Here in the US, tomorrow is Thanksgiving Day. As a result of the holiday, I’m going to take a blog break until Monday. As far as things to be thankful for this year, I have regained my health after having surgery for a cervical radiculopathy. I’ve lost 30 lbs since this time last year through a combination of calorie restriction and exercise and am now at pretty close to my optimal weight. I have my wife, my family, my career, and my readers and am still capable of skewering quacks. I hadn’t planned on writing much more than this, but I did come across something yesterday that led me to ask a question. When is a form of quackery actually really believed by people or more a result of social media influencers looking for clicks. This question occurred to me when I saw this Tweet about perineum sunning:
People out here butt-chugging sunlight. pic.twitter.com/o8rxNwyASA
— Nice Nun (@sisterofonline) November 25, 2019
The recent blowup on Twitter and other social media appears to be the result of an Instagram influencer posting this image last month:
Having achieved the aim of all social media “influencers” of having her Instagram photo go viral, @metaphysicalmeagan decided to try to go one better and posted a Photoshopped version of the same photo:
One thing I noticed about @metaphysicalmeagan is that she likes to post a lot of nude photos of herself, tastefully cropped so as not to violate Instagram policies and not to show anything that shouldn’t be shown on a family platform. That aside, her claims for the the practice of perineum sunning are quite ridiculous, unsurprisingly. Think of this as Your Friday Dose of Woo two days early because of the Thanksgiving holiday.
First, off, imagine my relief to learn that the object of perineum sunning is not to tan your anus. Of course, your perineum is not your anus, which is why the term “butt chugging sunlight” is not really accurate, nor are all the stories and social media posts referring to it as sunning your butthole are not quite right, albeit amusing. Your perineum is the name for the area between your. All of the above claims are, of course, absolutely ridiculous. There is no “life force” or “life energy,” and nothing enters or exists via the perineum. The only thing that comes out of the perineum is sweat and skin oil, and the only thing that exits near the perineum is feces and, in the case of females, urine, and, every now and then in females, the perineum is stretched massively by the passage of a baby through the nearby vagina.
Of course, this clickbait worked even better than anticipated, as @metaphysicalmeagan made the New York Post:
IT'S ALL OVER FOLKS, HUMAN DEVELOPMENT HAS PEAKED. IT'S ALL DOWNHILL NOW… https://t.co/HUfiqZwKds
— Mel Huang (@mel_huang) November 26, 2019
Who really got the practice noticed? Apparently it’s someone by the ‘nym Ra of Earth:
They’re soaking up some rays where the sun don’t shine.
The hottest trend gripping wellness die-hards is tanning their cans, or “perineum sunning,” as influencers are calling it.
“In a mere 30 seconds of sunlight on your butthole, you will receive more energy from this electric node than you would in an entire day being outside with your clothes on,” says an influencer, who goes by Ra of Earth. In a viral video that has racked up more than 35,000 views, he gestures toward the sun as three naked men lie down, point their backsides to the sky and make sounds of pleasure.
Ra of Earth has also posted a step-by-step “Sun Worship exercise” pulled from “The Tao of Sexology: The Book of Infinite Wisdom” by Dr. Stephen T. Chang that says the practice can help keep the area “healthy and free of germs.”
I must confess to laughing out loud when I saw “Ra’s” how-to illustration on Instagram:
I laughed even harder when I watched his video:
And Ra is not alone:
So. Many. Questions. For one thing, these are men doing the perineum sunning, which brings up the indelicate question of what they do with their…well, their junk…while their “buttholes” are supposedly soaking up the sun. That’s some delicate skin there! Of course, the perineum is also covered in delicate skin, and the skin around the anus is also quite delicate. That might be why you don’t want to sun it for very long; it’s likely to burn more easily. Second, these influencers can’t get their stories straight. In this case, Ra is claiming that he is, in fact, sunning his anus, not his perineum. Obviously, it’s totally at odds with physics and human physiology to claim that sunning the anus or perineum or whatever part of your anatomy where the sun don’t shine for 30 seconds will provide you with more “energy” from the sun than hours of sunning your entire body. I am, however, amused that apparently the butthole or perineum is such a magical part of the human body that it acts as some sort of super energy-sucking structure. It’s also completely unscientific to claim that 30 seconds of sun will disinfect the area. It won’t. The bacteria down there will be just fine after the exposure. I suppose 30 seconds of perineum sunning might briefly evaporate any stinky sweat that might be down there, but that’s about it.
