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by CapricornNoble 1837 days ago
>>>>"Most" boys play some kind of sport. I have to assume it's the vast majority.

There was a TED Talk a few years back from a US Army General about how the terrible physical fitness of America's youth is becoming a national security problem.[1] I think the "low quality" of adolescent males over the past 2 decades is partly behind the push for more women in the military: we have so few physically-fit high-testosterone males that we have to cast a wider net and recruit physically-fit, comparatively-high-T females; they are better than soft fatbody guys. If boys were seriously engaged in sports at the rates that you are suggesting, teen obesity shouldn't be so widespread.

[1]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWN13pKVp9s

1 comments

In my experience as an army officer, the “wider net” is cast for positions in the army where that fitness isn’t really necessary; ie, logistics units, cooks, admin, etc. I spent all of my time in infantry units and the people in those physically fit, high T jobs are still almost all men that are physically fit and aggressive. And that’s in normal units, so not even counting special forces and rangers. I also met some guys that looked fat and soft that fought like devils when pressed and would run exactly as fast as they needed to to pass a fitness test.