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Testosterone Tumbling in American Males
An anonymous reader writes "Yahoo is running a story about a study that concludes that testosterone levels are falling across all age groups among American men. It says 'The testosterone-fueled American male may be losing his punch'" I leave it to you all to draw your conclusions about this, but I still wonder what my hours of laptop-fu does to me.
Health-related news is almost always wrong. It'll get contradicted in another study next year.
Remember when everyone got that bird flu? (I was coughing up feathers for weeks.)
Let's see: the article says "Americans" One would presume this would be in comparisson to other countries?. Well, America is more a continent then a country. Comparing the USA to say Germany would give you somewhat weird results. Also, is there a breakdown by: ethnicity, other genetic factors, enviornmental or climate conditions, or Hat size? I could go on. "America" is a all inclusive non-homogenious term. The ONLY malady we all share in common is the IRS.
- Minutus cantorum, minutus balorum, minutus carborata descendum pantorum.
Kim du Toit explained this phenomenon some time ago in this essay. I think he hit it right on the head.
The article suggests a link is likely (although they don't quote an exact study into such). I think though, the drop in testosterone is among the least of fat people's worries.
I don't understand why people go on and on so much about diseases like Aids in Africa when there is a disease killing millions here in America also, the only difference being it is caused by lack of self-control rather than a virus. Yet so many people treat obesity like it's no big deal unlike other diseases. I can understand Walmart not giving a crap about obesity (after all, the disease makes the company billions) but surely everyone else must be concerned that their obese friend/colleague/themselves/relative is going to die decades before they're meant to. Would people ignore their friend/colleague/themselves/relative's disease so much if it was Aids?
Are you joking...?
Saying please or thank you most certainly does make you a man. Not saying them, makes you a pig. Take for example your Army's much vaulted hero, John Wayne. As an archetype he is most decidedly rich in testosterone, most certainly a man's man, and most certainly a gentleman too. Can you imagine him not saying please or thank you, because I can't.
If you are serious, and I'm not convinced you are, I think perhaps you have a little too much testosterone, and too little education (maybe you think book learnin is for girls too huh?). Being masculine and tough doesn't mean you need to behave like an animal, nor does it mean you need to go a-guntoting and a-killin and a-whuppin some good ol boys. You can be not only tough, strong and manly but also kind and compassionate at the same time.
And I think your concept of economics may be flawed too. Just a guess, but you may find your employees work a little better when you treat them with courtesy, you may also find that if you continue to treat them rudely that one day they may just turn and sabotage your operation. Just a thought...
And yet it is people like Tilman, a democrat that went to Afghanastan, who was opposed to the current set of republicans. While nearly all congressional and white house republicans who avoided serving this country are the same ones that send us to war. All in all, you are full of crap.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
If you think that treating others rudely is what makes a man a man, that's a damn shame.
Some feminists are quick to claim the many of the world's problems are due to men being in charge. Really though, the problem is that there are few actual men, and a hell of a lot of boys in adult bodies, running things.
Tom Swiss | the infamous tms | my blog
You cannot wash away blood with blood
... the brain's response to all the negative pressures of using testosterone. I mean the aggressive male is in decline. When I was in school getting in a fight was a boys will be boys will a minor slap on the wrist. But now hurting people's feelings is a serious offense cause they may sue someone. The further pussification of america.
I think one problem could be the estrogen present in cow's milk because of the hormones they are giving the cows. But as far as being fat being the cause of declining testosterone, meh. Theres a lot of people who aren't aggressive because of their parenting and just don't seem to have that tendencies to begin with. I'm overweight and I've played football. The most aggressive players are typically the ones that are a little overweight.
Having a high testosterone level is a hormonal nuisance, sort of like when women get cramps during their period, or hot flashes during menopause. I'm 40 now, but I still remember what it was like being 15-25. Thank God that's over with! It's no fun when the presence of a nubile female gives you an erection that hurts, and lasts as long as she's nearby. I have my own personal list of embarrassing things I did under the influence of testosterone, and I'm sure every other male past puberty has a similar list.
As an individual, this whole thing is also a nonissue, because natural differences in hormone levels bewteen one man and the next are probably huge -- much bigger than the effect being claimed.
What's really scary about this is not the effect it's having on adult males (and the rest of society), which may be positive. What's scary is:
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Well the nice guy thing is easily explained by the doormat theory which goes something like this: "Most guys try so hard to be the nice guy that they end up a doormat, and no one wants a doormat." Ironicaly I think the doormat problem is generated in part by the modern pussification movement. There's a fine line between nice guy and doormat just like there's a fine line between real man and pig. Most people unfortunately don't know where those lines are.
T Money
World Domination with a plastic spoon since 1984
umm..."So what'll it be? Pussification, or skyrocketing crime and/or mass annihilation?"
You absolutely positive that shouldn't be an "AND"?
Are crime rates not getting steadily worse every year? Were they not considerably better 40 years ago?
And how in the sam hell did we get from "Columbine" immediately to "inner city schools". Dear lord, the mean streets of Littleton Colorado!
damn straight this is the pussifcation of America. 20 years ago, if someone beats you down at school, you toughen up. Partially thanks to the dadgum estrogen levels in males, people behave emotionally and irrationally without any logical thought (see: "women"). You ask them about it later, they have no clue how it escalated to that point.
