May 7, 2015 • 49 mins
Around ages 9 or 10 a boy will begin to undergo a magical, surprising, weird, amazing, totally bonkers transformation from childhood to adulthood. To separate fact from myth, Chuck and Josh take on the role of gym teachers and wade into male puberty.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Stuff you Should Know from House Stuff Works
dot com. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark,
This Charles W. Chuck Bryant. Jerry's over there, which I
don't know if Jerry should be in here for this one.
Why not. We're talking male puberty. You and I we're
(00:23):
putting on our health class faces. Both of us got
crew cuts for this one. You're wearing a whistle around
your neck. I'm wearing knee socks and joys. Yeah. I
was taught because I was raised in a pretty conservative
Southern Baptist home. I was taught this stuff by my
(00:43):
uh preacher. Nope, they didn't talk about this stuff. That's
my point. I was taught in health class. Yeah, um,
by my pe teacher. This lady who seemed to struggle
with teaching boys about puberty. I can I can't really
blame her. She tried her best, but this is you know,
(01:03):
when the pe teachers had to teach health as well,
and I don't think that she got into that profession
to teach health. She she was like, I like coaching volleyball,
but um, I don't like teaching boys about puberty. She
seemed very uncomfortable. It comes with the job. Lady t s. Well,
if you are a Jim coach and you're teaching a
health class right now and you're using us to teach
(01:27):
for you, you you owe some money. Agreed. So we are.
We're doing a great job so far, if you ask me,
I think so. And this is you know, I think
we have a responsibility because I was raised in that
thing where like, you know, my parents didn't teach me
this stuff. So I think it's important the kids. Uh,
puberty is tough. I mean like it's important to normalize
(01:50):
it and that kids know that these changes are happening
and what they mean and healthy functions. You know. I
think this is a bit of a service. It was,
it is, it is. Yes, I was talking like we'd
already finished finished, and this this article, by the way,
it was written by the great Tom Sheath, did a
(02:11):
wonderful job. Chuck. Yes, did you know that over the
last like hundred and fifty years, um, the average age
of puberty in girls has dropped by like five or
six years. Yeah, so in eighteen sixty the average age
of monarchy, oh yeah, yeah, sixteen point six years old.
(02:37):
That's pretty late. In two it was ten point five
years old. It seems young, right, and everybody's like, what's
going on? It's probably the milk, like there's some horrible
stuff going on, or they're saying, what's monarchy, Well, manarchy
is the onset of menstruach for the first time in
a girl. I think that came up in our totem Pole.
(02:59):
It was a long time ago. Um, so this on
side of monarchy has decreased by a lot and a
lot of people are alarmed by it. But there are
some evolutionary biologists out there who are saying, actually, settle down.
We think that this is closer to the normal time
when puberty should come on, and that like sixteen points
(03:21):
six is way delayed, and it was actually a relic,
a remnant of changes that were brought about by a
transition to agriculture. The result of higher infections and poor
nutrition led to a later onset of monarchy. Well, it's
pretty it's easy to say, well, the girls start puberty
(03:41):
here and boys it's not quite as defined, but they
think that probably boys age of onset for puberty has
gone back to as well. Yeah, so it's uh, we're
going through puberty younger as young boys as well. Yeah,
so even though it is very difficult to say this
is and a boy starts puberty, that didn't stop some research,
(04:03):
just especially a guy named Richard Tanner from trying. He
came up with the Tanner scale. It is a scale
of one to five and Roman numerals, and it's all
based on the growth of your genitalia and pubic hair. Interesting,
and it's it's it's not completely subjective, but it's pretty subjective. Yeah.
(04:24):
And you might have heard of the Tanner scale by
seeing the posters in restaurants all around the country. Yes,
right next to the employees must wash hands before returning
to works exactly. All right, So we're talking about puberty,
which is that transition um that all kids go through.
We're talking about male puberty of course, in this case,
just male puberty and this one yea, even though I
(04:45):
already talked about female puberty. Well, we should probably tackle
female puberty at some point um. For for little boys,
they generally, like you said, the time has shifted perhaps,
but right now between the ages of nine in eighteen
is when it starts through completion generally typically typically you
(05:06):
can start earlier, it can go later, it can follow
different courses. Sure, it moves at different speeds and different guys. Yes,
And I'm gonna say this a few times. If you
are a boy out there and you're going through your
changes in puberty at different rates than your friends, that
is okay. Yeah, you're not a weirdo instincts, but it
(05:27):
is very normal, that's right. And you just may you've
heard of the term late bloomer. You may just be
a late bloomer, and that's okay because you will bloom
well and you might not even be a late bloomer
except for this month right next month. But it's kind
of like you know that horse race that you can
do with the spraying the Yeah, you squirt the water
in the hole in the horse's gap exactly, and they
(05:48):
kind of moved back and forth. That's a lot like puberty. Yeah, Like,
once you've really got a bead on that water gun,
that's when the horse really starts moving. But practice all
you want. You can squirt water and where, and it's
not going to help accelerate your puberty, that's right, all right, So, uh,
what happens the beginning of puberty, no matter when it starts,
(06:09):
is going to get kicked off when a substance called
ganado tropin is released. Um, I'm sorry, Canada. Tropin releasing
hormone is released in the body. G n r H.
That's the big that's the one that starts at all.
That's right. And apparently you have that stuff in your hypothalamus. Yeah,
(06:29):
You've got all these things hormones in your body, just waiting,
waiting the coming one another, like nitro glycerin coming together basically,
so you've got g n r H and your hypothalamus
and apparently it has to move to the pituitary gland
for things to get triggered. So puberty is like a
Rube Goldberg esque process. Yeah. So, um, it takes something
(06:54):
called g p R fifty four, which is another hormone,
to coming contact with ganada trope and releasing hormone, and
then all of a sudden things start up and that
actually brew when that process happens. That's called gody. Oh really, yes, interesting.
(07:14):
I think the reason monarchy was such a funny word
to me back when we recorded that. I figured it
out all these years later because it sounds like malarkey. Yeah,
which is just a funny word to me, because no
one says malarkey, but I think it's a great word.
So monarchy and malarkey is just a little too close
for my taste to keep me from laughing, you know.
All Right, So the stages of puberty, they're generally five, um,
(07:39):
and they overlap and it's one just big awkward mess.
But you can kind of break it down into five stages.
The first one is gonna begin, like we said, around
nine or ten years old. Um, nine is a little early.
Ten is um what they would consider normal. I guess
sometimes it might happen as late as twelve to get
(08:00):
things going, which by which time you're like, come on
right start. I'll just remember being in school and some
kids were like a foot taller than other ones, like
my buddy Jim, I said, you know, like he had
a mustache when he was like thirteen. Yeah, I know.
I had a friend like that in third grade. Yeah.
It's crazy. Um. So again, different timetables for everybody, and
(08:20):
it's all okay. Uh So when this g n r
H is released in stage one, your testicles are going
to start to mature and grow, uh, your body, your height,
You're gonna start growing at about two inches per year
at this point, which is pretty significant. Yeah, yeah, for sure,
growing two inches in a year. When's the last time
(08:42):
you did that? I guess probably when I was like twelve, probably,
although I never hit one of those growth spurts like
a lot of uh no did you? Yeah here there
really Yeah, I don't really just slow and steady wins
the race. Yeah, I don't remember any Like I remember
some of my friends that had um like they're owns
would hurt and they would actually have those growing pains.
(09:02):
I never had that. Yeah, yeah, no, it wasn't. Yeah,
but I remember coming back from the summer and a
kid would have grown like six inches it seems like
in several months. Then it would just blew my mind
because I was and like I was a late bloomer
and like drank wine from a deer skin. Now a yeah,
so your testicles are growing, and because your testicles are growing,
(09:26):
that means their house, the scrotum is also growing. And
all this is because that go and add a chopin
releasing hormone started up. That's right, And it's no um
accident that it starts with gonad of course, it's all
linked um. So um, your your testicles are growing and
maturing at this point, but you're not able to reproduce
(09:47):
just yet, No way, No, that comes with a little later.
And I had a question like, why aren't we born
capable of reproduction? And I thought like I would find
some stuff on it. All I could find was one
single Yahoo Answers question, and everybody was like, what kind
of a stupid question is that? Basically, yeah, I guess
(10:07):
it is kind of a stupid question. But the point
is because you're not capable of taking care of yourself,
therefore you you wouldn't be capable of taking care of baby.
You have to develop socially, psychologically, and physically. Yeah, the
female body probably couldn't handle childbirth either, right, So it
makes sense to not come out of the womb being
(10:28):
capable of sexual reproduction. It makes sense for that to
have to to develop at some point. Sure, agreed. So
they also in stage one, um, you're gonna start getting
a little fine pubic hairs and uh, that's that is
called pew barkie? Is it really? Not kidding? You just
add archie to anything very much. I got your hierarchy.
(10:51):
There's all sorts of things that come about, uh, and
you might start to get your first erections at this point, Um,
you are not gonna have any idea what's going on
with your body. But it's gonna happen unless you take
an advanced health class that like nine years old, um,
or if you have like parents who are comfortable with
talking like this. Yeah, but boys, sometimes you're getting bad information.
(11:15):
Well there's to combat that kind of stuff there where.
There have always been, um, educational films about this kind
of stuff. I found one from the fifties called Everybody
Changes or something like that, and it's basically like a
track and field coach answering questions from the track and
field team like me, who all seem like plants frankly,
(11:36):
and um, I guess still yeah, but it's pretty it's
pretty good our podcast page, yeah for this episode. Al Right,
so that's stage one. You enter stage two around twelve
or thirteen. Your testicles are still a growing, yes, so
that's the thing, and um, they they grow faster and
(12:00):
most prominently first. That's like the sign that you're in Puberta.
Everything else might not be happening, but your testicles are
probably growing pretty quick before your very eye making a
sound if you're listening closely. I knew we would be
just like two dumb little kids and crew cuts didn't
(12:21):
have any effect. Um, and this means you're gonna be
producing testosterone as well, which is gonna make you crazy
as well. Um, you're gonna start to grow quicker and
height two to three inches a year. And one of
the reasons why chuck is because that testosterone is being produced.
