Is castrating young boys ethical?

[Tea Earl Grey Hot]

What makes the medical side effects so special that my analogy fails?

Well. Remove your balls with a razorblade and after a period of 10 years tell me if the lack of sexual activity has caused any depression or other.

Coincidentely, The catholic church child abuse scandle surfaced in southern Germany some years ago because a boy was so violently abused by a priest that his testicles had to be amputated when he was 11.
The scandle came to public light when that person comitted suicide in his 40s due to the resulting depressions he had.

Can we really infer that his castration caused his suicide? Correlation does not imply causation, duh. He was sexually abused after all.

And I don't remember reading about the 10s of thousands of castrati killing themselves in the 18th century.

Unable to become tennis champ because you choose to study art = irreversible choice.

Nope. A human being is a learning animal and can always learn new traits, it might be capable to learn more as a child but the capability of learning itself never fades away.

I said world champ in my original example. Do you think you could ever possibly end up on ESPN if you started at 20?

But before the age of 18 these decisions will not be taken seriously by a child, neighter can a parent make such a grave decisions for a child.

But choosing to become an artist is a decision made seriously by kids? Or are we allowed to let kids make some non serious decisions?

[Cinjin]

Nowadays we don't have any castrato singers left and there's a large repretore of music that we can't authentically perform because of that. Would it be ethical to bring the practice back if it were voluntary? Or can children really make such decisions fairly?


Here's a recording of the last castrato:

ummm, yeeeaa ....... someone would have to first prove to me that this is "beautiful music."


"Hey little man, you wanna sing in a style that no one has any interest in hearing for the rest of you natural life? All it will cost you is your genitalia."

Yeah, the whole thing seems pretty god damn dumb to me.

[Something completely different]

I wont reply to annymore since I think the user "rexbeccarox" gave the best possible reply.

[Tea Earl Grey Hot]

I

ummm, yeeeaa ....... someone would have to first prove to me that this is "beautiful music."


"Hey little man, you wanna sing in a style that no one has any interest in hearing for the rest of you natural life? All it will cost you is your genitalia."

Yeah, the whole thing seems pretty god damn dumb to me.

What is beautiful is subjective. A lot of people liked the Star Wars prequels despite what the professional critics and us nerds thought. Were they wrong? No, they were just judging based on a different set of criteria than we have.

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I wont reply to annymore since I think the user "rexbeccarox" gave the best possible reply.

Where was that?

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Oh nvm. I see her post.

[Violet]

ummm, yeeeaa ....... someone would have to first prove to me that this is "beautiful music."


"Hey little man, you wanna sing in a style that no one has any interest in hearing for the rest of you natural life? All it will cost you is your genitalia."

Yeah, the whole thing seems pretty god damn dumb to me.

Dunno... the gay culture around here seems to adore it. Falsetto is all the rage these days.

Really. And though it doesn't necessarily cost you your balls, it would definitely help.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kffacxfA7G4

By the way, for all the critical annihilation of bieber: he remains incredibly popular.

There's always going to be someone who wants high-pitched male singing. Sadly... castrato could actually sing

[Cinjin]

meh
I believe that Beiber video only bolsters my point.

Castration not necessary.
His voice isn't that high. That song just happens to be of a higher key.

[Dee Dee Ramone]

They should remove every part of his body and despose it.

[Violet]

Of course it`s unethical!

That's new... of course something is unethical? I've heard positive ethicality behind rape, murder, genocide, xenocide, torture, and Nickleback.

It might just be that morality is subjective

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClXAaGoT5eE

Is there even a question to this?

Obviously, yes.

It doesnt matter "how good" the musical performace would be.
One would infringe the individuals right to selfdetermination and health.

Well... it might matter to say, me. I mean... if I had had a beautiful 'boys, you want this' voice when I was on the verge of puberty, and a talent for singing to go with it: I would have been rather pleased with castration.

We are talking castration as in removal of balls, right? Because that would have been wonderful~



I'd give up my ability to orgasm (let alone reproduce) to have never been infected with testosterone in the first place ^_^

Questions which a child at the age of 13 couldnt answere and certainly not be made for a child.

