how can you get your body stuck in something and not get back out the same way?

Question

Some examples:

A ring slides on but gets stuck trying to take it back off.

A kid puts his head through metal slats on a railing, but can’t pull it back through.

A girl gets her body in a clothes dryer, but can’t get back out.

If we can fit forward, shouldn’t we be able to fit backwards, too?

In: 358

Answer 1

In the case of the head through gratings thing, it’s because of your ears. Because of their shape and flexibility they will compress down when pushing forward through the grating, but will catch on the bars and prevent the head coming back the other way. I think the other situations are the same–people are not perfectly symmetrical, and so pushing stuff in one direction will be easier than pushing stuff in another.