Urban Legend? Couples getting "Stuck"

zimdude · June 2000

What's the truth behind this story that when having sex, the girl's muscles "down there" get cramps or something, and the guy gets stuck inside? And, they have to be separated at hospital.

Ira · June 2000

Yeah, it happens (rarely). And the vaginal muscles do not get cramps. They go into spasms.

asterisk · June 2000

Heard that urban legend before. Then I found out that the phenomenon called "Penis Captivus" is a hoax.

Ira · June 2000

PGH has actually had cases like that. It's not a hoax. All you do to treat this is to inject the woman with an intravenous muscle relaxant like the ones they give prior to surgery, and the guy is free to go.

asterisk · June 2000

Really? C'mon. But I read in the researches of the San Fernando Valley Folkloric Society's Snopes website and several website that eventhough the vagina is capable of strong spasms it cannot clamped a penis, which is really tricky to clamp because it can "deflate" itself, etc. The idea came from an article purportedly to be published in a medical research journal, but it is highly theoretical. Moreover, it turned out to be a bogus research. Somehow the story circulated.

I wanna know some details. Can you supply, Doc Ira. Have you witnessed it yourself?

asterisk · June 2000

Found the site. I copied and pasted here the text. Please verify...

Penis Captivus

Claim: In a rare phenomenon called penis captivus, a man becomes stuck inside a woman when her vaginal muscles suddenly clamp down. Sometimes the man is unable to withdraw even after he loses his erection, requiring a trip to the emergency room to separate the couple.

Status: Undetermined.

Synopsis: Medical experts disagree about whether the phenomenon known as penis captivus is real. Although there have been sporadic reports of allegedly real cases, many specialists feel that vaginal spasms severe enough to cause penis captivus are extremely unlikely, and that the male partner would be able to withdraw his penis once it was sufficiently relaxed. An oft-cited medical journal report of an actual case of penis captivus, published in 1884, was a hoax.

Origins: On 4 December 1884, the Philadelphia Medical News published an account of a case of penis captivus from Pentonville, England, submitted by one Egerton Y. Davis. The account was in fact a fabrication, submitted under a pseudonym by Sir William Osler, a member of the Medical News' editorial board. Osler's colleague, Theophilus Parvin, had just written and published an anonymous article about vaginismus (a painful, spasmodic contraction of the vagina), and Osler apparently felt that Parvin had used his pull as a board member to publish an article about a trifle of no real importance to the general medical community. Osler decided to embarrass Parvin by writing a phony letter under his "Egerton Y. Davis" pseudonym and having it mailed to the Medical News from Montreal. Osler's correspondence was printed in the 4 December 1884 issue of Philadelphia Medical News, and it has since been cited numerous times as an actual case report of penis captivus by those unaware of the hoax.

Ira · June 2000

A colleague who was a few batches ahead of me encountered that kind of situation in the PGH-ER. The guy was married, and he was with his "other woman". They were doing it in some seedy motel in Malate when the girl's vagina spasmed. They were trying to separate, but the more they both panicked, the more "entrapped" they became. They finally started screaming after several hours of unsuccessful attempts, and the motel's bellboy forced the door open, covered them up with blankets, and brought them to PGH, where the woman was given muscle relaxants. It was a hilarious case, and they even reached the front pages of a couple of tabloids. Needless to say, the wife didn't find it funny.

zimdude · January 2002

naalala ko lang :glee:
have you seen this lately, docs?

Ice Burn · January 2002

Originally posted by Ira
A colleague who was a few batches ahead of me encountered that kind of situation in the PGH-ER. The guy was married, and he was with his "other woman". They were doing it in some seedy motel in Malate when the girl's vagina spasmed. They were trying to separate, but the more they both panicked, the more "entrapped" they became. They finally started screaming after several hours of unsuccessful attempts, and the motel's bellboy forced the door open, covered them up with blankets, and brought them to PGH, where the woman was given muscle relaxants. It was a hilarious case, and they even reached the front pages of a couple of tabloids. Needless to say, the wife didn't find it funny.

I guess that's what we call karma.

beareaux · January 2002

Is this any different from "vaginismus", Doc?

Ira · January 2002

Nope.

pigarotti · January 2002

uh.. tanong lang a.. anong cause ng vaginal spasm nyan?

Ira · January 2002

Some causes may include a previous sexual trauma, unresolved psychosexual conflicts, anticipation of pain, a strict religious upbringing, relationship problems, etc.