I have extra masculinity to spare

I think this is really interesting, and a little disturbing. It's disturbing to me in the sense that it connects back to classes where we discussed Hurricane Katrina and the effects of environmental contamination. Also, I am in the environmental justice group for our presentation/papers, so I did many readings on the implications of environmental contamination and the movement for environmental justice. This relates to that because these phthalates can be interpreted as a contaminant in our environment. I think that with all the wonderful things that scientific, industrial and technological progress has brought us, it is also bringing us some negative side effects that we are still discovering and will continue to discover for many years to come.

It's also very interesting though, because it makes us rethink what is natural and how we define the "natural". One thing it made me think of is the birth control pill. While this is, in my opinion, an essential and important medication/innovation, it does help to reinforce the natural. I know a few women that are on birth control to make their periods more "regular" (read: natural). Yet, in actuality it is a combination of synthetic hormones. These different things in our environment (or in pills we take) can be a way to question what is natural. For instance, if the amount of hormones in our bodies differs because of interactions with phthalates, will we notice the change? Will the new hormone levels in our bodies become the "natural" amount of hormones? If we try to compensate by manipulating hormones in our bodies, or phthalates in our environment, will we be creating what we see as natural? This can also relate to hormone replacement therapy for menopausal women, many recipients of which are now developing increased cancer rates....