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BDSM Dictionary : Castration: history
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This entry is part of the BDSM Dictionary hosted by Informed Consent.
The most basic medical definition of castration is to remove the testicles from a male human or animal. However, the word may also be used in various extended senses to refer to chemical castration (which renders the testes ineffective in their main function of generating male sex hormones, but without removing them from the body), or to metaphorical castration ("to deprive of virility or spirit; emasculate" -- "The American HeritageŽ Dictionary of the English Language", Fourth Edition), or to removing the ovaries from a female. The use of the word "castration" to refer loosely to general genital mutilation (which may or may not include the testicles) is considered incorrect according to formal definitions, but is a common meaning in ordinary non-medical language. A semi-technical term referring to the removal of both testicles and penis is "genital nullification". Someone who has been castrated can be referred to as a castrato, castrate (noun), or eunuch.
In a BDSM context, the castration of testicles and/or penis is a fantasy among some male submissives. However, actual castration is an extreme and permanent bodily modification which has a fairly high likelihood of leading to major legal and/or medical problems (it is almost always illegal, except when performed by a certified medical professional).
Safer and less extreme ways of partially satisfying castration fantasies
include such practices as erotic sexual
denial, the wearing of male chastity
belts or devices (such as the Kali's
teeth bracelet) or piercings,
and/or cuckolding (a male cuckold who helps his
female partner adorn herself in preparation for her "date" with another
man is acting out one of the traditional roles of a eunuch).See also
(This entry in the BDSM Dictionary incorporates text from the Castration article in Wipipedia.)
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