Greetings Munchkins:
About five years ago your mom and I began to notice a dramatic increase in the number of young men who present as being feminine.
I’ll never forget the day we first verbalized that feeling out loud. Upon returning to the car after grocery shopping, I asked her if she thought there was something off-putting about the young men we had seen in the store. She said “yes”, and we agreed that the “something” was the fact that so many of these young men had arms the size of toothpicks, and chests that were not just flat, but actually concave. These young men seemed devoid of muscular development.
These young men had the physiques of concentration camp victims. They presented with flat facial affect, and sunken cheeks. Their eyes possessed the vacant stare of soldiers who’ve spent too much time on the front lines.
I don’t think any of these guys weighed more than a buck and a quarter.
I’m excluding the young men who are wearing dresses, nose rings, and earrings. I’m excluding the gender confused. I’m excluding the expats from Portlandia who have drifted across the Columbia River.
There seems to be a massive drop in the physical presentation of masculinity in young men in general. A thinking person must wonder what is driving young men to develop this feminine presentation. What is causing this loss of masculinity in young men? Where has all the testosterone gone?
This seems to be a phenomenon that began to occur five to ten years ago. Keep that timeline in mind. I do think it’s important to note.
I’m convinced that this is not just my imagination. Too many of my older male peers have made the same observation.
And all of this coincides with a historic drop in the fertility rate in the West. The last time I checked, the American fertility rate was around 1.7. Now compared to China, Japan, and South Korea, we’re reproducing like rabbits. Those countries are hovering at a fertility rate just a hair above 1.0. But 1.7 ain’t nothing to write home about when the number needed to replace the current population is 2.1.
There are a ton of explanations for this low fertility rate that place the blame directly on the behavior of women. These explanations range from the introduction of the birth control pill, the ready availability of abortion, the feminist war on the family, and economic policies that cause financial hardships for young couples. And every one of those explanations are plausible.
But for this rant I want to focus on the contribution of young men to this social contagion. For men aren’t blameless.
I was discussing this topic with your oldest brother last weekend, and he provided me with a theory that had never crossed my mind. He theorized that the primary reason for the loss in masculinity is directly tied to the recent rise in the accessibility of pornography.
Then, in typical “Dad Rant” fashion, he backed up his flat assertion with evidence-based reasoning.
He said he had seen some lectures on the problems caused by the widespread availability of pornography.
Stay with me while we go down a bit of a rabbit hole to provide the evidence to support that flat assertion. It’s absolutely fascinating.
The widespread access to pornography is a 21st Century phenomena. Never in the 6,000 years of recorded history have men had access to pornography to the degree that we have it today. Anyone with a cell phone can access pornographic videos for FREE. And we’re really only about 10 to 15 years into this sordid business.
When I was a kid in the late 60’s and early 70’s, we had to sneak into an adult bookstore to access pornography. And of course, being a boy from the hood, we made every effort to sneak into those adult bookstores. 😉 Sometimes we were successful, but most of the time we were not successful. And when we were successful, we were not able to access anything that would qualify as pornography measured against today’s standards.
We were never able to see what an eight-year-old boy can see today at the press of a button. The best we could hope for was to see still photos of topless women. The depravity of what boys are able to see now at the press of a button is beyond belief. This is a family article, so I can’t be explicit. But the bottom line is this: they ain’t looking at still photos of topless women. Heck, these days you can see THAT at the supermarket checkout stand!
Now compare my childhood experience to what kids experience today. The most depraved leaders in history did not have access to the levels of pornography that a ten-year-old boy can access today. The Roman emperors Caligula, Nero, and Tiberius were without peer in depravity and perversion. When you read about the behavior of those emperors, you better do it on an empty stomach. Those dudes were some serious sickos!
Yet today any ten-year-old can access more depraved live action images in a single day than Rome’s notorious trinity of depravity could access in an entire year.
We have zero data to know the social and physiological impact on boys and young men visualizing these acts 24/7. Absolutely zero data. By the time the average boy reaches the age of 18, he’s seen literally thousands of live sex acts on his cell phone. Since free pornography became readily available over the last ten to fifteen years, we’ve been running an uncontrolled, worldwide clinical trial on young men.
Sports fans, this ain’t good. For those who are paying attention, I think the evidence is beginning to manifest itself in the physical appearance and behavior of young men.
