(Video above: Cliff Sims on Yellowhammer Radio discussing a new study showing men are getting weaker)
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A new scientific study showing that millennial men “have significantly weaker hands and arms than men the same age did 30 years ago” prompted a near meltdown on Yellowhammer Radio on Wednesday, as host and Yellowhammer News CEO Cliff Sims unloaded on what he described as America’s new “post-masculine reality.”
Sims began by citing a column in National Review that laid out the general findings of the study:
[The study shows] 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…
(T)hese 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.
“This is the new masculine, or perhaps we should say post-masculine, reality,” said Sims. “This stuff matters… You can tell a lot by the way a man shakes a hand… I can’t help but think that this study is finally a mathematical explanation for what we’ve known for about two dozen years — men are not allowed to be men anymore in this country.”
Sims recalled his formative years, which he said reinforced “traditional gender roles,” and noted how such teachings are now frowned upon by society.
“That’s oppressive nowadays,” he quipped. “You’re oppressing little boys now if you don’t give them the ability to explore and find out, ‘You know what, maybe little Johnny is actually little Jane at heart.’
“I don’t claim to be a great handyman,” he continued. “I’m not Mr. Fix It around the house… But doggonit, I remember being in elementary school and going outside in 100 degree heat and cutting the dang grass with a push mower. And I took pride in it… You see this scar? About a dozen stitches. Bike accident. You see these teeth? Half of them aren’t real. You know why? Because I hit a metal chain across the rode while riding my bicycle going as fast as I could downhill and knocked out all of my teeth. And the first question I asked my dad when I stood back up was, ‘Am I still able to play baseball?’ I’m just saying that there was a time when men were men. I’m talking about my childhood, my formative years. But those were shaped by a man — my father.
“Ronald Reagan was president, and I’ve been to the Reagan Ranch. And you want to know what Ronald Reagan did in his spare time? He built with his bare hands every dang fence on that property. The famous picture of Ronald Reagan signing the biggest tax cut in American history — if you look in the background, there’s wooden fencing and a porch. He built that porch with his bare hands… and the table that the tax cut is being signed on. There was a time in this country when men were men, and they were the leaders of our country.
“And now we’re at a point to where we can’t even have a conversation about men using the bathroom in the women’s bathroom, because, well, who’s to say that they’re men? And you know what? For once I might agree with them.”
RELATED: University of South Alabama allows men in women’s bathrooms starting today
Sims concluded that the grip strength study is a symptom of larger issues — the softening of society, particularly men, and the breaking down of the family and traditional gender roles.
“This scares me for our country,” he said. “There was a time when America would kick your butt. Go ask the Japanese what happened if you punched America in the mouth… I’m thinking about a new generation of little Johnnies growing up and they’re not men, and somebody punches the United States in the mouth, who’s going to go do it? Their entire formative experience revolves around playing video games.
“If it doesn’t stop, it’s going to be a problem for all of us, because there aren’t any men left to lead us, much less go fight for us.”
To hear the full segment, listen on the YouTube video above. To subscribe to the Yellowhammer Radio podcast on iTunes, click here.
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