The book contains considerable data to substantiate each of the aspects of the castration results. The simple 15-minute surgery gives a whopping thirteen and a half years of average life expectancy increase, cures prostate cancer and improves the body's immune system functioning.

Of the many sects that broke from the official Russian Orthodox church in the eighteenth century, one was universally despised. Its members were peasants from the Russian heartland skilled in the arts of animal husbandry who turned their knives on themselves to become "eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake." Convinced that salvation came only with the literal excision of the instruments of sin, they were known as Skoptsy (the self-castrated). Their community thrived well into the twentieth century, when it was destroyed in the Stalinist Terror.In a major feat of historical reconstruction, Laura Engelstein tells the sect's astonishing tale. She describes the horrified reactions to the sect by outsiders, including outraged bureaucrats, physicians, and theologians. More important, she allows the Skoptsy a say in defining the contours of their history and the meaning behind their sacrifice. Her deft handling of their letters and notebooks lends her book unusual depth and pathos, and she provides a heartbreaking account of willing exile and of religious belief so strong that its adherents accepted terrible pain and the denial of a basic human experience. Although the Skoptsy express joy at their salvation, the words of even the most fervent believers reveal the psychological suffering of life on society's margins.No foreign tribe or exotic import, the sect drew its members from the larger peasant society where marriage was expected and adulthood began with the wedding night. Set apart by the very act that guaranteed their redemption, these "lambs of God" became adept at concealing their sectarian identity as they interacted with their Orthodox neighbors. Interaction was necessary, Engelstein explains, since the survival of the Skoptsy depended upon recruitment of new members and on success in agriculture and trade.Realizing that some prejudices have changed little over the centuries, Engelstein cautions that "we must not cast the shadow of our own distress on the story of the Skoptsy. Their physical suffering was something they willingly embraced." In Castration and the Heavenly Kingdom, she has produced a remarkable history that also illuminates the mysteries of the human heart.

It’s High School Musical—rated R!

When the girl who’s foresworn men meets the boy who’s devoted himself to picking up women, there’s bound to be drama—perfect for a sixweek summer program devoted to the arts. Olivia’s summer goal: to write a musical that censures men with wandering eyes. Max’s summer goal: to hone his acting skills, along with his talent for attracting the ladies. Before camp is over, they’ll perform Olivia’s musical onstage and in real life—though the ending may turn out differently than either expects.

Jake Wizner’s story within a story takes the battle of the sexes to a whole new level in a bawdy, uproarious romp that’s laugh-out-loud fun.

Castration Celebration is a zany romantic romp through a summer theater program at Yale, and the follow-up to Jake Wizner's critically acclaimed debut Spanking Shakespeare. Max, an actor who likes women, has a crush on Olivia, a playwright who hates men. Olivia enjoys Max's attention, but she tells him in no uncertain terms that she came to camp to focus on her work. Olivia channels her romantic energy into writing "Castration Celebration," a musical with two teenagers, Amber and Dick, who fall in love after playing Benedick and Beatrice from Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing. Much of the trouble in Olivia's musical is instigated by Dick's macho buddies, Biff and Sluggo, who get the best songs (such as "I Saw My Parents Having Sex" and "Horny"). Olivia has been obsessed with the seemingly inevitable infidelity of men ever since she walked in on her dad cheating with one of his grad students, and she works out her frustrations through her writing. But when Olivia tries to orchestrate a romantic situation in her own life as though it were a play, she learns the limits of her talents. Wizner cleverly embeds the scenes—and songs—of "Castration Celebration" (Olivia's musical) within the chapters, showing Olivia's development as a character as she's writing. Castration Celebration (the book) doesn't necessarily include any poignant epiphanies, and that's one of its strengths: for the most part, Wizner allows it to be a comedy and remain a comedy. It is a funny, realistic portrait of early adulthood relationships, one that doesn't steer away from topics that teens deal with every day—gender power struggles, sexual tension, and alcohol and drug use. Best for older teens who can relate to adult themes. (Ages 14 and up) -–Heidi Broadhead

I had also been playing around for a long time with the idea of setting a young adult novel on a college campus, because I had spent the first ten years of my life living in a dormitory at Yale. I remembered clearly what kinds of adventures a young boy could have, and I imagined it could be even more fun for kids a little bit older. So that’s kind of how the book came together. Take a group of teenagers, plop them down on a college campus for a summer program where they can be working on a musical, and see what happens.

