Why is flinching a bad thing?

When my boyfriend is around his friends they occasionally tease each other by flicking their hands at each other then berating each other for flinching. There was also a scene in the Shaft remake where this was done. Is this a universal guy thing? And why is it bad? Doesn’t it show good reflexes? When I asked my BF he said it’s a sign of weakness. Huh?

It is good reflexes to flinch. But the point of not flinching is to show that you have mastery over the resources - that you can stifle the body’s natural reaction, which is to jerk away in fear and anticipation, and remain calm and composed.

It is a school yard thing almost all guys did when we were little boys. Usually it is “two for flinching.”

Of course, the reason that you can have that mastery of the body’s natural reaction is because you are so much The Man that it is utterly inconceivable that anyone would actually tempt your wrath by hitting you, however much in jest. To show a natural defensive reaction is to admit that you might be hurt, which only happens to wimps.

Testosterone, it’s a hell of a drug.

fake punch

punch punch

Two for flinching!
That game was fun. Especially once you convince [del]the victim[/del] your friend to stop flinching, then take advantage of that and just hit them.

Good times.
ETA: Though I’m pretty sure we outgrew this when we were around 16.

I offer to you this gem of a quote : Having testicles is like being chained to the village idiot.

Because you’re a pansy if you flinch!

Yeah, it’s pretty stupid. As a guy, I’d never take part in that game. So what if I flinch? There is actually a reason for that.

Ah, that gets us to the other appropriate Real Man reaction. There is a reason for flinching, but it’s a defensive reason, and a Real Man doesn’t just flinch, he flinches defensively into a wrist lock which leads to a standing arm bar where he just barely doesn’t follow through with the snap of the arm, the kick to the face, sweep of the leg and crushing of the skull with the heel of his boot, and the only reason he doesn’t do that is because he heard the whimpering of the lesser or “flicker” man and decided to be merciful.

If you flicked at someone and he didn’t try to kill you, it’s okay to laugh at him. At least you had the balls to start something!

Or, to summarize,

I have the answer, just click this link:

http://www.instructables.com/files/deriv/FMV/EO66/FLG5XGXQ/FMVEO66FLG5XGXQ.TINY.jpg

Holy crap! All you guys looked! I get to punch all of you! See you after 4th period, bitches.

Having known a few testicle owners I can assure you this is true, or at least that’s the excuse.

How do you tell if a woman is ticklish?

Give her a couple of test tickles.

::flinch::

I really really hope your BF is a teenager.

If not, they have a lot more to be embarrassed about than “fliching”.

Damn. Guess I am odd-man-out…er, uhm, odd-chick-out? I am female and grew up playing that game – my brothers taught me early on to never flinch. My kids now play it with me, my 16 year old daughter has almost mastered not flinching. It’s just one of those stupid things kids do. Not just guys, either. Oh, yeah, and we did the 2 for flinching, but if you don’t “wipe it off” you get punched back :smiley: