Ouch! Sack-tapping? Really?

I guess I have a different definition of the word "tap" than the average adolescent boy.

Go figure.

In my mind, tap = light touch (clarification: I'm being literal here and excluding the "I'd tap that...." slang).

Anyway. Tap.

Apparently, to boys in the 12-20 age bracket, it's the same as a sucker punch. As in, to "sack-tap" means to smash someone in the nuts.

Seriously.

There's something of a sack-tap epidemic sweeping the nation. Meaning apparently an entire generation of boys may have a harder time accidentally knocking up their girlfriends in coming years.

Here's a snippet from an MSNBC article about the "phenomenon:"

Bruises, blood clots, testicular torsion — in which the organ twists up to 360 degrees — and, more rarely, testicular rupture, all are consequences of blunt force trauma to the testicles, including injuries caused by close-range punches.



Nearly 8,000 boys and young men ages 10 to 20 were treated for pubic region injuries in the nation’s emergency rooms last year, according to estimates from the Consumer Product Safety Commission. That’s up from about 7,300 injuries in 2008 and about 5,500 in 2007.


Most of those injuries were caused during sports or by accidents involving bicycles or skateboards, a review of cases reveals. But a growing number have been caused by so-called games known variously as “sack-tapping,” “nut tag,” or “Roshambo,” after a 1998 episode of the animated series “South Park” that popularized the painful practice.

Soooooo - there's a lot going on here. Abuse, sexual assault, bullying. Oh yes - a sack-tap by any other name is still unwelcome sexual contact with the potential to yield incredible bodily harm.

Hmmm.

This got me thinking about what I shall call the "testosterone-driven gender behavioral gap."

Girls (presumably because they don't have that "Beat it up! Fight with it! Best it! Kill it! WIN-WIN-WIN!" streak that's quite as developed as the one in adolescent boys) don't walk around socking each other in the bits and pieces. Sure, they manage the "girl-equivalent" of this sort of emasculating behavior by insulting each others' clothes and starting nasty rumours about one another, but the whole "let's test each other with random acts of excruciating pain?" Um, yeah - that's just not something you're gonna find a girl doing unless it involves a spa and some strategic waxing.

So what gives? Testosterone, I guess. Slap each other in the nuts and he who winces least is the toughest guy? Hmmm - I guess you can take that all the way to the emergency room where they perform surgery to save your baby-makers, tough guy.

But why the sudden increase in sack attacks? Why are they on the rise? Is it really just because of the prevalence of similar acts of stupidity in the media? Because people have been jumping motorcycles over shark tanks (so to speak) on TV for generations, and everyone doesn't necessarily rush out to try that for themselves.

Dunno, I"m stumped.

It's weird.

Poor kids and their messed up junk.

It's as difficult to comprehend as the fact that dudes like to toss around the "Suck my ______" as an insult, but you'll certainly not hear girls use the, uh, equivalent when they want to needle each other. Why is that?

Beats me. All I know is if I were a 14 year-old boy, I'd figure out a way to wear steel reinforced shorts to school.