So basically, the catatropin releasing hormone sources chain reaction and
(12:43):
it leads down to your testicles, and it basically says,
start producing testosterone, and then that floods the body and
has all sorts of crazy effects. But one of them
is your bone cells have testosterone receptors and they grow
in the presence of testosterone, So all of a sudden,
they're being flooded with testosterone, which is why you grow
(13:03):
so quickly while you under growth. Person, it's because of
the testosterone having the impact on your bones. Um. And finally,
in stage two, those fine pubic hares are going to start,
as my gym teacher said, to become of course, and
curly and darker. Um, you're going to get more erections,
(13:25):
more frequently, and your body is just gonna start to
become a little leaner you're gonna start to look, um,
a little more like an adult. Um, like a tiny adult. Yeah,
which is funny. You know, by the end of the
fifth stage, they said, at this point you look like
a man. Your shoulders are broad. But you know, you
look back on your high school pictures and you're like,
I look like a little baby. Like I didn't start
(13:45):
looking like a man until I was in my thirties. Right,
But compared to like your six year old self, exactly,
you resemble the male physique more than before. Absolutely, third
stage of puberty for boys is gonna be thirteen or fourteen. Um,
You're pubic hair is gonna get even darker and more full.
It's about the pubic hare. Well, it's a big change,
(14:05):
you know. Well it's part of the Tanner scale. That's
why it's so um, it's very recognizable, that's right, that's
why it's on the poster and olive garden. Uh. Your
penis at this point is going to start to grow
in linked uh. And of course all the while your
testicles are still growing, You're getting more and more erections,
(14:25):
and your height is gonna grow at about three inches
per year at this point. And then your voice is
gonna start cracking, which is super interesting. I know you
dug up exactly what's going on there with your voice cracking? Yeah,
it's really interesting. Um So, remember testosterone makes stuff grow, basically,
and one of the things that it makes grow is
your vocal cords, right, which are basically two um cartilaginous
(14:50):
bands that go over your trick ya your windpipe, so
that when air passes through your lungs past the the
your vocal cords, it makes them vibrate. And that vibration
is what your voices, that creates your voice. When you're
a younger kid and your vocal cords are still small,
they can vibrate, vibrate a really fast frequency, like say
(15:11):
two vibrations per second because they're smaller, right, But as
they grow in the presence of testosterone, they grow bigger
and thicker. They can't vibrate quite as fast, so they
might go down to like a hundred and thirty vibrations
a second. Well, that's a lower frequency, which eventually leads
to a deeper voice. It's like a guitar string. The
(15:32):
thicker guitar string is lower perfect analogy, that's exactly right, right.
Another thing that happens which creeps me out to no end.
But it it's part of it is your voice box,
that part of the the the top of your trachea
that holds your vocal cords grows in size and tilts forward.
And my friend, you have an atoms apple after that. Yeah,
(15:55):
not always. Um well, I mean you, some are more
prominent than other. Yeah, you know, it depends on like
the shape and structure of your next But even if
you can't see it, if you just kind of rub
your finger up and down from your chin to your chest,
it's in there. You're gonna feel your atoms apple. But
it's so creepy to me. It's kind of like it
produces the same emotional state as thinking about peeling a
(16:19):
fingernail back. Yeah, that's what atoms apples due to make interesting.
Like just the thought of my atoms apple. I don't
even like to touch it, but I can't stop, so
so odd. Wow that is odd. Yeah, but anyway, that's
your atoms apple, and that's why your voice changes. Um.
It goes from growing from very small to growing large
(16:41):
and it deepens. One of the other things too, Chuck,
I thought this one was really cool. The testosterone in
your skull, the facial bones. Yeah. So you know, testosterone
causes your bones to grow. That includes your facial bones
as well. And as they grow, UM, your sinuses grow.
So that means that there's more empty space for your
voice to resonate in, which also makes it deeper. Yeah,
(17:01):
And they don't know, UM evolutionarily exactly why. But the
theory is, which makes perfect sense to me, is that
UM one to attract women or to intimidate other men
with that deep voice, which or just a signal I've arrived,
don't you hear my voice? Yeah, which sounds totally different
than when you say, right voice, Yeah, you haven't arrived. Uh.
(17:27):
So that's in stage three. UM, stage four, around fourteen
or fifteen, you're gonna start getting that armpit hair. You're
gonna start maybe getting a little facial hair. Although I
didn't get facial hair until quite a bit later, and
I don't even remember when I got it. I think,
I mean, I wasn't shaving, and I just can't get
rid of it. I know, look at me, I look
like Fidel Castro, especially when you wear that hat, the
(17:51):
Castro hat. Yeah, it's weird. Um. Your pubic hair is
gonna get more coarse, your voice is gonna drop even
deeper and you're gonna start to get acne. Yeah, which
is really sad. Well that's part of the result of
um seem Yeah. We did a great podcast on acne. Yeah,
we did, and uh, look this up even September two
(18:13):
thousand eleven. The comito, which is Latin for worm, that's
the stuff that you squeeze out of the center. Yeah,
I mean, should we discover what acne is real quick?
That build up of seebum, that oil, which is necessary
the water prouc your skin. Yeah, but you overproduce it
during puberty. Yeah. Plus you're also sloughing off skin cells
at a crazy rate. Yeah, that's a recipe for disaster.
(18:34):
All of those things are trying to exit through pores
and hair follicles and they can't always make it. So
when it gets built up, it blocks. It goes through
the three stooges syndrome and trying to get through the
door at the same time. Right, and then uh, certain
types of bacteria acne bacteria come in and infect it
and it swells and then you have a pimple. That's right,
(18:57):
that's all there is to it. It's fine and Tom
actually goes to the trouble of providing some advice on
what to do with it. And it's great advice because
you think you might want to scrub it to death
and use every super drying um product you can find
with a scouring pad. That's the exact opposite what you
want to do. Yeah, because that that can make it worse.
(19:19):
You want to gently wash your face or your shoulders
or your back or whatever or everything a couple of
times a day, keep it clean, which is a problem
because young boys aren't known for loving showers at this point. No, no,
But if this is a thing to you and it's
bothering you, then go to the trouble of doing something
about it. It's pretty simple and straightforward. Just wash your
(19:40):
face gently with just lightly a couple of times a
day and that's it, um, And don't overdo it because
that just irritates it even more. It makes your face
so mad. Yeah, that showering thing is so funny to me.
In our buddy Mark Farley from the TV show played
Clint Kinking Beard Can't Kinking Beard Um said that he
(20:01):
had a Facebook post the other day about trying to
get his son to take a shower. It was just
like marching him to the you know, to the firing
squad or something. I remember that age was like, now
I don't want to take a shower. I don't want
to do anything. But now like the shower is the
best part of the day, you know, Yeah, it's nice.
I still hate taking showers the process of it. I'm like,
(20:22):
I'd rather be doing anything else. Then afterward, I'm like, man,
I love showers. Interesting, it's just like going to the
trouble of taking it. It's just bothers. Well, sometimes I'll
do that. Uh, have that thing around it. Just don't
want to be wet. Yeah, that's another one too. So
I want in the wintertime, you don't want to be
you know, you're gonna be cold. Good point. And at
(20:42):
the end of stage four um euro Penis. At this
point we'll start to grow thicker and continue to grow longer.
But again, guys, this isn't happening at the rate that
you would like. Uh, don't worry about it. Just hanging there,
just hanging in there. You'll you'll be okay, you'll be fine.
And they been doing this for hundreds of thousands of years,
(21:02):
that's right. Uh, And finally stage five M fourteen to eighteen.
You're gonna grow most of your height at this point. Yeah,
although you might grow in your twenties a little bit,
but yeah, but not. This is where you're growing the fastest.
Um you You are growing several inches a year basically,
whereas up to this point you're growing to two to three.
(21:23):
Now you're growing up to maybe five inches in a year.
That's crazy. Yeah, that's quick growth. Yeah. And that's like
when I see my nephew now he's like six one,
he is so tall, it's so weird. Um, he's not weird.
Oh no, no, no, it's weird to see your nephew
like taller than you all of a sudden. Just want
to make sure we clarify that he knows he's not weird. Um.
(21:43):
Your shoulders are gonna be broader at this point, your
muscles are going to be more fully developed. Uh, you're
gonna have new muscle fibers, You're gonna everything is basically
just getting thicker on your body. Yeah, they call it
filling out. I think again, that's because its testosterone and
all of these other um hormones that you are producing.
You were producing them mainly at night while you slept before,
(22:05):
which is significant that it's released from the hypothalamus because
the hypothalamus also regulates sleep, right, um, so while you're sleeping,
the hypothalamus is like, I guess, keep myself busy by
having some of these new hormones produced. As you go
further along in the stages of puberty, you um actually
(22:26):
are producing them all the time and in vast quantities,
so that that would account for your muscles growing bigger
and your skeleton growing faster than ever, and all this
hair coming out everywhere and growing course and everything. You know. Well,
and that's since you mentioned it, I wasn't gonna bring
it up, but um, your pubic hair in stage five
is going to start to creep all over your body.
(22:48):
It's gonna be in your inner thighs and creeping up
your stomach. You might get chest hair, and you're just
wondering what in the world is happening to me? Um.
So those are the stages and right for this, we
will come back with more on puberty, but not on
public care. No, We've got more on pubic care, more
on both. So Chuck, I've got a little more on
(23:23):
pubic hair. Um. So there's it's kind of an evolutionary
mystery to why we have it um because if you
think about it, it doesn't really do a whole lot
for guys. Doesn't protect anything, It doesn't keep vital stuff warm.
Not really Okay, I thought it would warm stuff up. No,
(23:45):
it's like no, not really, not enough to explain, like
why it's concentrated where it's concentrated, mostly you know what
I mean. So they think probably what's going on is
Number one, it's an outward overt signal that the person
has gone through puberty and is capable of sexual reproduction.
