Ahh, the ol’ shot to the nuts, aka, the “bell flick,” “cup check,” “nut check” and my personal favorite, the “bag tag.” If you’re a guy — and site data suggests over two-thirds of you are exactly that — you’ve been tagged in the bag at some point in your life. I have. Thanks Mike! When I’m around my brother, putting up a nut defense is as reflexive as breathing. He’s 36 and I’m 34, mind you. You can take the brothers out of their teen years, but you can’t take the teen years out of the brothers. Or something.
Features writer C. Brian Smith has a great cultural history of this popular adolescent man-boy pastime toward the bottom of today’s roundup. Is it homoerotic masochism? A domination thing? A way that shy dudes make friends? Click to find out. But first, here’s everything else we covered today…
Must Read
“Their Diet? 100 Percent Meat. And They Say They’ve Never Felt Healthier.”
Carnivore dieters swear by a litany of benefits from an all-meat regimen—first and foremost, that it leads to immediate and sustainable weight loss. And with high-profile evangelists like red-pill philosopher Jordan Peterson, and apparently, Michigan head football coach Jim Harbaugh hawking the diet’s benefits, the nutritionally questionable fad is sweeping the manosphere. But advocates aren’t just arguing for people to give the carnivore diet a try — they’re criticizing the entire foundation of nutritional science as we know it. READ MORE
There’s a Lot of Crying in Baseball
What do Chipper “Larry” Jones, Barry Bonds and Jose Canseco — among many others — have in common? They were all relentlessly trolled by fans throughout their careers. Tim Grierson picked his favorite player v. fan dust-ups and chronicled what happened and who came out on top.
Fuck Broccoli
They say broccoli is the toothbrush of the colon. WRONG. It’s the broom.
Snip, Snip… Shit.
Okay, so you’ve made a huge mistake, and you’re regretting that vasectomy you got at 19. Not to worry — too much. Here’s everything you need to know about getting un-snipped.
The Trouble with ‘Real Men’
If you live in the U.K., you may have noticed an increase in men’s mental health PSAs everywhere from tube stop adverts to coasters at the pub. And most of them have one thing in common: The idea that it’s okay for “real men” to seek help. The problem is, as contributor Emily Reynolds writes, these types of campaigns run the risk of perpetuating stereotypes — like that “real men” are the strong, silent type. But perhaps more importantly, they miss completely on men who don’t fit these clichés.
Nut Shot
As I mentioned in the open, C. Brian Smith has a wonderful cultural history of the bag tag. But don’t take my word for it — one reader agrees, though he’s got a suggestion for how we can delve even deeper:
What Michael doesn’t realize is, we’ve already talked to the men who are into this sort of thing, sexually speaking:
That’s My Fetish: Getting Punched in the Balls
Don’t say we never did anything for you, Mike.
Jeff Gross
Jeff Gross is MEL’s senior editor for social media and content marketing. His daily ICYMI column, which chronicles all things meta on the site, is the quickest way to catch up on MEL, and the funniest thing you’ll read all day. Follow him on Twitter.
