Shannon Larratt is Zentastic

I was reading Mary Roach’s new book, “Bonk”, and in a chapter on clitoral relocation surgery is a brief note about the “Janjero tribe” –

…one culture cuts the nipples off boys, to masculinize them. Bonaparte gives a quote obtained from a nipple-less Janjero tribesman by an anthropologist named Cerulli. “We do this because we do not wish to resemble women in any way.”

Roach mentions that she was not able to confirm the above claim in a journal search, and I couldn’t find much about it either… The “Book of the Penis” by Maggie Paley also contains the following comment,

Among the Janjero of Ethiopia, a man who’s had both nipples and one testicle removed may never rule. All males with the exception of the king and his sons are mutilated in this manner. Members of the lowest class are left alone, since no one would let them rule in any case.

“Black God: The Afroasiatic Roots of the Jewish, Christian and Muslim Religions” by Julian Baldick and “Black Eros” by Boris de Rachewiltz, and a few web sites contain similar commentary about the puberty rites of the Janjero, but I couldn’t find anything I’d call definitive, and there’s an awful lot of fantasy in early anthropology. Still, I found it quite interesting because it’s the only reference to nipple removal / nipple nullification that I know of in a traditional context.

Anyway, I’m enjoying “Bonk” and will now get back to reading.