Klarinet Archive - Posting 000165.txt from 1995/04

From: David Gilman <dagilman@-----.EDU>
Subj: Re: A question of considerable delicacy
Date: Tue, 11 Apr 1995 21:42:20 -0400

Dan,
Yes, this is definitely possible. As a remnant of high school
physiology [our teacher touched (no pun intended) on this very subject] and
my college premed days [God! don't get me started on those horrors.] I can
tell you that the testes are separate from both the erectile tissue inside
the penis (which fills with blood and produces the erection) and seminal
vesicles (which, I believe, supply the semen; the prostate may have
something to do with this also). And, as long as the glans (tip of the
penis) is not damaged, orgasm should also be possible. Of course, without
the testes and sperm emanating from them, there can be no children produced
from any such intercourse. As for the corresponding sexual drive, this I
don't know. But, I have always believed that the largest sex organ in the
body lies not between the legs, but between the ears: it's all about what
the person taking part in the action feels, values, and desires.
Isn't it amazing how elevated our topics are getting? First, we
cover making music out of both ends, and now this. What's next?!?

David Gilman

>Ahem! Blush. Er.... I have a question of some delicacy that I
>am restrained from placing on a musical listing of greater breadth.
>Besides there are doctors on this list and maybe they can give me
>a private answer if a public one is too, er..., uh, .... delicate.
>This is not a clarinet issue. It is not even too much about a musical
>issue.
>
>I saw "Farinelli" which is about a castrato. I know exactly what a
>castrato is; i.e., a singing man who, in his youth and before his
>voice changed, was castrated so as to permit the voice to remain
>unchanged though the body matured physically. The result was a
>great deal more than a counter-tenor. It was a male soprano of
>unusual power. There is nothing like it today and, for the movie,
>the character of the voice had to be created through electronic means
>(which are described on a French www posting).
>
>In the movie, Farinelli is sexually active. The impression given is
>that he is able to perform sexually with a woman, but cannot, of
>course, impregnate her since he has no testes and, therefore, no
>sperm. And with this lies my question: could a castrated man perform
>sexually; i.e., is it possible to have both an erection and the
>consequent orgasm (spermless, of course) even though castrated? In
>effect, is the sexual drive continued even in the absence of
>testicles? Or is seminal fluid capable of being generated in the
>absence of the sperm that it is intended to carry?
>
>
>
>
>====================================
>Dan Leeson, Los Altos, California
>(leeson@-----.edu)
>====================================
>
>