flatso
09-09-2004, 11:15 AM
Koro
Origins: China, Malaysia, Indonesia
A man who suffers from koro, or genital retraction syndrome, is gripped by the fear that his penis is shrinking and gradually being absorbed by his body. (Women suffer from koro, too--afraid for their nipples or vulva--but this is much rarer.) A typical case of koro goes like this: A man goes to urinate and notices that his penis is becoming smaller. Usually this happens because he's in a cold place or because he's upset about something--his sex life, for example. Both anxiety and exposure to cold cause male genitals to shrink temporarily.
But rather than shrugging the incident off, the man--who has heard about koro attacks in his community--only grows more anxious, particularly since koro is considered deadly. As panic mounts, the man grabs his genitals before they can retract into his body and calls for help. According to one scholar: "If no one is around to help hold onto his penis, he may even use mechanical devices--including cords, chopsticks, clamps, or small weights--to keep the penis from retracting." Koro attacks usually occur in epidemics rather than striking on an individual basis, further proof of their social nature.
Although some scholars trace koro to the Chinese concept of yin and yang, the syndrome and similar problems have also been found in places without any Chinese tradition. Ultimately, koro may have less to do with Chinese culture itself than with its strong cultural emphasis on fertility and procreation. Source: Timothy McCajor Hall, "Culture-Bound Syndromes in China," weber.ucsd.edu/~thall/cbs_koro.html
Origins: China, Malaysia, Indonesia
A man who suffers from koro, or genital retraction syndrome, is gripped by the fear that his penis is shrinking and gradually being absorbed by his body. (Women suffer from koro, too--afraid for their nipples or vulva--but this is much rarer.) A typical case of koro goes like this: A man goes to urinate and notices that his penis is becoming smaller. Usually this happens because he's in a cold place or because he's upset about something--his sex life, for example. Both anxiety and exposure to cold cause male genitals to shrink temporarily.
But rather than shrugging the incident off, the man--who has heard about koro attacks in his community--only grows more anxious, particularly since koro is considered deadly. As panic mounts, the man grabs his genitals before they can retract into his body and calls for help. According to one scholar: "If no one is around to help hold onto his penis, he may even use mechanical devices--including cords, chopsticks, clamps, or small weights--to keep the penis from retracting." Koro attacks usually occur in epidemics rather than striking on an individual basis, further proof of their social nature.
Although some scholars trace koro to the Chinese concept of yin and yang, the syndrome and similar problems have also been found in places without any Chinese tradition. Ultimately, koro may have less to do with Chinese culture itself than with its strong cultural emphasis on fertility and procreation. Source: Timothy McCajor Hall, "Culture-Bound Syndromes in China," weber.ucsd.edu/~thall/cbs_koro.html