For the origins of one of my characters, he is forced to get a permanent vasectomy. Thing is though, he's on the younger side. Meaning he got one as a child. Other than that, it goes pretty fine. Everything works, but he can't have kids. Even though he himself is a kid. What would the youngest age be for a kid to get a vasectomy? Will this even work out the way I think?
Do you want this done by an ethical doctor in a reputable medical facility, or are you open to something shadier?
Kind of a strange character trait to have. Why not just go for a full castration? It would have the same effect that you are going for. Though the elephant in the room is, why and what for are we sterilizing children?
I don't want a full castration because I want him to meet and have sex with other women (even though they are a lot older when they are adults and he's a teenager). And he's getting a vasectomy for punishment. He's forced in a feminist prison where the women harshly rule over the boys. So one big punishment is permanently sterilizing the kids. Which can fuck him up if he's brought up to believe if he "cooperates" he can raise children with great values...but that won't happen.
If that's your scenario, sure, your character "can" get a vasectomy. It's not like the piping is too small at that age for the doctor to do the job. Your job as an author will be to figure out what lie the kid will be told when he goes under the knife. Especially if the idea of having his own progeny is held out as a good-behavior incentive. Seems he can't be allowed to know his true status until later, after he's out. You'll have to convince the reader that not being able to beget his own children will be a total disaster for him, once he discovers the truth. Leaving diseases aside, a lot of people (ahem, men) would think it was fun and games and a great relief if they didn't have to worry about contraception during sex.
Yeah, that does seem to be a problem here. While for many people, not being able to have children would be a disaster, for many it would be a convenience. There's the obvious overriding removal of choice and physical violation of it, but it does somewhat undermine the idea of it as a punishment when people voluntarily get them. For that reason, castration might actually be better. Few people, if any, want one.
Granted I have no idea just how far down the Doom and Gloom Road you are going to take this niche dystopian society. Vasectomies are not 100% permanent. So what is to stop him from escaping and going and getting made functional again so he can have kids? https://healthgrades.com/procedures/vasectomy Little more complicated, but totally plausible in a realistic situation.
I too am puzzled as to why children would regard this as such a big punishment, and for that matter why children would be that attached to becoming parents. Do boys spend a lot of time thinking about having babies? Not that it's bad, but I find the idea surprising.
No, but the reader would. Imagine the boys surrounding nurse Ratchit as she reads them their last Biggles war story. Then, in age order they are summoned, anaesthetised by the doctor in the room next door. Tubes tied, stitches in place, a pink ribbon reminds them not to touch these wounds that are a rite of passage. That next night Ratchit reads them the Harry Potters, they love it. I can see it all in my mind's eye.
I don't wanna make a separate post for this but I wanna post it here. I've also been thinking about instead having one of his girlfriends be born infertile. Like I said before, everything else "works", but if she tries to have kids, it never happens.
Your theme is apparently about the desire to have kids. If you go into that a little more, people might be better able to give advice.
You might get some ideas by researching "sterilization" policies at mental institutions and other facilities in the US (both private and public) where mentally challenged kids were sent away by their parents until perhaps 50 years ago when mentally challenged children were considered a shameful secret. Upon reaching puberty, the kids were often subjected to mandatory sterilization procedures, sometimes without the parents' knowledge, to keep them from having children. My mother had a friend who was subjected to such a procedure.
