Imagine an outbreak of epidemic proportion — an infective condition that percolate a universe in a thing of weeks , causing hundred of individuals to rush to infirmary with the same complaint : their penises are wither or disappearing altogether . Some essay to stall the shoplifting by secure their member with string section or clamp , or by having relatives hold their penis in relays until they get discussion .
as luck would have it , episodes tend to be brief , with a down in the mouth recurrence charge per unit . Most victims find within hours or Clarence Day , convince that the illness is over or never exist .
Despite thwartwise - cultural similarities , penis affright occur in all human body and sizes , don different form in different places . To translate the psychological science behind these phallic concern , let ’s await at a few eruption spanning the centuries .
1. Central Europe // 15th and 16th Centuries
One of the first recorded penis panic occurred in Central Europe in the fifteenth and sixteenth century . Men claim that witches were stealing their penis and stash them in bird ’ nest . German clergyman Heinrich Kramer described the epidemic inMalleus Maleficarum(1486)—one of the most far-famed gothic treatises on witches — penning : “ Witches … collect male organs in great numbers , as many as 20 or 30 member together , and put them in a bird ’s nest , or shut them in a loge . ” But the bodiless penises did n’t just hang around . “ They move themselves like live members and eat oat and corn , as has been seen by many , ” Kramer wrote .
Kramer reported that witches would sometimes take pity on their victims . When one man asked a witch to restore his missing penis , “ She tell the afflict human to climb a tree … and take which he like out of a nest where there were several members … When he tried to take the expectant one , the witch said : ‘ You must not take that one , because it belonged to a parish non-Christian priest . ’ ”
2. Singapore’s Great Penis Panic // 1967
In October and November of 1967 , Singapore ’s General Hospital handle a aggregate of 454 gentleman’s gentleman who believe their phallus were shrinking . At the vizor of the outbreak , 97 men sought medical intervention in a unmarried day .
Chong Tong Mun , one of the Dr. on site , drop a line that patient role reported “ a sudden tone of recantation of the penis into the stomach with great fear that , should the retraction be permitted to proceed … the member would vanish into the abdomen with a fateful outcome . ” Experts sort out the condition as koro ( a term believed to staunch from the Malay wordkura , which means “ head of polo-neck . ” )
Baffled physicians could proffer no treatment , other than to examine koro patients and assure them that their anatomies were normal . The Singapore Medical Association and the Health Ministry even tried to mediate the situation by declaring that koro was an extension of veneration , not an actual consideration .
withal , many patient role ache genuine and severe forcible injuries due to the caoutchouc bands , chopstick , clamps , and apparel pegs they used to secure their penises in place .
Most victims were man younger than 20 ; the oldest was only 40 . Interestingly , almost none were originally from Singapore ; 98 percent had Taiwanese ancestry ( some scholars debate that Singapore ’s penis terror stemmed from psychological stress triggered by China ’s Cultural Revolution ) .
3. China’s Penis Panic // 1984-1985
Seventeen long time after Singapore ’s penis panic , China suffered an irruption of its own . Over the course of one class ( 1984 - 1985 ) , 3000 person were treat for koro . But unlike the old panic in Singapore , victim did n’t horde local hospitals . Instead , most seek natural cures : To stave in off shoplifting , dupe physically pulled at their sexual organs while being feed red pepper , blackened capsicum , pepper jam , or ginger succus .
Not all victims were man , either : 16 percent were women who reported shrinking of the vulva , labia , nipples , and/or boob . Most sufferers of both genders were between ages 10 and 25 . However , some baby suffered “ koroby proxy ” when their parents claimed their children ’s genitals were disappear .
4. West Africa // 1990s-2000s
Unlikekorooutbreaks in Singapore and China , most late penis disappearances in West Africa have been perceive as a carefully constructed criminal offence — not an illness . Between 1998 and 2005 , West African news media reported at least 56 cases of genital snatching .
The shape differ fromkoroin that victims did not think their genitals were squinch ; they believe they had disappeared completely . Many believed that their phallus had been steal and trade on the black market as part of an international underground trade in organs . One newspaper described stealer whom locals accuse of stealing penis and concur them for ransom . Another rumor disperse about a woman who was collar by airport security system while adjudicate to smuggle several penises into Europe inside a baguette . And one news show site stated that a adult male “ was almost lynched … after he allegedly ' stole ' a man ’s ' secret part ' through remote control . ”
victim reported that their penis had been poach in the same way a cutpurse might steal a wallet . One male child in Ghanareportedthat he “ had plump to fetch water for his father and was returning when [ the stealer ] came behind him , extend to him , and straight off he felt his penis shrink until it was no longer seeable . ”
When doctors assured these men that their member were perfectly normal , many victims arrogate that their penis had only just add up back , was smaller than before , or did n’t ferment .
rumour of a genital - stealing offense moving ridge make local anaesthetic to get reasonably scratchy . While thekoro - like condition never killed anyone , the craze it bring about did . Between 1997 and 2003 , at least 36 individual were defeat after being accused of venereal theft — usually trounce or executed by angry pack . In an attack to arbitrate mass frenzy , police begin to collar false alarmist who claimed their phallus had been stolen .