Therefore he is a viable mate. That's one thing that
(24:08):
especially was a big signal when we weren't wearing clothes
back in the day, right um. And then secondly they
think also that is a transmitter of pheromones. Basically that
when you when you enter puberty and you start to
grow armpit hair and pubic hair and just hair everywhere,
you also start to to um open up a new
(24:30):
type of sweat gland, epicrine sweat glands, whereas before you
just smelled like a little angel because you didn't stink,
because you weren't producing weird types of sweat. Once you
go through, um going at archy, all of a sudden
you start to stink and start get the little body
over here and there, right, And even though you don't
want to take a shower, everyone else wants you to
(24:51):
take a shower. So just go take a shower because
you stink, stinking a little teenager, right. And one of
the things that's making you stink is this new sweat
with these new hormones that are come going out. But
also supposedly you're still you're producing pheromones as well, and these, um,
although we don't it's never been proven that humans are
capable of sensing pheromones on other people, they think that
(25:13):
there's a pretty high likelihood we do. And they think
that pubic hair and armpit hair serves just basically big
neon signs for these. Um, these odor molecules that were
not necessarily capable of sensing got you. So thank you
for that, for giving us body odor. Right, all right,
So your body is growing like crazy, growing like a weed.
(25:35):
As they say, um, you are probably going to start
growing taller than girls in your class, who were probably
taller than you before that, because girls typically will grow
um height earlier than boys will, right, I remember lots
of girls that were taller than me through most of
my elementary school. Um, but don't worry, guys, You'll catch up,
(25:56):
and don't worry girls. Yeah, because it's awkward for girls
sometimes to be taller than a boy because all these
weird societal norms, you know, societal norms that are not
only weird but wrong. Of course. Um, when you're an adults,
you realize it really doesn't matter when you are going
through puberty. It is the exact opposite of realizing that
(26:17):
it doesn't matter. Yeah, it seems like it matters a
whole whole lot. Yeah, that is not the case in reality, however,
it's just what you're going through that's right hanging there. Um,
you're also going to be gaining weight between fifteen and
sixty five pounds through puberty. Um, You're extremities are gonna
grow like crazy. That's why teenage boys have these big,
(26:38):
clunky feet and these unwieldy hands, and they don't know
how to operate any of them. Right, That's why there's
like this associated clumsiness with puberty. It's a real thing, totally.
It's not just this um character sketch that people use
for humor, like pe pubescent boys and girls are clumsier
than any other point in their life because their hands
(26:59):
and feet are bigger than the rest of their body.
That and then also if you ask a psychologist why
they're clumsy, um, they will say that in addition to
learning how to use these new bigger hands and feet
and deal with them, you're also acutely aware. You're going
through the most self conscious phase of your entire life.
So you're suddenly having thoughts like do I look weird walking?
(27:22):
And when you stop and think about walking while you're walking, right,
that makes walking really hard. So that to the clumsiness
as well. Yeah. Again with with my nephew, No, I
remember before he was even super tall. I remember seeing
these feet one time when I visited, and I was
just like, what in the world it's going on down there, buddy? Yeah,
(27:46):
you just had these huge, huge feet and then the
body catches up and then you lose that clumsiness and
you're like, Okay, everything's all proportioned now. Um, your chin
is gonna get a little longer, your face is changing shape,
your nose thickens up. Uh. And these are just like
the physical changes. There's things going on inside your body
as well. Apparently your blood pressure increases. Yeah makes sense. Yeah, Um,
(28:09):
your metabolism decreases some, so you're gonna start to put
on a little more weight. We already talked about. Um,
the you're gonna start getting a little more stinky. And
this is all like the normal course of things. If
you start going through puberty too young, that can be
a problem. Um, Like, if if you're super young and
going through puberty, you might want to see a doctor
(28:31):
because this could mean things problems later in life. It's
called precocious pubescence. No, but it can be caused by
everything from a tumor too well. Yeah, they they it's
not necessarily a medical problem, but they it does suggest
This article suggests that if you do, and the Mayo
(28:53):
Clinic did too, that if you have a really young
kid that's starting to show signs of puberty, you might
want to just point it out to a doctor and
see what they say. Right. I wonder what ages if
I guess of nine is early than anything before nine. Okay.
Another thing that's going to happen with your erections is
you might have uh, wet dreams, nocternal emission, nocturnal emissions,
(29:17):
that's right. And what dreams apparently is like a very
common term. They used it in that nineteen fifties educational film.
Oh yeah, I remember them saying that in my health class.
It sounds like a sequel the porkis or something that,
you know, porkies to wet dreams. Like, yeah, no, internal
emissions is I mean, it just makes sense. That's right,
And that's when stuff right there. Yeah, that one's you.
(29:39):
That means you're you're sleep, you have a dream. Uh
that's sexual in nature. And uh, if it's a full
wet dream, that means you ejaculate in your sleep. And uh,
the first time that happens in your little boy, you
have no idea what's going on. Um, you just wake
up and you're like, what in the world just happened? Right,
But nothing to be ashamed do. Hopefully your parents are
(30:01):
talking to you about this stuff. All very normal part
of the process. Yes, just quietly take the seats off
your bed and tell your parents that you've decided to
start doing your own logary from now on. Exactly. Well.
I was a late bed wedder though, so I didn't
know what the heck was going on. I was just
leaking fluids at night. I had no idea what to do.
That's fantastic. Um. And the erections you're gonna get erections
(30:26):
when the wind blows. Um, you might get erections in
the boys locker room. And they said that is not
a uh indicator of sexual preference. Um. It is also
a very normal thing that happens. Pretty much. Anything can
do that to you, So don't don't worry about that
kind of thing. Again. You really should not base your
(30:50):
worldview and your ideas about what life is going to
be like on the period of puberty, because it is
the weirdest time of your higher life and not just yours,
either of all of your friends, of your teachers, eventually
your little brothers, sisters, your parents, everybody, everybody, the weirdest
(31:12):
time in their life is puberty. It's just a really
odd experience. All right, you want to take another break?
Why not? Man? All right, we'll talk about these puberty
hormones when we come back. So, Chuck, we talked about
(31:40):
that little time bomb of a hypothalamus holding the go
at a trope and releasing hormone, and it's just waiting
for the GPR fifty four to come along and trigger
its release and the g n r H gon ada
trope and releasing hormone makes its way to the pituitary gland,
which is a little peace size plan that I think
(32:01):
it was Descartes thought where the soul resided. Yeah, I
think so. He turned out to be wrong. But that
does actually trigger the production of two other important hormones, right, um,
lutinizing hormone and follicle stimulating hormone. And these two things
are that they're kind of like the chemical messengers that
go down to the gonads the testicles and say, start
(32:25):
growing and start producing testosterone and sperm. That's right. This
is the process by which you become able to reproduce.
This is the process by which you grow a mustache.
That's right. Uh f s h um. When it reaches
those testicles and it's follicle stimulating hormone that is going
(32:46):
to cause the growth of what are called uh seminiferous tubules,
and those are the tubes basically where the sperm is
produced and all the stuff is in your body. Again,
it's just like it's waiting on the go sign exactly.
You know. It's like this boy needs to become a man,
all right, we're just waiting for the signal and it's
(33:07):
gonna take sixty eight years and then another thirty to
forty years after that. Right, So with the lutinizing hormone,
that UM goes to the tests and it says, hey,
there's these things called lading cells and they produce androgens,
which are hormones that basically help your development as well,
including testosterone, and they say start producing this. So these
(33:30):
two things go down and you start producing sperm and
testosterone as a result, and the sperm seeks its way
out in any way shape or former can, whether you
like it or not. And then the testosterone just spreads
throughout the body and again it does everything from making
your the bones in your face grow to making your
(33:51):
voice crack like Peter Brady, to making you grow afoot
in a couple of years, UM, to growing mustache. That's right,
not ironically either, because when you did it, when you
were thirteen, you were super cool. You know who was
like the best example of a pubescent boy on television?
(34:12):
I think do you ever watch King of the Hill? Oh? Sure,
remember Joseph. I don't remember Joseph the Dale's son, but
really was John Redcorne son. Yeah, neighbor Bobby's friend Joseph.
He was awesome. He started to go through puberty, he
had like that little mustache. He didn't he get mad
(34:32):
for reasons he couldn't explain, just perfect. He was great.
I was a big fan of Bobby too, of course.
Oh yeah, Oh here's another cool thing. Um. We talk
a lot about the physiological things that happened, the body
actually physically growing, but there's also the mind and psychological
changes that happened. And your brain is developing in such
(34:52):
a way that it's really really neat. You're gonna start
having interest in things that you never thought you had
interest in before. Um. Yeah, not just like riding the
bike down to the creek and teasing the girls. You
start thinking about life and why some people are poor
and other people are rich. Yeah, all sorts of like
(35:14):
kind of deep stuff all of a sudden now attracts
your attention. Yeah, and you you are going to start
kind of thinking about life beyond the three ft in
front of your face, right or summer vacation. Yeah, exactly,
although summer vacation still rules for a while. I don't
need to discount that. No, no no, no, but you're gonna
start thinking about like maybe what do I want to
(35:35):
do with my life? And what kind of career do
I want? Where do I want to go to college?
Like these things naturally to start popping up in your head,
and with that comes a lot of anxiety because I've
never thought about what my places in the world. Right, well,
what if I don't end up being rich? What will
become of me? Then? Yes, you're gonna be confused, You're
(35:57):
gonna be anxious. Um, you're also I'm gonna find that
you're attracted to other people. That Yeah, that's when those
first seeds are planted, and that causes anxiety in and
of itself. Do they like me? Am I good looking?
What is good looking? What do I look? Dumb? Walking?
