OK. This one’s for the guys out there, and it’s something that you need to explain to me, preferably in detail. The latest craze in what some are calling “bullying” is known as the “groin-punch game” or, um, “sack-tapping.” A recent poll of 100 urologists claim that the “game” is running rampant these days and is injuring young boys and adolescents at an almost alarming rate. Thirty percent of the doctors polled claimed that they treated a young man for injuries sustained during this kind of practice, just in the past year alone.
Most recently, (and completely disturbingly) a fourteen year-old boy in Minnesota sustained an injury so severe that his right testicle had to be surgically removed. And yet … this is “just a game,” right?
Aside from examining the notions of whether or not this type of mutual game is considered bullying, I’m puzzled. What’s driving these boys to intentionally injure one another like this? Is it a hazing-type effort? Is it a “I’m going to show you that I’m bigger and badder than you” kind of thing? Is it a rite of passage? I’m thoroughly perplexed. When I was growing up, having both male and female friends, neither of the sexes ever punched me in the uterus or the breast to see how much pain I could withstand and I, in return, never abused their sex organs to see if I was the biggest bitch on the block, either. It just wasn’t done.
It’s also notable that in today’s society, most pain is considered funny or amusing. With shows like “Jackass” (a shithole of a televised concept if I’ve ever seen one), YouTube videos showing men receiving massive hits to the groin area and movies’ funniest bits depicting blunt-force trauma to a man’s genitals to be humorous, I’m thinking that it’s just kind of asinine. And clearly juvenile. While I don’t get it, and I can only assume that it might not be what many will say is “boys being boys,” but is it going far enough to claim that it’s related to bullying? And if so, is it a new brand, or do you think young men back in the eighteen-hundreds were tapping sacks left and right as well?
This was going on 12+ years ago as well, I can tell you, and yes, it’s hilarious.
Schadenfreude isn’t new either, and it’s one of the simplest forms of physical comedy.
I remember some boys doing that when I was in high school and middle school, but I don’t remember it being a widespread occurence through the school. Perhaps it was widespread and I never knew because I don’t have balls to tap.
@JorgeMacD: Out of curiosity, why was it hilarious? Was it still hilarious when it was you who was tapped (if you ever were)? Did the boys settle the score by tapping back?
I feel like Sarah: mystified.
Jorge is the master of sarcasm. Re-read with that in mind.
I’m not sure its something a woman can properly understand at first blush. It really is funny, and yes, of course, you have to settle the score. Part of the fun is doing it out of nowhere, or finding a new angle on sneaking up and doing it, or getting a really good tap on the run. It’s hard to explain. USUALLY though you don’t tap so hard a dude needs BALL REMOVAL. It’s a TAP, it’s supposed to be just hard enough that it doesn’t feel real great, not so hard you kill the guy’s grandchildren.
Thanks, Jorge.
And here I was thinking this was some type of Darwinian-thin-out-the-herd kind of thing.
Well I mean childhood’s one big herd-thinner, if you think about it
I think this is a mostly white thing. I only encountered it in college. I was going to a college sponsored concert and a white guy I knew was standing beside the entrance, I said “what’s up”, he said “hey tough guy” and reached out grabbed and fondled my nuts. I cursed and called him a “fa*” and punched him in the stomach as hard as I could. I almost got tossed out. According to the administration his behavior was “just joking” and “not inappropriate” while mine was “homophobic” and “violent” (he wasn’t even gay! he was standing with his girlfriend!). I was lucky they didn’t call the cops. I asked my white friends about the practice and according to them it was not unusual. In mostly white schools it is like saying hello. I however have never seen it in the Black and Latino schools I had previously attended.
What a weird fucking story
Weird? Dude, you are proud of smacking other guys balls. What is wrong with you? That is the definition of being an a**hole.
You don’t think a dude grabbing your junk as a greeting & being backed up by the administration is weird? Really? Whatever guy!
I never said I was PROUD of it, good gravy, relax! Why are you so defensive about your story where you get fucked over by a series of weird people?
Its a definite white man thing. In fact I read that Columbus sailed his armada to America,to escape the great ball-tapping craze of 1492 that was sweeping through Spain.
I have never heard of such a thing – ever.
I’m going to ask my sons and a few other men I know.
I hope you’re happy, Sarah. There’s going to be some red-faced, stuttering young men in the area this weekend.
I’ll get back to you :)
Ha! Red-faced, stuttering men are the best kind! LOL
Just asked my 11 year old boy I’m watching about this. His response is, they play a game called “nut check.”
