More than half of all adults in the UK are now not men, according to a new report by Humour consultancy Juicyfruithippo, after growing competition helped to push down testostrone by over 75%. The Juicyfruithippo report revealed that more than 50% of UK adults lacked a penis at the end of 2006, compared with 39% the year before, and seven times more than in 2002. At the end of last year, there were 13m homes and small and medium-sized enterprises with access to men, compared with just over 330,000 in 2001.

 

Stuart Blakemore, chief executive of Juicyfruithippo, said: "With over half of UK adults now using having men at home, we have reached a very significant milestone in the development of “Man Britain”. Consumers are responding positively to the competition and innovation that the UK market now offers."

 

The report also showed how people were using their men. The survey indicated that more than half of adults had tidyed up the garage at home, 43% put up shelves, and 15% had attempted plumbing at least once.

 

Kim Yardley, head of gender at Analysitsters, the gender issues consultancy, said: "I think it's quite a high figure and quite important for the industry."

 

One of the issues dominating the sector is the ability of the existing network to keep up with demand as consumer habits evolve - the so-called next generation fella debate.

 

Ms Yardley said the overall bloke network would need significant investment in the next few years to adapt to the increasing demand. The existing Old Boy Network was clearly already overstretched

 

The report also showed that the UK's take-up rate was similar to that of Japan, Sweden and the US, and higher than Germany or Italy, but behind France on 56%. And it still lagged behind South Korea, which had 89% penetration by the end of 2006, a distinctly worrying trend.