Right now? Right? What is walking? Is my stash coming
(36:18):
in thick enough? What is a statue? Yeah? And you
just but it's true, like when when your brain is
bathed in androgens for the first time, they find that
not only does it restructure and reorganize the way you think,
which is why all of a sudden you're starting to
think about deeper stuff and into the future and everything,
but also the way it worked already changes. So this
(36:41):
reward pathway that used to get you to go eat
more blow pops because they're so great. Um, all of
a sudden is now concentrating on finding a date. So
you're you're what you place value on changes and let's
be because your brain is literally saying like, go do
(37:02):
this because this is gonna feel great. Yeah. I definitely
even remember when self awareness sort of kicked in. You know,
when you didn't just walk by a mirror all of
a sudden you looked at it and you're like, well,
this is what I look like? Is that is am
I handsome? Do I look funny? Uh? I just kind
of short? Is that a bad thing? Um? Yeah, it's
(37:23):
self awareness is the best way to describe it. And
as a result of this, depression can sid in. Sure,
there's such thing as pubescent depression, which yeah, and it
is in many ways. It's a very natural result of
starting to question things and realizing you don't have all
the answers and it's just things getting more complex. Yeah,
that's why it's it's very important for parents to have
(37:44):
a to try to have a good line of communication
as possible, but it's going to be even more difficult
because there may be possibility that you're pubescent boy didn't
want anything to do with you at this point. Yeah,
there may be a chance that that's the case. Well
not always though, Um, I was or my nephew. Again,
I hate to keep picking on him, but he's super
(38:05):
close to my brother and my sister in law, and
you know, they have a great relationship. But I'm still
I'm sure there's still some bit of that teenage stuff.
And that's that's a good thing to have to for
the most part. That when the when the boy strikes
out on his own or doesn't want to have anything
to do with you, or all of a sudden, your
car is stupid, so drop me off two blocks from school. Yeah,
(38:28):
that that shows signs of like them forming an independent
spirit or whatever. Yeah, there's nothing wrong with that. You
should encourage that, um and discourage them being little jerks. Thought,
fine line, right, So, UM, as a parent of a
pubescent boy, Um, you you have to give leeway, but
(38:48):
you also have to like curtail behavior that's problematic. Yeah, absolutely, Uh,
And we mentioned depression earlier. Of course, UM, keep an
eye on that kind of stuff. And there's nothing wrong
with having your young boy or girl go get like
talk to a counselor or something. Doesn't mean there's something
(39:08):
wrong with you. It just means you may need a
little outside help. No, shame, no, and chuck. We should
say um because somebody will right in to let us
know if we don't. What we've just described the social
and psychological development of a person that's technically adolescence, and
adolescence is this whole broad change from childhood to adulthood
(39:30):
and actually includes puberty as a component. So puberty is
part of adolescence. Yeah, we've been using them kind of
interchangeably for the last little bit, but yeah, I think
it works. Yeah, I agree, And it can be very
trying to raise an adolescent. Um so hanging their parents.
You went through it too, and before you know it,
you'll all be buddies again. You you have it coming
(39:53):
to you basically for what you did to your period.
Pretty much, all right. I think we should finish with
some pretty interesting, um male puberty rights from different cultures. Yeah,
here in America, when you enter puberty and your boy
your dad just gives you this kind of awkward punch
in the arm and walks away, and I hope you
(40:13):
don't bring it up ever. Again, that's the right of
passage for puberty in America. Yeah, that's kind of what
happened to me. Um. If you're Islamic, your parents are
going to teach their sons um adulthood and basically say
that from the time you have your first ejaculation is
when you are responsible for your own actions. Yeah. I
(40:35):
guess you have a little more leeway before that. Yeah,
makes sense. Um. If you are Jewish, you might have
a bar mitzvah on your thirteenth birthday. Well, whether you
like it or not, you officially are a bar mitzvah,
a son of the Commandment. That's right, um. But there
new traditions have developed where like you do starting at
(40:56):
the synagogue and then your party afterward. But you're just
automatically on your thirdteenth birthday, that's right. Have you? Um?
Do you watch Sharing out Live? Have you ever seen
Jacob the bar mitz a boy? No, it's really cute.
It's uh is it new? No, she's been around for
a while. It's a woman who Vanessa Bear does it though.
She has a little curly wig and a and a
(41:17):
yamaka and sits down low in the chair and the
whole concept of The skid is that she UM is
this awkward bar mits of a boy who can only
read like a prepared speech, and so they'll ask her
questions and she'll just kind of bat her eyes and
then start reading from her prepared speech again, and she's
like a New Yorker and it's it's really very cute
and funny. So Chuck, you know, we did a pretty
(41:39):
good episode on circumcision. Yeah, a male circumcision. We didn't
do female circumcision yet, UM, but in in that episode
we talked mostly about Western circumcision, but and a lot
of cultures, including Malaysia and some parts of South Africa.
UM circumcision is part of the ritual of entering puberty,
(42:01):
so you'll be circumcised when you're like eleven twelve, UM,
and it might be part of a larger ceremony as well.
Like UM. Aborigines in Australia UM perform circumcision at puberty,
but it's also paired with UM what's called a walk about. Yeah,
(42:22):
when they're sent out to walk right, basically they're like,
you go away from us and go learn to hunt
and survive on your own, but first we have UM
to do something to you. Yeah, well they also have
and I was trying to find out how if this
is still done with great regularity. But they also the
Aborigines practice male birth control rituals. So after circumcision, they
(42:46):
will pierce a hole through the base of the penis
put a splinter in there to keep that hole open.
So basically you urinate and ejaculate not through the end
of your penis, but through this hole, which makes it
really hard to reproduce. And uh, I imagine it does
(43:08):
make it hard to reproduce. Yeah, And I don't know
if this is like what the modern Aborigines do or
if it's just an ancient custom. It's like there are
one child policy. Oh maybe so, I guess then when
you pull the splinter out, it heals up enough to
restore reproduct Well, now the splinter is pulled out and
(43:30):
there's a permanent hole there, so then how how do
you reproduce? Well, you plug it up with your finger,
I think compared to that, I'm sure if you're a
Pueblo boy, you're like, oh, I just have to take
an ice bath, let's do it exactly, which is one
of their rituals. Um there's a tribe called the Toro
tribe of Papa Papua New Guinea, and they have um
(43:54):
forced homosexuality as part of the rights of passive for
a boy. What you essentially do is a boy is
paired with an elder man and they ingest semen and
that is part of the ritual to become a man
from a boy with this tribe, so they just drink.
There's no sexual act. There's drinking of sperm. Oh no,
(44:18):
there's it's it's with the sexual act and then later
on you were paired as a man with another boy. Uh.
And that is I mean, it's a tribe of like
thirteen hundred people in Papua New Guinea and they become
a mentor. They believe that in the semen is your
most concentrated life force. So that has passed along to
a boy. I had not heard that one either. Um.
(44:41):
There's a tribe in East Africa where they shaved the
boy's head and then cut them to the bone on
their forehead, three deep horizontal cuts and they have a
scar called a gar and it's a symbol of manhood
lying on aunt beds. The Luceno Indian tribe um when
you become a manure too complete the ceremonial act of
(45:03):
laying on an ant bed and being you know, bitten
and stung by ants without reacting. You just have to
keep like a stone face. Wow, that's one of their rituals. Um.
And they also are given a hallucinogenic drug to exacerbate
it or make it better. You think, No, this is afterward,
I think called tolo kahi, and that's supposed to help
(45:24):
them see visions. Um. I guess it's kind of similar
to the vision quest of the Native American, which is
the thing too. Yeah. So those are some of the
more interesting ones thanks to correct magazine and um, do
you remember I gave up cultural relativism in some respects. Yeah,
but I also it's not really I don't feel like
(45:45):
it's my roller position to persuade other people to feel
one way or the other about something. It's at the individual.
I hear you. I got one more. The the m
A t I s the matisse or madis hunting trials. Uh.
This tribe, it's a Brazilian ribe. Um. When they send
their boys out to become in and hunt for the
first time, they put a bitter poison in their eyes
(46:08):
that's supposed to improve their vision and enhance their senses. Uh.
And if that wasn't enough, there's a series of beatings
and whippings that take place to make you a man.
And then at the end of that they burn an
area of your skin and put this ground up frog
goop um and with a wooden needle. And it's a
(46:29):
poison that's supposed to increase your strength and endurance. So
I guess that Western American like light punched the arm,
we got a pretty good symbolism of all this other stuff.
I'll take that. But it's true boys are treated roughly
and definitely more rougher than girls are around the world. Absolutely,
(46:49):
although I saw some of the girls puberty rituals and
some of those aren't pretty either. Yeah, well we need
to cover that absolutely. We need to do female circum
decision and um, female puberty. I guess agreed. Well, those
will be coming right up, I'm sure. Uh. If you
want to know more about male puberty, you can type
(47:11):
those words in the search bart how stuff works dot com.
And since I said search bar, it's time for a
listener and mail. I'm gonna call this coincidence. We get
a lot of these where people experience coincidence is related
to what they're listening to. Um. And this is from
Andrew and Ohio. He said on December thirte That was
(47:32):
on the way home from work, and as I do
every morning, I'm sorry. On the way to work, I
load you guys up on my phone and I'm taking
to some learning adventure. Today's adventure was how broken bones work.
So I'm listening and thinking, Uh, you guys start talking
about you've never broken a bone before, and I start thinking,
neither of I and you guys both say knock on
wood exactly, and I think I don't need a knock
(47:55):
what it won't happen to me. I get to work,
still listening, walking towards the back of my walking towards
the back of the box in my hand, I trip
on the carpet fall and punched the ground with my
right hand. He broke his pinky bone clean into um,
sort of where the palm of the hand is like
the bone just below the pinky. And he sent me
a picture and it was just snapped like a twig
(48:17):
and the break was so bad I had to have
surgery to put two screws in a plate in to
hold the bone together. As a healed um. As of now,
I'm pretty much held up a whist, some feeling in
the pinky, some range of motion, but I can say
I've got a titanium plate in my hand, so I
feel like it's a trade off forget iron man, I
am titanium plate handman. But she says it's a working name.
(48:38):
So uh, he said, Thanks a lot. Guys. If you
happen to read this, um, please shout out to my
fiance Ali Spence. We're getting married in June and I
couldn't be more excited. So that is Andrew Hall of Wooster, Ohio.
So congratulations Ali, and Andrew, congratulation. Watch where you're going, buddy. Yeah,
and don't tempt fate man. Nope, I don't need to knock.
(49:00):
Would look what happened. If you want to let us
know how superstition bit you, we want to hear about it.
You can tweet to us at s Y s K podcast.
