MovieChat Forums > Ai no korîda (1977) Discussion > Why is castration acceptable?

Why is castration acceptable?


Hi, sorry for the provocative question partially based off on this movie.

Even on such men who did not do any kind of violent and damaging acts with their penises, why is castration of men in general by otherwise normal and civilized people seem acceptable?

Even if men in general ARE indeed more violent, sexually depraved and have committed far more as such offenses to be perceived as a general threat (against women AND men and others too), why is it seem as OK to perform damaging operations on their penises?

And if men in general were NOT as violent and torturous like that for thousands of years of human history, differences aside and/or together, would castration of men then be seen just as wrong, horrible and nasty [insert all other adjectives here] as any kind of mutilation against female sexual organs, regardless of whether or not it is justified or done for one's own sadistic sakes?

And when you reply, please don't JUST say that "oh, this is because feminists, this, that blah blah blah etc" seem acceptable, just state that "oh how wrong and hypocritical people are" etc, try to state FACTS and give a little maybe historical, scientific and biological approach ("Ah, you see, its also because men and women differ biologically like THIS" etc.)

P.S. I kinda wanted to ask ANOTHER related question, but I would spare you all the emotional social agony of addressing it here as either together WITH the matter OR in keeping it as a separate issue, but I bet some of you ALREADY have an idea of what I wanted to ask. (Oh, but castration as such causes tremenous physical agony as well regardless of the gender or the LOOKS of the perpetrator is ONE clue.)

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Who thinks it's acceptable?

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Well, judging by films including this one, it generally is NOT seen as "unacceptable" if the victim is a male and the fact that this DID happen in this movie, not to mention (unlike a particular category of you know what kinds of revenge films) in THIS film the male victim was actually innocent who did not allegedly even DO anything terribly wrong including to this woman that has done it to him, so at least Abe Sada did not think it was NOT acceptable and went through it anyway.

But I was also kind of curious if, besides men being dangerous and violent as both history and moderneity has shown, there is a biological component that makes it say acceptable in some cases, like for instance - when people talk about chemical castration of men that are potential sex offenders etc and why on different levels like in this movie the woman had no problem doing it based on the fact that her victim was a man.

Like, people always talk about how men are strong and also can't get pregnant etc, possibly strong also in a sexual sense too so its not considered too bad to to it to them based off on that.

Hell, I've seen some and other films where castration also happened either accidentally (but also in violent incidents) or to men who otherwise, to a bigger evident degree even than here, did not do anything too seriously wrong or related to deserve it.

In "Dobermann" (1997) a character has his penis shot off possibly even deliberately or maybe by accident in a police shootout. In "The Way of the Gun" (2000), in a shootout at the end with Ryan Philippe and Benicio del Toro, a man gets shot in a penis as well and it is seen as not much different as if he were to be shot and killed in the head or anywhere.

In "11:14" (2003) a character was shot in his penis accidentally but I wonder why they couldn't shoot him in the leg like that as well. In Paul Verhoeven's "The Fourth Man" (1983) a male character was threatened with castration by a crazy female psychopath.

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It should be noted that this movie was based on a true story, so it's not much of an invention for the filmmakers.

As for castration in films, I don't know of any incident where it's considered a good thing (unless it's happening to a rapist). Typically, it's depicted as pretty gruesome.

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Perhaps so but even then why is it considered acceptable as long as the sex offender is a male?

Is the main reason it would never be thought of as acceptable if it happened to a female sex offender of any kind is also due to biological differences between men and women in general (like, maybe the body structures of men and women is also different that allows castration in men if done properly to not do too much of damage beyond, especiallu if they are repeat offenders in that fashion) as well as the fact that it is men who commit it much more without too many worries and if men were in general far less violent including in sexual senses it would be deemed, even if for different reasons, just as unacceptable by the civilized people?

I find it interesting how online, practically NO ONE has even attempted to answer THAT kind of question, as in, somehow, maybe they don't have ALL the answers here or maybe they have certain fixed feelings on it all etc.

And what DOES it say about the differences between men and women in general then?

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Note - I am not saying those other things should become acceptable either, I just wanted to know what the general public both knows and thinks about those similar related issues and if they have a more definite answer as to "why".

P.S. If castration for male sex offenders really is acceptable, should we also then advocate say torture against those who tortured other people or a death sentence for murder etc? Or is there more to that method of thought besides the issues of wanting revenge? (And I don't advocate having arms cut off for thieves.)

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It's a bit difficult to castrate a woman, no? I think that's why you don't hear much about it in regards to female sex offenders.

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Possibly even IMPOSSIBLE too, and yes, it does have as much to do with men being different to women biologically as it does, which may be to an extent at least automatically related, with the fact that men in general are disproportionally more violent and have been than women throughout history, especially in a sexual sense.

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