# Men and the pain of labor **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 9, 2009, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-and-the-pain-of-labor/480569 "2009-01-09T19:28:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2009, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-and-the-pain-of-labor/480569/101 "2009-01-10T17:09:18Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > Yeah, something definitely switches over so that your nuts don’t hurt as much in those situations. Not sure if it’s endorphins or what. > > Guess it makes sense, biologically - gotta take care of your offspring factory so your body warns you in no uncertain terms they’re being damaged. Whereas in the act of using them - your body isn’t going to do anything to discourage you from going to town. I’ve also noticed that when the penis is erect the scrotum usually tightens up and holds the boys closer in to the body which probably lessens the potential impact force considerably. Plus, the erectile tissue continues all along the perineum to the anus so there’s a rigid structure for the nuts to cower against/hide behind. Nature is cool, ain’t it? 😛 ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2009, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-and-the-pain-of-labor/480569/102 "2009-01-10T17:09:59Z")
> [@Fish](#): > > Probably the same difference between bouncing a balloon against the wall and pinching it between the wall and a brick. > > I could well ask why if caressing a breast doesn’t hurt, why do women not enjoy mammograms where their breasts are squeezed flat and hard between cold metal plates? > > It’s the squeeze-hard-between-two-unyielding-things that hurts, not simple contact. My post was in response to the specific claim that “even grazing the boys hurts like a motherfuck” and women can’t seem to understand that. So no, it’s not about light touch vs. hard compression. ---
**Author:** ![Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bc8723/32.png) [@Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2009, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-and-the-pain-of-labor/480569/103 "2009-01-10T17:14:51Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > My post was in response to the specific claim that “even grazing the boys hurts like a motherfuck” and women can’t seem to understand that. Speaking from personal experience, I’d say the word “grazing” is a creative exaggeration — unless we’re speaking of some kind of ungulate. That would hurt a lot. If the boys are hanging freely, a grazing blow isn’t painful. If they’re nestled somewhere and there’s a grazing impact, with nowhere to bounce to… then yes, ouch. ---
**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2009, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-and-the-pain-of-labor/480569/104 "2009-01-10T17:34:13Z")
Any women here ever have a spinal headache and can compare that to labor? That’s the worst thing I’ve ever been through; worse than a nut shot, and worse than hiking 40 miles on a burned foot. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2009, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-and-the-pain-of-labor/480569/105 "2009-01-10T17:51:20Z")
> [@Trocisp](#): > > I knew one kid who got kneed in the balls, dropped to the floor and projectile vomited (repeatedly) while he was bucking and curled up in the fetal position. See, now that kid that hit SQUARE in the balls. I just thank god a simple graze (which is what in the mood ball touching is) is like that every time. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2009, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-and-the-pain-of-labor/480569/106 "2009-01-10T17:58:54Z")
> [@furt](#): > > Any women here ever have a spinal headache and can compare that to labor? > > That’s the worst thing I’ve ever been through; worse than a nut shot, and worse than hiking 40 miles on a burned foot. On my personal scale of 1 to 10: 6: Accidentally ramming an umbrella spoke half an inch into the palm of my hand. 7: Spinal headache. 9.5: Natural childbirth. 10: Impacted wisdom tooth removal. ---
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2009, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-and-the-pain-of-labor/480569/107 "2009-01-10T17:58:57Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > Yeah, something definitely switches over so that your nuts don’t hurt as much in those situations. Not sure if it’s endorphins or what. > > Guess it makes sense, biologically - gotta take care of your offspring factory so your body warns you in no uncertain terms they’re being damaged. Whereas in the act of using them - your body isn’t going to do anything to discourage you from going to town. Well I think that the pain of getting kicked in the nuts is primarily neurological as you have a huge number of sensory receptors down there. The referred pain up into the abdomen is likely referred pain. So there is no reason why it wouldn’t be wired differently during the act of coitus because we switch circuits and enter a different state of consciousness as whole while performing it. ---
**Author:** ![Todderbob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e47774/32.png) [@Todderbob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Todderbob)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2009, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-and-the-pain-of-labor/480569/108 "2009-01-10T18:00:18Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > See, now that kid that hit SQUARE in the balls. I just thank god a simple graze (which is what in the mood ball touching is) is like that every time. He didn’t hit square in the balls. He got hit **cube** in the balls. I’m not really sure there’s an accurate descriptor for the situation. It was probably the most morbid thing I have ever seen. I’ve seen snuff videos that weren’t so gruesome. The girl was skipping down the hallway (rather carelessly, but not uncommon for her) and he turned the corner right as she was launching, mid stride. He got hit, dead center, by a 110 pound girl forcing all of her body weight into her strides, by the dead center of her knee. That was _traumatic_. Most of the women there didn’t get it, they stared and were a bit disturbed, you know, standard ‘seeing someone writhe in pain’ reaction. But the few guys who were there were traumatized. It was horrible. We waited until he stopped vomiting (which didn’t last long, he started puking on the way) and we finally carried him to the nurses office. Did I forget to mention the kid was 15? ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2009, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-and-the-pain-of-labor/480569/109 "2009-01-10T19:05:50Z")
While we’re on this subject, I asked a related question in GQ some time ago, about childbirth pain and whether or nt there was a problem with modern women giving birth. Some poeple quite intelligently noted that the current methods employed (the “saddle” thingy similar to gynecological exams) are for the convenience of the doctor but horrrible for the woman, as they mess with natural childbirth flow. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2009, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-and-the-pain-of-labor/480569/110 "2009-01-10T19:15:03Z")
