Talk:eunuch
I was recently talking to someone in India who said something about the Eunuch taking males over the age of 21 and castrating them because they are gay. Is this true?
- Not exactly. India had two kinds of eunuchs, the traditional ones who were castrated at a young age and raised in the palaces to serve as guards and messengers, etc., for the royal women; and true homosexuals, who sometimes undergo ritual castration (their own choice), though most do not. The latter eunuchs, or the third sex, may dress in men’s or women’s clothes and offer the services of fellatio to heterosexual men. —Stephen 10:56, 3 February 2009 (UTC)
I was not sure if he were explaining it correct because English was not his first language. Is there something like that happening? I understand men volunteering to get castrated, but are they doing it to "punish" as well?
- No punishment, all voluntary. It happens because some homosexual Indian men feel better about themselves as true eunochs. It is part of the Ancient Indian Kamasutra. Nobody is sentenced to castration and eunification as a punishment. They call this third sex the hijra. You can read about them and how to become one at w:Hijra_(South_Asia)#Becoming a hijra. —Stephen 08:27, 4 February 2009 (UTC)
Apparently, in US politics, this is/was a rule barring a governor from serving consecutive terms (or something of the kind). Equinox ◑ 19:00, 18 July 2020 (UTC)
- Only in Virginia now, apparently. Wikipedia makes no mention of the name of the law, but I suppose it makes sense ... just might not be widely understood without explanation. I suspect there's not much use outside this page and its originator (William Safire). It's possible Safire created the term. —Soap— 12:02, 5 October 2023 (UTC)
Sense 3[edit]
We have the celibate sense labeled as a translation of ancient texts. Do we know what word or words are being trarnslated? I know of Matthew 19:12, but the original word in that verse is in fact εὐνοῦχος and the use for celibacy, i think, is metaphorical. —Soap— 12:04, 5 October 2023 (UTC)