: Why does a hit to the balls hurt so much ?
In: Biology
The testicle are highly innervated and thus highly sensitive. This is because they contain your most important contribution to the species- your ability to procreate. Therefore we have a built in mechanism that compels us to protect them and strongly discourages us from allowing them to be injured.
I’m not sure but it might be because of the nerves around genital area. The same thing that does giving pleasure sense. It is actually good that it hurts, so that you know you shouldn’t mess with it, otherwise you can’t reproduce.
Because biologically, we are only here to reproduce to continue our species and then die. That said, the testicles are the most vulnerable reproductive part for males, so they are filled with nerves to allow us to more easily protect them. No working testicles, no way to contribute to the continuation of your species.
They’re key to the reproductive capability of men. Those are the cells that recombine with another haploid cell of another member of the species. Your body traded off some safety by having them outside of the body cavity like ovaries in women, for more favorable temperature control of those cells. The evolutionary response is to protect them from further injury and react by getting away. As far as evolution is concerned the rest of your body is just there to keep these guys safe and to find complementary cells in others of the same species as us. Organisms that can’t reproduce are individually extinct. Their particular cell line is gone with the reproductive parts.
That’s why they’re called family jewels. It hurts so much because it’s not something natural selection wants you to ignore. Individuals who don’t feel such strong pain are less fit as a result. Which makes sense because if something causes permanent injury to your balls and you don’t notice it or tolerate it you’re less likely to keep adding to the gene pool as the individuals who have a stronger pain reaction to any potential injurious stimuli.
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