Wakanda's Wrld
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Wakanda's Wrld
Chemistry & Choices: How Birth Control Might Be Your Relationship's Third Wheel
Are you unknowingly selecting your romantic partners based on chemical reactions rather than genuine attraction? This provocative question sits at the heart of our exploration into how birth control may influence partner selection through altered hormonal states.
According to research by Dr. Sarah Hill, women on hormonal contraceptives often select partners with lower testosterone levels and different physical characteristics than they might choose when not using these medications. This phenomenon raises fascinating questions about relationship stability when contraception is discontinued - with some women reporting suddenly finding their partners less attractive or compatible. We dive into the science behind these preference shifts and invite listeners to reflect on their own experiences with attraction while on and off birth control.
Beyond personal relationships, we tackle America's alarming birth rate decline, which has reached historic lows with potentially severe long-term consequences. No country has ever recovered from sustained birth rates below replacement level, yet multiple factors continue driving this demographic shift. Young women today are encouraged to prioritize education and career establishment before family formation, only to discover a shortage of comparable partners later. Meanwhile, rising infertility, declining testosterone levels in men, and the staggering $400,000 estimated cost of raising a child create formidable barriers to family formation.
The conversation extends to reproductive rights and their complex implications in a society with weakening family support systems. While reproductive choice remains essential, we must acknowledge the challenging realities many children face without adequate support networks. The traditional "village" that once helped raise children has largely disappeared, leaving parents - particularly single parents - without crucial resources. This nuanced discussion avoids simplistic political positions to focus on the human impact of our evolving reproductive landscape.
Have you experienced changes in attraction or partner preferences while using hormonal contraception? Share your story in the comments, and if this conversation resonates, please follow, subscribe, and join our community exploring these vital but often overlooked dimensions of modern relationships and family formation.
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Welcome in, welcome in. Come tell a friend with your Wakanda RAN. Let's not waste any time, let's get into the topics today. So my first topic is why did you choose the partner that you chose? And maybe the answer is different than what you think. Maybe the answer is scientific or chemical related. What am I talking about? Birth control, that's right, birth control. Control, that's right, birth Control.
Speaker 1:So I was listening to a podcast, the Diary of a CEO, and then he had on a guest. It's been a while. He had on Dr Sarah Hill and she was talking about birth control and it was actually pretty interesting because I've heard you know, you hear different things about birth control, but her findings were pretty surprising to me. Let's see man, let's go here. So who is? Who is Dr Sarah Hill? So let's just do this real quick. She's an award winning researcher, consultant, writer, scientist, communicator and professor with 25 years of research experience and authored 100 plus research publications. Authored two books that have changed the conversation about hormones and birth control for women. Phd in evolutionary psychology at the University of Texas, austin, with Dr David Buss. So just just real, real brief. That's who she is right, and so the conversation it goes as such.
Speaker 1:So it's like this when you are on birth control right Apparently you may choose to have a partner that's less attractive compared to a part. You would choose a partner that's testosterone levels while you're on birth control compared to when you're off birth control and you choose a partner with higher testosterone levels. So all my ladies listening to this, I want you to think about this for a second. I want you to think about somebody that you were with while you were on birth control and I want you to think how did you honestly feel about the individual from an attractiveness perspective? How did you feel about that individual overall? Did you choose him because he was more tender, more you know, he was sweet, he was soft? Did he have more of those features that you thought? But then the other side, too, did, did was he more? Did have kind of like feminine features? Like, was he crying a lot more, complaining a lot more? Like did you feel like he was dating another woman when you chose this partner? I'm just curious because some things I've heard over the years from ladies that talked about how he's not a man, he's not a quote-unquote man. He feels like a woman, like he complains like one, cries like one feel like he has a cycle, all that. I've heard that. So I'm just curious Did you choose this partner while you were on birth control?
Speaker 1:And I know a young lady who told if this is, if this has happened to you, I'm sorry in advance, so warning. So she told me that she had. She was young, she's on birth control for years and her partner at the time right is the partner she chose. They had a relationship but he tampered with her birth control and she ended up getting pregnant. Um, I mean, eventually she ended up leaving the guy. I mean she didn't find us out till a while back, but she left the guy and didn't, didn't want to be with him anymore. But she chose this guy when she was on birth control compared to when she was off.
Speaker 1:And you know, you hear about stuff like this. It's weird to me that guys tamper with birth control. I think that's weird. I think that with birth control. I think that's weird, I think that's predatory, I think that's wild. I don't know why any man would do that, but I'm just curious man, like think about it. I just want to know. I just want to know.
