# Please forgive me...but I'm curious...\[Why isn't a knee to the groin a more common fighting tactic?\] **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 1, 2009, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-forgive-me-but-im-curious-why-isnt-a-knee-to-the-groin-a-more-common-fighting-tactic/508431 "2009-09-01T01:37:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![lurking\_guest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/2acd7d/32.png) [@lurking\_guest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lurking_guest)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2009, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-forgive-me-but-im-curious-why-isnt-a-knee-to-the-groin-a-more-common-fighting-tactic/508431/1 "2009-09-01T01:37:26Z")
All males know (and most females eventually learn) that the testicles and penis are a very vulnerable, tender, “take-no-prisoners” part of a male’s anatomy… So why, in all of the Kung Fu, or Military, or “Rocky” or “Gang” stuff - do we NOT see males, themselves, going after this most vulnerable part of the male anatomy in every kind of combat? It is curious to me. Why is it that we don’t see males going FIRST for this tender part of their bodies when they determine to wreck another male? As this move is always shown to be the most painful and neutralizing of all possible violence against the male anatomy. Is it some sort of “Gentlemen’s” agreement that all males understand …and therefore is seldom executed? A girl wants to know… ---
**Author:** ![jasonh300](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/46a35a/32.png) [@jasonh300](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasonh300)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2009, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-forgive-me-but-im-curious-why-isnt-a-knee-to-the-groin-a-more-common-fighting-tactic/508431/2 "2009-09-01T02:08:33Z")
I’m interested in the answer to this too, but the title to this thread is vague…maybe the Mods can change it to something about “a kick in the nads” to get more people to look at it. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2009, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-forgive-me-but-im-curious-why-isnt-a-knee-to-the-groin-a-more-common-fighting-tactic/508431/3 "2009-09-01T02:13:39Z")
It’s a small target, hard to hit, and attacking could leave you vulnerable to other attacks. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2009, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-forgive-me-but-im-curious-why-isnt-a-knee-to-the-groin-a-more-common-fighting-tactic/508431/4 "2009-09-01T02:17:19Z")
Haven’t watched “An Officer and a Gentleman” recently, have we? But in general, it IS a lot harder to hit than a face or abdomen. I’m sure in actual fights the groin is gone after more, but in movies they want nice, long, choreographed fight scenes that show off the male lead’s excellent martial arts skills. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2009, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-forgive-me-but-im-curious-why-isnt-a-knee-to-the-groin-a-more-common-fighting-tactic/508431/5 "2009-09-01T02:18:39Z")
because the other guy would rip your arm off and beat you to death with it if you tried. ---
**Author:** ![lurking\_guest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/2acd7d/32.png) [@lurking\_guest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lurking_guest)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2009, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-forgive-me-but-im-curious-why-isnt-a-knee-to-the-groin-a-more-common-fighting-tactic/508431/6 "2009-09-01T02:26:31Z")
No. No. This doesn’t answer the question. We’ve all seen all of the ‘Marhsall Arts’ movies - all of the “Hand-To-Hand Combat” movies, all of the “Gang” movies… but it seems…males never seem to “go” for the most vulnerable part of their bodies…even in football…even in fights anywhere… Cripes - Males know what happens when the testicles are kicked or punched or squeezed or hammered…and yet… In all manner of movies and situations, in “real life” situations… males seem to shy away from touching or hurting or harming this part of the body. Interesting…since this is the MOST damage (short of ending another’s life) that males could do to one another…why is it almost never seen? Or only rarely shown in movies? Is this knowledge of one another so sacrosant? Still wondering… ---
