Where Does It Hurt

Submission 19,579

Part of a series on Exploitables. [View Related Entries]

About

Where Does It Hurt, also known as Types of Pain, is an exploitable image macro depicting a body mapping diagram showing pain in the head, stomach and the entire body, with the last caption featuring photoshopped text. The meme is typically used to express feelings of pain and hurt for a wide range of emotions or situations as a reaction, sharing similarities to the Types of Headaches meme format.

Origin

The original image used in the meme comes from a blank body mapping diagram used in the health industry for many years. On such maps, patients can pinpoint locations of pain, ache or discomfort to their healthcare provider in individual assessments, typically for different injuries or disorders. These diagrams began seeing use around the 1990s.

On November 19th, 2017, Instagram user @musical.memes101 shared the earliest known version of the meme. That day, they posted "Pain diagrams," naming "It's Quiet Uptown" as the most painful experience. The post received more than 4,300 likes in less than three years (shown below).

Spread

Over the next few months, the meme grew in usage. One of the earliest examples was uploaded to Imgur^[1] on December 23rd, 2017, by an unknown user. The image (shown below) received 2,869 views and has since been reposted to a number of sites.

On January 22nd, 2018, Twitter^[2] user SWEparamore tweeted another example referencing a Paramore tour ending. This tweet (seen below) was liked 106 times and retweeted another 14 times.

Redditor^[3] tchallablkpanther posted a variant to the r/cowboys sub on September 1st, 2018, regarding the NFL team (shown below) and received 380 upvotes and 28 comments.

Another format using the less common caption of "Types of Pain" can also be seen used in place of "Where Does It Hurt." Redditor^[4] enrico_gucci posted one such example on January 7th, 2019, to the r/ShitPostCrusaders sub. The meme, which references JoJo's Bizarre Adventure (seen below), received 547 upvotes and 18 comments.

On October 16th, 2019, Redditor^[5] JackD099 posted a version to the r/memes sub with the title, “Oh the feels.” The post (seen below) was upvoted over 95,000 times, commented on 520 times and gifted several Reddit awards.

Redditor^[6] branlaw uploaded another example referencing the TV show The Clone Wars to the r/PrequelMemes sub on February 4th, 2020. This meme (shown below) received over 6,400 upvotes and 55 comments.

On April 7th, 2020, Twitter^[7] user ThrowingFits posted a meme about “missing the boys” during the 2020 coronavirus lockdown, which was liked 782 times and retweeted almost 200 times.