Testicle-transplant experiments

Domain XVI · Historical, discredited & harmful · Eugen Steinach, Robert Lichtenstern · 1918 · Vienna

What it is

The testicle-transplant experiments were an early twentieth-century attempt, centred in Vienna, to "cure" homosexuality in men by surgery on the body. The physiologist Eugen Steinach held that the hormone-producing tissue of the gonads, not heredity or the mind, shaped sexual characteristics and…

Format

• Session number and length follow the client's needs and the setting.

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• Advocacy and follow-up. Goal: connect the client with affirming services, support routes and, where wanted, legal or complaint routes; address colleagues' or institutions' practice.

Evidence status, as the guide reports it

• Spread and referral (late 1910s to 1920s). Several surgeons, among them Richard Mühsam, performed castration with implantation of donor testicular tissue on homosexual men; Hirschfeld's institute referred patients and no criticism of the operations by institute staff was recorded. In Austria the…

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Does it involve any substance, plant preparation, remedy or supplement? Has your doctor or prescriber been told, especially about any medication you take?
• Is it a group, retreat or community? How do they respond if someone wants to leave or raises a concern?
• How do you and the practitioner understand what is happening, in spiritual or cultural terms? Is that a source of comfort, worry, or both?
• Does it use a device, heat, cold, water or a physical procedure? Has a medical professional checked that it is safe for you?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• guilt-driven over-disclosure by the therapist. Working when trust grows.
• legal advice beyond your role. Working when the client has options they understand.
• discomfort you attribute to the client. Working when clients report feeling free to talk.
• sudden withdrawal from therapy; travel abroad for programmes. Working when the young person's safety is secured.
• your own outcome preferences; pressure from family or institutions. Working when the client feels free to explore.

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.