Pine Tree Ramblings - Vol 4 - Granite Grok

Pine Tree Ramblings – Vol 4

Pine TreeThe feminization of males is on the top of people’s minds these days.  Liberals, with their strong senses of emotion and relativism, are advocating it, saying gender should be neutral and men should assimilate to better understand oppressed women.  Conservatives, with their strong traits of logic and rationalism, scorn the crossing of inherent gender boundaries (biology, anyone?).  The Statists (which includes both Democrats and Republicans), love the idea, as it creates yet another gaggle of protected classes to “govern”, dividing the population into further instability (and we all know that Statists love instability).

But what is causing this phenomenon?  Why are more and more men across the planet thinking and acting like women?  I have a theory…

History has recorded cases of men being homosexual for centuries. But I’m not talking about that. I’m talking about the socially-accepted feminine behavior of males, both straight and gay, in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.

Of course our current mainstream culture is feeding this, as it does any trending circus-like behavior.  Combining mass social media and the sheep-like behavior of the average person, anything can become a trend (can you say “Tide Pod challenge”?).

Of course, many trends die a quick death – but this one isn’t; it is growing and I suspect it involves more than just culture.

Researching types of plastic to store water in, I ran into an article about Bisphenol A, or “BPA”.  Many people say to use BPA-free plastics when storing water for the long term.  The reason is that BPA can leech from the plastic into your water.  As I read on, I learned that BPA actually mimics estrogen, the female hormone.  In fact, a hybrid form was developed in 1938 as a synthetic form of estrogen (DES) and was initially used to prevent miscarriage and as an estrogen-replacement therapy.  DES disappeared from accepted use in 1997 but it was applied in a variety of treatments, in millions of people, from 1940 until that time.  Ironically, DES was found to cause cancer in 1979, stopping its use as a growth hormone in beef cattle.

BPA Estrogen

Medicine aside, BPA has been used over the years in many, many products from baby bottles and sippy-cups, to thermal printed receipts (that you touch every day), eyeglass lenses, tin cans (mostly soups and pasta, ironically to prevent leeching of metals into the food), sports products, and Tupperware (until 2010).

plastic food storage

Some countries and US States have banned the use of BPA and many manufacturers have now switched to BPA-free products, where BPA is replaced by bisphenol-S (BPS) or bisphenol-F (BPF). But recent research indicates that that even small concentrations of BPS and BPF may have similar side-effects.  So, BPA-free bottles may not be the answer.

Also, combined with phosgene, BPA becomes “polycarbonate”, which is a strong plastic used in airplane glass, medical devices, helmet shields, bike helmets, auto body parts, CDs, and dental filling sealants, among other things.  Some studies have shown that BPA can leech or unlock itself from its host polycarbonate plastic.

BPA is thought to potentially cause or enhance obesity, ADHD, testicular deformities, a heightened sensitivity to drugs of abuse (can you say opioid crisis?), breast cancer, sperm count reduction, asthma, heart disease, diabetes, and gender issues.

My gender theory aside, BPA, which is in nearly every plastic product, seems like something to avoid and may be a cause for the escalating cases of health issues we see.

But maybe, just maybe, this estrogen-mimicking, hormone-disrupting chemical is having some other side-effects.

Chris-crockerI’m no scientist.  I’m just sayin’.

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