What would you do if your penis was stolen? 
Whatever your answer, I can understand. Well maybe I can’t. But I can understand any concern you have about a theft thereof, if you are a penis owner.
But beware if you travel to Africa, because apparently penis thefts are on the rise there.
Victims are mostly men. Whodda thunk that to have your penis stolen you had to be a man? But sometimes women are the victims? I’m not going to ask.
In West African there have been reports of episodes of ‘panic’ in which men and women are beaten, sometimes to death, after being accused of causing penises, breasts, and vaginas to shrink or disappear. At least 56 separate cases of genital shrinking, disappearance, and snatching have been reported in the last seven years.
In order to prevent further shrinkage, victims have been known to securely tie their penises with string or metal clamps (ouch!) — even sometimes having family members hold it in relays until treatment can be sought (I wonder who thought this remedy up?), usually from shamen or traditional healers. Well now I’ve heard it all.
It’s real folks and even has a name, koro. It’s a psychological condition caused my mass hysteria. I’m not sure where the mass comes from if only 56 cases have been reported, and I’m not asking.
Victims of koro believe that a touch or “accidental” brush with a stranger causes the theft. Similar to the way a pickpocket might steal a wallet. One reported case was that of a 17-year-old man in Ghana who “claimed that he had gone to fetch water for his father and was returning when [the perpetrator] came behind him, touched him and immediately he felt his penis shrink until it was no longer visible.
Do you really believe there are people traveling the world making a living or simply enjoying stealing the junk from African men and women? Do you think there’s a large market for these items? Do I look insane here? (No need to answer that last question.)
And what exactly do you call these thieves? Following the established guide of those who steal from pockets being called pick pockets does that make a breast thief a bra pocket? That’s assuming the breast was in a bra, and with the thefts occurring in Africa that’s a huge assumption. And what of the penis thieves – penis pocket? I’ve seen some instances where a penis pocket might be necessary but it did not involve theft of any kind.
Does anyone else see an opportunity for exploitation of this koro thing? All I can say is if your man, or woman, says their junk is missing and yet you can see it, run and run very fast. If they tell you it’s missing and you suspect a stranger is involved perhaps you need to seek the advice of an attorney.
From the life and mind of Wanda M. Argersinger
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