What is the sperm race organized by two American college students? | EUROtoday

DEtuis on April 25, 2025, a viral buzz panicked social networks: two younger Americans, Asher and Tristan, college students in prestigious and rival California universities, compete in entrance of a late -cry microscope and a delirious crowd. Behind them, on the massive display, their very own sperm is frantically agitated on a moistened glass blade. “Ready?” Go! They announce with the passion of an e-sport commentator.

Welcome to Spermule 1a pseudo-competition broadcast reside, the place gametes exchange the race horses. Behind this hooded staging, an actual start-up: Sperm Racing, launched by younger millionaires from tech and cryptos, who declare to wish to increase consciousness of the decline of male fertility … whereas assuming voluntarily provocative advertising and marketing. Their manifesto evokes a topic “which no one really speaks”, in a tone that generally flirts with pronatalist ideology. A speech in tune with the occasions, whereas sure figures of tech like Elon Musk declare that “civilization will collapse if people have no more children”.

In the background, a really masculine rhetoric, generally tinged with virilism, which transforms reproductive well being into efficiency competitors, between scientific fascination, social discomfort and cloakroom humor. What to surprise: can we actually increase consciousness of fertility with a sperm race? In different phrases, should science (or can it) turn out to be a spectacle to be audible? And above all: is it very related to cut back male fertility to a pace of pace?

A symbolic race (a little bit too)

For Dr. Gilbert Bou Jaoudé, Andrologist, Doctor Sexologist and Scientific Director of the Charles.co platform, the precept of the race able to smile, however scientifically, he doesn’t maintain water: “Looking at which sperm goes faster, it has no interest. Speed ​​is not a relevant fertility criterion. The spermogram, the basic examination in case of infertility, is not just a “competitors”.

Read too PMA: Down sperm donations, what you need to knowHe analyzes several parameters: concentration (at least 15 million/ml according to WHO), morphology (at least 4 % of sperm with normal form), vitality and finally, mobility. “And again, even among the mobiles, some sperm are aging and quickly tired, others are just supporting. It’s like a cycling team: the fastest at the start are not necessarily those who cross the line in mind. »»

This idea of ​​sperm launched in a frantic race towards the egg remains solidly anchored in the collective imagination. A convenient metaphor, which also feeds a certain vision of virility. Dr. Bou Jaoudé nuance: “I saw very sporty men with catastrophic spermograms, and others, in depression, with exceptional fertility. In other words, our sperm does not resemble us, and do not reflect our physical or mental form.

A salutary awareness, despite everything?

However, not everyone throws Spermule 1 with bath water. Virginie Rio, co-founder of the Bamp collective, sees it as a useful lever for talking about a subject still too often avoided: “It is the young people who have taken hold of this subject. And this message comes better than a lecture of an old teacher. I find it clever. “Created in 2013, the Bamp affiliation militates in order that infertility is lastly acknowledged as a full -fledged public well being subject.

Because for a very long time, the topic has remained confined to the painful programs of AMP (medical help to procreation), nearly completely skilled by girls. “13 years ago, some men still refused to spermogram, because” the issue couldn’t come from them “. Today it moves. Slowly. »»

The drop in male fertility is not a fad of anxious activists: it is an observation shared by the scientific community. According to a study published in 2017 in Human Reproduction Update And largely cited by biologists, the average concentration of sperm would have dropped by more than 50 % in forty years. Dr. Bou Jaoudé confirms: “We see more men with a testosterone deficit than thirty years ago. And hormonal disorders, early puberty or spermogram alterations are increasing. »»

Read too Sperm, a microbes nest still poorly knownThe culprits are multiple: pollution, endocrine disruptors, obesity, oxidative stress, industrial diet … factors that are difficult to avoid daily, as Virginie Rio recalls: “Some individuals should not have the means to eat natural, change cosmetics, or rethink all their way of life. It is not only a person alternative: it’s a collective duty. »»

A really current topic in public debate

So, find out how to develop mentalities? For the Bamp collective, all of it begins with college. “We have created a poster on the 9 issues to find out about infertility. It is broadcast amongst medical doctors, gynecos. But we now have no public means, no subsidy. We attempt to inform, however with no actual nationwide marketing campaign, it’s restricted. »»

To uncover



The kangaroo of the day

Answer

What about males? “It’s not simple. Women are topic to therapies, they discuss it. Men are sometimes extra discreet. ” There Spermule 1 is not going to present medical solutions, however at the least she has the benefit of asking questions. In her personal approach, staggered, she invitations younger individuals to surprise, to speak to one another, to take a look at a topic that we frequently strategy when it’s already too late. While in fertility, prevention is crucial from an early age.

But for this consciousness to turn out to be a long-lasting transformation, it is going to take rather more than a linked microscope: an actual public coverage of prevention and combat in opposition to infertility. Because the nice well being of sperm just isn’t a person dash. It is a collective marathon.