There’s a scene early in the book where Olivia’s playwriting teacher challenges her students to write not what they know, but what they want to find out. That’s sort of what writing this book was like for me. Whereas Spanking Shakespeare was rooted largely in my own experiences as a teenager, Castration Celebration was really a work of pure fiction. Now I’m at work on a third novel for young adults, a humorous coming of age story of a neurotic, love-starved high school senior who finds himself becoming entangled in the life of a young boy and the immigration politics of post 9-11 America. —Jake Wizner

Castration is a lively history of the meaning, function, and act of castration from its place in the early church to its secular reinvention in the Renaissance as a spiritualized form of masculinity in its 20th century position at the core of psychoanalysis.

The intellectual movements of psychoanalysis, postmodernism, and feminism have redefined the ways in which we think about human experience. And yet, an integration of these movements has been elusive, if not impossible. In this landmark book, J.C. Smith and Carla J. Ferstman combine these disparate traditions to create a provocative, unified, and tightly woven perspective that transcends the misogyny implicit in much of Freudian psychoanalytic theory.

The dialectics of domination and submission are central to Smith and Ferstman's argument. Men and women, they insist, must avoid the temptation to fetishize equality and recognize the roles of domination and submission in the human psyche, or, in Nietzsche's terms, the Will to Power. They argue that the unification of psychoanalysis, postmodernism, and feminism leads us to a shocking conclusion--that women and men cannot move beyond the suffering which so haunts the human condition, unless heterosexual men surrender the power that is causing their misery and affirm life by joyfully accepting domination by women. And women, conversely, must reaffirm their power by rejecting Oedipal genderization and embracing a liberating matriarchal consciousness and a matriphallic sexuality.

A work of tremendous insight and extraordinary intellectual energy, The Castration of Oedipus will provoke strong reactions in all readers regardless of ideology.

Socrates as a detective in ancient Athens!
Amazingly, Socrates the ancient Greek philosopher is not recorded as taking
part in any criminal investigations. Such a blatant historical oversight is
corrected in this humerous book. When the holy statues of
Athens, known as the herms, were castrated, Socrates was in
the city. There may even have been a suggestion that he was
somehow involved. Therefore, he must have been affected by
this sacrilegious act, and must have been involved in trying to
discover the perpetrators.
There were also rumours at the time that there had been
parodies of the holy rites of the Eleusinian Mysteries carried out in private
houses. Socrates would have known about these tales, and
could not have avoided thinking about whether they were true.
If, at more or less the same time, an adolescent boy was
castrated, Socrates must have known about it. Furthermore, he
may well have been caught up in the investigation of that death.
And, when another death occurred, the city would have been
terrified.
This is the story of that man and that time – when Socrates the
philosopher became Socrates the Private Investigator:
Socrates PI.
(Originally published as Socrates PI: 415 BC)

Socrates as a detective in ancient Athens!
Amazingly, Socrates the ancient Greek philosopher is not recorded as taking
part in any criminal investigations. Such a blatant historical oversight is
corrected in this humerous book. When the holy statues of
Athens, known as the herms, were castrated, Socrates was in
the city. There may even have been a suggestion that he was
somehow involved. Therefore, he must have been affected by
this sacrilegious act, and must have been involved in trying to
discover the perpetrators.
There were also rumours at the time that there had been
parodies of the holy rites of the Eleusinian Mysteries carried out in private
houses. Socrates would have known about these tales, and
could not have avoided thinking about whether they were true.
If, at more or less the same time, an adolescent boy was
castrated, Socrates must have known about it. Furthermore, he
may well have been caught up in the investigation of that death.
And, when another death occurred, the city would have been
terrified.
This is the story of that man and that time – when Socrates the
philosopher became Socrates the Private Investigator:
Socrates PI.
(Originally published as Socrates PI: 415 BC)

Victor T. Cheney has just published a BRIEF HISTORY OF CASTRATION 2nd EDITION. This book contains a five page index plus a two page glossary with numerous footnotes t aid the curious history buff and serious researcher. Readers unfamiliar with this subject (which is most of us) will be surprised to learn how important this operation was to many cultures of the world in times past, and to a lesser extent, even today. In Italy thousands of young boys were castrated to prepare their voices for the opera. In Arab lands slaves (both black and white) were castrated in order to become harem guards. Chinese emperors found castrated males to be extremely reliable for treasurers and other governmental posts. In the past their operation was very dangerous and many died from infections. Bur it also had its beneficial side effects. The average castrated male lives 15 years longer than "normal" men. This is because harmful hormones and other impediments were removed form the man's system. For instance, one cannot get testicular cancer if he has no testicles. Many ancient religions, as well as the early Christians, used their religious duties unhampered by impure thoughts and immoral deeds. Though Christians gradually abandoned this practice some breakaway groups continued to castrate young men in Russia and elsewhere even in this 20th century. The author believes that castration can still play an important role in modern society. He shows that it can be used to prevent serious crimes, diseases, and the loss of vital spiritual and moral values.