Mick Hartley

The subject of female genital mutilation (previous post) has grim parallels with a subject that is now, hopefully, in the past: that is, the forced castration of male African slaves, as routinely practiced by Arab slave traders. Eunuchs were less troublesome than fully intact males, and could be trusted to look after the extensive harems of the sultans.

Like most people, perhaps, I hadn’t given too much thought to the process itself, assuming it to be unpleasant but not too traumatic.

Turns out I was wrong. In Justin Marozzi’s Captives and Companions – a history of slavery and the slave trade in the Islamic world – he goes into some detail as to what actually happens, after warning sensitive readers to skip ahead.

Just the removal of the testicles? Not so. Or not usually. Removal of penis and testicles was common. The young boys would be chained down and their genitals would be removed “with one sweep of a sharp razor”. The pain was so intense it could never be forgotten. And that was just the beginning of the ordeal. A short bamboo catheter had to be placed in the urinary tract to keep it open, and then the child had to be immobilised by being buried up to the neck in warm sand to allow the wound to heal. Mortality rates were estimated by some to be as high as 90%, though a later estimate suggested it was more like 60%.

If the boy survived, he would be plagued by urinary tract infections for the rest of his life, as well as incontinence, osteoporosis, and chronic pain. But, well….someone had to look after those harems….