Urban Myths

Factual Questions
1

I was sent this by a work colleague - I’m pretty sure it’s just another urban myth, as I’ve checked all newspapers and archives for Sydney and there is no trace of this episode being reported whatsoever. I was wondering if anyone here knew anything about Progesterex and whether the information contained about it is at all accurate. (Any other statement anyone feels like de-bunking for me will be greatly appreciated…)

Original email was:
I checked out the company of the chick that sent this on originally, and it
exists and the phone number’s correct, so this warning’s authentic ? read
it & pass it on.

=======

THIS IS NOT A JOKE - please take seriously.

This happened to a girl last Saturday night.  She was at the U-Turn Bar in
Manly then went to Gas in the City.

She was taken by 5 guys gang raped and dumped naked at NeutralBay. After
tests they have found rohypnol in her blood and she really can’t remember
any of the night. She only knows she was raped through the hospital
reports.

Boyfriends, take heed. Good guys out there, please forward this message to
your lady friends.

Progesterex, that is a essentially a small sterilisiation pill. The drug is
now being used by rapists at parties to rape AND sterilize their victims.
Progesterex is available to vets to sterilize large animals. Rumour has it
that the Progesterex is being used together with Rohypnol, the date rape
drug. As with Rohypnol, all they have to do is drop it into the girl’s
drink. The girl can’t remember a thing the next morning, of all that had
taken place the night before.

Progesterex, which dissolves in drinks just as easily, is such that the
victim doesn’t conceive from the rape and the rapist needn’t worry about
having a paternity test identifying him months later.

The drug’s effects AREN’T TEMPORARY. Progesterex was designed to
sterilize horses. Any female that takes it WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO CONCEIVE.
The crooks can get this drug from anyone who is in the vet school of any
university.

It’s that easy, and Progesterex is about to break out big on campuses
everywhere.

Believe it or not, there is even a site on the internet telling people how
to use it. Please forward this to everyone you know, especially girls.

Originally sent by Theresa Fong
Brand Co-ordinator
Patterson & Partners
Level 2, 22-24 City Road
Chippendale NSW 2008
Phone: 61 2 9281 0655 Fax: 61 2 9281 0905

2

Do a google search on progesterex. I can’t remember the exact site I found (it might have been snopes), but progesterex is not real.

3

Here ya go.

4

It is a Hoax

http://www.urbanlegends.com/ulz/progesterex.html

5

There is an excellent site out there for debunking urban legends. It is at http://www.snopes.com. I searched the site and found the page about “Progesterex” here.

If you search the site, you can find the “straight dope” (so to speak) on many different urban legends. The sources they used to verify/debunk the legends are posted, too, in case you require more information.

6

Too easy. Google search for progesterex. I didn’t count the hits, but the first one had the second half of Ms. Fong’s e-mail verbatim.

http://www.urbanlegends.com/ulz/progesterex.html

Of course, the first half of her e-mail might be perfectly true. There is no indication, other than juxtaposition, that the gang rape account and the Progesterex warning are related in any way. Fong’s credibility is, of course, made suspect by her inclusion of a known hoax in her e-mail.

7

Thank you one and all. Being reasonable new to both the internet and SDMB, I’m unaware of what a google search is. Is it a particular search engine, and if so, what’s the URL?

Thanks again for your help.

8

http://www.google.com

It’s simply the best search engine there is. Accept no substitutes.