You can join us on Facebook dot com, slash stuff
you Should Know. You can send us an email to
Stuff Podcast at how Stuff Works dot com, and as always,
joined us at at home on the web Stuff you
(49:21):
Should Know dot com for more on this and thousands
of other topics. Visit how stuff works dot com.
Welcome to Stuff you Should Know from House Stuff Works
dot com. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark,
This Charles W. Chuck Bryant. Jerry's over there, which I
don't know if Jerry should be in here for this one.
Why not. We're talking male puberty. You and I we're
(00:23):
putting on our health class faces. Both of us got
crew cuts for this one. You're wearing a whistle around
your neck. I'm wearing knee socks and joys. Yeah. I
was taught because I was raised in a pretty conservative
Southern Baptist home. I was taught this stuff by my
(00:43):
uh preacher. Nope, they didn't talk about this stuff. That's
my point. I was taught in health class. Yeah, um,
by my pe teacher. This lady who seemed to struggle
with teaching boys about puberty. I can I can't really
blame her. She tried her best, but this is you know,
(01:03):
when the pe teachers had to teach health as well,
and I don't think that she got into that profession
to teach health. She she was like, I like coaching volleyball,
but um, I don't like teaching boys about puberty. She
seemed very uncomfortable. It comes with the job. Lady t s. Well,
if you are a Jim coach and you're teaching a
health class right now and you're using us to teach
(01:27):
for you, you you owe some money. Agreed. So we are.
We're doing a great job so far, if you ask me,
I think so. And this is you know, I think
we have a responsibility because I was raised in that
thing where like, you know, my parents didn't teach me
this stuff. So I think it's important the kids. Uh,
puberty is tough. I mean like it's important to normalize
(01:50):
it and that kids know that these changes are happening
and what they mean and healthy functions. You know. I
think this is a bit of a service. It was,
it is, it is. Yes, I was talking like we'd
already finished finished, and this this article, by the way,
it was written by the great Tom Sheath, did a
(02:11):
wonderful job. Chuck. Yes, did you know that over the
last like hundred and fifty years, um, the average age
of puberty in girls has dropped by like five or
six years. Yeah, so in eighteen sixty the average age
of monarchy, oh yeah, yeah, sixteen point six years old.
(02:37):
That's pretty late. In two it was ten point five
years old. It seems young, right, and everybody's like, what's
going on? It's probably the milk, like there's some horrible
stuff going on, or they're saying, what's monarchy, Well, manarchy
is the onset of menstruach for the first time in
a girl. I think that came up in our totem Pole.
(02:59):
It was a long time ago. Um, so this on
side of monarchy has decreased by a lot and a
lot of people are alarmed by it. But there are
some evolutionary biologists out there who are saying, actually, settle down.
We think that this is closer to the normal time
when puberty should come on, and that like sixteen points
(03:21):
six is way delayed, and it was actually a relic,
a remnant of changes that were brought about by a
transition to agriculture. The result of higher infections and poor
nutrition led to a later onset of monarchy. Well, it's
pretty it's easy to say, well, the girls start puberty
(03:41):
here and boys it's not quite as defined, but they
think that probably boys age of onset for puberty has
gone back to as well. Yeah, so it's uh, we're
going through puberty younger as young boys as well. Yeah,
so even though it is very difficult to say this
is and a boy starts puberty, that didn't stop some research,
(04:03):
just especially a guy named Richard Tanner from trying. He
came up with the Tanner scale. It is a scale
of one to five and Roman numerals, and it's all
based on the growth of your genitalia and pubic hair. Interesting,
and it's it's it's not completely subjective, but it's pretty subjective. Yeah.
(04:24):
And you might have heard of the Tanner scale by
seeing the posters in restaurants all around the country. Yes,
right next to the employees must wash hands before returning
to works exactly. All right, So we're talking about puberty,
which is that transition um that all kids go through.
We're talking about male puberty of course, in this case,
just male puberty and this one yea, even though I
(04:45):
already talked about female puberty. Well, we should probably tackle
female puberty at some point um. For for little boys,
they generally, like you said, the time has shifted perhaps,
but right now between the ages of nine in eighteen
is when it starts through completion generally typically typically you
(05:06):
can start earlier, it can go later, it can follow
different courses. Sure, it moves at different speeds and different guys. Yes,
And I'm gonna say this a few times. If you
are a boy out there and you're going through your
changes in puberty at different rates than your friends, that
is okay. Yeah, you're not a weirdo instincts, but it
(05:27):
is very normal, that's right. And you just may you've
heard of the term late bloomer. You may just be
a late bloomer, and that's okay because you will bloom
well and you might not even be a late bloomer
except for this month right next month. But it's kind
of like you know that horse race that you can
do with the spraying the Yeah, you squirt the water
in the hole in the horse's gap exactly, and they
(05:48):
kind of moved back and forth. That's a lot like puberty. Yeah, Like,
once you've really got a bead on that water gun,
that's when the horse really starts moving. But practice all
you want. You can squirt water and where, and it's
not going to help accelerate your puberty, that's right, all right, So, uh,
what happens the beginning of puberty, no matter when it starts,
(06:09):
is going to get kicked off when a substance called
ganado tropin is released. Um, I'm sorry, Canada. Tropin releasing
hormone is released in the body. G n r H.
That's the big that's the one that starts at all.
That's right. And apparently you have that stuff in your hypothalamus. Yeah,
(06:29):
You've got all these things hormones in your body, just waiting,
waiting the coming one another, like nitro glycerin coming together basically,
so you've got g n r H and your hypothalamus
and apparently it has to move to the pituitary gland
for things to get triggered. So puberty is like a
Rube Goldberg esque process. Yeah. So, um, it takes something
(06:54):
called g p R fifty four, which is another hormone,
to coming contact with ganada trope and releasing hormone, and
then all of a sudden things start up and that
actually brew when that process happens. That's called gody. Oh really, yes, interesting.
(07:14):
I think the reason monarchy was such a funny word
to me back when we recorded that. I figured it
out all these years later because it sounds like malarkey. Yeah,
which is just a funny word to me, because no
one says malarkey, but I think it's a great word.
So monarchy and malarkey is just a little too close
for my taste to keep me from laughing, you know.
All Right, So the stages of puberty, they're generally five, um,
(07:39):
and they overlap and it's one just big awkward mess.
But you can kind of break it down into five stages.
The first one is gonna begin, like we said, around
nine or ten years old. Um, nine is a little early.
Ten is um what they would consider normal. I guess
sometimes it might happen as late as twelve to get
(08:00):
things going, which by which time you're like, come on
right start. I'll just remember being in school and some
kids were like a foot taller than other ones, like
my buddy Jim, I said, you know, like he had
a mustache when he was like thirteen. Yeah, I know.
I had a friend like that in third grade. Yeah.
It's crazy. Um. So again, different timetables for everybody, and
(08:20):
it's all okay. Uh So when this g n r
H is released in stage one, your testicles are going
to start to mature and grow, uh, your body, your height,
You're gonna start growing at about two inches per year
at this point, which is pretty significant. Yeah, yeah, for sure,
growing two inches in a year. When's the last time
(08:42):
you did that? I guess probably when I was like twelve, probably,
although I never hit one of those growth spurts like
a lot of uh no did you? Yeah here there
really Yeah, I don't really just slow and steady wins
the race. Yeah, I don't remember any Like I remember
some of my friends that had um like they're owns
would hurt and they would actually have those growing pains.
(09:02):
I never had that. Yeah, yeah, no, it wasn't. Yeah,
but I remember coming back from the summer and a
kid would have grown like six inches it seems like
in several months. Then it would just blew my mind
because I was and like I was a late bloomer
and like drank wine from a deer skin. Now a yeah,
so your testicles are growing, and because your testicles are growing,
(09:26):
that means their house, the scrotum is also growing. And
all this is because that go and add a chopin
releasing hormone started up. That's right, And it's no um
accident that it starts with gonad of course, it's all
linked um. So um, your your testicles are growing and
maturing at this point, but you're not able to reproduce
(09:47):
just yet, No way, No, that comes with a little later.
And I had a question like, why aren't we born
capable of reproduction? And I thought like I would find
some stuff on it. All I could find was one
single Yahoo Answers question, and everybody was like, what kind
of a stupid question is that? Basically, yeah, I guess
(10:07):
it is kind of a stupid question. But the point
is because you're not capable of taking care of yourself,
therefore you you wouldn't be capable of taking care of baby.
You have to develop socially, psychologically, and physically. Yeah, the
female body probably couldn't handle childbirth either, right, So it
makes sense to not come out of the womb being
(10:28):
capable of sexual reproduction. It makes sense for that to
have to to develop at some point. Sure, agreed. So
they also in stage one, um, you're gonna start getting
a little fine pubic hairs and uh, that's that is
called pew barkie? Is it really? Not kidding? You just
add archie to anything very much. I got your hierarchy.
(10:51):
There's all sorts of things that come about, uh, and
you might start to get your first erections at this point, Um,
you are not gonna have any idea what's going on
with your body. But it's gonna happen unless you take
an advanced health class that like nine years old, um,
or if you have like parents who are comfortable with
talking like this. Yeah, but boys, sometimes you're getting bad information.
(11:15):
Well there's to combat that kind of stuff there where.
There have always been, um, educational films about this kind
of stuff. I found one from the fifties called Everybody
Changes or something like that, and it's basically like a
track and field coach answering questions from the track and
field team like me, who all seem like plants frankly,
(11:36):
and um, I guess still yeah, but it's pretty it's
pretty good our podcast page, yeah for this episode. Al Right,
so that's stage one. You enter stage two around twelve
or thirteen. Your testicles are still a growing, yes, so
that's the thing, and um, they they grow faster and
(12:00):
most prominently first. That's like the sign that you're in Puberta.
Everything else might not be happening, but your testicles are
probably growing pretty quick before your very eye making a
sound if you're listening closely. I knew we would be
just like two dumb little kids and crew cuts didn't
(12:21):
have any effect. Um, and this means you're gonna be
producing testosterone as well, which is gonna make you crazy
as well. Um, you're gonna start to grow quicker and
height two to three inches a year. And one of
the reasons why chuck is because that testosterone is being produced.
