Hey Dr Sue — How Do I Not Feel So Insecure About Having Testicles?

I appreciate your willingness to ask this question.

Your testicles being outside your body do make you more vulnerable. Especially because of the number of nerve endings inside of them. This can make them very sensitive to touch. This also means that it doesn’t necessarily take a whole lot of force to the area to cause a lot of pain.

Since I don’t have them, I reached out to a few of my friends who do have testicles, to get their perspective. One of the things I kept hearing over and over was that a casual flick of the hand at just the right angle (or wrong angle) could cause a world of pain.

I can understand why this might make you feel vulnerable. Especially when you might be hearing on the news or social media about random acts of violence. But the good news is that what you’re describing isn’t common. Most women are not walking the streets randomly flicking men’s nuts. If anything, I hear about this kind of random nut taps happening more among groups of men as a joke.

In talking to my friends who have testicles, there were a few suggestions. One of them joked about wearing a cup whenever you got outside. But they also said that that would probably not only be impractical but could also be very uncomfortable as the day went on.