· Cynthia R.
Daniels. 2008. “Dropping Sperm Counts” in Exposing
Men: The Science and Politics of Male Reproduction. Oxford University
Press.
Historically, there is very little information about male fertility, so when tests by a Danish team showed a decrease in male fertility and an increase in testicular cancer, there was hysteria as the lack of baseline failed to disprove the results. It seemed that not just male fertility, but also masculinity was at stake, as male invulnerability of the male reproductive body was brought to the fore.
It was thought that sperm was hardy and robust, but recent research has shown that sperm is fragile and sensitive to both heat and movement.
Questions were raised about the methods of sperm counting and abstinence of the subjects, meaning that the Danish study may not have been so accurate if it was basing its results on studies done before computer counting of sperm was around.
"data on sperm count drop could be skewed by subject selection. Over the forty-year period, most studies of sperm quality have been conducted at fertility clinics or on sperm donors - men with either especially low or especially high counts." p.40
There was also an increase in male genital malformation - where either the urethra was abnormal or one of the testicles did not drop. Both could lead to infertility or testicular cancer.
"As researchers framed the discussion, both hypospadias and cryptorchidism represented forms of "feminisation" of the male body." p.42
There was also a worldwide decrease in boys born. "Some researchers argue that the male foetus is more vulnerable to harm from paternal exposures than the female foetus - more likely to be miscarried, more likely to have sexual development disrupted, more likely to have future fertility affected, and more likely to be born with birth defects as a result of in utero exposures." p.44
Wildlife studies - "Although animal studies are clearly not definitive risks to humans, they nevertheless provide invaluable data on potential risks to human health." p.48
"By the turn of the twenty-first century, many were convinced that human and animal studies together confirmed symptoms of a deteriorating male reproductive system. They suspected the source lay in environmental exposures of males either in utero or after birth." p.48
It seemed that environmental factors and lifestyle habits were the main reason men's sperm count and quality was decreasing.
"The level and intensity of media reports suggested that this was a debate not just about a potential human health problem but about masculinity itself. Sperm were, in essence, "little men" weathering an assault of social, technological, and environmental forces. Sperm counts represented not only a measure of one's manhood but also the symbolic measure of a nation's strength and well-being." p.52
Personification of sperm - they were tiny beings that were described as either being sluggish or vigorous swimmers, "Sperm are first on the front lines" p.53
"Whether human or animal, sperm appear to have volition of their own - an independent will separate from their male maker." p.54
Other causes were suggested such as feminism and maternal transmission, lack of war and tight underwear.
"It was not men who were at risk but the "male foetus". Encased in the uterus, there was nothing the male foetus could do to avoid chemical emasculation. Men were vulenrable only by virtue of their captive position inside the female body." p.56
"The disorders of the male reproductive system were characterised not as male disorders but as forms of feminisation." p.58
Nationhood - "A nation's sperm count was a measure of its national virility." p.59
Global Doom - "The end of manhood apparently meant the end of the human race." p.61
Paradoxes of Reproductive Masculinity - "Assumptions of masculinity were implicated in the belief or rejection of the evidence that male reproductive health was at risk. Gendered norms of manhood intensified the response in both directions, with sharply critical attacks at one extreme and predictions of global doom at the other. Indeed, in the end, the question was not whether male reproductive health was at risk at all, but how the perception of risk was obscured by these norms of masculinity." p.68
"Men who were fragile or weakened were "more like women," with bodies vulnerable to external dangers." p.69
"evidence that threatens to disrupt presumptions of masculinity was met with highly charged responses of panic and denial." p.69
"When evidence of male risk and vulnerability was strong enough to overcome this social and scientific resistance, it was met with social responses of deflection and reinstatement." p.69
"In the end, this is a story not about the "gender wars" but about the price men pay for gender privilege." p.70
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