But is perineum sunning really a Taoist or traditional Asian medical practice? And who is Dr. Stephen T. Chang? Naturally, Chang has his own online store selling herbal formulas, his books, skin care products, and “Taoist consultations.” He claims to have doctoral degrees in medicine, law, theology and philosophy, which strikes me as quite an accomplishment if true. He’s definitely heavily into woo like acupuncture and other traditional Chinese medicine. I was also unable to determine whether “perineum sunning” is a real Taoist or traditional Chinese medicine practice or not.
In the age of social media “influencers,” I’ve noticed that it’s becoming increasingly difficult to tell what is real quackery that’s been around for a while and what’s a practice that was just made up to get clicks and followers, which are the almighty currency on social media. Perineum sunning is so obviously nonsense that I immediately wondered if it were something made up by one influencer or another and then adopted by others because it allowed them to take nude photos of themselves doing it and garner clicks. On the other hand, breatharianism is an actual belief that I’ve written about a few times (the first time way back in 2006), and it’s just as ridiculous, or even more so, given that it’s the belief that you don’t need to eat food and can exist on air and sunlight. There are people who claim you can “eat the sun.” It’s called sungazing, and it involves staring into the sun at sunrise or sunset, when it won’t burn out your retina. The idea is that you can exist solely on the energy from the sun, even though human beings don’t have chlorophyl or any mechanism to directly convert energy from light into chemical energy. Certainly, your retinas don’t do that, other than the tiny amount of energy in the chemical signals your retina sends to your brain to perceive the light. Perineum sunning appears to be just a really bizarre variant of this idea that makes even less sense.
I realize that by writing about this I’m doing just what these social media influencers hope for. They don’t care that I’m mocking them for their sheer ridiculousness. They just want the clicks. Still, in this age of social media, I just couldn’t resist, given that there’s a large question: How much woo is based on real belief, and how much is just ideas that make for photos that people will link to and share on social media. It’s getting harder to tell these days.
48 replies on “Perineum sunning: Real woo, social media clickbait, or both?”
Maybe this is a symptom of vitamin D deficiency, extreme stupidity.
This is called reverse kegals and these are stretches done to stretch your pelvic floor muscles. We used to think women and men suffer from loose pelvic floor muscles, but now realize many are suffering from pelvic floor tightness. This will greatly reduce the chances men will have prostate cancer, it will also reduce the chances of men having ED, it will also reduce the chances of a man having difficult peeing, it will also reduce the chances of both men and women having digestion problems like constipation and IBS. It has nothing to do with Vitamin D or energy from the sun.
loves this, laughed so hard!!!!! I have a pool and a backyard where nobody can see me so I get naked when I want, and YES of course I have sun bathed my bum a few times! Because it feels warm and nice. But I’ve done it in a comfortable relaxed position, not spread eagle like this Ra dude hahahaha
Holy crap!
-btw- I used to know someone who knew Mantak Chia. SRSLY..
Taint funny.
“Spinal cord nose hairs”?
Beat me to it. I have more than enough nose hairs where they belong. “Satiating the tissues” here sounds more like a recipe for dermoid cysts.
At least he specifies Ra of Earth, which will avoid trampling on the good name of Sun Ra, who of course was from Saturn.
= pilonidal cyst.
I’m surprised they didn’t claim sunning the perineum treated pilonidal cysts.
FWIW “sun anus” is stupid both forwards and backwards.