So basically, the catatropin releasing hormone sources chain reaction and
(12:43):
it leads down to your testicles, and it basically says,
start producing testosterone, and then that floods the body and
has all sorts of crazy effects. But one of them
is your bone cells have testosterone receptors and they grow
in the presence of testosterone, So all of a sudden,
they're being flooded with testosterone, which is why you grow
(13:03):
so quickly while you under growth. Person, it's because of
the testosterone having the impact on your bones. Um. And finally,
in stage two, those fine pubic hares are going to start,
as my gym teacher said, to become of course, and
curly and darker. Um, you're going to get more erections,
(13:25):
more frequently, and your body is just gonna start to
become a little leaner you're gonna start to look, um,
a little more like an adult. Um, like a tiny adult. Yeah,
which is funny. You know, by the end of the
fifth stage, they said, at this point you look like
a man. Your shoulders are broad. But you know, you
look back on your high school pictures and you're like,
I look like a little baby. Like I didn't start
(13:45):
looking like a man until I was in my thirties. Right,
But compared to like your six year old self, exactly,
you resemble the male physique more than before. Absolutely, third
stage of puberty for boys is gonna be thirteen or fourteen. Um,
You're pubic hair is gonna get even darker and more full.
It's about the pubic hare. Well, it's a big change,
(14:05):
you know. Well it's part of the Tanner scale. That's
why it's so um, it's very recognizable, that's right, that's
why it's on the poster and olive garden. Uh. Your
penis at this point is going to start to grow
in linked uh. And of course all the while your
testicles are still growing, You're getting more and more erections,
(14:25):
and your height is gonna grow at about three inches
per year at this point. And then your voice is
gonna start cracking, which is super interesting. I know you
dug up exactly what's going on there with your voice cracking? Yeah,
it's really interesting. Um So, remember testosterone makes stuff grow, basically,
and one of the things that it makes grow is
your vocal cords, right, which are basically two um cartilaginous
(14:50):
bands that go over your trick ya your windpipe, so
that when air passes through your lungs past the the
your vocal cords, it makes them vibrate. And that vibration
is what your voices, that creates your voice. When you're
a younger kid and your vocal cords are still small,
they can vibrate, vibrate a really fast frequency, like say
(15:11):
two vibrations per second because they're smaller, right, But as
they grow in the presence of testosterone, they grow bigger
and thicker. They can't vibrate quite as fast, so they
might go down to like a hundred and thirty vibrations
a second. Well, that's a lower frequency, which eventually leads
to a deeper voice. It's like a guitar string. The
(15:32):
thicker guitar string is lower perfect analogy, that's exactly right, right.
Another thing that happens which creeps me out to no end.
But it it's part of it is your voice box,
that part of the the the top of your trachea
that holds your vocal cords grows in size and tilts forward.
And my friend, you have an atoms apple after that. Yeah,
(15:55):
not always. Um well, I mean you, some are more
prominent than other. Yeah, you know, it depends on like
the shape and structure of your next But even if
you can't see it, if you just kind of rub
your finger up and down from your chin to your chest,
it's in there. You're gonna feel your atoms apple. But
it's so creepy to me. It's kind of like it
produces the same emotional state as thinking about peeling a
(16:19):
fingernail back. Yeah, that's what atoms apples due to make interesting.
Like just the thought of my atoms apple. I don't
even like to touch it, but I can't stop, so
so odd. Wow that is odd. Yeah, but anyway, that's
your atoms apple, and that's why your voice changes. Um.
It goes from growing from very small to growing large
(16:41):
and it deepens. One of the other things too, Chuck,
I thought this one was really cool. The testosterone in
your skull, the facial bones. Yeah. So you know, testosterone
causes your bones to grow. That includes your facial bones
as well. And as they grow, UM, your sinuses grow.
So that means that there's more empty space for your
voice to resonate in, which also makes it deeper. Yeah,
(17:01):
And they don't know, UM evolutionarily exactly why. But the
theory is, which makes perfect sense to me, is that
UM one to attract women or to intimidate other men
with that deep voice, which or just a signal I've arrived,
don't you hear my voice? Yeah, which sounds totally different
than when you say, right voice, Yeah, you haven't arrived. Uh.
(17:27):
So that's in stage three. UM, stage four, around fourteen
or fifteen, you're gonna start getting that armpit hair. You're
gonna start maybe getting a little facial hair. Although I
didn't get facial hair until quite a bit later, and
I don't even remember when I got it. I think,
I mean, I wasn't shaving, and I just can't get
rid of it. I know, look at me, I look
like Fidel Castro, especially when you wear that hat, the
(17:51):
Castro hat. Yeah, it's weird. Um. Your pubic hair is
gonna get more coarse, your voice is gonna drop even
deeper and you're gonna start to get acne. Yeah, which
is really sad. Well that's part of the result of
um seem Yeah. We did a great podcast on acne. Yeah,
we did, and uh, look this up even September two
(18:13):
thousand eleven. The comito, which is Latin for worm, that's
the stuff that you squeeze out of the center. Yeah,
I mean, should we discover what acne is real quick?
That build up of seebum, that oil, which is necessary
the water prouc your skin. Yeah, but you overproduce it
during puberty. Yeah. Plus you're also sloughing off skin cells
at a crazy rate. Yeah, that's a recipe for disaster.
(18:34):
All of those things are trying to exit through pores
and hair follicles and they can't always make it. So
when it gets built up, it blocks. It goes through
the three stooges syndrome and trying to get through the
door at the same time. Right, and then uh, certain
types of bacteria acne bacteria come in and infect it
and it swells and then you have a pimple. That's right,
(18:57):
that's all there is to it. It's fine and Tom
actually goes to the trouble of providing some advice on
what to do with it. And it's great advice because
you think you might want to scrub it to death
and use every super drying um product you can find
with a scouring pad. That's the exact opposite what you
want to do. Yeah, because that that can make it worse.
(19:19):
You want to gently wash your face or your shoulders
or your back or whatever or everything a couple of
times a day, keep it clean, which is a problem
because young boys aren't known for loving showers at this point. No, no,
But if this is a thing to you and it's
bothering you, then go to the trouble of doing something
about it. It's pretty simple and straightforward. Just wash your
(19:40):
face gently with just lightly a couple of times a
day and that's it, um, And don't overdo it because
that just irritates it even more. It makes your face
so mad. Yeah, that showering thing is so funny to me.
In our buddy Mark Farley from the TV show played
Clint Kinking Beard Can't Kinking Beard Um said that he
(20:01):
had a Facebook post the other day about trying to
get his son to take a shower. It was just
like marching him to the you know, to the firing
squad or something. I remember that age was like, now
I don't want to take a shower. I don't want
to do anything. But now like the shower is the
best part of the day, you know, Yeah, it's nice.
I still hate taking showers the process of it. I'm like,
(20:22):
I'd rather be doing anything else. Then afterward, I'm like, man,
I love showers. Interesting, it's just like going to the
trouble of taking it. It's just bothers. Well, sometimes I'll
do that. Uh, have that thing around it. Just don't
want to be wet. Yeah, that's another one too. So
I want in the wintertime, you don't want to be
you know, you're gonna be cold. Good point. And at
(20:42):
the end of stage four um euro Penis. At this
point we'll start to grow thicker and continue to grow longer.
But again, guys, this isn't happening at the rate that
you would like. Uh, don't worry about it. Just hanging there,
just hanging in there. You'll you'll be okay, you'll be fine.
And they been doing this for hundreds of thousands of years,
(21:02):
that's right. Uh, And finally stage five M fourteen to eighteen.
You're gonna grow most of your height at this point. Yeah,
although you might grow in your twenties a little bit,
but yeah, but not. This is where you're growing the fastest.
Um you You are growing several inches a year basically,
whereas up to this point you're growing to two to three.
(21:23):
Now you're growing up to maybe five inches in a year.
That's crazy. Yeah, that's quick growth. Yeah. And that's like
when I see my nephew now he's like six one,
he is so tall, it's so weird. Um, he's not weird.
Oh no, no, no, it's weird to see your nephew
like taller than you all of a sudden. Just want
to make sure we clarify that he knows he's not weird. Um.
(21:43):
Your shoulders are gonna be broader at this point, your
muscles are going to be more fully developed. Uh, you're
gonna have new muscle fibers, You're gonna everything is basically
just getting thicker on your body. Yeah, they call it
filling out. I think again, that's because its testosterone and
all of these other um hormones that you are producing.
You were producing them mainly at night while you slept before,
(22:05):
which is significant that it's released from the hypothalamus because
the hypothalamus also regulates sleep, right, um, so while you're sleeping,
the hypothalamus is like, I guess, keep myself busy by
having some of these new hormones produced. As you go
further along in the stages of puberty, you um actually
(22:26):
are producing them all the time and in vast quantities,
so that that would account for your muscles growing bigger
and your skeleton growing faster than ever, and all this
hair coming out everywhere and growing course and everything. You know. Well,
and that's since you mentioned it, I wasn't gonna bring
it up, but um, your pubic hair in stage five
is going to start to creep all over your body.
(22:48):
It's gonna be in your inner thighs and creeping up
your stomach. You might get chest hair, and you're just
wondering what in the world is happening to me? Um.
So those are the stages and right for this, we
will come back with more on puberty, but not on
public care. No, We've got more on pubic care, more
on both. So Chuck, I've got a little more on
(23:23):
pubic hair. Um. So there's it's kind of an evolutionary
mystery to why we have it um because if you
think about it, it doesn't really do a whole lot
for guys. Doesn't protect anything, It doesn't keep vital stuff warm.
Not really Okay, I thought it would warm stuff up. No,
(23:45):
it's like no, not really, not enough to explain, like
why it's concentrated where it's concentrated, mostly you know what
I mean. So they think probably what's going on is
Number one, it's an outward overt signal that the person
has gone through puberty and is capable of sexual reproduction.
