Emmanuel Kafe
CheckPoint Desk
For generations, runyoka has been associated with witchcraft and supernatural powers in some Zimbabwean communities, particularly where a male experiences difficulties withdrawing his reproductive organ during sexual intercourse.
Traditionally, some believe runyoka is a charm used to punish infidelity, with claims that it can lock a woman’s reproductive passage, making it impossible for another man to have sexual intercourse with her.
However, medical science offers explanations for some experiences associated with runyoka through conditions such as vaginismus and the extremely rare phenomenon known as penis captivus.
Zimbabwean medical practitioner Dr Ruwende explains that vaginismus occurs when muscles around the entrance to a woman’s reproductive passage tighten involuntarily when something is being inserted.
He describes it as an automatic reaction beyond a woman’s control, which can be painful but is treatable. Possible contributing factors include anxiety or fear of sexual intercourse, painful sexual experiences, sexual assault or abuse, unpleasant medical examinations and difficult childbirth experiences.
According to the United Kingdom’s National Health Service (NHS), the condition can make sexual intercourse painful or impossible and may also affect women using tampons or undergoing certain medical examinations. Importantly, it can develop even in women who previously had comfortable sexual experiences.
This means a woman experiencing the condition is not necessarily rejecting her partner or deliberately preventing sexual intercourse.
What is Runyoka in traditional belief?
To understand the long-standing association with supernatural powers, it is important to examine runyoka within Shona traditional beliefs.
Runyoka, sometimes called Lunyoka, is traditionally understood in some communities as a fidelity charm or spiritual protection intended to discourage or punish infidelity.
Some traditional explanations suggest that a husband can use traditional medicine to prevent his wife from engaging in extramarital relationships.
A 2014 academic study by Peterson Dewah and Stephen Mutula, published in the Indilinga African Journal of Indigenous Knowledge Systems, describes runyoka as an indigenous practice of locking or fencing a spouse, usually a wife, to prevent adultery.
Another publication; Working with Indigenous Knowledge: Strategies for Health Professionals, published by AOSIS in 2022, examines the practice in an African traditional health context.
Researchers Fhumulani M. Mulaudzi and Melitah M. Rasweswe explain that Zimbabwean traditional accounts identify different forms of the practice, including urwembwa, also called rwebanga and rwehove.
Under the traditional explanation of urwembwa, a man who has intercourse with a woman believed to be locked may allegedly become unable to withdraw his reproductive organ without traditional intervention.
Rwehove is associated with a traditional punishment involving water immersion. These accounts explain the cultural origins of runyoka but do not establish that supernatural locking occurs medically.
Penis Captivus – when couples allegedly become stuck
The traditional description of a man becoming physically stuck to a woman during intercourse resembles a phenomenon known as penis captivus more closely than vaginismus.
Penis captivus refers to a situation in which a man allegedly becomes temporarily unable to withdraw his reproductive organ after intercourse because of muscular contractions around the woman’s reproductive passage.
The International Society for Sexual Medicine describes it as an extremely rare occurrence, potentially involving contractions of the woman’s pelvic floor muscles during orgasm.
However, medical evidence is extremely limited.
A 1979 review published in the British Medical Journal by F K Taylor examined historical reports of penis captivus, concluding that accounts were largely based on hearsay and that the phenomenon appeared extraordinarily rare.
A subsequent letter published in the same journal in January 1980 reported that the condition had occurred.
Are the three the same?
Despite their similarities, runyoka, vaginismus and penis captivus are not interchangeable terms.
Vaginismus involves involuntary muscle tightening that makes penetration painful or difficult while penis captivus describes the alleged temporary inability of partners to separate during intercourse and is extremely rare, with limited documented evidence.
Runyoka is a traditional belief and practice associated with marital fidelity and alleged supernatural punishment for adultery.
Vaginismus is treatable through medical approaches that may include pelvic floor physiotherapy, relaxation techniques and counselling. Not every experience of painful intercourse is vaginismus, however, and medical assessment is important to rule out other conditions.
VERDICT: Medical science recognises vaginismus as a treatable condition, while penis captivus has very limited historical medical documentation. Neither establishes that runyoka is caused by black magic or supernatural powers. The three concepts should not be confused.