Speaker 1:And then I saw something about there was a study about how there was a person who actually left their partner when they got off of birth control Like they didn't want to be with them any longer Because they just didn't find them attractive. So have you experienced this, have you? I mean, how do you feel? I mean, maybe some of you you're listening to this and maybe you're like, ok, maybe that does make a little bit of sense, or you know wow, I never really thought about it how it affects your brain chemistry when you're on birth control. So I got to know, I got to know please let me know in the comments below or just let me know wherever you hear or see this. Let me know how you feel about your partner with birth control versus being off of birth control. Did that make any difference whatsoever? I have got to know because I found that completely fascinating to me, to be honest with you guys.
Speaker 1:So here's something else I want to talk about, because this is all. This is heavily towards my ladies here. So, declining birth rates, declining birth rates. So we, if you were not aware, we have declining birth rates here in the United States and it's been that way for quite a while now. Let's see here. Now we need to go here. Here we go. So let's see here. No, we need to go here, here we go.
Speaker 1:So the general fertility rate in the United States decreased by 3% from 2022, reaching a historic low. This marks the second consecutive year of decline, following a brief 1% increase from 2020 to 2021. From 2014 to 2020, the rate consistently decreased by 2% annually. I mean other findings in 2023, birth rates declined for women's ages 20 to 39. Changes for females ages 10, 14, and 40 through 49. Those are crazy ages there. The birth rate for teenagers 15 to 19 was down 3%. Yeah, I'd like to see that go down even more. The birth rate for women 20-24 reached a record low. Cesarean rate delivery rate increased for the fourth year. So, yeah, it's going to be increased for sure. The preterm birth rate essentially unchanged at 10.41 percent.
Speaker 1:So I know these are just kind of numbers to you know a lot of people here, so, but but here's what I want people to understand from my understanding of research, no country has ever bounced back from declining birth rates. So when your death rate exceeds your birth rate, you're going to have a decrease in your population, and then, once you have a decrease in your population, I mean your country fails to thrive and function. You just don't have the people that are there. So there's that. But why are birth rates declining? There's a lot of factors down this little rabbit hole I'm going to go to, and I please, I would love to know what you guys have to say about everything I'm talking about right now Declining birth rates. There's a lot of variety of factors, and so let me start with my ladies first. Let me start with my ladies first. I'm sure some of you guys will probably say yes, some of you will say no, you'll chime in, have your thoughts and opinions, love to have them.
Speaker 1:So I remember reading a book a while back about how the shift of the young American women has changed. It used to be women, especially young women, were geared towards having a family. Like that was their main focus. Having a family, reproduction right, having kids, just having that family unit, taking care of being at that nuclear family that was their main focus. And then there was a shift, and the shift came from previous generations telling their daughters that don't do what I did, don't go out and try to have a family early.
Speaker 1:I want you to go, experience. I want you to go, have fun. I want you to go experience life and then, you know, get your education. Then, when you're all settled down, you know, when you, once you got everything in order, then go find a partner. So these are things that I've read. You guys can tell me how you feel about that.
Speaker 1:However, from what I have gathered is there's nobody at the end. There's not enough viable partners for women at the end. So if you go to college we're all adults listening to this you go to college, you go wherever and you go have fun, you go, you try things, you get out there and you become educated. I mean, it's no secret that women are more educated than ever before in terms of numbers of degrees. This is no secret whatsoever. From what I have heard and seen, there's not a man that's waiting for them after that diploma is handed. That's waiting for them after that diploma is handed. And I want to know how do you, how do you all feel about this For those of you who are listening, how do you feel about that?
Speaker 1:I'm sure some of you are listening. You probably have had that experience and you're not alone. But Did you think there was? There would be somebody there, and I think that's been a misconception, and I know men or women are divided more than ever before, and I'd love to have another episode to talk about it. But, however, it just seems as though that, because there's nobody, at the end it's like okay, well, where's the good man? I became educated, I'm single, I'm strong, I'm independent, I can do a lot for myself, like, why are men not coming to me or not wanting to stay with me? Right, and it's just really interesting because there's this misconception and there's this divide between men and women in terms of expectations of one another, and that's just the tip of the iceberg of why birth rates have seriously declined. That's just the tip of the iceberg.
