Topic: Female vs. Male pain

[MidknytOwl]

First on the Go Girl thing - I have a SheWee, which is the best invention ever.  I also work in the outdoor industry, which might make it more relevant to my life, but if you've ever tried to look for a good spot to pee on hike that doesn't have a lot of coverage, you understand why it might be amazing.  It's also great for road trips when you need to pee on the side of the road.  The weirdest part is feeling like it's okay to pee with your pants on, standing up, when you feel like you're going to pee all over yourself.

As far as the original topic, I've got to disgree and go with the guys on this one.  It might hurt to get a good shot to the crotch, but nowhere near what it seems to hurt for them - only a small touch/hit and they're down.  Likewise, the boobs (and I'm a DD myself) are not that sensitive.  Sensitive, sure (they do make a sports bras with a cup that you might be interested in) but not remotely as sensitive as what it seems to be like for a guy.  I'm kind of surprised that a knee to the boob made you roll on the ground at all, let alone for two minutes, and I mean that in a non-judgemental kind of way.  I'm just saying I'd look at you just as strangely as the guys would, since I can't imagine it hurting that bad.  I remember one time doing archery and fully understanding why Amazon women supposedly seared off their right breast - my boob got in the way and all the force of the bow string went straight to it instead of making my arrow go 100 feet.  It hurt like hell, but I was still standing and fully functional.  I would imagine that to a guy's man parts would make him debate if he needed medical treatment.

I sure as hell don't consider us delicate porcelain vs. oak creatures.  Actually, I think that's kind of a damaging thought process and probably isn't helping when we try to do the things they do.  I'm not saying we're the same, because we are very much different in a lot of ways, but the whole delicate flower mindset is way off.  To be perfectly honest when I saw this post title I thought it was going to be on how guys are pain wimps, comparetively.  Isn't that a going joke - women have babies because if it was up to men to go through labor the species would be extinct?    I'd say we're more pain tolerant.  (Espeically when they're sick.  My male roommate just got over a simple cold and you'd swear he had the plague.)

[Linda Watters]

Just a quick note about the "boob pain" comments. To all us older gals...remember...teenagers are still developing and developing boobs are incredibly sensitive. I remember feeling like I had open wounds on my chest as I "blossomed" from nothing to C cups in 3 short years. My gym teacher couldn't understand why none of the girls would catch the football the correct way, by clutching it to your chest. So yes, getting a knee to the chest when you are still a developing teen can floor you and there isn't a sports bra in the world to help that!

[Jennifer]

Just because the guys cry more about it doesn't mean it hurts them more.

For one, women tend to be very good with pain, and for two, guys have this silly tendency to play up anything that even comes near their crotch. I'm in martial arts and also a mock-sword fighting group called Amtgard. I see more men calling a temporary hold on casual fights because they were "almost" hit, or spending time after a fight talking about how they took a crotch shot, and exactly where it was, and how hard it was, and what part (in graphic detail) was hit.  It's not quite as bad in parkour, but the tendency to play up hits to--or near!--the crotch is still there.