The Meme That Says Getting Kicked In the Balls Hurts Worse Than Labor

There has been a meme traveling around social media that men are widely displaying.  What does it say?  Simply this: "A kick in the balls is above 9000 del (units) of pain which is similar to giving birth to 160 kids & breaking up to 3200 bones at a time."  The men are posting with captions that say "haha" and "See? Ladies quit your bitching."  Sadly, boys, it's just not true.  This is a made up fact and you need to fact check before you start posting and razzing the ladies.

Exhibit A: http://www.medicaldaily.com/why-getting-kicked-nuts-will-knock-even-strongest-man-down-304788

Exhibit B: http://factsfromfiction.blogspot.com/2012/05/human-body-handles-45-dels-units-of.html

So let me sum up what you'll learn if you read up:

1.  The "del" is a made up unit.  There is a unit called the "dol" which is from the Latin word "dolor" but it is seldom used and never really caught on after its start in the 1950s.

2.  There is not an actual "human limit" of pain.  The idea of this meme is based on the fact that the "human limit" of pain is supposedly 45 dels and women experience 57 dels of pain during childbirth. Men also don't experience 9000 "dels" of pain being that it is crazy to assume they could surpass a supposed pain threshold by that much.  This is rumor, folks.  Again, "dels" don't exist and there is no actual number threshold.  

3.  Your nociceptors are what expresses pain.  One side of it is directly related to short term pain with many more receptors.  The other side of it has fewer receptors and is responsible for dull pain.  Your nociceptors are essentially what triggers "pain."

4.  While men's jumblies are connected to nociceptors in the stomach, hence why you feel abdominal pain when getting kicked in the junk, women's reproductive system are connected to the same visceral muscles.  Same essential "pain", guys, sorry.

5.  Labor, on average, lasts 8 hours.  While they're in labor, they are dealing with tension and stretching of many muscles that causes localized, intense pain.  Yes, boys, you do get the same nausea, etc when you get kicked in the nuts that women feel during labor but you are experiencing it for less than a half an hour.

6.  Evolution has led to women having smaller hips but babies having bigger heads.  You do the math.

7.  Pain is subjective.  Everyone perceives pain in a different way.

In short, there is  no way to accurately measure this BUT it is likely that it CAN be just as painful on both sides, however it is longer and has more additional uglies that go with it in labor.  

Do your research before posting and teasing people.  Put this argument to rest and understand that both are painful.

(oh and by the way, my SHORTEST labor was 10 hours.....with no pain meds......no epidural.....so please don't lecture me on getting kicked in the nuts.  I get it, it hurts.  Until you have 10 hours of that pain and have to, then, squeeze a watermelon sized object from a coin sized hole, we can call it a draw...and I'm being generous.)