“Perineum sunning is so obviously nonsense that I immediately wondered if it were something made up by one influencer or another and then adopted by others because it allowed them to take nude photos of themselves doing it and garner clicks.”
Yes. There is no excuse so weak that it can’t blow a college boy’s clothes off.
“and the only thing that exits near the perineum is feces and, in the case of females, urine.”
Another thing that exits near the perineum is babies, so there is some kind of connection to life energy…
True that as well…
The “stick it where the sun don’t shine” jokes about this practice write themselves. Indeed, I see Orac himself used that line toward the end of the post.
On one level I get the urge to obtain a seamless suntan (it’s a vanity thing), but this sounds like overdoing it.
What about the jocular tan lines of cyclists.
Of course, that’s only a joke on us white fellas.
https://www.bicycling.com/news/a20033512/tan-lines-road-cycling-s-secret-handshake/
I once knew a fellow cyclist whose co-workers thought she was injured due to the weird tanning patterns on her hands. Cycling gloves will do it.
Orac asks whether outlandish items are included on social media because of true belief or merely to get clicks but I can’t help but wonder if much of the woo/ anti-vax we encounter is there purely to entice followers?
Aren’t they in a contest of sorts to provide the most incredible tales of vaccine damage or miraculous cures as well as the most nightmarish tales of pharma criminality, governmental corruption or corporate greed?
I have come to mistrust nearly every anecdote at these sites because I hear the same stories exaggerated with repetition and peppered with precise details so no one will suspect their origins in someone’s nether regions.
Actually readers may discover the same phenomenon from scoffers by reading RI carefully.
Airing out your perineum in tick country sounds like a recipe for encouraging life forms other than your own.
Encounter of the third tick?
Well, thanks for that. I’m still waiting for my pharma shill disbursement and now I see this, rather than something mild about puppies. At least I’ll have something “interesting” to bring up with family at tomorrow’s Thanksgiving get together, should conversation wane. I will be sure to park in such a way as to enable a quick exit.
Ok, so these people have decided to ‘Moon’ the Sun (Ducks quickly…)
Would that be a form of eclipse?
A long ago, Gilda Radner as Rosanne Rosannadanna, mentioned a rectal eclipse after glimpsing an X-rated movie at a drive-in theater.
Well, I’m sure this will keep dermatologists in business for awhile. Of course, they may need to start subspecializing in OB/GYN, urology, and proctology . . . .
I guess they will be squeamishly screening for scrotal-area squames if this insanity catches on.
I don’t think there are too many surgeons who would want to take on a melanoma in that area especially with wide margins..Even if successful, it would leave a lot of people dissatisfied at the outcome. Even Mohs chemosurgery would be a tricky business. Radiation would be difficult too.
Not that I think 30 seconds a day is any too likely to cause a melanoma, but(t), hey, stranger things have happened.
Can’t wait for the Perineal Adverse Event Court to open its doors. Or its stalls.
This is just pre-marketingf in advance of their announcing sales of a new eye bleach.
Thank you for this.
This has potential for sunburn in hilarious places. Hilarious for others of course.
The sunburns must be epic.
Someone could make out well by stocking up on silver sulfadiazine.
It could also make a neat profit for “nature” photographers;
I’m just wondering when Gwyneth Paltrow will find a way to profit off it too – maybe underwear with a little flap like an old fashioned union suit?
This is what I’ve never understood about folks who want no tan lines: doesn’t getting a sun burn on your butt or boobs hurt even more than a regular sun burn?
Or are the people who go tan-line-free also the people who don’t burn easily?
I don’t have any tan lines because I’m currently all one shade of wallpaper paste.
I wonder if the advocates of this guff have misunderstood the concept. After all, it’s aimed at people who believe that there is a total eclipse every time they sit down.
My … ass!!
At risk of giving away a money-making idea: Fibre optic butt plugs – to really light up where the sun don’t shine. I suppose one might re-purpose a miniature fibre optic Christmas tree, but it might be a bit too abundantly pointy in the wrong direction.