Speaker 1:We even talked about how infertility has been on the rise for a variety of reasons. I don't think I mean, I don't think I've ever seen to where people, actual couples, struggle to have children. You know, I know people talk about how you know, their grandmother had like 10 kids, the great-grandmother had 12 kids, and it just seems, you know, it seems as though like there was no struggle with infertility. But in the 2020s, for sure that I've seen that people are struggling heavily with infertility, and not only that. It's hard to get what you need for IVF or, you know, iui or whatever. It's hard to get that fertility medication. It's hard to get that fertility help for couples anywhere. That's just the reality of the situation. Miscarriages seem to be on the rise and all that. So that's. Another problem is infertility is on the rise. But why is infertility on the rise? Why is that? Why is that? Why is that?
Speaker 1:But there's other things and factors that people don't talk about and consider when it comes to actually fertility. The fact of the matter is men and women as a whole in America we do not do a good job taking care of ourselves, from the things that we eat to you know the things that we drink, you know our obesity rates. You know we're just not, we are not where we need to be. You know I'm saying we're not where we need to be and that's just without any conspiracy theories whatsoever. We're just not where we need to be. That, at least from a physical perspective, a physical standpoint, the more in shape, the more fit that we are, the more the less you know heavier that we are. I feel like those infertility rates can definitely go up for sure. Those fertility rates can definitely go up for sure. I said that's just one tip of the iceberg, but I mean, of course, it goes a lot deeper than that, for sure. So that's one.
Speaker 1:You know a couple of reasons for the decline in birth rates, ladies, I'm sure some of you are aware maybe you're not aware that men are having lower testosterone rates, are having lower testosterone rates. You know, I saw a study that talked about how I think it was like 50 years ago about how much higher the testosterone levels were in men compared to how they are now. And, of course, with higher testosterone levels, men tend to be more active. They tend to be more, not just physically active, they tend to be more sexually active and things of that nature. So if a man is having lower testosterone levels, they have a low, they have a lower desire to actually have sex, and so that's gonna contribute to lower birth rates as well. It's just that, man, they just don't have the higher testosterone rates and there's a lot of factors for that and I know, you know, there's gonna be maybe a couple guys, be maybe a couple of guys that maybe listen to this, if you guys listen to this.
Speaker 1:But at the same time, there's things that, man, you can do to raise your testosterone rates naturally, such as I've seen studies that show that, men, if you hang out with men on a regular basis, it raises your testosterone levels. Man, if you lift weights on a regular basis to like three times a week, it raises your testosterone levels. Men, if you get out of that obese range, it raises your testosterone levels. Like, you have to do things, you have to be active in order to naturally raise that up. We're not talking about supplements. We're not talking about, um, you know, testosterone, um, hormone replacement. We're not talking about any of that. We're just talking about doing some natural things to help raise your testosterone levels. So, ladies, if you got a man, tell him to do those things and so his testosterone levels can get up naturally and he'll be happier and you will be a lot happier. I promise you that. So, but, ladies, how do you? How do you feel? How do you feel?
Speaker 1:I know, right now it's kind of like we live in a moment. We're kind of like we're in a moment. We're kind of like we're in a here and now. So does it really matter that you know that our birth rates are declining and the reality of the situation? Yes, and I know it's expensive to raise a kid in 2025 and beyond Very, very expensive. This is no secret. But there should be better incentives to to have children. There should be better incentives to to have children. There should be better incentives to to not and I'm not talking about that, that. We're not talking about the government assistance. You get more. You know, um, you know we get more food stamps, things like that Um, the child tax credit can be a lot better. I don't, I just not give me, let's not get started with that, but it's just very hard. I think I saw something the other day somebody produced something Maybe I forgot which article I saw that talked about how it costs like $400,000 just to raise one kid in America. Like what. Like it is absurd to raise a kid in today's, today's society, but that's just.
Speaker 1:We can go on and on, but I would love to know your comments, um, and your thoughts regarding that in particular. So we're talking about birth control rates low t, low t, all the this stuff to do with the birthing. You know reproduction, right, something I wanted to talk about. I know it's been a few months, but since we're on the topic, let's talk about it a little bit more. You know Roe versus Wade, and we've seen the implications of Roe versus Wade being a state by state basis Right, being a state by state uh basis Right, um, so recently, one of the things that kind of hurt me the most is we had somebody, we had a young lady who, um was brain dead but was forced to carry um a baby and, um, not that long ago, the baby was born, I think prematurely, but the mother was on life support and the family could not do anything to take the lady off of life support.
Speaker 1:Very difficult situation, very troubling and very heartbreaking. So let me break this down. Let me break this down and majority of my listeners, I feel as though, let me break this down. Let me break this down, and majority of my listeners, I feel as though, may not feel this way, but the few I need you to understand.
