What are the pros and cons of becoming a eunuch?
Dear Cecil: I’m 30, and so far my life has wasted away. So, I’ve decided to become a eunuch. Imagine, me a eunuch!! Don’t you just love it? Can I find a good-paying job, or will I end up a house pet? And, would it be advisable to keep my “private parts” in a little jar? — Larry W., Chicago Cecil replies: Frankly I’m having quite a bit of trouble imagining you at all, Larry, much less as a eunuch. However, if I were you (and luckily, I’m not), I’d think this over carefully. Employment opportunities for eunuchs seem to be severely limited these days, and you could be left, how shall we say, holding the bag. The origin of the word “eunuch” (a combination of two Greek words: enue, “bed,” and echein, “to have charge of”) refers to the eunuch’s traditional role as a harem keeper. But the harem, the official sort at least, has gone by the wayside, cutting eunuchs off from the mass of the gainfully employable. For quite a while eunuchs found work as singers–a good amount of music was written
