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Commentators on the Right correctly note the role economic conditions are playing in this decline in relationships and fertility, and improving these conditions so as to make family formation a material possibility for young Americans should be a key priority. But economic conditions do not tell the full story.
After all, Americans have exhibited high fertility under much more challenging economic conditions than we find today, and these trends were already well underway before the pandemic response nuked much of the independent American economy. The simple but uncomfortable reality is that the average young American’s health has declined to the point that they are lacking in both the sexual appeal and libido necessary to make sex, marriage, and procreation a common part of American life. […]
At the same time, the factors leading to testosterone decline in men have not left women unscathed. Hormonal imbalances abound among young women as well, leaving many of them fat, skinny-fat, or overly muscular in an unappealing way. There are many healthy young men and women who have checked out of the dating market because finding a suitable counterpart has become a seemingly futile exercise—akin to finding a unicorn in a stable of pack mules.
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