Memes are an interesting fairly new phenomenon in their current state. The original definition comes from biology and is defined as “an element of a culture or system of behaviour passed from one individual to another by imitation or other non-genetic means“, however with the advent of social media, they have taken a similar form to heuristics, to communicate something which is known within a group through a humorous graphic of some kind.
In the beginning I wasn’t a huge fan of the soy meme, however I’ve grown quite fond of it in the same way I like the constructs of “Alpha“, “Beta” and many others we use within the manosphere. I looked up the definition of the term soy on urban dictionary and it was defined as:
state in which one is emotionally vulnerable, and/or is being overly sensitive. [1]
However, must like the definition of hypergamy in the mainstream is more or less “marrying up“, the definition is not extensive and inclusive enough. Marrying up is a consequence of hypergamy, not what it is, in the same way that being overly sensitive and/or emotionally vulnerable is a consequence of being soy, not exactly what the construct entails.
The meme to my knowledge, comes from the fact that soy products, including tofu and soy milk contain daidzein and genistein two chemicals that act so similar to estrogen that they are referred to as phytoestrogens. In a man, these can have the same effect as taking estrogen, even at a low-level of consumption. Some of the symptoms of high estrogen in men include:
High estrogen levels in men contribute to prostate cancer and heart disease as well as gynecomastia ( enlarged breasts).As the testosterone is transformed into estrogen the low levels of testosterone can cause many unpleasant symptoms including loss of muscle mass, fatigue, low libido, erectile dysfunction. Furthermore, excessive estrogen in men raises body fat and can contribute to diabetes and high lipids. [3]
While physical weakness is often a core characteristic in men that are deemed to be “soy” in the manosphere, a much more common implication refers to their psychology, mindset, frame and inner world functioning more like that of women, and thus their actions and behaviors are more like those of women than of men. Continue reading