5. Sudan // 2003
“ phallus - melting Zionist robot combs . ” Although it never appear in his original article , that ’s howWall Street Journalcolumnist James Taranto ’s explanation of the plague that swept through the Sudanese capital of Khartoum became known .
The panic halt from theme of foreigners wander the city and didder men ’s hands , making their penises disappear ( Taranto ’s description pokes fun at one in particular colorful hypothesis that singled - out Jewish foreigners , account below . ) Rumors pass around via text messages , generating various version of the same story . Almost 50 mortal were arrested on rush of sorcery and faker ; another 40 were arrested for kick and inciting public panic .
One victimrelated a particularly alone taleto a British newspaper : “ While he was at the market , a human race come near him , gave him a comb , and enquire him to comb his hair’s-breadth . When he did so , within seconds , he felt a strange sensation and discovered that he had lost his member . ”
Sudanese columnist Ja’far Abbas offer an incisive analytic thinking of the site : “ No doubt , this comb was a laser - operate surgical robot that penetrate the skull , [ passes ] to the low body and emasculates a adult male ! ! ” He argue that these robots were the oeuvre of “ an imperialist Zionist agent sent to prevent our multitude from procreate and multiplying . ”
Abbas also had a few give-and-take for the man who diminish dupe to the electronic comb : “ You jackass , how can you put a coxcomb from a mankind you do n’t bang to your head , while even relation avoid using the same comb ? ”
Abbas might have been onto something : there might have actually been a confederacy at work — a local one . A study from the Middle East Media Research Institute need that rumors of penis thievery were jump to divert the world ’s attention from dialogue between the Sudanese vice President of the United States and the Sudan People ’s Liberation Army .
6. Central African Republic // 2013
Penis panics in Africa are in the main an urban phenomenon , occurring in crowded spot like Lagos , Nigeria and Douala , Cameroon . However , not all genital - relate epidemics occur in big urban center . One of the most recent penis panics open in Tiringoulou , a footling hamlet in the Central African Republic . According to local , it all take off when a stranger stopped to bribe a cupful of tea leaf at a local securities industry .
Witnesses bear witness : “ [ After the stranger hand ] over his money , he brooch the vendor ’s hand . The teatime trafficker feel an electric tingle path through his trunk and immediately sense his penis had shrunk to small than that of a sister ’s . ” As a crew congregate around the shrieking man , another man scream that his phallus had also gone miss . eyewitness affirmed that they get word both valet de chambre ’s member shrink dramatically .
The suspect was immediately arrested and interrogate by the armed Johnny group governing the town . A few hour later , he was executed by gunfire .
How can these panics be explained?
Despite cultural differences , most victims of phallus affright had a few thing in common : their sexuality ( commonly ) , their age , and the fact that they were all remarkably average . They were “ young , ill educated , working course , and single , but mundane in every other aspect , ” writes psychiatrist Scott Mendelson , author ofThe Great Singapore Penis Panic and the Future of American Mass Hysteria .
These military personnel had no reported history of strong-arm or mental illness . Admittedly , most of these individuals did not have access code to genial wellness services . However , even head-shrinker , physicians , and investigator who evaluate some of these men after the “ panic ” had subside find no evidence of psychosis or delusional thinking .
As Mendelson points out , priapic fears might be another manifestation of everyday angst . Most victims are in their teens and twenties — an age when many individuals experience anxiousness about their body , sex , and having children .
event like warfare , revolution , or financial crises amplify single emphasis . It ’s no happenstance that genital quail epidemics typically come in the thick of political upheaval .
But while it ’s easy to imagine how fear could be contagious , it ’s more difficult to understand how corporate anxiety give way to cultural delusions . Regardless of the linguistic context , how could 100 of sizable gentleman’s gentleman suddenly become convinced that their penises are disappearing ?
As anthropologist Louisa Lombardwrites , “ If penis stealing seems beyond - the - pale weird , moot what multitude in Tiringoulou might think upon take heed of Americans who hunger themselves nearly to last because their reflection in the mirror convinces them they are fatty . ”
Other culture - specific materialisation of anxiousness include Saora disorderliness , which exclusively affects young gentleman’s gentleman and women belonging to a kinship group in India . Patients blazon out and express mirth at incompatible time , have fainting and store loss , and arrogate that they finger like ants are biting them repeatedly . Symptoms almost always subside after after a marriage ceremony to the feeling that ’s make the hysteria , and researchers assign the precondition to the psychological stress and social pressure placed on teens by their congenator and Quaker . Another example isgrisi siknisamong the Miskito community in Central America . The condition , characterized by round of frenzied behavior and fainting , feign 14- to 18 - year - old girls . Likewise , anthropologists impute the condition to teenaged angst and the psychological pressures that follow farm up .
When examining mass psychogenetic illnesses , it ’s important to study their broader cultural circumstance . While these epidemic take different form , they often stem from the anxiousness consociate with becoming an grownup . at last , penis panics are believably rooted in the same subconscious fears that make us all man .
For more information , check out Mendelson ’s book , The Great Singapore Penis Panic and the Future of American Mass Hysteria .
