The enemy of my friend is… hmmm
Posted by Ron Coleman on December 7, 2008
Instapundit links to a chilling report that’s sure to set off even more confusion in left-wing faculty lounges than it is with hormones across the animal kingdom:
IT’S NOT JUST YOUR IMAGINATION: “The research – to be detailed tomorrow in the most
The importance of being organic
comprehensive report yet published – shows that a host of common chemicals is feminising males of every class of vertebrate animals, from fish to mammals, including people.”
The whole article is pretty stunning if the link between the chemicals and the emasculation phenomenon holds up.
Here’s the question, now: How does a classical wacko lefty — not our normal liberal friends, okay, but the kinds of people who do street theater, comment on Daily Kos and that sort of thing — deal with the policy choices here? Petrochemical and industrial chemical concerns? Environmental effects of modern industry? Threats to species? All bad.
Men and the things that make them men? Uh, also bad, and now, clearly, seen to be worse than ever! Unfortunately, it seems unlikely that the male of our species will disappear fast enough by this process to prevent damage to other ones by virtue of all that maleness that just can’t disappear fast enough.
Decisions, decisions.
James H said
The study itself may have some solid data, but I notice that the news article mixes physiological factors (undescended testes, for example) with psychological factors — men who want to play with tea sets and dolls. How well-understood is the link between psychological factors and physiological factors?
cardeblu said
This is purely anecdotal, but one thing I’ve noticed in just the past couple of years, in my job as a medical transcriptionist, is the increased number of men with testicular hypofunction in need of monthly testosterone shots. These men range in age from mid-30s to 60s and have no other health problems, not even erectile dysfunction, which is another increasing malady but not necessarily related to the former (sometimes but not always).
I’ve read that soy and soy-based products have a lot of natural estrogens in them which can also play havoc with men, so it’s not just pesticides or other man-made chemicals.
Kinda scary as I love men and manly attributes.
marypmadigan said
..but this report is published by the Independent, a certified whacko lefty source. I wonder if they published this report as a way of getting conservatives (who, the left assumes, are repulsed by the idea of girly men) to support anti-corporate legislation. The enemy of my enemy…
Some of the ‘gender bending’ effects they mention, like the prevalence of girl babies or the feminization of frogs are long-existing adaptations that allow threatened populations to produce more offspring. Frogs and (perhaps) fish are known for this (remember Jurassic Park I). Fish and frog populations have been severely depleted lately. This could be a positive adaptation.
jaymaster said
And then there’s the fact that a huge source of the environmental estrogens is human birth control pills.
Some cognitive dissonance researchers could make a career out of this one…..
Jack said
“How well-understood is the link between psychological factors and physiological factors?”
You ask a good question James. I’ll ask my shrink next time I see him and his post-gendered girlfriend at the Tupperware Regatta.
“And then there’s the fact that a huge source of the environmental estrogens is human birth control pills.
Some cognitive dissonance researchers could make a career out of this one…”
What I find so dissonant is the idea that you make a man more cognitive by making him more female. Yeah Jay, the thought made me laugh too.
Well, I don’t know about you folks, but when I was a kid there was a very simple and effective cure for effeminate men. It was called sports. If that didn’t work then you stuck em in the Army.
Course back then you didn’t have rhythmic gymnastics in the Olympics, and you couldn’t get outta guard duty because you had missed your period either. (By the way, can you say that on the internet? Or is there some regulation against it?)
Oh well… The times, they are a changin.