Therefore he is a viable mate. That's one thing that
(24:08):
especially was a big signal when we weren't wearing clothes
back in the day, right um. And then secondly they
think also that is a transmitter of pheromones. Basically that
when you when you enter puberty and you start to
grow armpit hair and pubic hair and just hair everywhere,
you also start to to um open up a new
(24:30):
type of sweat gland, epicrine sweat glands, whereas before you
just smelled like a little angel because you didn't stink,
because you weren't producing weird types of sweat. Once you
go through, um going at archy, all of a sudden
you start to stink and start get the little body
over here and there, right, And even though you don't
want to take a shower, everyone else wants you to
(24:51):
take a shower. So just go take a shower because
you stink, stinking a little teenager, right. And one of
the things that's making you stink is this new sweat
with these new hormones that are come going out. But
also supposedly you're still you're producing pheromones as well, and these, um,
although we don't it's never been proven that humans are
capable of sensing pheromones on other people, they think that
(25:13):
there's a pretty high likelihood we do. And they think
that pubic hair and armpit hair serves just basically big
neon signs for these. Um, these odor molecules that were
not necessarily capable of sensing got you. So thank you
for that, for giving us body odor. Right, all right,
So your body is growing like crazy, growing like a weed.
(25:35):
As they say, um, you are probably going to start
growing taller than girls in your class, who were probably
taller than you before that, because girls typically will grow
um height earlier than boys will, right, I remember lots
of girls that were taller than me through most of
my elementary school. Um, but don't worry, guys, You'll catch up,
(25:56):
and don't worry girls. Yeah, because it's awkward for girls
sometimes to be taller than a boy because all these
weird societal norms, you know, societal norms that are not
only weird but wrong. Of course. Um, when you're an adults,
you realize it really doesn't matter when you are going
through puberty. It is the exact opposite of realizing that
(26:17):
it doesn't matter. Yeah, it seems like it matters a
whole whole lot. Yeah, that is not the case in reality, however,
it's just what you're going through that's right hanging there. Um,
you're also going to be gaining weight between fifteen and
sixty five pounds through puberty. Um, You're extremities are gonna
grow like crazy. That's why teenage boys have these big,
(26:38):
clunky feet and these unwieldy hands, and they don't know
how to operate any of them. Right, That's why there's
like this associated clumsiness with puberty. It's a real thing, totally.
It's not just this um character sketch that people use
for humor, like pe pubescent boys and girls are clumsier
than any other point in their life because their hands
(26:59):
and feet are bigger than the rest of their body.
That and then also if you ask a psychologist why
they're clumsy, um, they will say that in addition to
learning how to use these new bigger hands and feet
and deal with them, you're also acutely aware. You're going
through the most self conscious phase of your entire life.
So you're suddenly having thoughts like do I look weird walking?
(27:22):
And when you stop and think about walking while you're walking, right,
that makes walking really hard. So that to the clumsiness
as well. Yeah. Again with with my nephew, No, I
remember before he was even super tall. I remember seeing
these feet one time when I visited, and I was
just like, what in the world it's going on down there, buddy? Yeah,
(27:46):
you just had these huge, huge feet and then the
body catches up and then you lose that clumsiness and
you're like, Okay, everything's all proportioned now. Um, your chin
is gonna get a little longer, your face is changing shape,
your nose thickens up. Uh. And these are just like
the physical changes. There's things going on inside your body
as well. Apparently your blood pressure increases. Yeah makes sense. Yeah, Um,
(28:09):
your metabolism decreases some, so you're gonna start to put
on a little more weight. We already talked about. Um,
the you're gonna start getting a little more stinky. And
this is all like the normal course of things. If
you start going through puberty too young, that can be
a problem. Um, Like, if if you're super young and
going through puberty, you might want to see a doctor
(28:31):
because this could mean things problems later in life. It's
called precocious pubescence. No, but it can be caused by
everything from a tumor too well. Yeah, they they it's
not necessarily a medical problem, but they it does suggest
This article suggests that if you do, and the Mayo
(28:53):
Clinic did too, that if you have a really young
kid that's starting to show signs of puberty, you might
want to just point it out to a doctor and
see what they say. Right. I wonder what ages if
I guess of nine is early than anything before nine. Okay.
Another thing that's going to happen with your erections is
you might have uh, wet dreams, nocternal emission, nocturnal emissions,
(29:17):
that's right. And what dreams apparently is like a very
common term. They used it in that nineteen fifties educational film.
Oh yeah, I remember them saying that in my health class.
It sounds like a sequel the porkis or something that,
you know, porkies to wet dreams. Like, yeah, no, internal
emissions is I mean, it just makes sense. That's right,
And that's when stuff right there. Yeah, that one's you.
(29:39):
That means you're you're sleep, you have a dream. Uh
that's sexual in nature. And uh, if it's a full
wet dream, that means you ejaculate in your sleep. And uh,
the first time that happens in your little boy, you
have no idea what's going on. Um, you just wake
up and you're like, what in the world just happened? Right,
But nothing to be ashamed do. Hopefully your parents are
(30:01):
talking to you about this stuff. All very normal part
of the process. Yes, just quietly take the seats off
your bed and tell your parents that you've decided to
start doing your own logary from now on. Exactly. Well.
I was a late bed wedder though, so I didn't
know what the heck was going on. I was just
leaking fluids at night. I had no idea what to do.
That's fantastic. Um. And the erections you're gonna get erections
(30:26):
when the wind blows. Um, you might get erections in
the boys locker room. And they said that is not
a uh indicator of sexual preference. Um. It is also
a very normal thing that happens. Pretty much. Anything can
do that to you, So don't don't worry about that
kind of thing. Again. You really should not base your
(30:50):
worldview and your ideas about what life is going to
be like on the period of puberty, because it is
the weirdest time of your higher life and not just yours,
either of all of your friends, of your teachers, eventually
your little brothers, sisters, your parents, everybody, everybody, the weirdest
(31:12):
time in their life is puberty. It's just a really
odd experience. All right, you want to take another break?
Why not? Man? All right, we'll talk about these puberty
hormones when we come back. So, Chuck, we talked about
(31:40):
that little time bomb of a hypothalamus holding the go
at a trope and releasing hormone, and it's just waiting
for the GPR fifty four to come along and trigger
its release and the g n r H gon ada
trope and releasing hormone makes its way to the pituitary gland,
which is a little peace size plan that I think
(32:01):
it was Descartes thought where the soul resided. Yeah, I
think so. He turned out to be wrong. But that
does actually trigger the production of two other important hormones, right, um,
lutinizing hormone and follicle stimulating hormone. And these two things
are that they're kind of like the chemical messengers that
go down to the gonads the testicles and say, start
(32:25):
growing and start producing testosterone and sperm. That's right. This
is the process by which you become able to reproduce.
This is the process by which you grow a mustache.
That's right. Uh f s h um. When it reaches
those testicles and it's follicle stimulating hormone that is going
(32:46):
to cause the growth of what are called uh seminiferous tubules,
and those are the tubes basically where the sperm is
produced and all the stuff is in your body. Again,
it's just like it's waiting on the go sign exactly.
You know. It's like this boy needs to become a man,
all right, we're just waiting for the signal and it's
(33:07):
gonna take sixty eight years and then another thirty to
forty years after that. Right, So with the lutinizing hormone,
that UM goes to the tests and it says, hey,
there's these things called lading cells and they produce androgens,
which are hormones that basically help your development as well,
including testosterone, and they say start producing this. So these
(33:30):
two things go down and you start producing sperm and
testosterone as a result, and the sperm seeks its way
out in any way shape or former can, whether you
like it or not. And then the testosterone just spreads
throughout the body and again it does everything from making
your the bones in your face grow to making your
(33:51):
voice crack like Peter Brady, to making you grow afoot
in a couple of years, UM, to growing mustache. That's right,
not ironically either, because when you did it, when you
were thirteen, you were super cool. You know who was
like the best example of a pubescent boy on television?
(34:12):
I think do you ever watch King of the Hill? Oh? Sure,
remember Joseph. I don't remember Joseph the Dale's son, but
really was John Redcorne son. Yeah, neighbor Bobby's friend Joseph.
He was awesome. He started to go through puberty, he
had like that little mustache. He didn't he get mad
(34:32):
for reasons he couldn't explain, just perfect. He was great.
I was a big fan of Bobby too, of course.
Oh yeah, Oh here's another cool thing. Um. We talk
a lot about the physiological things that happened, the body
actually physically growing, but there's also the mind and psychological
changes that happened. And your brain is developing in such
(34:52):
a way that it's really really neat. You're gonna start
having interest in things that you never thought you had
interest in before. Um. Yeah, not just like riding the
bike down to the creek and teasing the girls. You
start thinking about life and why some people are poor
and other people are rich. Yeah, all sorts of like
(35:14):
kind of deep stuff all of a sudden now attracts
your attention. Yeah, and you you are going to start
kind of thinking about life beyond the three ft in
front of your face, right or summer vacation. Yeah, exactly,
although summer vacation still rules for a while. I don't
need to discount that. No, no no, no, but you're gonna
start thinking about like maybe what do I want to
(35:35):
do with my life? And what kind of career do
I want? Where do I want to go to college?
Like these things naturally to start popping up in your head,
and with that comes a lot of anxiety because I've
never thought about what my places in the world. Right, well,
what if I don't end up being rich? What will
become of me? Then? Yes, you're gonna be confused, You're
(35:57):
gonna be anxious. Um, you're also I'm gonna find that
you're attracted to other people. That Yeah, that's when those
first seeds are planted, and that causes anxiety in and
of itself. Do they like me? Am I good looking?
What is good looking? What do I look? Dumb? Walking?
