I know many of you maybe wondering why I was in the hospital and had to have surgery. Well the doctors were concerned that I was developing a "male cancer." I discovered that in the western mind that is the polite way of saying "your testes and lower regions are going to hurt like hell post-exploratory surgery, and your genitals will look like Chinese eggplants for several weeks."
On top of that, from the surgery I had a minor infection, fever and needed antibiotics as well as many many painkillers. I am on some now.
I just want to make it clear I do not have penis retraction syndrome, or Koro, brought on by the belief that foreign women are really witches who have stolen my penis and I did not see the beautiful Hu Li Jung or Fox Spirit who is known to steal the male penis:
Penis panics in southeast Asia have become known under the term "Koro" (which means "head of the turtle" in Malay). Some anthropologists have referred to Koro as a culture-bound syndrome, but it is phenomenologically related, if not identical, to penis panics in various cultures.
Koro most commonly describes the extreme fear that the penis is retracting into the body, including the idea that such retraction will bring about death.
It can also refer to beliefs of "genital theft" or some kind of sorcery which has resulted in the loss of the penis. Sometimes the testicles are also believed to be affected.
Koro also tends to reflect a certain xenophobia among some groups, whereby foreigners are often blamed as the ones behind the "attacks".
In China, the term used for the condition is the Chinese term shook yang (suo yang, 縮陽). Outbreaks of Koro in China were reported in 1948, 1955, 1966, 1974 and 1984/85, although none have been reported in the 20 or so years since (Tseng 2006).
A condition called "Bang-utot" (or bangungot) matching the description of Koro is a repeated theme in William S. Burroughs' book Naked Lunch.
Although Koro goes back to ancient times, beliefs have evolved to better suit modernity. Whereas in the past the causes were usually identified as supernatural, e.g. sorcery, a recent Koro episode in Northern Thailand placed the blame on Vietnamese Communist agents who supposedly put chemicals in the water supply.
Sufferers may resort to extreme physical measures to prevent the believed retraction of the penis. As well as affecting individuals, Koro-like syndromes can often occur in an outbreak of mass hysteria. With hordes of men grasping their penis and screaming.
Koro most commonly strikes men, but rare cases are known to involve women and the fear that either their external genitals or nipples are retracting into the body.
Aside from the emotional distress, Koro by itself is not physically harmful, and no actual retraction takes place. Injuries have occurred when stricken men have resorted to apparatus such as needles, hooks, fishing line, and shoe strings, to prevent the disappearance of their penises.
An epidemic struck Singapore in 1967, resulting in thousands of reported cases. Government and medical officials alleviated the outbreak only by a massive campaign to reassure men of the anatomical impossibility of retraction together with a media blackout on the spread of the condition.
Though I do not have koro, it is called rhak-joo in Thai, I may have a form a pre-cancer from a prior problem that they are doing tests for now. They do not think so, but had to make sure.
More like Lance Armstrong.....but thankfully it is not cancer.
Thankfully Chaang Noi ช้างน้อย (or Kan Kuay ก้านกล้วย) in Thai, little elephant, is OK.
Though I must admit I feel like I have koro or head of turtle head syndrome and am married to ice bags and pain killers. Literally. Given the nature of how much pain I am in, one could even say it is a necessary and temporary abusive relationship.
After years of living with Asian people I have to keep telling myself, it is not Koro, there is not too much wind in my lower regions, I did not see Hu Li Jung and bad foreign women and their witch powers are not the cause of my problem. I do not need to go to the hounen matsui or "Giant Penis" festival in Japan for relief.....things will be OK once the painkillers and ice are no longer needed and (fingers crossed) there is no cancer.
I just hope westerners are not too prudish to discuss such topics without a Victorian blush.... as far as I can tell we westerners used to get Koro too until the enlightenment when we all stopped believing in it.
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