Based on 185 studies (43k men), this meta-analysis documents the 1972-2011 drop in total sperm count among men in North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand. The decline was almost 60%.
The authors do not speculate about causes, but a GQ writer thinks it's due to an increase in plasticizers which are known to disrupt fetal testosterone (T). Perhaps it's due to increasing obesity which lowers T. The authors controlled for increasing age, so that doesn't appear to be the reason.
Anyway, I'm interested in the consequences. Assuming that a sperm count is a proxy for prenatal and adult T, young men strike me as being less masculine than in previous generations. They are certainly not shorter or smaller, but they seem more effeminate. And I'm not talking about dress or tastes. I mean in their faces and in their mannerisms.
According to the General Social Survey, the percent of men reporting they have sex exclusively with other men rose from 2.2% in the 1980s to 3.2% in this decade. This, of course, could be due to a greater willingness to admit the behavior, but there is a theory of homosexuality that claims it is due to inadequate prenatal T.
Subtracting out the 1984-94 gang wars and crack epidemic, the US homicide has declined since the late 1970s. Declining T? I'm just thinking out loud -- I might be crazy -- but it's an interesting idea.
UPDATE: By the way, the GQ author thinks the collapse in sperm count points to the end of the human race.
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Ockham's Razor tells me there is no need to hypothesize causes outside of the well documented testosterone vs cortisol modification of male primates in establishing dominance hierarchies. The continual broadcast of sexually humiliating images, indoctrination, enforced acceptance of immigrant males, etc. has always struck me as the most obvious causal factor. Indeed, I've been quite intrigued by the emphasis on environmental chemicals as causative to the exclusion of the obvious causal factor. What in the hell is going on with people that they can't see this?
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