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?
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