Article suggests American men less macho

[KetchumMaine]

"http://www.wmtw.com/health/10175681/detail.html American Men Have Less Testosterone, Study Says"


Ketchummaine's Thoughts:
Could a diminishing testosterone level be a factor in body shame?

[KetchumMaine]

"http://www.wmtw.com/health/10175681/detail.html American Men Have Less Testosterone, Study Says"


Ketchummaine's Thoughts:
Could a diminishing testosterone level be a factor in body shame?

[l2ltlarry]

quote:

Ketchummaine's Thoughts:
Could a diminishing testosterone level be a factor in body shame?

Definitely.

Back in 1998, I began using a term, "The femalization of the world" to describe diminishing "manliness" (whatever that is). When I did a Google search a couple of years ago on "femalization", I got only one hit on a Univ. of Georgia site. (Google thought I should be searching for "feminization".) Now there are several more.

One article I found when searching for castrated societies said Japanese males are for all practical purposes castrated. Seems maybe American males are going the same direction.

A few days ago, our newspaper had an article titled "What Women Want". One of my jokster ( correction: jokester) coworkers said, "Everything!". He said, "They already have our balls. Now they want our penises. [He pronounced it as if it started with "pen"]. I said, "No, no. They don't have penis envy." He said, "Oh, they don't want them to have them. They just want them so we don't have them."

(I corrected my bad spelling, moboy. Is there an easy way to spellcheck within the post/reply function. I usually copy what I've written to Word and spellcheck there, but obviously I don't always do that.)

[missouriboy]

quote:

One of my jokster coworkers...

LOL!! I know you probably meant "jokester" but in the context of this topic, couldn't it also be interpreted as "jockster"?

BWAAAAAAAAHAAAAHAAAHAHAHAHAHA!!

Never mind.

Carry on!

[nudeM]

I tend to agree that America has become less and less macho over the past several years.

Take for example the school districts that are banning tag, dodge ball, flag football, etc. Personally, it was these types of games during school hours that helped us (all kids, male and female) grow up to be competitive and let our 'rights' of being a kid be fun.

Now the school districts are banning these types of activities because we don't want 'harm to come to our kids'. Sorry about the ranting, but we ARE becoming a sissified nation.

Years ago, not to long, but several all male clubs are now letting females become members to avoid a law suit (discrimination). Have there been any all female clubs that are letting males attend or even join? Probably not, but tuned around the other way, females challenging clubs that are all male members, are making the news because Mary cannot join a John club.

Sorry about the ranting, but after awhile, too much becomes too much.

[BlobbyBob]

I'd like to see a team of American Football players have a go at Rugby (the game they ripped off ) without all that padding. Saying that, football here is pretty pathetic, though I think it is more amateur dramatics than anything really.

Seriously though, I don't think you can generalise too much, especially since they said their study was done on men in one specific state. To get a more accurate representation there would have to be more widespread surveys I think, not to mention that it would have to be conducted in other countries too as a basis for comparison.

[Naturist Mark]

There is plenty of macho left in America - just look at our brain dead macho foreign policy. Look at our authoritarian 'big daddy' approach to social issues. It's like we chemically removed macho from the common man, separated it from reason, and injected it into politics.

-Mark

[Naturist Mark]

quote:

I'd like to see a team of American Football players have a go at Rugby (the game they ripped off Razzer) without all that padding. Saying that, football here is pretty pathetic, though I think it is more amateur dramatics than anything really.

You are very confused. Rugby is merely a strenuous team sport. Football is the American national religion - worship in the form of ritualized combat. Don't mess with our God limey!

-Mark

[BlobbyBob]

quote:

Originally posted by Naturist Mark:

You are very confused. Rugby is merely a strenuous team sport. Football is the American national religion - worship in the form of ritualized combat. Don't mess with our God limey!

There is a sad kind of irony there really. I'm not a huge sports fan myself, I like to watch the odd game of Rugby, I went to the big grand final here recently (and my local team, one of the best in the country, won ) but I can never understand the mentality of sports fans.

