And the general destruction of the middle class. My parents were teen parents and while it was tough, they could afford it. I can't afford a kid at all, and I've worked my ass off.

But yeah, stress, depression, fear, anger, chemical and hormonal imbalances, climate change, fascism, overworked and underpaid bs, attacks on bodily autonomy, surveillance and tracking, the death of 3rd places, the poverty of free time, unaffordable housing, unaffordable transportation, hours-long commutes, staggering wealth inequality, state violence, white nationalists endless wars, etc... I don't blame anybody for putting off or entirely deciding against having children

Just like climate change. It's happening because you didn't recycle that can, not because of the hundreds of open cut mines approved by bribed politicians.

I could see this being true, my personal conspiracy theory follows yours but is plastics specifically. In 50 years we'll look back on the age of plastic the same way we look back at leaded gas or asbestos.

Could also be epigenetic effects that we currently do not well understand.

Turns out that you actually can and do sort of pass on the cumulative effects of what has happened to you before you reproduce. And this does seem to include testosterone production.

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11010-025-05366-0

Now that's paywalled, but the abstract seems to me to indicate that at least broadly... this is probably part of the puzzle.

Stress, your metabolic state due to your diet (of ultra processed foods), environmental pollutants, things like that... may significantly contribute to how much T your offspring are gonna be making.

This isn't a conspiracy theory. The reduction in testosterone and sperm count are related to environmental factors. The average sperm count goes to 0 by 2045. I'm not sure why we're not talking about this more.

I'm fairly convinced of this too

This is an interesting theory, you would need to find birthrates matching the industrial pollution rate, which my guess is it doesn't totally. I'm sure it's a measure of multiple factors where a big one is teenagers are having less sex and first sexual encounter is later. https://opa.hhs.gov/adolescent-health/adolescent-sexual-and-reproductive-health/data-and-statistics-on-adolescent-sexual-and-reproductive-health (Look at figure 1)

Don’t forget pervasive lead poisoning, it fucks up the baby basically day one by fucking up the neural crest.

I see plenty of gender affirming care when I drive. There are big trucks everywhere

I was diagnosed with low testosterone a few years back. I told my doctor that I had no interest in having pimples and chasing girls when I was well into my 50s. Always had man boobs anyhow.

HRT and gender affirming care is only being banned from trans people not cis. Cis kids are allowed to go on puberty blockers and trans kids are not for example.

Walking and biking? That's gay and DEI

Microplastics are stored in the balls.

more tender now

Forget manhood or being a man. Testosterone has more effects than making people angry or horny. It can influence general mood, energy levels, weight and muscle control, and that's just the stuff off the top of my head. Women have, and need, some levels of testosterone, and men need some levels of estrogen. End point, we do in fact need testosterone.

Again, fucking stupid…

why don't we need it?

There is no proven connection between testosterone and aggression (assuming you weren't just making a joke, of course); https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0018506X19304519, https://www.health.harvard.edu/healthy-aging-and-longevity/testosterone--what-it-does-and-doesnt-do, https://www.numan.com/low-testosterone/symptoms/is-there-a-link-between-testosterone-and-aggression.

Something I found interesting from https://www.hims.com/blog/does-testosterone-make-you-angry (but didn't really want to list as a source given it's from an inherently biased company; though, to be fair, it cites all its sources for the info. listed therein) was

Sometimes, testosterone’s reputation may function as a self-fulfilling prophecy.

In one study, men who believed they had received testosterone became angrier and more aggressive during a task — even if they’d only received a placebo. Their expectations about how testosterone “should” make them feel seemed to drive their reactions more so than the hormone itself.

A similar experiment with women found the same result, but in reverse. Those who actually received testosterone (but weren’t told so) behaved more fairly and cooperatively in a bargaining game, while those who merely believed they had taken it (but had not) acted more selfishly and aggressive.

Or that part of the drop isn't just from more accurate testing methods being developed and used.

It's an average, and testosterone levels halved after Chuck Norris died.

Come on Barbie, let's go party!

I tend to agree with your sentiment here.

What is the increase in obese/overweight men now vs. 50 years ago?

Exercise daily with 4 days of lifting, free test levels were a third of what they should be.

Found the dude who thinks his testosterone is high. 🤪