Magical Penis Loss in Nigeria: Report of a Recent Epidemic of a Koro-Like Syndrome

Abstract

In this paper I will describe an epidemic of a koro-like syndrome that occurred in Nigeria between the last week of October and the first week of November 1990. This epidemic occurred in a setting of severe economic depression amidst speculation about currency change and elections. In contrast to classical descriptions of koro, however, in the Nigerian epidemic, afflicted men claimed that their external genitalia had simply vanished. The onset involved a characteristic march of features: cue, flash, check and alarm. The cue was usually a touch, a verbal or written inquiry, or a handshake from a stranger. The flash was a fearful realization (often described as a shock, jolt, sinking feeling in the abdomen or scrotal spasm) that a sinister cue had been received. The individual then involuntar-ily reached for his genitals to check for their intactness. With the conviction that the genitals had vanished, he sounded a loud alarm. The victims were mostly men although women were also said to be afflicted. This syndrome was commonly understood as a supernatural occurrence in which the afflicted were robbed of their genitalia in order to magically benefit other people. People identified as benefitting from the ’genital theft’-who were often prosperous looking strangers or women-received very rough treatment at the hands of the alarmed crowd. Among the many emergent themes that may have contributed to the epidemic are male resentment of women’s success during a period of social strain and the symbolic equation of masculine sexuality with economic, social and creative prowess in many cultural myths. KORO-LIKE SYNDROMES Koro, a syndrome consisting of genital retraction accompanied by the fear that death would occur following complete retraction into the