What role should eunuchs play in a matriarchial-led religion?

nyalathotep

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Magic has been a fundamental part of humanity's development. It has existed since it's begining, and has been an essential part of its dominant religion which plays a role in the lives of millions around the world. Magic is seen as a gift from the gods, a way to secure humanity's future and a symbol of its dominance and mastery over the world. It is slow, complex, and ritualized, but has powerful effects.

Unfortunately, due to events in an ancient war thousands of years ago, men have lost their ability to perform magic. The reason for this has been forgotten by history, but the effects have been felt by all males currently. Whether it was given up as a noble sacrifice to stop a coming apocalypse, or taken from them as a punishment for some crime by god, or robbed by some curse against their will, continues to be debated by historians. Nevertheless, women have taken over the roles played by priests and church officials.

the idea that men cannot be trusted with magic has heavily weighed on the development of cultural traditions and normative gender roles in the world. even with some societies advancing and rejecting some of these notions, reversing the cultural momentum has been difficult. The religion teaches that men and women are equal in the eyes of god. However, Since the sins of the father are visited upon the son, all men share this debilitating factor with magic and are seen as "lesser" in the eyes of their diety.

There is one way around this no magic rule. In order to access the lost ability to access magic, men must go through a process that ultimately ends with them proving themselves worthy and being accepted into the church hierarchy. The process is long and grueling, and some do not survive to the end. The ones who do go through painful ritual scarring during the initiation ceremony, where they enter into a pact with the diety. This is meant to symbolize their purity and devotion to god's will. These "eunichs" are some of the most powerful males in the world. They are represented as a third sex, taking aspects from both men and women and becoming a distinct gender altogether.
What role should eunuchs play in this faith? How can I make them important to society and their positions valued?
 

MonsterTamer

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The men who undergo this process are adults, correct? They've passed puberty, and have been castrated as fully grown men? In that case, the formative effects of testosterone would have fully developed them as "male." They'd lose their ability to procreate. Does the magic/rituals/process have other effects on them which alter their gender, or somehow cause them to obtain "aspects" (please explain) of females?

If a fertile man can't practice magic, and going through the process of rendering him infertile via castration would allow him to use magic, what of men born infertile, or who have birth defects which mimic castration? Can they naturally use magic? It seems like the magic is tied to lack of sperm.
 

relletyrots

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What role should eunuchs play in this faith? How can I make them important to society and their positions valued?
One point I think you might want to make is the following:

Those males made the choice to make this pact with the deity. While all women are born with the privilege, those men went through much more than any of them. For this reason, they might be considered superior, on the surface.

However, prejudice exists. People who come into a system of belief, and were not born into it, tend to be prejudiced against, and treated unfairly. With magic involved, and if they are especially powerful, the women might actually envy them for their abilities.

You can make them important by making them special. For example, make rituals which can only be performed by eunuchs. People become important when they cannot be replaced.

Also, I second MonsterTamer's questions. Is it really related to sperm? Adult males are wholly developed otherwise. If I were writing this, I would make the eunuchs prepubescent when castrated.
 

nyalathotep

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i didnt mean to link it to sperm. the process of transplanting magical abilities is powerful and simply changes them in that way.
 

frimble3

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So, essentially, they are trading the ability to procreate for the ability to do magic? Sounds 'reasonable'. Points to consider - what happens to any children they might already have fathered? Do they mysteriously die? Interesting conflict, involving the rest of the man's family. Because what's to stop a guy from having a few kids and then being castrated? IE, the best of everything.
Also, what kind of castration? Some magic process where everything 'looks' normal, but no viable sperm is produced? Removing all the outward genitals? Removing only the testicles, eliminating the sperm but leaving urination and sex pretty much intact?
Other than that, relletyrots's got the idea - give eunuchs something only they can do, some role that only someone with no fertility of their own can accomplish. I believe in some cultures (Turkey, China?) eunuchs were considered the best choices for upper civil service jobs because they had no children of their own to pass power and wealth to. No dynasty building.
And, an additional thought - if women are the acknowledged magic users, and these men have made every effort to 'de-masculinize' themselves, would they not emphasize their special sacrifice/status by trying to look like women, in dress, makeup, hair, etc.
 

MonsterTamer

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i didnt mean to link it to sperm. the process of transplanting magical abilities is powerful and simply changes them in that way.

OK. I think this is one of those things where you just need to try it and see what happens. But be specific, because this is something that has a significant historical presence, and often crops up in fantasy. I felt like Brandon Sanderson did a good job of presenting it in the Mistborn series with the character of Sazed.

There's a lot of historical burden connected to the word - like frimble3 said, sometimes eunuchs were regarded highly. But often, the procedure, which varied in severity, was a result of punishment, or slavery, or a method to keep watch over the patriarch's women without risk (keeper of the harem), etc.
 

Jade Rothwell

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I feel like there's portions of the population going unmentioned in this premise. what of intersex people and trans people? gender and sex are both spectrums.
 
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Roxxsmom

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I'm having some flashbacks here, as I saw a question very like this on a SFF forum the other day. I made a pretty detailed post over there, but I won't copy paste it here.

Even in highly patriarchal societies, there are examples of eunuchs occupying places of power and importance. The Eunuchs of China's Forbidden City come to mind.

I agree with the person who said that if castration is done after puberty, it will have far less of an effect on a man's secondary sexual traits than if it's done prior. He will likely lose some muscle bulk, and male pattern baldness will be halted, and beard growth may become scantier. He may be somewhat less prone to some of the secondary behavioral effects of testosterone than he was before, but intact men vary hugely in this regard as well. His voice won't suddenly move into the alto range, because the enlargement of the male larynx is complete by adulthood, and it doesn't reverse in the absence of testosterone. Transgender women who transitioned after puberty, even if they're taking testosterone blockers and estrogen, often have to work hard to get their voices to sound more feminine.

He'll definitely still identify as male if he did before, and his core personality will probably undergo little, if any, change. Men who have been castrated are still capable of responding sexually as well, although their sex drive will typically be lower and slower than an intact man's would be.

There are many cultures that have concepts of third genders. Usually these are people who are transgender in some way, and insome cases, people assigned male at birth choose to undergo castration as part of their transition--even in situations with no reassignment surgery or hormone therapy. Check out the Hijra of South Asia, for instance.
 
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