Penis panic

A penis panic is a colloquial term referring to a type of mass hysteria or panic where males grow fearful of removal or shrinking of the penis. The phenomenon is usually associated with some kind of occult belief, such as witchcraft. These irrational panics generally happen where access to education is limited, but have also been reported under drug use. Compare with castration anxiety.

Penis panics have occurred around the world, most notably in Africa and Asia. Panics concerning the female genitals are far less common and briefly discussed here. Penis panics in southeast Asia are known as Koro, with psychological diagnosis and treatments under development, but it is becoming increasingly clear that these forms of mass hysteria are more common than previously thought.

Europe

European folktales are replete with examples of witches who could steal men's genitals. These penis panics appear to have ended with the Enlightenment, although significant sex panics continued to appear well into the 20th century.

Southeast Asia: "Koro"

Penis panics in southeast Asia have become known under the term "Koro". Some anthropologists have referred to Koro as a culture-bound syndrome, but it is phenomenically related, if not identical, to penis panics in various cultures. Koro most commonly describes the extreme fear that the penis is retracting into the body, including the idea that such retraction will bring about death. It can also refer to beliefs of "genital theft" or some kind of sorcery which has resulted in the loss of penis. Sometimes the testicles are also believed to be affected.

Koro also tends to reflect a certain xenophobia among some groups, whereby foreigners are often blamed as the ones behind the "attacks".

It is interesting to note that although Koro goes back to ancient times, beliefs have evolved to better suit modernity. Whereas in the past the causes were usually identified as supernatural, i.e sorcery, a recent Koro episode in Northern Thailand placed the blame on Vietnamese Communist agents who supposedly put chemicals in the water supply.

Sufferers may resort to extreme physical measures to prevent the believed retraction of the penis. As well as affecting individuals, Koro-like syndromes can often occur in an outbreak of mass hysteria.

Koro most commonly strikes men, but rare cases are known to involve women and the fear that either their external genitals or nipples are retracting into the body.

Aside from the emotional distress, koro by itself is not physically harmful, and no actual retraction takes place. Injuries have occurred when stricken men have resorted to strange apparatus, such as needles, hooks, fishing line, and shoe strings, to prevent the disappearance of their penises. Another common misconception is that the penis can be kept safely in a woman's mouth.

An epidemic struck Singapore in 1967, resulting in thousands of reported cases. Government and medical officials alleviated the outbreak only by a massive campaign to reassure men of the anatomical impossibility of retraction together with a media blackout on the spread of the condition.

Koro has been successfully treated with a course of alprazolam and imipramine.

The word Koro means "head of the turtle" in Malay. Koro is also known in Chinese as shook-yang.

Sudan

A mass hysteria surrounding "penis-melting robot combs" took place in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan in September 2003. It was reported by the Middle East Media Research Institute. Sudanese victims were made to believe by force of suggestion that their penises had melted away or disappeared altogether, by means of ordinary contact with the West Africans, such as the sharing of an electronic, or "robot", comb, the shaking of hands, or the receiving of a verbal curse. The so-called "penis-melting" has been blamed on Zionists who are trying to wipe out the Sudanese people by making their men impotent and therefore unable to breed.

The hysterical reports were spread throughout Sudan by means of cell phone text-messaging.

The Sudanese columnist Ja'far Abbas has warned visitors to avoid shaking hands with "a dark-skinned man". In reference to the electronic comb which was supposed to have caused one man's penis to disappear, Abbas writes, "No doubt, this comb was a laser-controlled surgical robot that penetrates the skull, [passes] to the lower body and emasculates a man!!"

Sudanese police have investigated these incidents and have found no evidence of anything supernatural, and that it is likely a hoax which victims believed through the power of suggestion. Mr. Abul-Gasim Mohamed Ibrahim, Sudan's Minister of Health, issued official statements to calm the public's fears.

In the Wall Street Journal's\ "Best of the Web Today", a daily summary of sensational or humorous news, James Taranto wrote a piece about this phenomenon entitled, "Where's the Rest of Me?" in which he coined the phrase "Penis-melting Zionist robot combs".

See also

vagina dentata

External links

• World Health Organization article about Koro, with bibliography
• Suo yang (Koro): The Genital Retraction Syndrome at UCSD
• Koro: A Natural History of Penis Panics, September 16, 2002, Kuro5hin
• October 22 report by the Middle East Media Research Institute: "Panic in Khartoum: Foreigners Shake Hands, Make Penises Disappear"
• Wall Street Journal's "Best of the Web Today," Wednesday, October 22, 2003