> [@Trocisp](#): > > He didn’t hit square in the balls. > > He got hit **cube** in the balls. I’m not really sure there’s an accurate descriptor for the situation. It was probably the most morbid thing I have ever seen. I’ve seen snuff videos that weren’t so gruesome. > > The girl was skipping down the hallway (rather carelessly, but not uncommon for her) and he turned the corner right as she was launching, mid stride. He got hit, dead center, by a 110 pound girl forcing all of her body weight into her strides, by the dead center of her knee. > > That was _traumatic_. Most of the women there didn’t get it, they stared and were a bit disturbed, you know, standard ‘seeing someone writhe in pain’ reaction. But the few guys who were there were traumatized. It was horrible. We waited until he stopped vomiting (which didn’t last long, he started puking on the way) and we finally carried him to the nurses office. > Did I forget to mention the kid was 15? You’ve seen snuff videos? 😉 A lot of these descriptions of getting nailed in the balls really do remind me of severe menstrual cramps. That is not to imply women ‘‘tolerate’’ pain better than men, because most women do NOT have severe menstrual cramps and there’s a big difference between tolerating something and enduring it because you have no choice. I used to get the vomiting, fetal-position, can’t-walk kind of cramps. The first time I got them I was 12, and my mother had them all her life so she could at least explain to me what was happening–hers used to make her pass out into literal unconsciousness. As I writhed around on the bathroom floor I begged her to shoot me, and I was completely serious. I have no doubt hers were worse than mine–that there is conceivably worse pain blows my mind. Now that I’m on the pill I get the severe ones occasionally, but usually they are only moderately painful. My mother has routinely told me that childbirth was nothing compared to her menstrual cramps. I don’t ever intend to have kids but I certainly don’t fear the pain of childbirth because I figure I’ve experienced something at least as bad if not worse from time to time and lived through it. I just noted in the ball-description thread, someone referred to the feeling as, ‘‘like menstrual cramps, only worse.’’ But there is such a broad spectrum of what it means to have menstrual cramps, I think it’s difficult to make such a comparison. Cramps hurt for most women, but the average menstruating woman has NOT experienced pain on that level. Likewise, I would imagine that getting kicked in the balls hurts, but I doubt that the average man has been nailed so as to suffer the way your friend did. I would have to agree with **Malancandr** a on this point–no man will ever know what childbirth is like and no woman will ever know what getting kicked in the balls is like. I think one thing we can all agree on is that reproductive organs are damn sensitive. One thing for sure is that I’m incredibly grateful for all the painful experiences listed here that I’ve never had. ---
**Author:** ![Fish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bc8723/32.png) [@Fish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2009, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-and-the-pain-of-labor/480569/111 "2009-01-10T19:25:55Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > gout/pseudogout. FTW [or FTLoose?] > > If I could chop off my foot, I would - but I am afraid of the phantom pain. Imagine that _not_ going away? Had psuedogout. Had my foot chopped off. Flip a coin, they’ve each got their bad points. **NOTHING** in my life hurt worse than having the nerve block wear off following my foot amputation. Nothing. No-thing. Ever. (And I’ve had kidney stones and a liver transplant. I’ve woken up from anaesthesia in the middle of lithotripsy. This was worse.) I wanted to claw my whole leg off. They had to bring in the morphine and I was _already_ on a different pain medication, I forget what. (Whatever it was it didn’t do jack diddly shit.) But … even though you can’t medicate phantom pains, they aren’t as bad as pseudogout. At least mine aren’t. They flicker, they stab occasionally, they ache, and then they pass. Once when I was in the hospital getting ready for liver biopsy, and suffering from pseudogout in my hand, the damnfool doctor came over and _shook my hand._ I almost punched him with my left. The amputation of the foot was _still worse._ ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2009, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-and-the-pain-of-labor/480569/112 "2009-01-10T19:37:46Z")
Something I meant to add… the definition of pain ‘‘tolerance’’ is nebulous. Some people have extraordinarily painful experiences (like **Fish** omg :eek:), but they might bitch and whine and cry about it the whole time. And who can blame them? It says nothing of actual tolerance. People seem to be comparing the most painful experiences they’ve ever had, but when speaking of true tolerance they would also have to compare their reactions to said pain. If person X had a kidney stone and gritted teeth and bore it while continuing with work, and person Y had a kidney stone and began writhing around on the floor and went straight to ER, it _might_ be said person X has a higher tolerance for pain, but _we still don’t know_. It could be that person Y’s kidney stone was bigger and more painful. Pain is an incredibly subjective experience. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2009, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-and-the-pain-of-labor/480569/113 "2009-01-10T19:39:43Z")