Speaker 1:Just because a child is born into the world, that is not the ultimate victory. It is not the ultimate victory. You know, when I was a few years younger, I would have believed that. You know it sounds good on paper that man we're going to save so many kids. You know it going to a state by state, case basis, but the reality of the situation, bipartisan. Doesn't matter if you're left or right, this is bipartisan. The fact of the matter is there's not enough people collectively that are there to take care of orphans. There's not enough people collectively that's willing to do such, willing to be foster parents. There's not enough people collectively. So, as much as people can argue on the right or argue on the left, the fact of the matter is, in unison there's there's not enough people that are willing to do the part. So, and here's the thing, at that particular time a Roe versus Wade actually happened. The nuclear family was in a better spot than what it is now.
Speaker 1:You know, children nowadays have high incidence of single parenthood no disrespect to my single mothers, just pointing out. And because you have a high incidence of single parenthood Puts the child at risk for a lot, and I've talked about this in person before and a lot of people took offense to it and it's not meant to be offensive, it's just the stats. Are the stats Single parents and their children? Well, the children of single parents are more likely to, you know, have higher dropout rates, have higher crime rates. They tend to, you know, be the troublemakers. And it's sad, but those are just the rates. But why? Because it it takes two at the least to make to make.
Speaker 1:You know, to make a child and to raise a child, you know I'm saying I, where I'm from it used to be. You know the saying it takes a village to raise a child and that village is gone. That village is gone, you know I, I've seen where grandparents are trying to raise a child. That's difficult because the parents are locked up or they're not involved at all, and nowadays the father is not in the picture at all At all. But it's like men don't want to be men, no more. It's literally absurd.
Speaker 1:So what I'm trying to get at is, at least back then, when this was decided, I mean, the nuclear family is in a better spot. But now, when it's gone to a state by state basis, which we've seen, some states have gone really, really extreme, seen some states have gone really, really extreme. Some states are like, if you go across borders to another state and you get an abortion, then they're going to try to charge you with criminal charges, legal charges, which is absurd, absurd, for a variety of reasons. So if somebody is literally not ready to raise a kid, who are you to stop them from making that choice? Because let me tell you something I know people who celebrate like, hey man, I'm glad you know, I'm glad my mom didn't abort me, she thought about it, I'm glad for your success story.
Speaker 1:However, in the same incident there's plenty of people that's not a success story. And the same incident, there's plenty of people that's not a success story. There's plenty of people who were conflicted by their conscience and there was nobody to help raise that child. That child grows up to be a monster and some people can say, you know well, they shouldn't have, they shouldn't have laid down, they shouldn't have done this, they shouldn't have done that. Man, listen, man, not everything is black and white in this particular world. Some people act like it is black and white. It is not black and white. What is black and white is how the United States tends to look at issues as if they're black, as if they're white. Pun intended, but when you have a reality situation, there's things in this world, plenty of things in this world. That's not black and white. Plenty in this world, that's not plenty in this world, that's not so.
Speaker 1:As much as I would love to see families united which I pray that does happen, people come together, raising their children together, the nuclear family restored. I would love to see fathers being fathers again, but right now, I mean, this is the current state which we are in. This is the current state so are in. This is the current state. So I know this is a lot. I know this is probably like thought-provoking hard-hitting for some, personal for some, but I feel as though it just it needed to be discussed, it needed to be talked about because there's a lot of going on. There's a lot going on. We got too many bombs that's laying around here, too many bombs. I remember this I was watching a comedy show and this dude was calling another dude Bro, you are a homeless witness.
Speaker 1:A homeless witness, like there's a dude literally going from door to door, relationship to relationship, just to have somewhere to live, because they don't have a house, they don't have a car, they don't have insurance, they don't have 401k, they barely have it. They don't have a belt to put on their pants, but they want to go to relationship to relationship, just to have a place to stay. Let me tell you something If you do that, you are a whole bum. You're a whole bum. I have no respect for you. Get out there and get a job and work and learn how to be a man.
Speaker 1:So, anyway, y'all let me know in the comments what y'all think about this episode I have got. Y'all have got to let me know. Man, do any of this relate to you at all? Please let me know in the comments below. If you enjoy what you hear, please give me a follow. Please like it, subscribe wherever you hear this. You can always donate to the channel via Buzzsprout. So follow me everywhere. My socials, wakanda, are in. But thank you guys for tuning in. I love you guys. Thank you guys very much and I am out Peace.
