From the web: Ah, Nuts: The Science of Getting Hit in the Balls

Here's a wonderful little article that I stumbled upon at dollarshave.com. The title had me laughing out loud, and the first sentence is pretty awesome, too:

Dr. Muhammad Mirza, expert in all things testicle, walks us through the many symptoms of being hit in the nethers (and shows us how to stop the pain).

Expert in all things testicle? That sound exactly like me, and probably exactly like you, too!

Let's see what the good doctor has to say.

Anyone who’s experienced a swift hit to the nutsack knows just how painful that is, and has most definitely proceeded to ask (in a very high pitched voice), “Why must my testies be so tender?” We’ve felt your pain, so we sat down with Dr. Muhammad Mirza, founder of erectiledoctor.com, to break down why being smacked in the knackers hurts so damn much.

#1: The Agony

You can blame evolution for that sharp, crippling pain resulting from a strike to the yam bag. “We’ve developed defense mechanisms over time to protect our ability to reproduce—one of those mechanisms is pain,” Mirza explains. “After experiencing intense pain from being hit in the testicular area, we know not to let that happen again.” So before you go cursing the pain receptor party in your dumpling hammock, know that they’re just trying to remind you to remain fertile.

Read the whole thing at dollarshave.com

Also interesting: Why men have an unspoken pact never to kick each other in the balls (also on dollarshave.com). Excerpt:

Lisa Wade, an associate professor of sociology at Occidental College, thinks rules prohibiting nut shots serve to protect men’s egos as well as their balls. “When a man hits below the belt, he is revealing to everyone present that masculinity is a fiction,” she wrote in a 2015 Pacific Standard article. In late July, she wrote a follow-up blog post in the Society Pages, a website for sociologists, about the response she’s received — mostly from young men — in the two years since writing the essay.