We started by talking about “grip strength” and how it has declined over the past 30 years.
This was from an article in the National Review:
“Young American males are losing touch with a critical element of true masculinity. If you’re the average Millennial male, your dad is stronger than you are. In fact, you may not be stronger than the average Millennial female…Welcome to the new, post-masculine reality.
This morning, the Washington Post highlighted a study showing that the grip strength of a sample of college men had declined significantly between 1985 and 2016.
Indeed, the grip strength of the sample of college men had declined so much — from 117 pounds of force to 98 — that it now matched that of older Millennial women. In other words, the average college male had no more hand strength than a 30-year-old mom. Yes, I know it’s only one study. Yes, I know that grip strength is but one measure of overall physical fitness. But as the Post noted, these findings are consistent with other studies showing kids are less fit today. (For example, it takes children 90 seconds longer to run a mile than it did 30 years ago.) Simply put, we’re getting soft — and no cohort is getting softer faster than college men.”
The group of members of The Good Men Project community then got into a robust and lively discussion about how closely physical strength was tied to being a man in the 21st century.
What do you think? Take a listen and join in the conversation.
This topic is a “hot button” issue of mine; so, I was not able to listen to the audio recording in its entirety once I had listened to Lisa Hickey’s introduction. The issue is quite painful to me. Emotionally. In fact, it makes me angry. Yes, physical strenght is necessary in certain occupations; and there is much to be said about exercise for reasons of health. (For the record, I’ve made a permanent commitment to a bodybuilding program under the supervision of a physical trainer.) But I’m sick and tired of people equating physical strength with masculinity. Aside from the… Read more »
Educated minds whether they are boys or girls are not appreciated or tolerate considering the fact how the American society doesn’t support intellectualism in this country. In addition, companies have their own scientists to counter act anything that would cut into their profits such as drugs that actually make people worse off than before, or medical devices/procedures that kill people.
You’re absolutely right. There has long been an anti-intellectual component of American culture. Studious, nonathletic boys have long been targeted and denigrated as inferior — despite whatever accomplishments they achieve as adults.
The Trump thing? White males are open targets so we will see such derogatory, even genital shaming as we see with the Trump Statue. No surprises there. This study, or the interpretation of it? Is that not exactly what we are trying to move past; the notion that a man (or boy) that is not an exemplar of classic masculinity is no less a man, but just a different sort of man? Certainly such a trend, from a purely scientific perspective, is reason to investigate further, but the accompanying insinuation seems more nonsensical than anything else. These boys are not… Read more »
Fact-check: our boys are down *by* about 35% relative to girls in college enrollment. They are about 43% of college enrollees. Hyperbolically misquoting statistics seems to correlate unusually well with concern for gender issues. On both sides, for some reason.
That would be conjecture, not hyperbole, yes? I did not intend for it not to be taken literally, but very literally. It was also a minor point of within the context of the subject matter, not the subject matter itself, and not intended to be a point of contention, but example. But for the record. That statistic was first touted by Kathleen A. Bogle, a sociologist at La Salle University in Philadelphia.. Her book, “Hooking Up: Sex, Dating, and Relationships on Campus,” was published in 2008. It cited the 57 to 43% statistic. I traced it back to the National… Read more »
Brilliant comment. Probably should have just turned it into a whole post?
Excellent response (as always), DJ!
By the way, I’m impressed by your “man resume,” which you previously described in the nerd topic. Although I never would have participated in a sport, I wish I had been as physically active when I was your age.
If we had strong unions like they have in Europe for both blue and white collar profession, people would not be earning less. If we had not gotten rid of free college education starting with Reagan, we would not be stuck with a 1 trillion dollar student debt.