Social issues re: vascectomy vs castration

[hikerlad (imported)]

So, why is it that a vascectomy is regarded as a socially acceptable surgical choice while castration is not?

Comments? Opinions?

Hikerlad

[Quillman (imported)]

They are two different proceedures a world apart! Vascectomy is usually elective and just prevents the sperm cells travelling from the testes, it is really sterilization, however leaves the testes intact so that hormones can still populate the blood stream. Castration on the other hand removes the testes altogether so nothing, sperm or hormones which are made in the testes can do it's job. Far more drastic operation and the effect changes lives especially if the operation was non-consensual!

Quillman UK

[docs (imported)]

So why is hysterectomy accepted and castration not accepted? A hysterectomy can and does profoundly affect many women. The after treatment is not a whole lot of difference. Both are on hormones. Lives can become very different. Just a question. That's all.

[caviman001 (imported)]

THIS IS TYPICAL OF THE MEDICAL WORLD AS YOU SAY ITS OK FOR A WOMAN BUT NOT A MAN

[JeffEunuch (imported)]

The key is whether it is elective. Bilateral testicular cancer will make nobody question your castration. I don't see a double standard. If a woman has an elective hysterectomy (just ovary removal to make it comparable), that is unusual. Who would do that on an elective basis?

I can't believe you - anyone - asked that question. Someone can jump back at me if I'm not correct, but my understanding is that thousands of woman undertake to have the voluntary hysterectomy procedure. While there is usually some cause, I also understand that many of those hysterectomies are not medically necessary.

I do understand the reason for te double standard between the procedures for men and women. I'm told women can continue to find sexual pleasure following hysterectomies. Being a man, I wouldn't know and can never hope to know. OTOH, we know that many, perhaps most men, lose interest in sex following castration and do not receive HRT. Nonetheless, there is a double standard.

Cavinman has adequately summarized the difference between a vasectomy and castration. The former makes one infertile. The latter potentially removes all interest in sex. It may also lead to significant negative side effects, such as loss of energy, osteoporosis, etc. Both are simple surgical procedures, a vasectomy involving the ligation of the vas deferens that delivers sperm to the prostate to mix with semen and castration involving the severing of the entirety of the cords connecting the testicles to the body. While a botched vasectomy may lead to the necessity of castration, this occurs in a very small fraction of cases.

[A-1 (imported)]

I can't believe you - anyone - asked that question. Someone can jump back at me if I'm not correct, but my understanding is that thousands of woman undertake to have the voluntary hysterectomy procedure. While there is usually some cause, I also understand that many of those hysterectomies are not medically necessary.

Originally, a standard Hysterectomy was performed through abdominal incision and included ooverectomy, or removal of the ovaries.

Modern hysterectomy does not include the removal of the ovaries, unless there is a good medical reason do to do so.

Hysterectomy today is usually performed vaginally and the ovaries are left, unless there is a reason why the hysterectomy must be done through the abdomen or the uterus and/or ovaries are diseased.

Hysterectomy may be performed because of a chronically prolaped uterus causing intractable pain, pelvic imflammatory disease that causes a condition of chronic pain from accumulated fluid in the cul-de-sac and chronic urinary incontinence from cystocele and/or chronic rectocele.

Many women have chronic cystocele and rectocele. On many pornographic sites the introduction of an entire hand or two up to the wrist in the vagina and/or rectum is causing these conditions in many young women where in the past these conditions only occured after multiple vaginal childbirths. I think that women should not be abused in this manner and that this "fisting" thing should be avoided at all costs.

There is no way to describe the misery a woman experences with chronic pelvic inflammatory disease that can result from chlamydia (http://www.cdc.gov/std/Chlamydia/STDFact-Chlamydia.htm) which usually becomes a chronic disease that scars the fallopian tubes beyond the point of functionability. Such damage significantly increases the chances of ectopic pregnancy. Ectopic pregnancy is a surgical emergency that lepf untreated can cause fatal internal bleeding.

In addition, chronic veneral warts (http://www.abnormal-pap-smear.com/pap-s ... -test.html) and certain other viruses that cause them can cause carcinogenic changes and can lead to fatal cancer of the cervix in an otherwise healthy woman.

Women are not men, and their reproductive systems are open into the peritoneum where men do not have such a problem. This means that air, or any liquid pushed into the vagina with sufficient force will leak into the normally sterile environment of the abdomen causing cramping pain and possible septic infections that can be fatal. Ever hear of "toxic shock syndrome"?

Statements that many hysterectomies are performed unnecessarily in modern medicine are similar to statements that medical intervention to prevent disease and to correct chronic conditions is unnecessary surgery.

Castration, then, could be termed unnecessary surgery, also. However, if one wants it then they should have the right to get it.

Similarlly, if a woman elects to have a hysterectomy, it is a medical matter that needs to be handled in the same way as all medical matters.

Women have a right to have hysterectomy surgeries.

A-1