[Worldtraveler once upon a time]

--- "Eunuchs could work in large households with women, whereas a poor man might never get a wife or a job."

A most interesting point. Given the demographic mess of Communist China's "one-child policy" which carried on for decades, there are tens of millions males who cannot be matched with females.

Many cultures and many ideologies of the world have a long way to go before they can be fully considered 'civilized.'

[gleeaikin]

Yes, the fact that one could only have one child, and the preference for sons no doubt has led to a lot of abortions in recent times, and probably to infanticede of females in the early days of Mao. I think of my mother’s parents who tried 5 times for a son until the sixth was a “success”.