Right now? Right? What is walking? Is my stash coming
(36:18):
in thick enough? What is a statue? Yeah? And you
just but it's true, like when when your brain is
bathed in androgens for the first time, they find that
not only does it restructure and reorganize the way you think,
which is why all of a sudden you're starting to
think about deeper stuff and into the future and everything,
but also the way it worked already changes. So this
(36:41):
reward pathway that used to get you to go eat
more blow pops because they're so great. Um, all of
a sudden is now concentrating on finding a date. So
you're you're what you place value on changes and let's
be because your brain is literally saying like, go do
(37:02):
this because this is gonna feel great. Yeah. I definitely
even remember when self awareness sort of kicked in. You know,
when you didn't just walk by a mirror all of
a sudden you looked at it and you're like, well,
this is what I look like? Is that is am
I handsome? Do I look funny? Uh? I just kind
of short? Is that a bad thing? Um? Yeah, it's
(37:23):
self awareness is the best way to describe it. And
as a result of this, depression can sid in. Sure,
there's such thing as pubescent depression, which yeah, and it
is in many ways. It's a very natural result of
starting to question things and realizing you don't have all
the answers and it's just things getting more complex. Yeah,
that's why it's it's very important for parents to have
(37:44):
a to try to have a good line of communication
as possible, but it's going to be even more difficult
because there may be possibility that you're pubescent boy didn't
want anything to do with you at this point. Yeah,
there may be a chance that that's the case. Well
not always though, Um, I was or my nephew. Again,
I hate to keep picking on him, but he's super
(38:05):
close to my brother and my sister in law, and
you know, they have a great relationship. But I'm still
I'm sure there's still some bit of that teenage stuff.
And that's that's a good thing to have to for
the most part. That when the when the boy strikes
out on his own or doesn't want to have anything
to do with you, or all of a sudden, your
car is stupid, so drop me off two blocks from school. Yeah,
(38:28):
that that shows signs of like them forming an independent
spirit or whatever. Yeah, there's nothing wrong with that. You
should encourage that, um and discourage them being little jerks. Thought,
fine line, right, So, UM, as a parent of a
pubescent boy, Um, you you have to give leeway, but
(38:48):
you also have to like curtail behavior that's problematic. Yeah, absolutely, Uh,
And we mentioned depression earlier. Of course, UM, keep an
eye on that kind of stuff. And there's nothing wrong
with having your young boy or girl go get like
talk to a counselor or something. Doesn't mean there's something
(39:08):
wrong with you. It just means you may need a
little outside help. No, shame, no, and chuck. We should
say um because somebody will right in to let us
know if we don't. What we've just described the social
and psychological development of a person that's technically adolescence, and
adolescence is this whole broad change from childhood to adulthood
(39:30):
and actually includes puberty as a component. So puberty is
part of adolescence. Yeah, we've been using them kind of
interchangeably for the last little bit, but yeah, I think
it works. Yeah, I agree, And it can be very
trying to raise an adolescent. Um so hanging their parents.
You went through it too, and before you know it,
you'll all be buddies again. You you have it coming
(39:53):
to you basically for what you did to your period.
Pretty much, all right. I think we should finish with
some pretty interesting, um male puberty rights from different cultures. Yeah,
here in America, when you enter puberty and your boy
your dad just gives you this kind of awkward punch
in the arm and walks away, and I hope you
(40:13):
don't bring it up ever. Again, that's the right of
passage for puberty in America. Yeah, that's kind of what
happened to me. Um. If you're Islamic, your parents are
going to teach their sons um adulthood and basically say
that from the time you have your first ejaculation is
when you are responsible for your own actions. Yeah. I
(40:35):
guess you have a little more leeway before that. Yeah,
makes sense. Um. If you are Jewish, you might have
a bar mitzvah on your thirteenth birthday. Well, whether you
like it or not, you officially are a bar mitzvah,
a son of the Commandment. That's right, um. But there
new traditions have developed where like you do starting at
(40:56):
the synagogue and then your party afterward. But you're just
automatically on your thirdteenth birthday, that's right. Have you? Um?
Do you watch Sharing out Live? Have you ever seen
Jacob the bar mitz a boy? No, it's really cute.
It's uh is it new? No, she's been around for
a while. It's a woman who Vanessa Bear does it though.
She has a little curly wig and a and a
(41:17):
yamaka and sits down low in the chair and the
whole concept of The skid is that she UM is
this awkward bar mits of a boy who can only
read like a prepared speech, and so they'll ask her
questions and she'll just kind of bat her eyes and
then start reading from her prepared speech again, and she's
like a New Yorker and it's it's really very cute
and funny. So Chuck, you know, we did a pretty
(41:39):
good episode on circumcision. Yeah, a male circumcision. We didn't
do female circumcision yet, UM, but in in that episode
we talked mostly about Western circumcision, but and a lot
of cultures, including Malaysia and some parts of South Africa.
UM circumcision is part of the ritual of entering puberty,
(42:01):
so you'll be circumcised when you're like eleven twelve, UM,
and it might be part of a larger ceremony as well.
Like UM. Aborigines in Australia UM perform circumcision at puberty,
but it's also paired with UM what's called a walk about. Yeah,
(42:22):
when they're sent out to walk right, basically they're like,
you go away from us and go learn to hunt
and survive on your own, but first we have UM
to do something to you. Yeah, well they also have
and I was trying to find out how if this
is still done with great regularity. But they also the
Aborigines practice male birth control rituals. So after circumcision, they
(42:46):
will pierce a hole through the base of the penis
put a splinter in there to keep that hole open.
So basically you urinate and ejaculate not through the end
of your penis, but through this hole, which makes it
really hard to reproduce. And uh, I imagine it does
(43:08):
make it hard to reproduce. Yeah, And I don't know
if this is like what the modern Aborigines do or
if it's just an ancient custom. It's like there are
one child policy. Oh maybe so, I guess then when
you pull the splinter out, it heals up enough to
restore reproduct Well, now the splinter is pulled out and
(43:30):
there's a permanent hole there, so then how how do
you reproduce? Well, you plug it up with your finger,
I think compared to that, I'm sure if you're a
Pueblo boy, you're like, oh, I just have to take
an ice bath, let's do it exactly, which is one
of their rituals. Um there's a tribe called the Toro
tribe of Papa Papua New Guinea, and they have um
(43:54):
forced homosexuality as part of the rights of passive for
a boy. What you essentially do is a boy is
paired with an elder man and they ingest semen and
that is part of the ritual to become a man
from a boy with this tribe, so they just drink.
There's no sexual act. There's drinking of sperm. Oh no,
(44:18):
there's it's it's with the sexual act and then later
on you were paired as a man with another boy. Uh.
And that is I mean, it's a tribe of like
thirteen hundred people in Papua New Guinea and they become
a mentor. They believe that in the semen is your
most concentrated life force. So that has passed along to
a boy. I had not heard that one either. Um.
(44:41):
There's a tribe in East Africa where they shaved the
boy's head and then cut them to the bone on
their forehead, three deep horizontal cuts and they have a
scar called a gar and it's a symbol of manhood
lying on aunt beds. The Luceno Indian tribe um when
you become a manure too complete the ceremonial act of
(45:03):
laying on an ant bed and being you know, bitten
and stung by ants without reacting. You just have to
keep like a stone face. Wow, that's one of their rituals. Um.
And they also are given a hallucinogenic drug to exacerbate
it or make it better. You think, No, this is afterward,
I think called tolo kahi, and that's supposed to help
(45:24):
them see visions. Um. I guess it's kind of similar
to the vision quest of the Native American, which is
the thing too. Yeah. So those are some of the
more interesting ones thanks to correct magazine and um, do
you remember I gave up cultural relativism in some respects. Yeah,
but I also it's not really I don't feel like
(45:45):
it's my roller position to persuade other people to feel
one way or the other about something. It's at the individual.
I hear you. I got one more. The the m
A t I s the matisse or madis hunting trials. Uh.
This tribe, it's a Brazilian ribe. Um. When they send
their boys out to become in and hunt for the
first time, they put a bitter poison in their eyes
(46:08):
that's supposed to improve their vision and enhance their senses. Uh.
And if that wasn't enough, there's a series of beatings
and whippings that take place to make you a man.
And then at the end of that they burn an
area of your skin and put this ground up frog
goop um and with a wooden needle. And it's a
(46:29):
poison that's supposed to increase your strength and endurance. So
I guess that Western American like light punched the arm,
we got a pretty good symbolism of all this other stuff.
I'll take that. But it's true boys are treated roughly
and definitely more rougher than girls are around the world. Absolutely,
(46:49):
although I saw some of the girls puberty rituals and
some of those aren't pretty either. Yeah, well we need
to cover that absolutely. We need to do female circum
decision and um, female puberty. I guess agreed. Well, those
will be coming right up, I'm sure. Uh. If you
want to know more about male puberty, you can type
(47:11):
those words in the search bart how stuff works dot com.
And since I said search bar, it's time for a
listener and mail. I'm gonna call this coincidence. We get
a lot of these where people experience coincidence is related
to what they're listening to. Um. And this is from
Andrew and Ohio. He said on December thirte That was
(47:32):
on the way home from work, and as I do
every morning, I'm sorry. On the way to work, I
load you guys up on my phone and I'm taking
to some learning adventure. Today's adventure was how broken bones work.
So I'm listening and thinking, Uh, you guys start talking
about you've never broken a bone before, and I start thinking,
neither of I and you guys both say knock on
wood exactly, and I think I don't need a knock
(47:55):
what it won't happen to me. I get to work,
still listening, walking towards the back of my walking towards
the back of the box in my hand, I trip
on the carpet fall and punched the ground with my
right hand. He broke his pinky bone clean into um,
sort of where the palm of the hand is like
the bone just below the pinky. And he sent me
a picture and it was just snapped like a twig
(48:17):
and the break was so bad I had to have
surgery to put two screws in a plate in to
hold the bone together. As a healed um. As of now,
I'm pretty much held up a whist, some feeling in
the pinky, some range of motion, but I can say
I've got a titanium plate in my hand, so I
feel like it's a trade off forget iron man, I
am titanium plate handman. But she says it's a working name.
(48:38):
So uh, he said, Thanks a lot. Guys. If you
happen to read this, um, please shout out to my
fiance Ali Spence. We're getting married in June and I
couldn't be more excited. So that is Andrew Hall of Wooster, Ohio.
So congratulations Ali, and Andrew, congratulation. Watch where you're going, buddy. Yeah,
and don't tempt fate man. Nope, I don't need to knock.
(49:00):
Would look what happened. If you want to let us
know how superstition bit you, we want to hear about it.
You can tweet to us at s Y s K podcast.
You can join us on Facebook dot com, slash stuff
you Should Know. You can send us an email to
Stuff Podcast at how Stuff Works dot com, and as always,
joined us at at home on the web Stuff you
(49:21):
Should Know dot com for more on this and thousands
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