# How much effort to remove a rapist's testicles? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 25, 2009, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-effort-to-remove-a-rapists-testicles/518853 "2009-11-25T01:24:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![mmmiiikkkeee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/edb3f5/32.png) [@mmmiiikkkeee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mmmiiikkkeee)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2014, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-effort-to-remove-a-rapists-testicles/518853/41 "2014-12-18T21:13:07Z")
The answer depends on what’s actually being asked: how murch **force** to accomplish it, or how much **effort** to accomplish it? The amount (and type) of _force_ would be easier to calculate, but would still be an approximation based on other similar species we could test it on. The amount of _effort_ to pull this off (haha) would be a lot harder to estimate and would vary considerably based on the attacker, the victim, and the circumstances. It would undoubtedly require much more **effort** to do this to an aggressive person who will resist the action while being under attack and great duress than simply the sum of the physical foot-pounds required to cause the trauma. Think about the amount of force needed to squeeze the clippers and cut your dogs nails vs the effort to hold him down and get it done when he’s scared of the clippers and yanking his paws away. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2014, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-effort-to-remove-a-rapists-testicles/518853/42 "2014-12-18T21:14:27Z")
> [@Dogzilla](#): > > Thank you so much, Zombie Police, for pointing out that this was once a dead thread and is now live again. So kind of you to protect and serve. Keep on keeping on, man. You’re welcome; next time I charge though. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2014, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-effort-to-remove-a-rapists-testicles/518853/43 "2014-12-18T21:35:21Z")
> [@](#): > > Quoth **bob++** : > > All of this assumes that the victim is capable of retaliating. My understanding is that rapists do not generally stand in front of their victims and say “I am going to rape you.” Of course that might happen, but it is not the normal approach. There are many kinds of rape, but I guess that we are mostly discussing the stranger-in-the-park kind, rather than non-consensual sex while drunk etc. > > The stranger will, first off, tend to pick a victim that he can dominate. He will approach from behind and try to take control and to not allow any kind of retaliation. The victim might get a chance to bite, drop to the ground (Isn’t this a recommended course of action?) or scream, but grabbing nuts or any other body part, or kicking effectively seems difficult or impossible. Of course, if the rapist is armed with a knife, that would make it even more risky. And part of self-defense training, probably the biggest part, is turning the would-be victim into someone who _is_ capable of retaliating. In this sense, the advice of “Go for the balls” might even be productive, since it carries the message “If someone’s trying to rape you, it is fully acceptable to retaliate to the fullest extent possible, up to and including the action that the rapist will find most horrific”. It can only be slightly improved by amending it to “Go for the balls, and everything else you can reach at the same time”. > [@](#): > > Quoth **Shodan** : > > IME people defend their eyes just as instinctively as they do their nuts. But that just means you have to set it up. Probably, or nearly so. But the reason they defend both so instinctively is that a successful attack on either is probably going to be incapacitating. And it’s hard, even instinctively, to defend both at once, so if you attack both at once, there’s a better chance at one of them going through, and you don’t much care which one. ---
**Author:** ![LH75](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lh75/32/4438_2.png) [@LH75](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LH75)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2014, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-effort-to-remove-a-rapists-testicles/518853/44 "2014-12-18T21:59:46Z")
My wife says that nothing will quell the violent impulses of a rapist quite like a sucking chest wound… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-effort-to-remove-a-rapists-testicles/518853.md?page=2)