The science behind “Magun,” By Mofolorunso Enigbokan

By Mofolorunso Enigbokan

A woman is engaged in an erotic sexual activity with a man who is not her husband. She experiences an orgasm while the man is still engorged. Suddenly the pleasurable moment ceases as the man discovers that he cannot extract his manhood from the woman’s private part. He is stuck! Panic sets in. He slides in all directions, he twists, he jiggles, he jerks but he can’t free himself from the woman.

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The woman wiggles and contorts her waist into all sorts of awkward shapes in a purposeful attempt to extrude the manhood from her but it is to no avail. The partners become increasingly nervous, anxious, scared and worried as they mull the obscene embarrassment and the public ridicule that would be visited upon them if their hopefully ephemeral inseparableness were to be unveiled. The potential family-wrecking consequence of this adulterous encounter now weighs heavily on the woman’s mind.

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In abject desperation, using a cell phone that had been dropped by the pillow earlier, the man places a call to the Emergency Room of a nearby hospital to request some medical assistance. The hospital dispatches a crew of Emergency Medical Service (EMS) personnel in an ambulance to the location. The arrival of the ambulance, with its siren blasting, attracts a crowd to the scene. As the EMS personnel wheels off the stuck partners, news of the now indubitable infidelity of the woman and her inseparability from the man rages like an uncontrolled wildfire throughout the community. Firmly embedded in the spreading news is the unfounded, unsubstantiated, uncorroborated and unwarranted assertion that the partners are stuck together because the woman’s husband, suspecting that his wife was cheating, had cast a spell (charm; juju) called “magun” on her. The “magun” is supposed to magically make the penis of any man (other than the husband’s) who mates with the woman interlock with the woman’s private part.

The annals of Nigerian folklore are replete with tales of “magun” causing an interlocking of male and female genitals. However, such cases may not be due to any spell, charm, or juju and they are not found exclusively in cheating wives. In fact, there are reports of genital interlocking occurring in legitimately married couples and in singles who are just dating.

The interlocking of genitals is actually a physiologic phenomenon that is referred to in the medical arena as PENIS CAPTIVUS. As you can infer from the medical term, the penis is held captive, presumably by the vagina. The scientific explanation is that, occasionally, during orgasm, the pulsating, rhythmic contraction of the woman’s pelvic floor muscles gets so strong that it clamps down on the penis and the man simply cannot pull his penis out of the woman’s vagina no matter how hard he tries. The more forceful the attempt to withdraw the penis, the more excruciating the pain that the man experiences and the greater the risk of causing cuts and bleeding in the vagina. That clamping is believed to be one of the manifestations of what is called VAGINISMUS.

Vaginismus is not synonymous with penis captivus but penis captivus may be a consequence of vaginismus. In vaginismus, there is a strict contraction of the vagina’s muscle that is so intense that the vagina just closes itself whenever anything that can penetrate the vagina approaches. The woman may be unable to have intercourse or even get a medical vaginal examination.  Sexual intercourse, if it happens, is usually painful. However, the tremendous vaginal muscle contraction that is an inherent aspect of vaginismus is believed to play a crucial role in the advent of penis captivus.

No, the interlocking of the male and female genitals is not due to witchcraft. It is penis captivus and here are some remedies for it:

1. Stay calm! That is of paramount importance.
2. Try to consciously relax all of your muscles (both partners) despite your temporary predicament, remembering that penis captivus is usually short-lived.
3. Don’t try to forcefully pull out the penis; you will experience a lot of pain and you may cause bloody vaginal injuries.
4. Stick a dry finger sharply into the woman’s anus since that can reflexively cause a relaxation of those pelvic floor muscles.
5. Give the woman a sleeping pill, if available. As she dozes off, the pelvic floor muscles will be relaxed.
6. Give the woman 10mg of Diazepam (Valium), if available. Diazepam is an anti-anxiety drug that can also produce muscle relaxation while attenuating the initial panic symptoms.
7. If a trip to the hospital is warranted, make sure that the attending Physician administers either a local anaesthetic (e.g. Lidocaine) or a Prostaglandin that can dilate the uterus and relax those pelvic floor muscles. An injection of Magnesium can be helpful and any muscle relaxant (e.g. Tizanidine, Methocarbamol, Cyclobenzaprine, etc.) can facilitate the needed separation of the genitals.

So, what is generally referred to as “magun” is, most likely, a natural physiologic phenomenon called penis captivus. Relax, it usually lasts for less than 30 minutes. Implement the remedies enumerated above and you shall be set free. If the condition persists for close to an hour, get emergency medical assistance.

Prof Mofolorunso Adekunle Enigbokan is a Professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology at the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Texas Southern University, Houston, Texas.