OK: Let’s climb further down this rabbit hole and talk a bit about the science. Bear with me on this. It’s been a while since I studied biology. This part of my discussion may not be precise, but for a lay discussion I think it’s fairly accurate. Let’s talk about the pleasure principle from a biological perspective.
Adrenaline (epinephrine) is a key hormone and neurotransmitter in the neuroadrenergic system, which is part of the autonomic nervous system. These hormones are key in the “fight or flight” system of the body that increases blood flow to the muscular system in response to danger. Sexual arousal is part of this same hormonal system.
Dopamine and adrenaline are key hormones in driving not only sexual arousal but also pleasure in general.
When these hormones hit the receptor sites on our body’s cells, they generate the desired response. But these receptor sites become desensitized over time if they are constantly receiving a large number of these “hits”. So, the receptor site at the cellular level requires a bigger and more frequent “hit” to get the same level of “high”.
We’re all familiar with the stories of the cocaine addict who takes his first hit and then spends the rest of his life trying unsuccessfully to get the same high that he got from the first hit. But he can’t get that same high as he got on the first hit because he has become desensitized to the drug.
Now with that as background, let’s take a look at addictions that are common today, but were uncommon say 100 years ago.
Smoking: When the pilgrims first landed, they met Indians who used tobacco. The Indians smoked the tobacco only occasionally, and they smoked the tobacco close to the form that it was found in nature.
Fast forward to the early 20th Century, say the 1920’s and 1930’s. By then tobacco use had morphed from being used occasionally in its natural state to being used constantly in a manufactured form. We went from smoking the occasional peace pipe using tobacco in its natural state to smoking three packs a day of chemically altered and highly concentrated tobacco manufactured and marketed for quantity distribution.
These chemical changes in the manufacturing process impacted the neuroadrenergic system to drive increased desirability of the product. The changes in the manufacturing, marketing, and distribution of the tobacco product have driven addictive behavior.
Remember, each hit to that cell’s receptor site desensitizes that receptor site. Thus, the receptor site requires a bigger hit the next time to get the same high.
The result: by the 1960’s, we saw a massive increase in lung and throat cancer.
Alcohol: During the Revolutionary War period (18th Century) alcohol use was pervasive. The American Revolution really began as a result of discussions that took place in bars. Public discourse during that time occurred in two places: the church and the bar.
But keep in mind that the quality of the alcohol consumed then was different from the quality of the alcohol consumed today. In the 18th Century alcohol was produced mostly in mom-and-pop type operations. Alcohol today is produced by multinational conglomerates that have mechanized the production and delivery process.
Inevitably, along with mechanization comes additives to increase shelf life, and drive the desirability of the product. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to understand that an addicted customer ain’t bad for business.
Think about what alcoholic beverages juiced with caffeine are doing to that noradrenergic system. Sugar, booze AND caffeine. What could possibly go wrong?
The chemical changes in the manufacturing process of alcohol have impacted the neuroadrenergic system to drive increased desirability of the product. The changes in the manufacturing, marketing, and distribution of the alcohol product have driven addictive behavior.
Remember, each hit to that cell’s receptor site desensitizes the receptor site. Thus, the receptor site requires a bigger hit the next time to get the same high.
By the 1980’s we saw a massive increase in the number of people addicted to alcohol, and the inevitable increase in alcohol related diseases like cirrhosis of the liver and pancreatitis.
Food: When I was a kid, I only knew one kid who was fat. Your mom made the same observation. Obesity was rare in the ‘60’s and ‘70’s. Beginning in the 1980’s we’ve seen an explosion in the percentage of kids that are obese.
Now many will observe that kids are less active now than they were then. And I’m sure that inactivity plays a role. But it doesn’t explain the dramatic increase in obesity among the young. It also doesn’t explain the dramatic increase in obesity in everyone. America is #1 in a lot of areas that are good. But we’re also #1 in some areas where you don’t want to be #1. Obesity is certainly one of those areas.
The food that we eat has most certainly changed since the ‘60’s. The biggest change is in the amount of high fructose sugar that has been added to food products. High fructose sugar and other additives have been designed to drive the desirability of the product. Many food companies have hired “flavorists”. Check out this definition of the job title “flavorists”:
The flavorists act as chemists and creators, developing the precise flavor profiles that make food, beverages, and other goods appealing to the public.
