Today's men are evolutionarily useless: they are losing virility and fertility as a result of their increasing attractiveness
Evolutionary paradox
According to scientists, the cards are clearly dealt. Men are undermining - or outright reducing - their fertility, paradoxically through activities that are supposed to increase their attractiveness. According to the authors of this idea, the thesis described above has been named the Mossman-Pacey paradox. "Isn't it ironic that men go to the gym to look fabulous and attract more women, and inadvertently lower their fertility as a result?" asks the rhetorical question posed by Prof. Allan Pacey from the University of Sheffield.
"I've noticed an increasing number of men getting tested to find out their fertility rates - and these men have been really huge," says Dr James Mossman, an expert in evolutionary biology who, among other things, works on steroid use. "Men today are trying to make themselves look big, to embody the pinnacle of evolution. But in an evolutionary sense, they are actually completely useless because there is not a single sperm in their ejaculate," summarizes the current problem for Pacey's colleague Mossman.
Anabolic steroids vs. testosterone
In principle, the situation is quite clear - men who work out to build their musculature usually take anabolic steroids. While on the one hand they promote muscle growth, on the other hand they mimic the effects of the male hormone testosterone in the body. And there's a problem.
Steroids simply "fool" the brain, which assesses the situation so that the pituitary gland stops producing testosterone itself - the body has enough synthetic testosterone. Unfortunately, the body also stops producing those hormones that are directly responsible for sperm production. "I would say that the number of men who become sterile because of anabolic steroid use is much higher than anyone would expect, approaching 90 per cent," says Prof Pacey. Other unwanted side effects, such as shrunken testicles or, on the contrary, the so-called gynecomastia, i.e. the growth of breast glands, cannot be ignored. Moreover, the researchers add that a similar situation of overwhelming loss of sperm also occurs in men who try to combat progressive balding by taking various hormonal preparations.
Hair or erection?
As the experts point out, some of the drugs that are taken against hair loss also lead to changes in testosterone metabolism - as a result, hair loss actually slows down, but one of the very common side effects is unfortunately erectile dysfunction, and therefore again fertility problems.
The blind path of evolution
No matter how much today's men try to live up to the often completely meaningless (and unattainable) ideals of "male beauty" - the basic principle of evolution is to pass on the genetic makeup to the next generation. However, according to Mossman, many of the products men use to make themselves more attractive have the effect of rendering these men "evolutionarily useless."
Therefore, all men should realize that they don't have to have (figuratively speaking) a peacock's tail to attract a female so they can spread their genetic makeup, as happens in the animal kingdom. After all, it is among animals that very specific mechanisms of so-called cooperative breeding operate, where some individuals will voluntarily give up their own offspring to help increase the chances of their "animal relatives" offspring thriving.
Although similar theories can also be encountered in the context of the gay/les population - with some scientists claiming that it is gay/les siblings who not infrequently act as educational support for the children of their brothers or sisters - the fact is that men are simply not peacocks. And most importantly, as Mossman notes, "that someone works hard on the one hand to increase their attractiveness to another, but in doing so kills their own fertility, is typical of man and man alone...."
