[Risking more freedom? Cyproterone acetate, sexual offenders and the German "Law on voluntary castration and other methods of treatment", 1960-1975].

Shortly after the fall of the National Socialist regime efforts were made in the Federal Republic of Germany to legislate anew on sterilisation and castration. For some experts, in particular sexologists and forensic psychiatrists in Hamburg, the question of the "treatment" of sexual offenders soon played a major role. In another research context an endocrinological substance showing anti-androgenic effects was synthesised in 1961 at the Schering AG in Berlin. In 1966 this substance, cyproterone acetate, was used for the first time to subdue the sexual drive. During parliamentary debates on a reintroduction of castration as a method of treatment for sexual deviations the advocates of cyproterone acetate succeeded in "inserting" their expertise into the "law on voluntary castration and other methods of treatment", which was adopted by the German Bundestag in January 1969. This paper discusses the interface between applied pharmacology, forensic psychiatry and sexology, and the politics leading to this law.