Video summary
The discussion centers on a potential hormonal component to what some call the "sex recession," suggesting it may be partly driven by women using hormonal birth control and men experiencing low testosterone levels. The conversation introduces Dr. Sarah Hill, author of *This Is Your Brain on Birth Control*, whose research indicates that male testosterone levels are biologically mediated by the fertility status of women in their local environment. According to this theory, when a man is surrounded by other males or older females like grandmothers and children rather than fertile partners, his testosterone naturally drops. Conversely, men can detect female fertility through scent alone; studies cited show that men find silhouettes most attractive during the seven-day window of peak ovulation, with high heels potentially mimicking this natural gait to enhance attractiveness. A significant argument presented is a recursive feedback loop where hormonal birth control causes women to select for male providers rather than protectors, prioritizing academic achievement and resources over traditional protective traits. This shift allegedly leads men into a "hormonal fugue state" or social confusion regarding their partners' true fertility status once they are in relationships with contraceptive users. The transcript notes that while society might prefer lower testosterone levels associated with less aggression and crime, there is also the concern of declining male vitality leading to issues like obesity, diabetes, and reduced military recruitment interest. This creates a difficult societal trade-off between fostering peaceful, "soy" men who are agreeable but potentially sterile versus maintaining higher testosterone levels that could correlate with increased violence or criminal behavior. The decline in male testosterone is highlighted as occurring at approximately 1% per year since the early 1950s, attributed not just to lifestyle factors like processed foods and lack of Vitamin D exposure, but also by an "X Factor" linked heavily to hormonal birth control usage among women. The conversation extends this issue globally, citing China's ban on K-pop as a strategic move against what they termed "[ __ ] men." In that context, the Chinese government reportedly sought to prevent their male population from adopting soft, feminine role models like BTS members in favor of "high T-jacked" figures associated with traditional masculinity. This cultural shift is linked historically to pre-communist Confucian values and a reaction against perceived feminization, contrasting sharply with communist-era ideals that favored intellectual or indoor-oriented men over the rugged physicality previously celebrated. The dialogue concludes by acknowledging the complexity of these hormonal dynamics without offering a definitive solution, noting that while low testosterone presents challenges for fertility and functional relationships between genders, high testosterone carries its own societal risks regarding violence. The military recruitment crisis is further complicated not just by health issues like diabetes but also by men's lack of interest in waging war, which may stem from diminished patriotism or faith in the nation rather than solely hormonal causes. Ultimately, the speakers suggest that as long as there are no active hot wars and technology advances rapidly, society might temporarily get away with these demographic shifts, though they warn that a scenario requiring mass mobilization could expose severe vulnerabilities if the pool of willing soldiers continues to shrink due to cultural and biological factors.
Read the full video transcript
it is possible that the sex recession
soall is partly
hormonal it's partly caused by I mean it
might partly be caused by women being on
hormonal birth control which is changing
their sexuality might also be caused by
men being low te so the low testosterone
for men do you want to hear my real
horseshoe theory for this okay right so
I learned this whil talking to Dr Sarah
Hill who wrote this is your brain on
birth control right and um she taught me
that male testosterone levels are
mediated by the fertility of the women
in their local ecology so if you were a
uh male in their 20s but you happen to
be around a bunch of other men or a
bunch of other grandmothers perhaps are
a bunch of
children your testosterone levels drop
interesting and what you have are women
who are very highly artificially
suppressing their fertility so men are
able to smell the T-shirt of a woman and
be able to pick the one the one that
they most attractive to is the attracted
to is the one who is currently at that
stage of her cycle she's currently
fertile etc etc they can see they've
done studies where men watch women's
Silhouettes
walking and the women who are currently
during the 7day you can get me pregnant
period they're the ones that the're most
attracted to the [ __ ] silhouette of
the way they walk display high heels
replicate that that's the idea mhm the
high heels make you walk distin make you
look so you have this recursive uh
feedback loop of hormonal birth control
causes women to select for men who are
more providers rather than protectors
they want provisioners right they want
the uh academic and the resources more
agreeable they then either come off or
don't come off birth control but find
that they come out this [ __ ] hormonal
Fugue State oh my God who am I in a
relationship with but you also have this
effect on men too only socially in I
noticed that lots of women seem to be
attracted to Timothy shalam who's
painting his nails and kind of blah blah
blah blah blah yeah but the
genuine physiological hormonal response
to men just being around lots of women
who are on hormonal birth control
now processed foods not enough time
outside not enough time with vitamin D
not enough time with
friends but there's a big X Factor
apparently amongst testosterone
researchers who don't know why men's tea
levels have dropped the amount that they
have right it's about 1% a year every
year since I think 1950 wow so it's like
and then that goes to 100 and then it's
that again and it goes to 100 so it's
not how we're in minus [ __ ] uh
testosterone soon but uh yeah so
hormonal birth control has a lot to
answer for I think it's a really tricky
trade-off isn't it because
like there are clear downsides to having
a bunch of low team men you you know in
terms of in terms of fertility in terms
of men and women just fcing each other
and like having functional relationships
but also like high testosterone is also
associated with crime and violence yeah
so which you know do we choose to have a
society of kind
of sexless incredibly like
online Placid soy people yeah who also
are quite
chill don't CA like enormous problems I
don't know that's like that's like a
genuinely hard thing to choose yeah you
could almost look at it kind of like a
disposition sterilization yeah in a way
yeah yeah [ __ ] yeah but then we had
problems with like like this is a real
problem with the military I'm sure you
know like massive recruitment problems I
thought that was because everyone's fat
and got diabetes Well that too right but
also not being interested in it men just
don't want to wage war yeah we can do it
from Modern Warfare or um I'm on Reddit
it's probably also partly to do with
lack of like faith in the nation like
being less patriotic in general like the
pool of potentially great soldiers just
get smaller every year and it's sort of
fine I guess we get away with it because
if we're not actually in a hot war and
if we have loads of Technology but you
can imagine a scenario where that
becomes an enormous problem like a mass
mobilization I don't know how we
actually Fair the uh Chinese government
banned K-pop you see this cuz they
didn't want what was it they called them
it was like [ __ ] men we don't want any
more [ __ ] men so it was all of the
Chinese male role models were like super
high te jacked dudes and they didn't
want this BTS Like
soy like culture infecting them that's
how they that's what I saw it something
I learned about that from um I had a um
R MIT who's a professor of Chinese
history and politics Oxford on my
podcast I didn't know this um in China
there's a very strong association
between communism and
masculinity and actually it's the old
pre-communist like Confucian soy boys
basically you know the sort of the sort
of like intellectual
indoorsy that's associated with
pre-communist China
M and so some of the reaction against
feminization through K-pop or whatever
is associated with um anti-communist
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