Times are getting worse in the US, not better. My family has been in the US since the early 1700's, but I fear I'm going to be the last that calls this place home. Am going to move to Australia, where even government bodies (see: John Howard) can actually speak their minds. Everyone is so quick to blame the government, because they want a scapegoat. Why does noone look inward? Laws are being passed every year with the aim of allowing more "freedoms" for everyone, but all they end up doing is make it easier for someone to be sued if their mean words "infringe" on someone's rights. You think that's the fault of the government? Congressmen pass bills very rarely directly for their own personal gain, but do so because it wins them votes next election year.
Aside from technological advancements, who here would be dumb enough to say times are better to raise a child in 2006 than they were in 1956?
This is one thing we certainly don't need. 50 years ago, if a bully picked on you, you toughened up, learned how to stand up for yourself. Nowadays you either shoot up a school, or sue someone. Tell me, which is better.
Ding ding ding!
I was a door mat for quite a while, then somehow managed to edge into "nice guy" territory. Tired of not getting laid, I started acting like a prick, and started getting some action. Pig? You betcha. Then I realized I was being a pig, and started manning up, and I've not had any problems since. Granted, I've not been such a whore either.
~/ssh slashdot.org ssh: connect to host slashdot.org port 22: too many beers
By shooting people you do not show that you can stand up for yourself. Further more, you're comitting a grievous logical fallacy by equating a punch to a shot. There's a huge difference between punching someone and shooting them dead, and if you can't see the difference there's something seriously wrong with you. If you lose a fistfight at school, tough shit. You don't go get a gun and come back the next day. There's no honor in that.
You have a completely wrong-headed idea of why the past generations fought as well. None of the men involved in the wars of our past generations extolled the virtues of warfare. If you asked any or all of them, they would all tell you that war is hell. But in at least one of the wars of the past generation, most everyone involved felt that they had to fight in order to preserve an ideal. In WWII, when the Nazis swept across Europe and the fascists took power, America fought to preserve the idea that people have to have the freedom to choose and to think for themselves.
There's danger in being able to think for yourself and being able to choose, but life without danger is life unlived. It's a shame that the America of today is slipping into a safe, clean, peaceful police state. I'd much rather have a little anarchy and dissent in the streets and the schools and be able to decide for myself what is safe then to have Big Brother decide for me. I don't think there's anything wrong with that.
It's certainly not manly to start a fight, but it is manly to defend yourself. At the same time, we all have to stick up for and preserve our ideals against whatever odds prevail. To give up the idea of freedom for the theatre of security is a fool's gambit. I would discourage my children from starting fights, but encourage them to stick up for others, with violence as a last resort. Sympathize with the parents of the children injured in fights, punish your children for taking the fight too far, but don't tell them that all forms of violence are evil and must be supressed. In the last, you encourage them to be victims, and the victimization of society is leading to its dysfunction.
SRSLY.
No. Double-blind studies do not need so much salt. The "hard" (physical) sciences don't usually need anything close to the salt the soft (social/psychological/macrobiological) sciences need.
Not all sciences are subjected to the same amount of subjectivity. The more subjective data is, the more salt you need.
And what's this business of belief-systems? Sure, people who have "faith" that gods/demons/faeries/ghosts influence our lives can't really test to see if that is the case. But a scientist doesn't bother himself with "magic." He only tests the natural world. Magic and supernatural "belief-systems" are beyond the scope of science. They are also, in all likelihood, insane. Yep, 80% of the world is insane.
A slashdotter who didn't build his own computer is like a Jedi who didn't build his own lightsaber.
Is it a coincidence that our processed foods became inundated with huge amounts of corn syrup and soya fillers starting in the 80's?
"The world is a construct of forceful imagination. Those who don't know walk around in the reailties of those who do"
But "real" isn't the swaggering jock: He is exactly like his counterpart the flamboyant "metrosexual" (how I detest that word -- but it communicates): He is affecting a style of behavior that is not truly his own. I have no respect for him.
Do not be like Napolean, who fought wars to make up for his small stature. It takes the bigger man to show restraint. Master yourself before you seek to master others. Violence is weakness.
Du Toit is correct that the TV-sitcom "man" is weak, hen-pecked, and impotant -- as are too many real life men. But this is not because they do not drink enough beer, and it is not because they do not watch enough football. It is because, chained by guaranteed sex to relationships they do not want, they do not have the strength to hold their principles above their libidos. Restraint is strength.
Take a punch. Stand tall. Do not strike back, but speak clearly: "You will leave now."
Meet a girl. She is drunk, and on top of you. Quietly say, "no." Put her to bed. Close the door behind you.
Whence disappeared "to be a man?" Strength. Respect. Honor. Real men are not pigs. Real men are good men.
You know.. I made it to adulthood. But I totally sympathise with these shooters every time.
You have some 185 pound "jock" picking on someone and ruining their life for months. The school does *nothing* about it. In some cases other jock's join in.
I saw it. I lived it a bit, but even tho I wasn't aggressive- I was 6'5" and when I snapped (as I did 6 times from kindergarten bullying to 10th grade bullying in high school) I kicked the crap out of them so badly (choking one unconcious basically-- I was never much for "punching" as much as "killing") that I didn't get picked on again.
For all the 5' kids picked on by jocks, they have no hope of winning and are going to have years of their life ruined by these sub-neanderthals. I *completely* understand why they shoot their tormenters. The gun is the only way they have to equalize the odds against someone twice their size (and who *still* often has 2 to 3 other thugs to help because the bullies are fundamentally cowards).
It's sick to go kill a bunch of helpless kids. It's not even all that irrational to go kill people that have been torturing you for months and nothing is or can be done to stop them.
She was like chocolate when she drank... semi-sweet at first and then increasingly bitter.