Progesterex

Key takeaways

Progesterex belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Progesterex to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Progesterex from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Progesterex is a fictitious date rape drug that would purportedly cause sterilization. It is part of a hoax that began to circulate in 1999 via e-mail on the internet. No actual drug by this name or even with these properties exists, and no such incident has ever been documented or confirmed. The most high profile person falling for the hoax was British MP Lynne Featherstone, who asked a question about the fake drug in Parliament.

Email contents Typical contents of the e-mail hoax are as follows, although different versions tend to turn up over time:

"A woman at a nightclub called _______ on Saturday night was taken by 5 men, who according to hospital and police reports, gang raped her before dumping her. Unable to remember the events of the evening, tests later confirmed the repeat rapes along with traces of Rohypnol in her blood and Progesterex, essentially a small sterilization pill. The drug is now being used by rapists at parties to rape AND sterilize their victims. Progesterex is available to vets to sterilize large animals. Progesterex is being used together with Rohypnol, the date rape drug. As with Rohypnol, all they have to do is drop it into the girl's drink. The girl can't remember a thing the next morning, of all that had taken place the night before. Progesterex, which dissolves in drinks just as easily, is such that the victim doesn't conceive from the rape and the rapist needn't worry about having a paternity test identifying him months later. The drug's effects ARE NOT TEMPORARY - Progesterex was designed to sterilize horses. Any female who takes it WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO CONCEIVE. The weasels can get this drug from anyone who is in the vet school or any university. It's that easy, and Progesterex is about to break out big on campuses everywhere. Believe it or not, there are even sites on the Internet telling people how to use it. Please forward this to everyone you know, especially girls. Be careful when you're out and don't leave your drink unattended. Please make the effort to forward this on to all you know. Guys, please inform all your female friends and relatives."

Debunking There is no "sterilization pill" under any name that exists for sterilizing horses. Sterilization of male horses is performed surgically, while mares are usually left unaltered.

Notable examples A version of this e-mail was translated and sent around in Brazil in 2008–2009. A version of this hoax also made the rounds via bulletins on MySpace, Bebo, Facebook, and Tagged and in the form of a group named "Heads Up Ladies". According to the Spanish language website VSAntirus.com at least two versions in Spanish have made the rounds since 2001 as well. A Swedish and later Norwegian version circulated 2008–2009 with a signature of Birgitta Olofsson, Dr Med in nursing science of Umeå University.

UK Parliament incident On 18 April 2006 UK Member of Parliament Lynne Featherstone submitted a Written Question to the Home Secretary on whether the Home Office had calculated the number of date rape incidents that had been connected with Progesterex. Home Office Minister Paul Goggins replied that "Progesterex does not exist". Featherstone criticised the government stating they "need to do more to discover the unearthly monster who sends them out" and that "their cavalier attitude will not do." However, critics such as fellow Liberal Democrat James Graham castigated Featherstone's conduct in "criticising the Home Office for not having a response to made up drugs and made up crimes", stating "trivialising rape in this way without bothering to do basic research first doesn’t help anybody". Many see the incident as having strong parallels with a previous case where MP David Amess asked a question in Parliament about a fictitious drug called "Cake".

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Progesterex

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Progesterex claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Progesterex before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Progesterex ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Progesterex

In research: Progesterex appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Progesterex in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Progesterex is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1999 hoaxes, Drugs in the United Kingdom, Fictional medicines and drugs, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Progesterex outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

How to study Progesterex in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Progesterex means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Progesterex out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Progesterex in simple terms?

Progesterex is a fictitious date rape drug that would purportedly cause sterilization. It is part of a hoax that began to circulate in 1999 via e-mail on the internet.

Why does Progesterex matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Progesterex?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Progesterex.