I could have answered at 13 with certainty, but by then it was my decision. I say: don't let them make a decision about their sex life's future until they have started puberty.

My gods but I hated puberty. Before then I was just an effeminate guy, suddenly you throw in intense sexual desire to be penetrated vaginally... so very frustrating

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meh
I believe that Beiber video only bolsters my point.

Castration not necessary.
His voice isn't that high. That song just happens to be of a higher key.

Rather, I believe you missed the point, which was: high-pitched male singing is often well-received.

High-pitched male falsetto opera? Whole other level

Castration isn't necessary, but it puts the 'skill floor' immensely lower.

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Haven't there been sex change operations though done to children? Why are they able to choose that but not this?

If so, they are also unethical.

Children can't consent to such procedures.

Because teenagers are children, right?

Children can't consent to anything, they will follow the commands of their parents, PERIOD! Did you hear me, Pauline!? You're going to that wedding whether you like it or not!

Nope, they don't even get to consent to eating bananas, they will eat it, and if they don't: they will be punished. Gods, this is going in entirely too sexual a direction

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There will always be variation between people, but children can't consent to just procedures because they can't cognitively understand what the consequences will be (as in not understanding the gravity of them). Here's Piaget's stages of cognitive development, which are well-worth looking over if you haven't heard it 10,000 times. Haha

So really, we shouldn't be able to consent to anything until we're about 25ish. Maybe 28, if our brains decide to be a little slow.

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Castrating young boys ethical? Depends on their race. Fuhrer mode off///

Damn right!

Castrate ALL the Jewz!

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As a parent, there's no way I'd let my sons be castrated, even if they had the most angelic of voices. Think of what they would be giving up at too early of an age to appreciate what they are losing, children of their own, a traditional intimate relationship... These are not things that a 12 or 14 year old should be thought capable of making permanent, life-altering decisions about. That being said both my boys were circumcised (by a mohel, nonetheless), which some would equate to castration, the anti-circumcision crowd can be quite militant.

I was circumcised when I was 11, and didn't have the slightest idea what they wanted to do to me. I pretty much just flatly trusted they weren't going to kill me or do something horrible to me. And you know? I didn't mind it at all. I didn't have squat for a sheaf (like a tiny wrinkle of skin barely moveable beneath the head), so visually I just noticed a weird-ass burn and that a little patch of skin I thought of as 'a bridge' had been removed.

Wasn't until a year later that I found out that the very same skin that was burnt off of me would have been used in my vagina if I got one.

Wasn't until a year after that I regretted simply letting my parents do that to me, and it's true: I will have lost a small amount of sensitivity for absolutely no bloody reason.

Really... one shouldn't be circumcised unless it was *their* choice, and *they* brought it up, and *the person it was to be done to was the one who first vouched for it*.

Depressed me like no other when my parents wouldn't so much as let me start hormone therapy, it was miserable to be going through male puberty. For a year or two after circumcision, spent a good amount of time in my imagination just wondering what might have been if I were blessed with an accidental castration

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How can this castration for the sake of music be ethical? I do not give a fuck if a thirteen year old consents to it, they're not an adult yet

What's so special about an adult, anyway? Do they suddenly get this mystical power to decide their fate upon physical growth or an arbitrary age-line?

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hell no. treating human like fucking stereo systems is not moral!
"dammit boy sing better!"
"i`m trying father"
"then we are gonna have to cut some things out"
yeah real moral

Only... it is moral. Arguing something is not moral is kinda hard to do unless you're in a group where 100% of the members agree on what is and is not moral.

But then, since it's moral to 95% of the group to ignore, oppress, or simply kill the remaining 5%... what does it matter?

[Violet]

Other permanent consequences to a kid's life usually don't require a knife and dismembered body parts.

And some other ones do, such as life-saving surgeries that are sometimes performed on newborns. Yes... let's throw all 'unusual' into the same basket as 'worthless' and 'unneeded', please.

[Dee Dee Ramone]

Isn't it ironic?