I think most guys are aware of the “tight clothes reduce your sperm-count” idea, but I’m not sure many guys are really taking that into account when choosing what to wear, be it on the beach or anywhere else. We all do lots of things in life that we know we shouldn’t – sunbathing, drinking, smoking etc. I have to say I’m a bit surprised women view a man in speedos as “less masculine” because of the sperm-count argument. Do they think that of male strippers too? Would they think they were more virile-looking if they turned up in floppy floral board-shorts? Do women look at buff strippers and say “Well he’s no good – look at his tiny trunks – obviously not much sperm there then!”
At the end of the day, another anthropological principle we can’t ignore, is that, like it or not, traditionally women are the hunted and men are the hunters. Thus a man displaying a lot of flesh is perceived as trying to seek approval from other hunters, who are more likely to be male, and therefore he must be gay. It’s ironic that we weren’t bothered by any of this back in the 70s/80s, but now that we are gender-fluid we are more sensitive to this rather than less.
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