===
We praise the colorectal surgeon,
Misunderstood and much maligned,
Slaving away in the heart of darkness,
Working where the sun don’t shine.
Bowser and Blue (1997??)
There also has to be a rework of “Don’t it make your brown eyes blue?”
“Don’t it make your bronze eye …?” “Woo” of course fits the rhyme, but isn’t quite right.
I’m afraid for amateur tinkerers like myself, the temptation of hooking up the optical cord to a high power laser just to see what would happen might be too great to resist.
Though rapidly approaching senility, I vaguely remember people accused of having their brains located in their asses. If some believe this, then, maybe, just maybe, they think sunshine will enhance their brain power. After all, we usually do our best thinking during daylight??? So, if brains located in ass, depriving them of sunshine reduces their ability. LOL
Maybe I should go back on my meds?????
We use a UV C light where I work sometimes to help clean isolation rooms at work. It is an 8 minute cycle ( we do two runs with it) Sunlight does have uv c in it (obviously). But the concentration the light runs at is unsafe for any skin and eye exposure. Actually honestly a little concerned for our eyes. A lot of time we have to peak at crack under the door and the windows to see if it is still running. So I guess I don’t see how 30 seconds of sunlight (less uv c) does anything.
Since stem cell treatments are often discussed here, I thought I would share this news story.
Are they really a kind of placebo surgery?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2019/11/27/benefits-stem-cell-heart-therapy-may-have-nothing-do-with-stem-cells-mouse-study-suggests/
They all seem to be in Arizona–I’d like to see them try that in UP Michigan or on a very rainy day here in the NW—“raindrops keep falling on my ass…”
Today was very sunny. And this morning just around 0 degrees Celsius, plus or minus a couple of degrees depending on proximity to water and certain altitudes. And at certain altitudes in the mountains a wee bit south, in the midst of a snow storm. And that snow is coming for the PNW.
Multi-tasking!
Speaking of woo:
DANGER DANGER ***** WARNING WARNING ***** SHIELD YOUR IRONY METERS *****
A “friend” of the blog, Dr. Mark Hyman who leads the Cleveland Clinic’s Institute of Functional Medicine had an op-ed published in yesterday’s Cleveland Plain Dealer. He gloats over the recent Annals of Internal Medicine article questioning guidelines on red meat consumption.
Hyman attempts to link Ohio’s obesity problem to flawed nutritional guidelines, argues that they are not “evidence-based” and attacks epidemiology for the use of patient questionnaires in some studies.
While a functional medicine guru assuming the mantle of evidence-based medicine is hilarious enough, Hyman’s taking a poke at epidemiologists over the use of patient questionnaires is especially rich – seeing that not long ago Cleveland Clinic published an article claiming benefits for patients using its functional medicine clinic based on a patient questionnaire.
https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/cleveland-clinic-publishes-functional-medicine/
Josh Brolin Tried “Perineum Sunning” and It Completely Ruined His Day
The Slate article says: “All of that sounds plausible”. How does ANY of that sound plausible???
Halfway through this blog post, this person says she thinks this practice started with a parody post that someone took seriously. Ugh. https://www.patheos.com/blogs/nolongerquivering/2019/12/would-you-ask-this-woman-advice-on-anal-anything/
This seems like the opposite of a condition certain military officers suffered: Helioproctosis (or, alternatively; Proctoheliosis).
They thought the Sun shone out of their own arses.
Incidentally, Perineum has an unofficial name in certain circles (i.e. The Medical Services of the British Royal Navy), we always called it the ‘Cosif’.
Cos if it weren’t there, you’re guts would fall out.
Don’t know if it’s true or not butt…
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/lostinshowbiz/2019/dec/05/josh-brolin-gets-burned-where-the-sun-dont-shine
You beat me to it , butt… I wouldn’t have come out with such a great pun!
Butt you just did!
I had a good laugh reading this! Enjoyed very much your writing sir. Thank you