anyone to regret something that completely.
The stuff in life that have driven me to feel suicidal has always been those things that I feel are out of my control. The things that really screwed me up were the things where I had no choice in the matter.
I have been on a few anti-circumcision websites recently, and discovered there are a lot of men who have suicidal thoughts stemming from their infant circumcision. They feel a choice was made about their sexuality that they had no control over. They have difficulty with orgasms, relationships, they feel like half men. On those sites are some men who chose circumcision later in life for themselves. Those are the only men on those sites singing the praises of circumcision. They often claim they wish their parents had opted for the procedure for them as children.
When I examine my life and look at regrets leading to suicidal thoughts, there is a big difference between what I chose for myself and what was chosen for me.
My first real suicide attempt stemmed from my parents' choice for me about keeping me in a school environment that was unhealthy. They chose, every year to keep me in a place that was damaging me extremely. They told themselves it was for my own good. It would toughen me up. It would make a man out of me. It would force me to grow up and fight back. Unfortunately, it didn't.
As a child, I didn't know about all the alternatives that were available to take me out of that school. I thought I had no other choices. As an adult I have since discovered at least half a dozen alternatives that wouldn't have cost my parents a dime out of their pockets, and would have saved me from the constant humiliation and abuse. Their choice without my consent deeply damaged me.
Of course their first choice for me was a choice to circumcise me. This was something I didn't understand fully until I was a teenager just how much of my life it had affected. The more about this choice I understand, the more I realize just how selfish it really was on the part of my parents. That too, has deeply damaged me.
Where I had no choice in the matter, the scars never fully healed.
Then I look at the choices I made. Some I regret, some I don't. When I was about 15 or so, I had badly ingrown toenails (I always had.) At 15 or so, my baby toes were badly ingrown, and the doctors wouldn't do anything about them. My big toes, yes, my little toes, no. So I got out my exacto knife, nail clippers, and pliers, and set about correcting the problem on my own. I self operated on my baby toes. There was a lot of blood. I narrowly avoided a bad infection, and looking back, I could have lost those toes from the brutal way I attacked them. To this day, the nails do not grow in correctly on those toes, but I have never again had an ingrown toenail with them.
My baby toes are mangled, and I regret how I addressed the problem. Strangely though, this regret is very very small. It has never been a regret that would have spurred me to suicide. Why not? Because I knew what I was doing when I self operated. I knew the cost, and I knew the risks. I went into it fully understanding that I could lose those toes.
There have been plenty of other choices I made that were wrong for me. I worked a job in a very hostile environment for too long. But I was the one who chose to be there. I got in a fight where I should have just walked away, but instead fought until I broke my hand, and the other guy was knocked out. I regret those things, but not enough for it to contribute to suicidal thoughts.
Anywhere in my life that I stopped and made a choice for myself, there was always a risk of regret, and some I do regret. However, because I made a choice for myself, even knowing the possible consequences, I don't regret in the way that would drive me to suicide.
Therein lies the big factor, CHOICE. Wherever I took action knowing the consequences, it has lessened the effects and reach of my regrets.
I fully believe that if a child can show a full understanding of castration, and still choose it for themselves as the correct path, then it should be seriously considered. At the very least, puberty blocking drugs could be administered until the child reaches the age of 18, so that he can make the adult choice for himself.
Wherever that choice is made with full understanding of the consequences, I believe regrets are severely lessened.
Both on this site, and the anti-circumcision websites, when someone chooses to either castrate or circumcise later in life, they are always more satisfied with the results. I do not think this has as much to do with age, as it does with personal choice. When it is chosen for oneself, it is a benefit, and should have been done much earlier in life. When it was chosen for him, and he had no choice, it is always wrong, and a deep violation of his self worth.
I think a child may actually be in a better position to understand and consent to castration than some adults. Pre puberty, it is not yet a sexualized fantasy. It can be considered on a more factual basis, and children adapt to new ideas much more rapidly than adults.
I have a niece who was afraid of spiders. Why? Because her dad was afraid of spiders. I noticed this, and took the opportunity to show my niece a large web in a tree outside. In that web was a large spider. Once she got over her initial fear, I started to describe facts about the spider. I showed her the beautiful work the spider had done to build the web. I showed her the coloration on the spider's back, and showed her that the spider had no interest in her at all. After about 30 minutes of this, she was brave enough to pick the spider up, and let it crawl on her hands. No one had ever explained spiders to her. Once she had the information, she stopped being afraid, and started to actually like spiders. She even showed her dad the spider in her hand, and he nearly spazzed right out of his skin. His thinking was already cemented, but the child was open to new facts, and new information in a way he was not.
If children are given the opportunity to learn new things, they can absorb them much more efficiently that an adult. Children can understand much more than we give them credit for. I believe it is very possible for a child to make an informed choice about something that will affect their entire life. I still think precautions should be taken. Like with tattoos. Just because they think it is awesome at 10 or 11, does not mean they will still think so at 19 or 20.
I was already rendered sterile at age 12 due to a disease. If at that point had someone explained the situation to me, and offered me castration, I know I would have chosen it for myself. The only difference in my life would have been I would have ended up a bit less hairy by now. I would still have the same choice facing me today, to take replacement hormones or not. I know I would have been much more comfortable opting out of the sexual games and expectations of my early adulthood, had I been offered such a choice.
If you balance the child's own informed choice with parental caution, I think you arrive at the best of all worlds. It is the child's own body, and he should be allowed to choose, as long as he is fully informed. Yet it remains up to the parents and physicians to decide if the child is indeed prepared for the consequences. Chemically delaying puberty would be the correct path, until everyone knows for certain it is not just a passing notion. For some children however, it will prove certain much earlier, and for those kids, it would be cruel to make them wait.
My belief is that for castration to be correct, you need to know yourself and why you desire it. You need to fully know the consequences of castration, and it needs to be something you want for yourself, not to please someone else. If you can demonstrate that level of informed consent, then it should be yours if you need it. I fully believe some children are capable of this decision, and I further believe some children would truly benefit.
It is all about informed choice. I believe some children (though not all) can be fully capable of making that decision whatever their age.
