'One stroak of his razour': tales of self-gelding in early modern England

Skuse, A. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5034-9786 (2020) 'One stroak of his razour': tales of self-gelding in early modern England. Social History of Medicine, 33 (2). pp. 377-393. ISSN 1477-4666 doi: 10.1093/shm/hky100

Abstract/Summary

This article examines stories of men who gelded themselves in early modern England. These events, it argues, were shaped and partly motivated by a culture in which castration was seen as both degrading and potentially empowering. Religious precedents such as that of Origen of Alexandria framed self-gelding as a foolhardy activity, but one which nevertheless indicated an impressive degree of mastery over the body and its urges. Meanwhile, judicial and popular contexts framed castration as a humiliating and emasculating ordeal. Instances of self-gelding in this period are rare but nonetheless illuminating. Relayed in medical texts and popular ballads, such actions typically occurred as a response to emotional distress. In particular, men gelded themselves as a means to express feelings of emasculation within heterosexual relationships, and to dramatically renounce their role in the libidinal economy.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/89263
Identification Number/DOI	10.1093/shm/hky100
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Arts, Humanities and Social Science > Early Modern Research Centre (EMRC) Arts, Humanities and Social Science > School of Literature and Languages > English Literature
Publisher	Oxford University Press
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