The idea of this game is as follows: You go up to another boy and go to kick him in the nuts. You have to say “nut check” as you kick. If you don’t say “nut check”, the other kid gets to hit you 2 times in the face.
He says during the first days of school he always wears his baseball cup. He also stated that if he doesn’t want to play, he goes into the boys bathroom at recess!
To him, this is just a game the kids play. He can’t give me a reason for the game, just that all the kids do it.
And yes, we did have a little conversation and even read him parts of this article.
This was definitely happening back in the ’80s — I mean, Frigo was ball-tappin’ nonstop in Adventureland….
Why do people always compare being punched in the boob to be being kicked in the nads? From what I can tell (having witnessed and heard testimonials) the later is far more painful than being hit ANY place on my female body. And it’s apparently more dangerous (unless you have breast implants).
As a kid I was always grateful I had the power to inflict that pain on my brother and there was nothing as bad he could do to me when we beat each other up.
I’ve heard getting whacked in the boob whilst lactating and full of milk is comparable to getting smacked in the nuts, but I don’t know anyone who has experienced both so…
@JorgeMacD “You don’t think”
Do I think it weird? Not really, I have seen and experienced “authorities” behaving in ways that make that seem downright mundane.
I pissed off about the whole ball-tapping thing, getting tons of crap over punching a ball fondler will do that.
And you did say you thought it was fun. So a**hat.
Ain’t like it wasn’t mutual, dude. Don’t get angry at me because your childhood topped out at catching butterflies & coloring inside the lines.
What G.I. Joes, BB guns, firecrakers and the occasional fistfight arn’t good enough? I should have spiced it up with homoerotic horseplay and genital brusing? What else is outsided the lines?
“homoerotic horseplay and genital brusing”
Is it bad that that phrasing made me laugh?
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Media is saturated with depictions of men getting their testicles bludgeoned for laughs. Americans also think it’s acceptable to cut off parts of their son’s penis shortly after birth. Boys are bombarded with images of men in combat, life and death situations, routinely experiencing gruesome deaths, and idiots like Homer Simpson. Men are taught that power and social status is gained by devaluing themselves and taking physical or personal risks. Then in the midst of this cultural sadism projected upon males, boys grow up in heavily feminized educational institutions that are largely run by women and do almost nothing to understand their behavioral needs and development. A significan portion of boys don’t even have fathers in their lives. Welcome to a generation of men taught not to care about themselves by a society that largely cares less about them than their female counterparts. This is the cycle of abuse continuing its cycle.
You sound like an entitled white male who seems to be under the misconception that he is repressed. All of my many guy friends got through this “feminized” school system just fine, I don’t know what your problem was.
William,
You are bang on.
The way the USA is going, all men are better off dead and let the country be 100% female and have them fight wars, build bridges, buildings etc. Then see how long it takes for the all female country to turn on each other.
Men today are worthless or so we are told. Google the VAWA act. men are routinely jailed. It is ok to beat us, slap us and bludgeon us. Just on watch. On TV ads men are portrayed as idiots and wimps. Women have the knowledge about the product being sold, the man does not and is there in a commercial to provide comic relive during the 30 seconds and possibly be physically assaulted. 40% of domestic violence is caused by women. Men are victims 40% of the time.
Jobs are created for women. Education programs are created for women. Men are convicted of the social crime of the oppression of women which quite frankly never really existed if you actually study history. Women won the right to vote. When did men get that right? You can only vote in a democracy. Voting was a matter of social class, not gender. Land owners voted – 2% of the population pre 1850. 2% of men. 98% of men – NO VOTE. But the media would have you believe that long suffering voteless women triumphed over men in the 1920′s by winning the right to vote!
For committing the same crimes – men throughout history have been given more severe sentences. Men guilty of treason were hung, drawn and quartered. Not women convicted of it.
Historically men and women each had their problems, but it was 50/50. For every bad thing a women had to endure, men could equal it with something bad of their own. Today’s media re-writes history spoonfeeding us with the notion that “women have been oppressed” justifying the reason for the anti male bias we now see everywhere.
And its leading to a generation of lost men and boys.
Now what is worse? Sharia Law? Or Feminism? I’m an Atheist……….but I’m starting to wonder.
I will never date a North American woman again. I’m through. I encourage men to choose spouses from abroad – they are culturally far more respectful of men than the parasites this generation calls females.
Oh Scott. Tl; dr.
I figured it was darwinian. After all, the more endowed males probably can take a better hit. Maybe it’s some kind of recessive trait like hibernation. I don’t know.
It isn’t what I’d call desired behaviour.