Women love to complain about child birth but I’ve always suspected if men had to give birth they’d make in into a macho competition and brag about how excruciating it was but it only took them five minutes to plop the kid out and they were back to work that afternoon. Guys don’t cut each other much slack and nobody likes a whiner. Women are more likely to tell you how they were in labor for 18 months. When it comes to other pains, like the dentist, then the whining seems evenly split. ---
**Author:** ![Todderbob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e47774/32.png) [@Todderbob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Todderbob)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2009, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-and-the-pain-of-labor/480569/114 "2009-01-10T19:42:13Z")
> [@olivesmarch4th](#): > > You’ve seen snuff videos? 😉 … Yes. Haven’t you? This is the internet, after all. :dubious: I haven’t seen any snuff films (like, _here’s the plot, instead of using special effects we’ll murder the guy_.), most of them were various gruesome or horrible deaths that happened to get caught on camera and put online. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2009, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-and-the-pain-of-labor/480569/115 "2009-01-10T19:52:44Z")
> [@Trocisp](#): > > … Yes. Haven’t you? > > This is the internet, after all. :dubious: > > I haven’t seen any snuff films (like, _here’s the plot, instead of using special effects we’ll murder the guy_.), most of them were various gruesome or horrible deaths that happened to get caught on camera and put online. I didn’t intend that as a personal attack. It’s just that I would never, ever watch something like that of my own volition. I have now googled ‘‘kidney stone prevention’’ because if anything this thread has made it clear to me that I never, ever want to have one. ---
**Author:** ![Todderbob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e47774/32.png) [@Todderbob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Todderbob)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2009, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-and-the-pain-of-labor/480569/116 "2009-01-10T20:16:09Z")
> [@olivesmarch4th](#): > > I didn’t intend that as a personal attack. It’s just that I would never, ever watch something like that of my own volition. I didn’t think you did. Sorry if I came off as overly defensive. > [@olivesmarch4th](#): > > I have now googled ‘‘kidney stone prevention’’ because if anything this thread has made it clear to me that I never, ever want to have one. If you find any good resources, send them my way. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_I\_Am](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e495f1/32.png) [@Sam\_I\_Am](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_I_Am)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2009, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-and-the-pain-of-labor/480569/117 "2009-01-11T01:08:36Z")
I’m surprised this hasn’t been mentioned yet in this thread, but I would imagine that a ruptured ovarian cyst would be a similar type of pain to being kicked in the nuts. Longer lasting though. As would probably a ruptured ectopic pregnancy (I’ve experienced the former several times, but not the latter). For me personally, labor was worse than gallstones (which I had for a year - several attacks, before the gallbladder was taken out). Labor was perhaps equal to the ruptured cysts, but then easier in that it was one day, not 7-10. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2009, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-and-the-pain-of-labor/480569/118 "2009-01-11T01:44:49Z")
I’ve hit the ground hard enough to crack my spleen open. Without going into gory details, the morphine epidural that made my going-through-labor cousin high as a kite dulled my pain enough to keep me from screaming as I lay immobilized in the hopes my spleen would heal enough to allow me to do things like ‘sit’ and ‘move’. It didn’t. So it was removed. I wish the pain had only lasted 35 or 40 hours. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2009, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-and-the-pain-of-labor/480569/119 "2009-01-11T01:54:12Z")
> [@Fish](#): > > Now I would agree that men tend to be whinier about being _ill_: stuffed up, viral, feverish, achy, etc. My wife is an RN. When she worked at the hospital, she said the male patients were \*\*\*much \*\*\*less whiny than the female ones. ---
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2009, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-and-the-pain-of-labor/480569/120 "2009-01-11T02:31:26Z")
I always think this kind of discussion is sort of silly. People experience pain differently. People experience the _same kind_ of pain differently. The women in my family, for instance, don’t have much trouble with labour and delivery. My mother said her gallbladder issues were 10 times worse than giving birth. I’ve been told that very bad menstrual cramps (which I used to get) could be 5 times worse than giving birth. My aunt passed a kidney stone which she reported as worse than giving birth. Really, these things are pretty individual, I think. Further, I don’t think men or women are better able to tollerate pain. The person I know with the HIGHEST pain tollerance (higher than any person should have to have, frankly) is my father. He’s had over 20 abdominal surgeries. He started with a perforated ulcer. He emergency surgery for 8 hours. They closed him up and he to re-open him 4 days later to fix something that had been missed. He got adhesions. He got bowel cancer. He was having surgery for the bowel cancer and they nicked his spleen. He walked around with a ruptured spleen and blood pouring out of his partially healed abdominal wound. He had half his liver removed. He has been on chemo for more than 2 years in total (different courses, lasting different amounts of time). And finally, just to top everything. He was dead, for 8 minutes, in 1986. He, uh, got better. Through all of this the only expression of pain I’ve ever seen him make is a rather grim look on his face where he grits his teeth and compresses his lips together. Really, if the man can endure the pain of _DEATH_ with nary a groan, I’m sure as hell not: a) bitching about giving birth if I ever do or b) suggesting that men are wimps with no pain tollerance. Not frikkin’ likely. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-and-the-pain-of-labor/480569.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/men-and-the-pain-of-labor/480569.md?page=7)