{"id":701921,"date":"2026-07-20T17:35:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T17:35:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/701921\/"},"modified":"2026-07-20T17:35:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T17:35:12","slug":"the-myth-of-testosterone-persists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/701921\/","title":{"rendered":"The Myth of Testosterone Persists"},"content":{"rendered":"

When I introduce my students to the concept of testosterone<\/a> during our unit on the brain and biology, I generally preface the discussion with some qualifier regarding how referring to this chemical released in our bloodstream as a sex<\/a> hormone is somewhat misleading. Known as the primary sex hormone in males, misinformation about testosterone has existed for as long as it has been known, going back almost 150 years (Freeman et al., 2001).<\/p>\n

Namely, despite being strongly associated with masculinity, technically, both sexes secrete this chemical via their respective sex glands. Additionally, while secretion of testosterone is associated with both sex drive and aggression<\/a> for men in particular, this is a very simplistic notion of the purpose of this hormone. In fact, testosterone is a critical hormone for the overall health and well-being in males, assisting in such far-reaching functions as immune function, energy levels, and mood regulation. It serves critical functions in women as well, such as contributing to bone density and cognitive functioning, among others.<\/p>\n

The Problem With Reducing Body Functions to a Single Hormone<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, outside of a holistic approach in understanding the body and its chemical processes, cherry-picking a particular secretion or chemical and assigning it exclusivity regarding specific functions is misleading. Our bodies work as an integrative whole, and the larger endocrine<\/a> system that secretes hormones is connected to other critical communication systems in our body, such as the nervous system<\/a>. Testosterone secretions are just one of many chemical secretions that are essential to the overall functionality and health of all sexes. Moreover, it isn’t secreted in a vacuum but in tandem with other processes happening in our bodies.<\/p>\n

The fundamental disconnect is in taking a chemical process in the body and attempting to assign it to a specific notion of what it means to be a \u201cman\u201d\u2014a concept rooted in social, cultural, and psychological meaning. Many years ago, I wrote a book on the psychology of aggression, dedicating a section specifically to testosterone\u2014which has been linked historically to explanations for aggression (Aalai, 2012). In the past, theories regarding why males in particular were prone to crime<\/a> tried to link the proclivity to elevated levels of testosterone for those individuals who had some kind of hormonal irregularity\u2014such as an additional Y chromosome<\/a>, which led to higher-than-regular levels of testosterone in some males\u2019 systems. Of course, such theories were spectacular failures with no scientific merit\u2014again, because aggression, and its relationship to criminality in particular, is a psychological, social, and cultural phenomenon that cannot be reduced down to one specific hormonal secretion or biological process.<\/p>\n

The Dynamic Relationship Between Hormones and the Environment<\/p>\n

Moreover, many of the ideas regarding linking hormonal levels to behavior fail to take into account the recursive or reciprocal relationship between our bodies and the environment<\/a>\u2014we do not secrete hormones or engage in bodily processes in isolation. Our bodies respond to what we are exposed to in the environment\u2014be it diet<\/a>, sunshine, stress<\/a>, amount of sleep, etc. In other words, hormonal secretions reflect a complex and intricate relationship between bodily processes, environmental exposures, and other factors\u2014such as where we are in the developmental lifespan\u2014which are constantly changing.<\/p>\n

It appears that our political leaders have once again popularized the defunct notion of tying levels of testosterone to manliness, or other arbitrary markers of vitality or performance. Last week, the Defense Secretary announced that both male and female members of our military will be assessed and screened regarding their levels of testosterone. The purported purpose? To assure \u201coptimal performance\u201d and \u201clong-term health of warfighters\u201d (as reported by Mitchell, 2026). A fundamental lack of understanding in how our endocrine system works has once again led to reductionistic notions of how to derive meaning from the processes our bodies perform. <\/p>\n

Egged on by mis- and disinformation in our increasingly fractured media ecosystem\u2014overrun by influencers and other non-expert figures who have been platformed on social media<\/a>\u2014it appears military personnel may be the next targets of the pseudoscientific ethos that has come to define our current political moment. While it remains to be seen how documenting testosterone levels of military members will impact perceptions of performance or other professional opportunities, given the extent to which women and other minorities have already been purged from the ranks, it isn\u2019t outside the realm of possibility to consider that those determined to have \u201clow T\u201d may be demoted or receive professional backlash. <\/p>\n

This most recent announcement is troubling for many reasons. In addition to being scientifically misinformed, this edict coming out from the Defense Department perhaps best serves as a cautionary tale regarding how public policy can go off the rails when scientific scrutiny is tossed aside in favor of trends and performative posturing.<\/p>\n

Copyright Azadeh Aalai 2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When I introduce my students to the concept of testosterone during our unit on the brain and biology,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":701922,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-701921","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/701921","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=701921"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/701921\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/701922"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=701921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=701921"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=701921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}