Modern Threats to Manliness

Even though I already made my 5 contributions, I really wanted to share yet another Cracked article I had been reading for my own leisure. It deals with how certain things affect testosterone production in men and how many habits that we have may be detrimental to the production of this chemical thereby reducing our ‘manliness’. It is a humor article but it does cite its sources and while the information itself is medically interesting if you particularly like the subject of hormones, I think that the most interesting part is what the humor inadvertently displays. Many jokes are cracked that a lack of testosterone is threatening, to the point where diabetes seems like it may be worth it. It also illustrates many stereotypes and notions of manliness. For example, it talks about how low carb diets and high protein diets are definitely manly but reduce testosterone. It’s interesting to see the countless ways in which the article simply assumes that there are certain things unrelated to our sexuality (such as preference in food) that go hand in hand with our masculinity nevertheless.

http://www.cracked.com/article_20133_5-reasons-modern-life-driving-manliness-to-extinction_p2.html