# nurses and erections question **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 30, 2010, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nurses-and-erections-question/551975 "2010-08-30T06:54:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2010, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nurses-and-erections-question/551975/81 "2010-09-01T15:24:56Z")
> [@Sinisterniik](#): > > As for the OP, I decided to rise to the occasion and take a whack at this towering problem. After a bit of toying with my hypothesis I finally got a result: > > flicking = didn’t work > spoon whacking = didn’t work > looking at a picture of Joe Lieberman = worked! > > So I know that every guy is a little different, but I’m calling this a bunch of bull. > > That being said, it still may have been considered an accepted method way back when, given all of the anecdotes. I’m thinking if the flicking were true, you couldn’t do it to yourself anyway. It would have to be administered with a certain amount of unexpectedness. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2010, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nurses-and-erections-question/551975/82 "2010-09-01T15:28:56Z")
sounds like a good planned activity for your next gathering. ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2010, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nurses-and-erections-question/551975/83 "2010-09-01T18:00:54Z")
As mine happened in the bronze age in the military where there was no law suits at that time, it was worth it to get that Doc. She was a 10+ in looks, 10+ in fun attitude & 10+ in medical ability. In some ways the old days really were better. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2010, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nurses-and-erections-question/551975/84 "2010-09-01T22:22:11Z")
> [@bengangmo](#): > > > [@Muffin](#): > > > > It is not appropriate to whack a person just because you do not like how they look. > > It’s also not appropriate to whack a person because they like how you look Well played! ---
**Author:** ![FE3O4ENAIL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ba9def/32.png) [@FE3O4ENAIL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FE3O4ENAIL)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2010, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nurses-and-erections-question/551975/85 "2010-09-01T22:46:34Z")
I asked my wife, an RN, and she said they were trained to ignore it. ---
**Author:** ![Bearflag70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2010, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nurses-and-erections-question/551975/86 "2010-09-01T23:13:26Z")
> [@FE3O4ENAIL](#): > > I asked my wife, an RN, and she said they were trained to ignore it. and fantasize about it later ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2010, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nurses-and-erections-question/551975/87 "2010-09-01T23:14:24Z")
**TreacherousCretin** said: > [@](#): > > By eliminating the source of the embarrassment? Makes sense to me. So what if they whacked your peepee? Likely as not they were going to touch it anyway, depending on why they have you stripped down to begin with. You haven’t eliminated a source of embarrassment, you have created a second source of embarrassment. Sure, there’s no more boner, but it already happened and was witnessed. Making it go away doesn’t undo that. It might prevent more people witnessing said boner, but that doesn’t undo what was done. > [@](#): > > But this made me think of something- the quickest way for a nurse to kill a boner would be to **point at it and giggle.** Instant wilt. No muss, no fuss, no spoon, no touching. Yes, because that’s not embarrasing. ---
**Author:** ![InscrutableTed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b5e925/32.png) [@InscrutableTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/InscrutableTed)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nurses-and-erections-question/551975/88 "2010-09-02T00:27:52Z")
I’m willing to believe that female nursing _students_ were told this in order to make them less anxious about examining male patients. (As someone above said, it was a common concern of nursing students.) I doubt it ever happened in practice. For one, the situation only happens rarely. Secondly, once a person has been nursing for a while, an erection wouldn’t faze them. Thirdly, I don’t think it would work. (Don’t ask me how I know that.) ---
**Author:** ![serious\_lark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@serious\_lark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/serious_lark)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nurses-and-erections-question/551975/89 "2010-09-02T02:13:44Z")
> [@Bearflag70](#): > > > [@FE3O4ENAIL](#): > > > > I asked my wife, an RN, and she said they were trained to ignore it. > > and fantasize about it later If it makes you feel better to think that, feel free to keep on thinking that. But would that be more embarrasing or less, to imagine that your health care professional is having unprofessional thoughts about you? ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nurses-and-erections-question/551975/90 "2010-09-02T02:28:31Z")
[quote=“Sinisterniik, post:69, topic:551975”] > [@CC](#): > > After a bit of toying with my hypothesis Well that’s my new favorite euphemism. ---
**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:** [September 2, 2010, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nurses-and-erections-question/551975/91 "2010-09-02T02:49:53Z")
> [@serious\_lark](#): > > > [@Bearflag70](#): > > > > and fantasize about it later > > If it makes you feel better to think that, feel free to keep on thinking that. But would that be more embarrasing or less, to imagine that your health care professional is having unprofessional thoughts about you? I’m OK with it. ---
**Author:** ![Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Hazle\_Weatherfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hazle_Weatherfield)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nurses-and-erections-question/551975/92 "2010-09-02T03:09:08Z")
This did happen to my husband back in the 60s. I think he had had his appendix removed. Pitched a tent…nurse gave it a flick. I’m sure that it doesn’t happen any more, but it certainly did back in the day. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nurses-and-erections-question/551975/93 "2010-09-02T04:00:13Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > Jeez, half the people in this thread can find out for themselves if being flicked with a spoon will deflate an errection, and _no one_ is willing to try it? Erections are controlled by your (at least partially subconscious) mind. Flicking yourself or being flicked by your SO as part of an experiment is not the same from a subconscious point of view as having an unwanted erection and being whacked by a disinterested nurse. I think it would work like any small unexpected shock might work. If you know what is coming and that it is being done by a friendly hand, the effect might be entirely different. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nurses-and-erections-question/551975/94 "2010-09-02T07:13:11Z")