**Author:** ![StaudtCJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90ced4/32.png) [@StaudtCJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StaudtCJ)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2009, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-forgive-me-but-im-curious-why-isnt-a-knee-to-the-groin-a-more-common-fighting-tactic/508431/7 "2009-09-01T02:36:48Z")
As a female, I don’t know for sure, but I think it may be related to the “sympathetic wince” all males seem to do when they see the “damage” happen to another on tv or wherever. Perhaps it’s just that “no sane person would do that to another person” idea? Or it doesn’t occur to a male to do such things? ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2009, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-forgive-me-but-im-curious-why-isnt-a-knee-to-the-groin-a-more-common-fighting-tactic/508431/8 "2009-09-01T02:37:26Z")
So you get a completely reasonably answer and you just dismiss it, why? ---
**Author:** ![Alex\_Dubinsky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dbc845/32.png) [@Alex\_Dubinsky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alex_Dubinsky)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2009, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-forgive-me-but-im-curious-why-isnt-a-knee-to-the-groin-a-more-common-fighting-tactic/508431/9 "2009-09-01T02:42:11Z")
Would be interesting to get some actual anecdotal data. Anyone here get into real-world fights often? I’ll bet the answer is still that men don’t do it. The same way we don’t try to poke out eachothers’ eyeballs or break fingers at the first opportunity. What do we look like, women? ---
**Author:** ![Alex\_Dubinsky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dbc845/32.png) [@Alex\_Dubinsky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alex_Dubinsky)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2009, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-forgive-me-but-im-curious-why-isnt-a-knee-to-the-groin-a-more-common-fighting-tactic/508431/10 "2009-09-01T02:43:17Z")
> [@lurking\_guest](#): > > Interesting..since this is the MOST damage (short of ending another’s life) that males could do to one another… No, no it isn’t. ---
**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:** [September 1, 2009, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-forgive-me-but-im-curious-why-isnt-a-knee-to-the-groin-a-more-common-fighting-tactic/508431/11 "2009-09-01T02:51:33Z")
In a real fight, an attack to the groin is very unlikely to succeed, since men instinctively go to great lengths to protect the testicles. For the same reason, however, a feint to the groin _is_ likely to succeed. ---
**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2009, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-forgive-me-but-im-curious-why-isnt-a-knee-to-the-groin-a-more-common-fighting-tactic/508431/12 "2009-09-01T03:01:30Z")
I haven’t really had time to discover if [Penny Arcade’s](http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2009/7/15/) assessment of Mixed Martial Arts fighting is accurate. If so it seems to be just what the OP describes. ---
**Author:** ![lurking\_guest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/2acd7d/32.png) [@lurking\_guest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lurking_guest)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2009, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-forgive-me-but-im-curious-why-isnt-a-knee-to-the-groin-a-more-common-fighting-tactic/508431/13 "2009-09-01T03:02:52Z")
None of this answers the questions. Okay. Why aren’t ALL males schooled (in every Military school) - boy’s schools, the Military, etc. - to each go ‘after’ every other males penis and testicles? To HURT them. To disarm them? OKAY - on the mean streets of drug deeling…to HURT one another with causing crazy damage to the penis and testicles? Males know this vulnerability about one another. Is THAT why they are so “carefule” about exactly HOW they ‘hurt’ one another? A bullet to the head is okay. But don’t touch the testicles? Again…this is fascinating and curious to me… ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2009, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-forgive-me-but-im-curious-why-isnt-a-knee-to-the-groin-a-more-common-fighting-tactic/508431/14 "2009-09-01T03:08:12Z")
It’s hard to hit the groin. This has been stated several times. Please read and understand those comments. ---
**Author:** ![Valgard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/7feea3/32.png) [@Valgard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Valgard)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2009, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-forgive-me-but-im-curious-why-isnt-a-knee-to-the-groin-a-more-common-fighting-tactic/508431/15 "2009-09-01T03:15:57Z")
Take any self defense course and you will be taught right off the bat that a shot to the crotch is a valid and damaging blow. I’ve taken many such courses and every single one includes this. From an early age boys (and girls) learn that the good old kick to the groin is a way to take someone down. Some movies do include it and yes you’ll generally see all the guys in the theatre wince when someone gets nailed in