Citation

Skuse A. Soc. Hist. Med. 2020; 33(2): 377-393.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, Society for the Social History of Medicine, Publisher Oxford University Press)

DOI

10.1093/shm/hky100

PMID

32419738

PMCID

PMC7217618

Abstract

This article examines stories of men who gelded themselves in early modern England. These events, it argues, were shaped and partly motivated by a culture in which castration was seen as both degrading and potentially empowering. Religious precedents such as that of Origen of Alexandria framed self-gelding as a foolhardy activity, but one which nevertheless indicated an impressive degree of mastery over the body and its urges. Meanwhile, judicial and popular contexts framed castration as a humiliating and emasculating ordeal. Instances of self-gelding in this period are rare but nonetheless illuminating. Relayed in medical texts and popular ballads, such actions typically occurred as a response to emotional distress. In particular, men gelded themselves as a means to express feelings of emasculation within heterosexual relationships, and to dramatically renounce their role in the libidinal economy.

Language: en

Keywords

disability; gender; mental health; self-harm; sexuality; surgery