Erection After Castration
Judith Storm
request for information.
I am one of the counsellors on a TV/CD/TS help line and also give
talks on these subjects to various groups.
Recently I was taking questions after a talk and suddenly I was asked
by a female "Can a man have an erection after he's been castrated". I
was taken aback for a moment but then answered the question by
waffling on that castration would only be partt of a major SRT
operation.
This didn't satisfy the questioner who repeated her question slowly as
if talking to an idiot and then said "please answer the question I
asked". Since the chairperson was hiding her face in her hands she was
no help so all I could say was "I don't know". The questioner smiled
sweetly and sat down!
Please can somebody give me a definitive answer?
Allison Parent
>by a female "Can a man have an erection after he's been castrated". I
>was taken aback for a moment but then answered the question by
Yes, though it's likely to be far less spontainious and short lived.
Keep in mind that the testis and their hormones are gone but all the
other plumbing is intact and functional. I know this from two people
I've known who were castrated by their own choice and found that
erections were possible with help from their lover.
Allison
Kira Denise Tree
"Can erection occur after catration?"
Joan Tine replies:
+-----
| I guess the answer to your question is that hormones, in this instance
| testosterone, are only chemical messengers. Even without the
| messengers, the _structures_ in the body (in this case the erectile
| tissue in the penile shaft) remain in place and potentially operable.
| If another "message" can be delivered via the nervous system or via
| the use of other chemical messengers, those structures are ready and
| able to function. For more background, you might want to look up the
| causes of priapism and see if some are strictly related to circulatory
| unctioning, psychosis, etc.
+-----
You are correct... erection is possible after castration but it is dependant
upon the individuals endocrinological profile.
The primary data point here is that androgens are not only produced in the
male testes... they are also produced in the adrenal glands for instance -
in both XX and XY human genotypes. The level of androgen production varies
and may be high enough in some castrated males to initiate erection upon
arousal. This adrenal production of androgens can cause some anatomical
anomolies in XX people - it is called Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia and can
be a form of intersex in genetic females (it also causes other metabolic
problems which are sometimes life threatening). Conversely, the testes
produce a fair amount of estrogens... enough to completely feminize a male
whose cellular receptivity to androgens is lacking. This is called Androgen
Insensitivity Syndrome.
Joan, I think that priapism may be a sort of issue unto itself and, I
believe, more related to the nervous system. It is an interesting thought
though... would someone with priapism retain the syndrome after castration?
My guess would be yes because I _believe_ the etiology is CNS related.
Hormones are my schtick though. :-)
---
K.D. Tree
JenniSuzan
writes:
>
>I hope nobody will be offended by this posting but it is a genuine
>request for information.
>I am one of the counsellors on a TV/CD/TS help line and also give
>talks on these subjects to various groups.
>Recently I was taking questions after a talk and suddenly I was asked
>by a female "Can a man have an erection after he's been castrated". I
>was taken aback for a moment but then answered the question by
>waffling on that castration would only be partt of a major SRT
>operation.
>This didn't satisfy the questioner who repeated her question slowly as
>if talking to an idiot and then said "please answer the question I
>asked". Since the chairperson was hiding her face in her hands she was
>no help so all I could say was "I don't know". The questioner smiled
>sweetly and sat down!
>Please can somebody give me a definitive answer?
Yes, but the definitive anwer is, "Sometimes."
The adrenal glands ALSO produce testosterone, and are, in fact, the main
source of said hormone in women. In SOME castrated males, this is
sufficient to allow continued sexual function. As I understand it, there
was a study done of soldiers who were castrated by a particularly nasty
mine the Germans used during World War II.