So what you're saying is that some woman who was born old and is getting younger is cutting penises off men, possibly for occult purposes? At least we'll be free of this menace by 2040.
I think that if we apply Occam's Razor to this situation, we'll find that Wolfson's solution is simpler than the outlandish idea that there are two Vietnamese women named "Kim Tran."
Even in the case of a clean cut, surgeons often remove some tissue to shorten the appendage.... In situations where significant shortening is undesirable, vein grafts from other parts of the body can provide some leeway.
Is every other guy now also sitting with legs crossed?
Yeesh.
A deal on the TV mentioned that when performing sex change from male to female they keep the scrotal tissue for use as the vagina. They need to scrape it pretty thin first.
Ahem. You gotta really want it to do something like that.
'It just strikes me as deeply disturbing that there are well-known, time-tested techniques for penis reattachment.'
there was a very well known case in which the doctor, who it turned out was drunk at the time, reattached the penis to the wrong patient who IIRC was in for a gall bladder operation.
Did you remember the old case, or what?
Posted by ogged | Link to this comment | 02-23-05 10:00 AM
So what you're saying is that some woman who was born old and is getting younger is cutting penises off men, possibly for occult purposes? At least we'll be free of this menace by 2040.
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 02-23-05 10:01 AM
Or longer, since I see she was 38 in 1997 and now, 8 years later, is only 35. Perhaps she needs the penises to slow the youthening process.
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 02-23-05 10:02 AM
I discovered an amazing web tool that substitutes for memory.
Posted by Bob | Link to this comment | 02-23-05 10:03 AM
Hmmmm, Vancouver, then Alaska. Could the "35-year-old" be a typo and she is 45 years old?
On the other hand Kim Tran seems to be a pretty common name.
Posted by Tripp | Link to this comment | 02-23-05 10:05 AM
Perhaps she needs the penises to slow the youthening process.
Watch out boys. We know the secret now!
Posted by profgrrrrl | Link to this comment | 02-23-05 10:07 AM
I'm now noticing that some sites say she's 35-y.o., some say 33-y.o.
Posted by Bob | Link to this comment | 02-23-05 10:09 AM
Lots of details in the local paper, including that the guy was married to Tran's aunt. Name unknown.
Posted by ogged | Link to this comment | 02-23-05 10:17 AM
Holy shit!
Regarding the B.C. Tran:
But wait!
Posted by ogged | Link to this comment | 02-23-05 10:21 AM
I think that if we apply Occam's Razor to this situation, we'll find that Wolfson's solution is simpler than the outlandish idea that there are two Vietnamese women named "Kim Tran."
Posted by Adam Kotsko | Link to this comment | 02-23-05 10:26 AM
Scissors do not sound like a very effective method. This whole topic is pretty creepy.
Posted by profgrrrrl | Link to this comment | 02-23-05 10:43 AM
Slate takes up reattachment questions.
Posted by ogged | Link to this comment | 02-23-05 11:10 AM
My favorite part of the Slate piece:
Posted by Bob | Link to this comment | 02-23-05 11:14 AM
You liked that better than this part? --
"When veins can't be sewn up right away, surgeons apply live leeches. A single leech can suck up 10 cubic centimeters of blood from a severed penis"
Posted by textualist | Link to this comment | 02-23-05 12:10 PM
I wish Kotsko hadn't cited Occam's Razor.
Posted by Matt Weiner | Link to this comment | 02-23-05 12:11 PM
So that's why they call 'em trannies...
Posted by Tete Dur | Link to this comment | 02-23-05 12:13 PM
Is every other guy now also sitting with legs crossed?
Yeesh.
A deal on the TV mentioned that when performing sex change from male to female they keep the scrotal tissue for use as the vagina. They need to scrape it pretty thin first.
Ahem. You gotta really want it to do something like that.
Posted by Tripp | Link to this comment | 02-23-05 12:35 PM
Though you should read the chapter of Pynchon's V. entitled "In which Esther gets a nose job" sometime. Rough stuff.
Posted by Matt Weiner | Link to this comment | 02-23-05 12:39 PM
Hey, there's a sequence of Soft Machine songs called "Esther's Nose Job".
Posted by ben wolfson | Link to this comment | 02-23-05 12:42 PM
It just strikes me as deeply disturbing that there are well-known, time-tested techniques for penis reattachment.
At this point, with my worldview so shaken, I might not be surprised if there were a required course on the subject in med school.
Posted by Adam Kotsko | Link to this comment | 02-23-05 1:44 PM
'It just strikes me as deeply disturbing that there are well-known, time-tested techniques for penis reattachment.'
there was a very well known case in which the doctor, who it turned out was drunk at the time, reattached the penis to the wrong patient who IIRC was in for a gall bladder operation.
Posted by bryan | Link to this comment | 02-24-05 1:00 AM
note: the above was just a cracking attempt to see if I could cause people's brains to overload and shut down.
Posted by bryan | Link to this comment | 02-24-05 1:02 AM
Who puts the Tran in transexual?
Posted by newsense | Link to this comment | 02-24-05 7:13 AM
she should of deep-fried that sausage.
Posted by crazy horse | Link to this comment | 03- 1-05 1:22 PM