the balls. I think you don’t see it in movies as much because it isn’t flashy and it’s considered a “low blow” so you don’t want your hero walking through the movie crushing testicles if you want the audience to be cheering for him. In a real fight (and I’ve never been in one so I’m going on what my friends and teachers who have been have told me) there may be a couple of reasons: 1. Every guy expects it so when you start going for the beltline they defend against it. 2. It’s not the easiest target - you have to punch low or throw a kick, something that most people aren’t good at. 3. It’s not a big target (pause for laughs) - if someone goes for a kick you just turn a little bit and they’ll hit your thigh, not your crotch. If they try and punch they have to come in low which may leave their face wide open. 4. Once you start attacking the crotch that’s a bit of a signal that “anything goes” - you might see a couple of loudmouths trade punches to the face at a bar and then basically go their separate ways once they are pulled off each other. However if someone knees someone in the nuts they just escalated things - what might have been a couple of punches and then break it up becomes one guy trying to kill the other one. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2009, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-forgive-me-but-im-curious-why-isnt-a-knee-to-the-groin-a-more-common-fighting-tactic/508431/16 "2009-09-01T03:19:58Z")
Edited title to indicate subject better. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![lurking\_guest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/2acd7d/32.png) [@lurking\_guest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lurking_guest)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2009, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-forgive-me-but-im-curious-why-isnt-a-knee-to-the-groin-a-more-common-fighting-tactic/508431/17 "2009-09-01T03:23:33Z")
“It’s hard to hit the groin. This has been stated several times. Please read and understand those comments.” Why is it “hard to hit the groin.” Of course, it isn’t. Not for males in combat nor for females engaged in…other endeavors. The penis and testicles are vulvnerable physically at all times. To males. To females. They are outside of the body. They are between the legs. They are easy appendages to harm. And yet… Males are very ‘CAREFUL’… of one another’s “stuff”… Makes one think… don’t it??? ---
**Author:** ![Ace309](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ace309/32/1050_2.png) [@Ace309](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ace309)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2009, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-forgive-me-but-im-curious-why-isnt-a-knee-to-the-groin-a-more-common-fighting-tactic/508431/18 "2009-09-01T03:28:27Z")
> [@lurking\_guest](#): > > A bullet to the head is okay. > > But don’t touch the testicles? > > Again..this is fascinating and curious to me… Thought experiment. What’s the maximum range from which one of [these guys](http://lbsphoto.smugmug.com/photos/103214982-M.jpg) could punch the other in the face? They could probably do it without compromising their defensive stance. The damage potential is high (ever been socked in the jaw?) and the risk level is fairly low. Could they do so while kneeing the other guy in the crotch? No, they’d have to get a lot closer, and while committing to kneeing the opponent in the groin, they’d be subject to being blocked and grabbed. Thus, a knee to the testicles - while it has great damage potential - is very risky. ---
**Author:** ![Alex\_Dubinsky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dbc845/32.png) [@Alex\_Dubinsky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alex_Dubinsky)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2009, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-forgive-me-but-im-curious-why-isnt-a-knee-to-the-groin-a-more-common-fighting-tactic/508431/19 "2009-09-01T03:31:29Z")
> [@lurking\_guest](#): > > Makes one think… don’t it??? What does it make you think, exactly? ---
**Author:** ![Alex\_Dubinsky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dbc845/32.png) [@Alex\_Dubinsky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alex_Dubinsky)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2009, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-forgive-me-but-im-curious-why-isnt-a-knee-to-the-groin-a-more-common-fighting-tactic/508431/20 "2009-09-01T03:33:41Z")
Guys don’t go after the crotch for the same reason they don’t try to gouge eyes for the same reason they don’t use hollow point bullets. Leave it up to women, and all our wars would be resolved with mustard gas… [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-forgive-me-but-im-curious-why-isnt-a-knee-to-the-groin-a-more-common-fighting-tactic/508431.md?page=2)