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There is a growing feeling that society must be protected, not so much
against the criminal as against the fertility of the criminal, and no
rational, practicable, acceptable method has as yet been devised.
The operations on men to induce sterility have been discussed and
dismissed as unsatisfactory.
But analogous operations may be performed on women. And if women can be
sterilized by surgical interference, whence comes the necessity of
sterilizing both?
Oophorectomy, or removal of the ovaries is analogous to castration. It
is an equally safe, though a slightly more severe and complicated
operation.
It can be safely and painlessly performed, the mortality in
uncomplicated cases being practically nil.
The changes physical and mental are not so grave as in the analogous
operation on the opposite sex, and they vary considerably at different
ages and in different cases. The later in life the operation is
performed the less the effect produced. At or after the menopause (about
the 45th year) little or no change is noticeable.
In many, and especially in younger women however, grave mental and
physical changes are induced. The menstrual function is destroyed, the
appearance often becomes masculine, the face becomes coarse and heavy,
and hair may appear on the lips and chin.
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