Clear back in 2002, I posted the text of a 1947 pamphlet titled “Effects of Castration on Men and Women.” Over the years since, various troll attacks and general post-rot have made it very difficult to read. The author of the pamphlet, David O. Cauldwell (1897-1959), was an early 20th century sexologist. He is credited with creating the word “transsexual” in reference to his work with trans patients.

The pamphlet is number B-536 in the Haldeman-Julius series. The pamphlets were 5¢ each and were designed to fit a pocket or a lunch pail. Millions of copies were sold per year of the many titles, which included short stories by Poe, London, Gorky, Balzac, and Kipling as well as practical subjects like electrical wiring. They were designed to be read and, especially, discussed by working men during their lunch time or on breaks. There is an absence of technical language and jargon in all of the series. Louis L’Amour described the series in his autobiography:

Riding a freight train out of El Paso, I had my first contact with the Little Blue Books. Another hobo was reading one, and when he finished he gave it to me. The Little Blue Books were a godsend to wandering men and no doubt to many others. Published in Girard, Kansas, by Haldeman-Julius.... Often in the years following, I carried ten or fifteen of them in my pockets, reading when I could.

The series was published until 1978, when a fire destroyed the printing house.

Most of the Haldeman-Julius publications are now available on-line. Rather than posting the entire 32 pages again, here’s a link to a PDF copy of Cauldwell’s work:

https://digitalcommons.pittstate.edu/hjbbb/38/

As a non-technical, but dated, description of castration and reasons for castration, what reactions do readers of the Archive have to it? I know of nothing like it in print today.

I skimmed through it and it seems relevant to situations we find today. What gives me a bit of relief is this isn't something new... This was happening in the hearts and minds of many men 75 years ago, and clearly outlines there were many men, even then, who wanted to have their genitals removed in whole or part.

There was also a lot in there which made me cringe related to how society functions now, so I definitely needed to read it through the lens of understanding people communicated and advocated for medical situations differently back in 1947.

Most striking to me are the portions related to women and speaking about how common it was for significant numbers of females to have their reproductive organs removed. I can remember this coming up quite a bit in the early days here at the EA (late 90's up to 2005 or so), where we all lamented that women who wanted such things could have the surgery performed on themselves, often with the backing of the medical community, practically on demand. However, if we males wanted to have our gonads taken off, we were deemed ill, crazy, dismissed, and otherwise road blocked from obtaining medical help of any kind for our condition.

My how things have changed in just the past 20 years. We're not at parity with women on this yet, but at least men have options other than back alley practitioners to help us today (2023).