"What’s With the Far-Right’s Interest in Ball Tanning?

They’re obsessed with masculinity — and this isn’t the first time they’ve gone off the deep end trying to prove how manly they are using questionable medical techniques"

"If you think the Covid-19 pandemic was the first time the far right
took strange health advice proffered by wellness devotees, think again.
Bodily sovereignty and purity tests have long been part of fascist and
white nationalist playbooks. Bipartisanship has a way of dissolving when
it comes to the body — especially, as it now seems, when it comes
testicle tanning, or so says Tucker Carlson.

In the nineteenth century, German strongman Eugen Sandow was the
bodybuilding poster boy. Sandow was born Friedrich Wilhelm Müller;
“Eugen” was allegedly short for “eugenics,” as he believed that his impressive muscularity reflected his strong, white roots. Stalin held
mass exercise rituals to boost Russian identity politics (and Putin
revived them). Kim Jong-un loves MMA-style cement bashing.

"More recently, Alex Jones built his Infowars empire by shilling
unproven supplements. “Fascist fitness” became a thing. “Plandemic” creator Mikki Willis is promoting an affiliate code for an (also
unproven) immune system-boosting vitamins from Vladimir Zelenko, the man
who influenced Donald Trump’s views on hydroxychloroquine. In every
case, a strong body is the goal, and most often, that means a virile
male body.

While the left has long been associated with wellness practices like
yoga, meditation, and acupuncture, the right has been equally obsessed
with bodily purity and optimal fitness. Medical contrarianism is now a
brand, and brand ambassadors seem open to a vast array of nonsense.

Which brings us to Carlson.

The second season of the Fox News host’s docuseries is trending thanks
to a trailer for the episode, “The End of Men.” The series promises to offer solutions to the “problem” of declining masculinity, with one
promo video showing ripped bare-chested men flipping truck tires,
chopping wood, and shooting machine guns in an ultimate display of
Crossfit allegiance. But Tuck outdid himself with one segment in
particular on testicular tanning — a practice so ludicrous it might be
the one time everyone can agree with Kid Rock.

As with many outlandish health claims supported by no evidence, the
notion that low-level laser therapy will increase testosterone and
fertility is not new. Red light therapy — or as the Hungarian scientists named it in 1967, photobiomodulation — is experiencing a renaissance in potential treatments for muscle recovery, depression, and wound healing,
topics regularly discussed on far right wellness podcasts with affiliate
links to massage guns and infrared saunas.

Which naturally led some men to strip naked and point the light at their balls."
[snip]

https://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/please-dont-tan-your-testicles-even-if-tucker-carlson-tells-you-to/

"Please Don't Tan Your Testicles, Even If Tucker Carlson Tells You To"

LOL TOOOOO much. Until I read that the wingnuts were worried about
their masculinity it had never occurred to me to be worried about mine.
It has always been just sort of there and seems to take care of itself
just fine without any need to for me worry about it.

TB

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