I read an article on CBC.ca dealing with the growing number of disinterested young men. Disinterested in life and moving on to the next stage of it. The author makes quite a few good points.

Here's the article for your perusal, I'd be interested in hearing opinions on this "trend."
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2008/...p-handler.html

Hahaha. This is why you have so many people in their late 20's and early 30's living at home in their parents houses not contributing in any way.

ok so i agreed with alot of the article until i got to this point:

"The devaluation of masculinity. Boys don't know how to become men. They no longer have appropriate rights of passage. Once Father Knows Best was the paternalistic model but now he has been replaced (and mocked) by a dopey Homer Simpson. Sax likes the old virtues of courage and temperance, with a good measure of intelligence."

Oh please, masculinity is not being devalued.. it is simply evolving. The old preceptions of masculinity are crude and outdated.

I agree with the above statement. The trouble with people these days is not a lack of "masculinity" (whatever that is defined as), but a lack of individuality and independance.

We are force-fed by our parents and the media as to what our life should be like, and we are guided and pushed into a life we dont want...few make truly independent decisions these days. Life has moved away from "seeking happiness" and moved more towards pleasing others.

In my opinion, selflessness is wrecking society. Every one of us needs to be selfish...we need to care about our own decisions and our own lifetsyle, and not taylor it to suite other people's needs. Everyone, at some point, should come to point in there lives where they say "I dont care what any of you think or how my actions somehow upset or dissapoint you...its my life and I get to do whatever the hell I want with it!"

That is one of the reasons I am so looking forward to university. Though my parents are in fact very non-strict and accomidating, I still feel myself pressured to act a certain way to make them comfortable, rather than being myself and making myself comfortable.

In the end, I think if everyone just worked on living truthfully to what they want in life, rather than being over accomidating to society, everyone would be much happier and more independant.

btw, from the article: "Some young men even seem to prefer online porno to the prospect of sex with another human being."

Believe me, its not that they prefer it, its just that its a whole lot easier

toooo much information J-Met!

I know, I have a habit for long-winded posts lol
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Edit: Ahhhhh....now I know what your talking about...I forgot about that last bit I added.....I ALSO have the habit of occasionally crossing the line of appropriateness haha

The way I see it, "virtues" such as courage, temperance and intelligence have nothing to do with masculinity. Although I appreciate the message of the article, the theme of masculinity is purely irrelevant to the original topic.

Anyways, as for me, I'm moving out of my house as soon as I can. I don't know how you could possibly stand living with your parents at 30.

I know at least at my high school a lot of the guys (and some girls too) seem like they don't have any aspiration to do anything. They just keep doing the minimal amount of work to pass their classes. I think in some cases it's because parents have become a lot more lax in teaching and disciplining their children. They don't really have any 'control' any more.

In 1949, for example, 70 per cent of undergraduate students in the U.S. were male. In 2006, the figure was 42 per cent, virtually the same as in Canada.

Since a lot more girls are going to post-secondary institutions the percentage of guys would naturally decrease, but this is less than half, so it's kind of alarming to think of what would happen if the percentage continued to decline.

Endocrine disruptors. Chemicals from plastic bottles, canned food linings and some shampoos mimic natural estrogen, the female hormone. Boys' testosterone levels are half of what they were in their grandfathers' day.

I wonder if girls then would have an increase in estrogen from all these chemicals.

Not having a concrete background in chem, but i wonder how plastics have a chemical composition similar to the properties of estrogen.

It seems sort of...far-fetched

Originally Posted by J-Met

Believe me, its not that they prefer it, its just that its a whole lot easier

Wait. Did I just read that? *checks* I did.

Yup...too much info as I said before...

Originally Posted by J-Met

Believe me, its not that they prefer it, its just that its a whole lot easier

You forgot "safer" JMet HAHA

Originally Posted by lorend

Not having a concrete background in chem, but i wonder how plastics have a chemical composition similar to the properties of estrogen.

It seems sort of...far-fetched

This is a bit old (about 12 years old) but there was worry about these chemicals back then too. [http://www.cnn.com/HEALTH/9608/17/nf...hem/index.html]

Also, the Wikipedia entry on estrogen has some Health Warnings about it. (Mind you it also says that some shampoos contain estrogen and placental extracts....I'm not washing my hair ever again.)