Football here is viewed by many in the same way you mention American football being viewed there, though here it is more national pride than religion. I was glad when England lost in the World Cup this year because if we had, by some miracle actually won I can't imagine how long it would have gone on. As it was there were flags waving out of most windows and on top of cars and such, and it was very annoying, especially since most people knew there was no chance of us actually winning

Rugby isn't all that bad, there isn't the mad sort of rivalry there. At the game I went to recently I was sat surrounded by fans of both teams and no-one got into fights, they'd have a laugh and just enjoy the game. I think there were 6 arrests the whole day, which isn't bad of a stadium of 70,000 people. The same thing for a football event, especially between 2 big teams, would have seen drunken riots before and after the game, police with shields to push people back, dozens of arrests. As I said I just can't understand that, there is nothing that would make me fight someone just for having a difference of opinion.

Do you get that there at sports events? I know English football hooligans are famous worldwide, I haven't ever really heard much of things like that in America really.

[Nude in the North]

First they tell us we can't have too much testosterone or it's cheating. (ie a recent controversy in a bicycle race)

Now they are complaining that we don't have enough??

These people gotta get out more.

Steve

[KetchumMaine]

I wish that the pansie athletes in America had the guts to play Rugby, but they haven't got the balls (seriously, where do you buy a rugby ball in the U.S.?).

As for the testosterone issue, I think that the changes we are seeing are caused by both social and physical changes. While it is possible that testosterone levels are lower, social changes have infulenced what we are allowed to do, and how we think as a society. Topics such as women's rights and gay rights have changed the way that men interact. Perhaps the change in testosterone has had an impact upon how readily we accept these concepts. To go further, it may be possible that the change in testosterone has had an affect upon the sexuality of some males, contributing to a higher number of homosexuals. However, being neither a scientist nor a sociologist, I cannot prove this either way.

As for the increased aggression shown by the government, it may be a inverse reaction to the decreased testosterone. When a person is uncomfortable with their own feelings, such as not acting as macho as he feels he should, the person often tries to battle these feelings by doing things to appear hyper-macho, such as declaring war on another country. I'd rather not get into a "reason for the war" debate here, but that is a brief analysis based upon your comment.

[nimrod]

If America men are less macho I say great. To me macho is an act. A man that is macho is acting tough because he is not. I equate a macho man with a control freak, and someone who would rather beat their opinion into you than talk about it like a civilized person. Someone who is macho is immature and will use name calling and attempt degradation to make themself feel better about themselves, a bully. So yes Bush and the current administration is macho.

I recently heard that one reason for a drop in testosterone is cell phone use, the more a man uses a cell phone the lower his testosterone levels become. Lower testosterone levels have an effect on energy, sex drive, muscle mass, and aggression. I cannot remember for certain but I also believe a lower testosterone level will effect concentration also, there may be others that do not come to mind. In todays society we are told by the advertisers that we should look a specific way in oder to be a man, with less muscle mass one could feel inadequate, leading to body shame.

On rugby vs. american football, I once heard a rugby player say that with the chance of a 350 pound man falling on top of him, he would want pads also.

Are we as Americans less likely to stand up for ourselves and let our freedoms be taken away by those who are supposed to protect them? I would have to say yes. We have become complacent in standing up for ourselves, we lack the fight to have some of the laws and rules that are being passed changed. We will say that they are stupid and complain, but fewer are likely to do what it takes to have them reversed.

[Nu]

Perhaps, Canadian men have more macho.

We play a rough and tough sport like hockey.
Learn to play the game on outdoor rinks or streets, in severely cold weather.

[Bob S.]

I wonder if the lessening of testosterone is due to diet?

Bob S.

[Nude in the North]

quote:

We play a rough and tough sport like hockey.
Learn to play the game on outdoor rinks or streets, in severely cold weather.

I agree. Maybe Minnesota is actually a Canadian State, Aye??

Steve from the Hockey State.