A story:
"White Eunuchs for Arabian Harems Today"
This story is fiction or real. I really want to investigate.
Thank you very much
Please tell me
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Ruan (imported)
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Ruan (imported)
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JesusA (imported)
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Re: Please tell me
I have tried to find the thread on the Archive where I originally responded to this article, but have not yet found it. However, here is a copy of my response at that time:
I read the post with very mixed feelings about its possible accuracy. While certainly not impossible, the story seems quite improbable for a number of reasons. In not very logical order, I will point out some of the relevant information:
1) There is a long history of the use of Slavic (Russian, Polish, Czech, Serb, etc.) slaves in the Middle East: men, women, and eunuchs. They have been the preferred slaves for many purposes for 1000 years. Slavic eunuchs being the preferred guardians for the tombs of important men well into the last century. During the European Middle Ages, the city of Verdun (in modern France) was the most important source of eunuchs in the Middle East. Pagan Slavic boys were castrated there in large number for export. Later, Prague and Venice became the major sources for Slavic eunuchs. By the 16th century, the numbers had fallen off and they were imported from a variety of places within the Slavic world itself. Slavs provided a large number of the slaves used in Western Europe as well. The word "slave," in English is derived directly from "Slav." The article fits with this long-term preference for Slavic eunuchs.
2) Moslems in the Middle East have always preferred that their eunuchs be castrated young. David Ayalon, in his book Eunuchs, Caliphs and Sultans [see my review of it on the nonfiction board], reported that boys castrated at between 6 and 10 years of age were the preferred eunuchs. 12 was old. Certainly they should be castrated before puberty, not after. The article does NOT fit with this preference.
3) Ample sources of pre-pubertal male slaves HAVE been well documented in the contemporary Middle East. The sources best documented have been India, Bangladesh and Pakistan. There have been recent newspaper accounts (referenced on Eunuchs in the Arts and News) about the sale of young Afghani boys as well. Stories of African boys trafficked into the Middle East in recent years are rarer and poorly documented, though possibly true. (Trafficking of African boys prior to the mid-1960s is well documented, some of them imported as eunuchs.) That the United Arab Emirates AGAIN found it necessary to outlaw slavery on September 1 of this year points to its continued prevalence. (Keeping slaves will be punished by fines.) Slavery was last outlawed in the UAE in 1980. (Slavery was last outlawed in Saudi Arabia in 1963, though it has been well documented since.) The issue of Anti-Slavery Reporter which arrived in yesterday's mail pointed out that some of the slaves known to have been trafficked into the UAE were boys as young as 4.
4) While there is ample evidence of these young slave boys being used as camel jockeys and for domestic service, I have been able to find only a single credible report of any slave boys being castrated since the mid-1960s, and that in Sudan (two boys of 10 and 12 castrated in the early 1990s), not in the Arab world. Given the large number of boys involved in the slave trade and the secrecy surrounding slavery, it is certainly NOT impossible, but there are plenty of outsiders looking for contemporary evidence of the castration of slaves.
5) Rumors of the castration of boys to serve in harems of the Middle East have been reported from many areas. Only a few years ago, it was widely reported that street boys in Brazil were being kidnapped for sale in Saudi Arabia. No clear evidence of the truth of the rumors was ever reported, though there is some circumstantial evidence. Similar rumors have been reported from many other places with large numbers of street children with no credible evidence of their truth.
6) I see no reason why Saudis or Yemenis would suddenly seek sturdy young ADULT men to castrate for their harems with the number of prepubertal boys available both already in the Middle East and potentially from places where they would not likely be missed. There are even blonde, blue-eyed street boys in Eastern Europe if that is the preference. If there were a real demand for Slavic eunuchs, I suspect that Russian gangs would be filling it with 8 and 9 year-old boys. That Russian gangs are trafficking women and children into Western Europe for prostitution is amply documented.
While I have not yet received my copy, COLORS Magazine will dedicate its November issue (number 53) to the continued presence of slavery around the world. See www.colorsmagazine.com
I read the post with very mixed feelings about its possible accuracy. While certainly not impossible, the story seems quite improbable for a number of reasons. In not very logical order, I will point out some of the relevant information:
1) There is a long history of the use of Slavic (Russian, Polish, Czech, Serb, etc.) slaves in the Middle East: men, women, and eunuchs. They have been the preferred slaves for many purposes for 1000 years. Slavic eunuchs being the preferred guardians for the tombs of important men well into the last century. During the European Middle Ages, the city of Verdun (in modern France) was the most important source of eunuchs in the Middle East. Pagan Slavic boys were castrated there in large number for export. Later, Prague and Venice became the major sources for Slavic eunuchs. By the 16th century, the numbers had fallen off and they were imported from a variety of places within the Slavic world itself. Slavs provided a large number of the slaves used in Western Europe as well. The word "slave," in English is derived directly from "Slav." The article fits with this long-term preference for Slavic eunuchs.
2) Moslems in the Middle East have always preferred that their eunuchs be castrated young. David Ayalon, in his book Eunuchs, Caliphs and Sultans [see my review of it on the nonfiction board], reported that boys castrated at between 6 and 10 years of age were the preferred eunuchs. 12 was old. Certainly they should be castrated before puberty, not after. The article does NOT fit with this preference.
3) Ample sources of pre-pubertal male slaves HAVE been well documented in the contemporary Middle East. The sources best documented have been India, Bangladesh and Pakistan. There have been recent newspaper accounts (referenced on Eunuchs in the Arts and News) about the sale of young Afghani boys as well. Stories of African boys trafficked into the Middle East in recent years are rarer and poorly documented, though possibly true. (Trafficking of African boys prior to the mid-1960s is well documented, some of them imported as eunuchs.) That the United Arab Emirates AGAIN found it necessary to outlaw slavery on September 1 of this year points to its continued prevalence. (Keeping slaves will be punished by fines.) Slavery was last outlawed in the UAE in 1980. (Slavery was last outlawed in Saudi Arabia in 1963, though it has been well documented since.) The issue of Anti-Slavery Reporter which arrived in yesterday's mail pointed out that some of the slaves known to have been trafficked into the UAE were boys as young as 4.
4) While there is ample evidence of these young slave boys being used as camel jockeys and for domestic service, I have been able to find only a single credible report of any slave boys being castrated since the mid-1960s, and that in Sudan (two boys of 10 and 12 castrated in the early 1990s), not in the Arab world. Given the large number of boys involved in the slave trade and the secrecy surrounding slavery, it is certainly NOT impossible, but there are plenty of outsiders looking for contemporary evidence of the castration of slaves.
5) Rumors of the castration of boys to serve in harems of the Middle East have been reported from many areas. Only a few years ago, it was widely reported that street boys in Brazil were being kidnapped for sale in Saudi Arabia. No clear evidence of the truth of the rumors was ever reported, though there is some circumstantial evidence. Similar rumors have been reported from many other places with large numbers of street children with no credible evidence of their truth.
6) I see no reason why Saudis or Yemenis would suddenly seek sturdy young ADULT men to castrate for their harems with the number of prepubertal boys available both already in the Middle East and potentially from places where they would not likely be missed. There are even blonde, blue-eyed street boys in Eastern Europe if that is the preference. If there were a real demand for Slavic eunuchs, I suspect that Russian gangs would be filling it with 8 and 9 year-old boys. That Russian gangs are trafficking women and children into Western Europe for prostitution is amply documented.
While I have not yet received my copy, COLORS Magazine will dedicate its November issue (number 53) to the continued presence of slavery around the world. See www.colorsmagazine.com