Seriously, I hope a present-day nurse/doctor would simply acknowledge “the event” by off-handedly saying “Don’t worry about it” and then continuing with the exam or whatever. Pretty much how they would react to any other involuntary body function. . ---
**Author:** ![Edwardina](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Edwardina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edwardina)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nurses-and-erections-question/551975/95 "2010-09-02T07:27:17Z")
My uncle says this happened to him when in the hospital for hernia surgery. Pretty nurse, sponge bath, yadda yadda yadda. He was about sixteen at the time, so this would have been around 1965. I’ve heard him tell the damn story so many times now, the last time he brought it up I told him that maybe she should have flicked it harder. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![TanteLiz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/82dd89/32.png) [@TanteLiz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TanteLiz)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nurses-and-erections-question/551975/96 "2010-09-02T16:46:00Z")
We were never taught to do anything besides ignore it and go on. My mother, an RN in the old days, says that several “techniques” were informally passed from older to younger nurses _ **as protection** _, back in the days when male patients (and doctors) felt free to grab and fondle female nurses as a way of displaying their “healthy” interest. The idea was to non-verbally convey an instant and unequivical message that this was NOT a sexual situation, bub. Just as that kind of behavior is no longer expected nor accepted in a patient, the defensive behaviors of yesterday’s nurses would also now no longer be expected nor allowed. Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean that all male patients have gotten the message, and I have been once or twice inappropriately approached or touched, albeit only by older men. It’s scary and humiliating. I am not talking about demented or psychotic patients - that’s a whole different story. You REALLY need to watch yourself with a hypersexual demented male patient, and, as a psych nurse, we worked in pairs whenever we suspected a bipolar whose manic state included hypersexuality might be more than we could handle. Looking back at some earlier comments about a similar reaction to a female patient - first up, female patients (again, unless demented or psychotic) just don’t have an equivalent reaction in times of stress. In other words, the idea of a female patient becoming aroused during a pelvic exam pretty much only exists in male fantasies. Nipple engorgement, however, is an involuntary reaction to cold temperatures and occurs in both male and female patients. ---
**Author:** ![descamisado](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e480ec/32.png) [@descamisado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/descamisado)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nurses-and-erections-question/551975/97 "2010-09-02T17:42:14Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > Jeez, half the people in this thread can find out for themselves if being flicked with a spoon will deflate an errection, and _no one_ is willing to try it? When thinking about what I’d do if I have a penis for a day while reading [this book](http://www.amazon.com/Dick-Day-What-Would-You/dp/0679773533), science experiments was one of the first things that came to mind 😛 Let’s let [Scylla](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=448717:) try it, he’ll try anything once. ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nurses-and-erections-question/551975/98 "2010-09-02T18:20:27Z")
Thank you, **TanteLiz** , that’s a different set of circumstances and a kind of justification I can see. If a guy feels okay giving a woman an unanticipated grope, then the woman should be free to give an unequivocal response. My problem is with the people who somehow think that getting smacked on the weiner is going to **reduce** embarrassment. On what planet? As for the female equivalent, you are correct there isn’t a clear parallel and thus the stretch for nipple arousal. The point was to reverse the situation, put the female in the context of an involuntary physical response, and the male medical professional applying a physical response to said patient. An different not quite equivalent would be if a male is giving a woman a pelvic and she accidentally passes gas. Is that an invitation to stick a finger up there and “help her out”, or should he just politely tell her that it happens and not to worry about it? ---
**Author:** ![Jamodu\_Green](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Jamodu\_Green](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jamodu_Green)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2010, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nurses-and-erections-question/551975/99 "2010-09-03T13:04:24Z")
To share another military anecdote… I knew a man who was a POW in WWII. When his camp was liberated, all POWs had to be shaved (including pubic hair) to minimise the possibility of bringing disease/lice back home. I remember him saying something along the lines of “I’m usually a gentleman, but you see, it was a long time since I had even seen a woman and it went up. Without hesitating, the nurse gave me a quick tap with the blunt side of the straight razor”. He told me that it instantly went back down and he didn’t try any funny business with the nurse. In his case, I’m not sure if was the tap or that split second when he didn’t know if his member had been dismembered that caused the erection to subside. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2010, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nurses-and-erections-question/551975/100 "2010-09-03T15:20:32Z")
> [@DrFidelius](#): > > So, anyone with civilian anecdotes less than fifty years old? There were many things done in hospitals a half-century back which are no longer standard prodecures. A third-hand story (high school friend of **Typo Knig** ) suggests this was still being done in the 70s. Involuntary reaction to some procedure (shaving) related to prepping the guy for hip surgery, nurse smacked the intruding erection. Presumably it made it go away, but frankly the more respectful / professional reaction would have been to ignore it. I remember being shocked when I heard the story. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nurses-and-erections-question/551975.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nurses-and-erections-question/551975.md?page=6)