Unless you were sleeping while reading this rant, you surely caught the word “chemist” in that definition.
To put it bluntly, the objective of the flavorist is to create an addictive product. Remember the Lay’s potato chip advertising byline: “Betcha can’t eat just one!” I betcha they’re correct!
The chemical changes in the food manufacturing process have impacted the neuroadrenergic system to drive increased desirability of the product. The changes in the manufacturing, marketing, and distribution of the food product have driven addictive behavior.
Remember, each hit to that cell’s receptor site desensitizes the receptor site. Thus, the receptor site requires a bigger hit the next time to get the same high.
The result of all this is we now have record childhood obesity. And even worse, we now have children presenting with Type II diabetes. Twenty years ago, this was a disease only seen in people over 50 years of age.
Porn: I’ve already covered how tough it was to access porn when I was a kid back in the ‘60’s and ‘70’s. (Alright, wise guys, the 1960’s and 1970’s. Not the 1860’s and 1870’s. See what I gotta put up with?)
Not only was porn tough to access, but it was basically still photos from Playboy magazine. I’m not even sure that we can define that as porn compared to what kids have access to today. I’m guessing that during my teenage years I saw a Playboy magazine once a year at most. The stuff just wasn’t available. So, there was no porn addiction problem in the 60’s and 70’s. (Or the 80’s, 90’s, or early 2000’s for that matter)
As I mentioned earlier it’s now available for free, live action, and at the press of a button using a device that every eight-year-old carries around in his pocket. The manufacturing, marketing, and distribution of porn has changed massively in the past ten to fifteen years.
An eight-year-old in 2020 can not only get more access than an eight-year-old could get in 1970, but he can get the porn without any filters whatsoever. It’s the equivalent of being able to get cocaine in its purest form; unadulterated by anything that would minimize the effect of the drug.
Today’s eight-year-old is not looking at still photos of nudes in a Playboy magazine. He is watching live action porn delivered to his phone whenever and wherever he wants to receive it.
Each viewing of porn causes the body to produce its own drug. That drug we call adrenaline and dopamine. Each adrenaline and dopamine “hit” to the receptor site creates a “high”.
Remember, each hit to that cell’s receptor site desensitizes that receptor site. Thus, the receptor site requires a bigger hit the next time to get the same high.
The changes in the manufacturing, marketing, and distribution of the porn product have driven addictive behavior. These changes impact the neuroadrenergic system to drive increased desirability of the product.
Cocaine: The coca leaf was originally consumed by Indians who chewed the coca leaf in the Andes mountains. This is about as close to the natural state of the product as one could get.
Then people discovered that beaucoup bucks could be made from the plant if it was manufactured and delivered in a form that drove addiction. (Remember the move from “cocaine” to “crack cocaine?”)
So now the stuff is manufactured and designed to drive addictive behavior. The changes in its manufacturing and delivery directly impact the neuroadrenergic system and drive increased desirability of the product.
Remember, each hit to that cell’s receptor site desensitizes the receptor site. Thus, the receptor site requires a bigger hit the next time to get the same high.
Social Media: Could it be that the “likes” that people get from posts on Facebook, YouTube, and other social media platforms produce the same effect on the neuroadrenergic system as tobacco, porn, alcohol, and cocaine?
Oh baby, that is yet another rabbit hole to pursue!
The common theme here is this: people want to feel good. Dopamine and adrenaline are naturally occurring hormones found in our central nervous system. The reality is that they behave like drugs. They are good in the right quantities, and horrible in the wrong quantities.
Excessive amounts of these hormones (or drugs if you prefer) will drive adverse outcomes.
Another consideration is the proximity to the natural state of the drug being consumed. When tobacco was smoked by the Indians, it was unadulterated by the manufacturing process and was smoked only occasionally. When the coca leaf was chewed by the Indians, it was unadulterated by the manufacturing process and was chewed only occasionally. When food was consumed 100 years ago, it was unadulterated by the manufacturing process and eaten close to its natural state.
When porn was consumed 50 years ago, it was hard to access in quantity because of societal shame. One had to go to the red-light district and sneak into an adult bookstore. And then the product was likely still photos of topless women. Not much opportunity for cell destroying toxic levels of dopamine and adrenaline.
