I think you are likely on to something with this and your comment below. Testosterone has been decreasing steadily in men over the years and sitting in front of a machine all day probably doesn't help. And yes, the "jocks vs nerds" meme likely contributes to the mentality we are sensing.
There have been some research studies focused on exogenous estrogen mimicking chemicals (Xenoestrogen). Some plastics exhibit these affects. "BPA (Bisphenol A) is the monomer used to manufacture polycarbonate plastic and epoxy resins used as a lining in most food and beverage cans. BPA global capacity is in excess of 6.4 billion pounds (2.9×109 kg) per year and thus is one of the highest-volume chemicals produced worldwide." -https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenoestrogen
> Is there a reason why there is a decline in testosterone?
Except for the ongoing war against boys?
I'm fully aware that girls has faced problems as well, probably more than men, but the solution to that shouldn't be to punish young boys today for the sins of their grandparents.
Edit: I'm serious. I'm as much against sexism as anyone, but IMO the solution isn't to make all boys behave more like girls but to make boys behave as better boys.
As for the theory about chemicals I think that can be a good explanation for parts of the problem.
One observation that strengthens this theory is that dogs are affected as well.
> a war against boys that doesn't exist
The war part is a way of speech, or hyperbole, I give you that.
But how about you explain:
- the majority of prison populations being men. Is society failing them like we say about every other group who is overrepresented in prisons or are men more evil? If men are more evil - explain why they are different from other groups overrepresented in prisons.
- why do boys on average score significantly better when tests are anonymous compared to when the tests are named and graded by their teacher?[0][1]
- Related to the first: Why are judges more lenient towards women? [2]
[1]: I'm well aware that the opposite happens as well. A good friend of me told me how he (who always got good grades) and a female student who always got average grades swapped their hand ins and found that the teacher had still graded his top notch and hers as average, so yes, this happens as well but seems to be less common at least around here.
I'm one of the lucky ones: background from farming, well paid job as an engineer now. Can work hard, climb etc as well as program and help run big distributed networks as part of an ops team. Big family. Married for over a decade to a woman who love me and who is easy to love back. More than three kids together. In-laws are nice.
I do have my struggles, yes, but I don't write about them on the Internet but I'll tell as much: I'm happy to be a man.
But I do feel sorry for the boys (and girls) who grow up in more limited environments. And for boys with fewer good male role models and society telling them it's their fault for being born with a different chromosome.
