On the Decline of Manliness

According to a certain person, a number of years ago Matsuguma Kyoan told this story:

In the practice of medicine there is a differentiation of treatment according to the Yin and Yang of men and women. There is also a difference in pulse. In the last fifty years, however, men's pulse has become the same as women's. Noticing this, in the treatment of eye disease I applied women's treatment to men and found it suitable. When I observed the application of men's treatment to men, there was no result. Thus I knew that men's spirit had weakened and that they had become the same as women, and the end of the world had come. Since I witnessed this with certainty, I kept it a secret.

When looking at the men of today with this in mind, those who could be thought to have a woman's pulse are many indeed, and those who seem like real men few. Because of this, if one were to make a little effort, he would be able to take the upper hand quite easily. That there are few men who arc able to cut well in beheadings is further proof that men's courage has waned.

- The Hagakure, Book 1

...history is rife with legends of women disguised as men rising to great ranks. Ancient Greece and Rome had them. But the purpose of such legends was usually satirical: It was meant to show how weak or corrupt the men of the time and place had become. The moral of the tale was that the men were so spineless that a woman could assume leadership. And that means that the legend of Pope Joan... reflects a degrading and persistent animus toward women that lingered from pagan culture.

- Robert Lockwood, Catholic Answers

The male gender is in danger, with incalculable consequences for both humans and wildlife, startling scientific research from around the world reveals... a host of common chemicals is feminising males of every class of vertebrate animals, from fish to mammals, including people.

...Indeed, new research at the University of Rochester in New York state shows that boys born to mothers with raised levels of phthalates were more likely to have smaller penises and undescended testicles. They also had a shorter distance between their anus and genitalia, a classic sign of feminisation. And a study at Rotterdam's Erasmus University showed that boys whose mothers had been exposed to PCBs grew up wanting to play with dolls and tea sets rather than with traditionally male toys.

- Geoffrey Lean, Independent on Sunday, 7/12/2008

The fruits of human progress: after centuries of complaints that men are more womanish than they used to be, Science has finally made it come true.

And there's still no jetpacks...

(h/t: Daily Kraken, Instapundit)