Think about classic “boy” behavior. Boy behavior seems to be driven by a desire to get the “high”. I grew up with boys taking crazy risks. We jumped out of the second-floor windows of houses and rode go-carts without brakes down steep hills blowing through stop signs. We created bike ramps to see how much “air” we could get on a jump. I had friends who would shoplift just to see if they could get away with it. I later raced bicycles at speeds of up to 70 mph. Us boys are just born adrenaline junkies.
Think about men who do extreme sports. Guys bungy jump from high rise buildings; guys free climb El Capitan at Yosemite National Park with no safety harnesses; guys climb Mt. Everest, and guys do underwater caving. (I guess regular caving just isn’t dangerous enough!) These activities don’t generate much income. So, money is not the motivation. In fact, most of these guys are spending money to do these activities.
I submit to you that the people who do these activities are in fact drug addicts. They are addicted to the naturally occurring drug of dopamine and adrenaline.
My guess is that the porn industry is taking advantage of boys’ natural desire to “get high”. The “high” is the natural desire to feel good. Boys seek adrenaline to feel good. Historically, the only way to get this “high” would have been to do what one might now call healthy risk taking. That healthy risk taking historically involved physical activity.
If you grew up in the country, those healthy risks were going hunting, fishing, swimming, or diving into the local water hole. If you grew up in the city those healthy risks were riding go-carts, playing touch or tackle football, or playing baseball.
Historically boys had limited access in their ability to get the natural drug of dopamine and adrenaline. But now boys have multiple means to access these hormones or drugs if you will.
You now have chemically altered food, which is designed to adversely impact the neuroadrenergic system and produce a high. So, the modern food supply positions boys to get the high from the food that couldn’t be accessed historically.
You now have free and easy access to porn, which is designed to adversely impact the neuroadrenergic system and produce a high. So, the modern information technology positions boys to get the high from porn that couldn’t be accessed historically.
You now have chemically altered alcohol, which is designed to adversely impact the neuroadrenergic system and produce a high. The marketing, delivery, and chemical alteration of alcohol positions boys to get the high from alcohol that couldn’t be accessed historically.
Now, you even have chemically altered illicit drugs, which are designed to adversely impact the neuroadrenergic system and produce a high. Drugs like methamphetamines, crack cocaine, and fentanyl are designed to send the neuroadrenergic system into hyperdrive. A type of hyperdrive that couldn’t have been accessed historically.
The physical manifestation of the chemically altered food is obesity.
The physical manifestation of the chemically altered tobacco is the cancer.
The physical manifestation of the cocaine is the high rates of physical crime and early death among its victims.
My guess is the physical manifestation of the excessive porn is the lack of testosterone and masculine energy in young men. And falling fertility rates. And a lack of interest in real women.
Whew; now that was definitely a rabbit hole. That should generate a heck of a discussion at our next rap session.
Because we are men, we will have that discussion over a glass of whisky and a cigar!
Risks be damned!
Peace Out,
Dad
Bonus Food for thought:
The rise of diabetes can be tied directly to the increase in high amounts of fructose in the food industry’s mechanized diet. Fructose causes the beta cells in the pancreas to secret large amounts of insulin to remove the sugar from the blood stream. The high fructose diet keeps “hitting” the receptor sites on the pancreas causing the beta cell to burn out over time. Once that beta cell burns out, the pancreas can no longer secrete insulin. And this is essentially the mechanism by which one goes from Type II diabetes to Type I diabetes. (Type I being the diabetes where an insulin injection is needed to stay alive)
When most people think of drug dealers, they think of Superfly hanging out in an alley, or Pablo Escobar. They don’t think of the CEOs of Nestle, Mars, Hershey, or Kraft Foods. It may very well be that the only difference between Pablo Escobar, El Chapo and the CEOs of the food conglomerates is that the drugs being pimped by the food conglomerates are legal, and the drugs being pimped by El Chapo and Pablo Escobar were illegal.
Funny true story: When I was in the pharmaceutical sales, I worked with a sales representative who was covering Compton. She said she was getting the drug samples out of her trunk when a gang member approached her and asked her what business she was in. When she told him she was in the pharmaceutical business he replied: “Hey baby, we’re in the same business!” :)
I think that gang banger had a point. It’s beginning to look to me like the porn, food, and tobacco industries are all in the same business. They are all the pharmaceutical business!
Peace Out,
Dad
