I recently read “T: The Story of Testosterone, the hormone that dominates and divides us” by Carole Hooven. Below are the quotes I found most interesting. If you like them, buy the book.
“What do all males (or females) have in common, if not sex chromosomes? Basically it’s the relative size of the sex cells or gametes. Males produce small, mobile gametes (sperm), and females produce larger, immobile gametes (eggs). Don’t take that too literally -my son doesn’t yet make sperm, but he’s still male. And although my ovaries are no longer regularly producing eggs, I’m no less female than when they were cranking them out on a monthly schedule. Rather, it’s the design plan for the gametes that counts.” (61)
“Testosterone builds muscle, men have more of it, and it gives them a strong advantage over women in sports.” (125)
“With the T implants, the previously docile stages began to pick fights with nearby males, even when their antlers had not yet grown back and were still covered with soft velvet. These results show that testosterone is necessary but not sufficient for the expression of sexual behavior— the proper environmental stimulus, whether fertile females or something associated with their fertility, must also be present.” (143)
“T levels fluctuate depending on whether a male needs to be ready to breed, care for his family, or fight off rivals.” (153)
“The ups and downs of T are adaptive: high T is not always better than low T, and depending on the circumstances, it can be fatal.” (153)
“T’s primary job is to coordinate male sexual anatomy, physiology, and behavior in the service of reproduction. For may male animals that must compete for mates, one of the behaviors that most directly supports reproduction is aggression.” (157)
“Many studies have found similar results, in which T rises prior to a competition in both the eventual winners and losers, but T remains elevated for longer in the winners than the losers.” (172)
“introduced to each other and given time to form status hierarchies.
the T’d-up monkey is not indiscriminately harassing anyone who happens to irritate him.
Instead, he beats up only on those beneath him on the totem pole and remains polite toward the higher-ups.” (178)
“T is not a potion that turns the meek into warriors or that causes rampant bellicosity. Its effects depend heavily on individual and environmental factors, and in humans especially, winning and achieving high status can often be accomplished without any physical aggression at all. T tends to do what the situation requires. As Sapolsky joked during a lecture, if you shot up a bunch of Buddhist monks with testosterone, it would lead not to violence but to random acts of kindness.” (178)
“As I have stressed throughout this book, behaviors that show sex differences are often heavily influenced by culture-and aggression is a clear example. Laws and cultural and social norms can push physical aggression up or down. We can hope that social changes will reduce violence-perpetrated largely by men-yet further. But one can’t solve a problem if one misunderstands its causes.“ (183)
“men are more motivated to have sex and have a stronger preference for a variety of partners. Gay men have more sex simply because they can: it’s not a “gay” thing, it’s a “man” thing.” (209)
“T’s brick like effects are the reason that physically transiting in the male-to-female (MtF) direction is so much harder than the reverse (FtM).” (216)
(From Stella, a detransitioned woman) “My sex drive vanished for months when I went off of T but it’s come back now, albeit in a very different way. Getting turned on is different. It was very obvious when I was turned on and the need to release was more urgent when I was on T. The release was also a lot more physical and gratifying after a single orgasm. I would become extremely sensitive when I had an orgasm on T. It almost feels incomplete now if I only have one orgasm. It’s not a release, it feels more like the building of something bigger. I may be biased, but after experiencing both, I can certainly say I prefer the orgasms off T.” (233)
(From Stella, a detransitioned woman) “The only emotion that seems duller now that I’m off T is anger, which used to be my most vivid emotion. I experience anger differently, more tied in with sadness than rage. I think most of my intense emotions before T were just due to still going through puberty, and it’s balancing out for me now as an adult.” (235)
“Changing our environment can actually alter what goes on inside our bodies – the wya your genes are expressed, th levels and actions of our hormones. If I exercise every day I will change my dopamine levels; and if I eat less sugar my insulin won’t spike up; if I’m a man and I get into the boxing ring for a fight, my T levels may rise, and so on.” (252)
“One thing I can do with my knowledge of testosterone is help him [my son, about to hit puberty] to understand that his feelings throughout this transition will probably be of a different character from those of his female counterparts, and it’s OK. Characteristically masculine feelings are not toxic; he is not toxic for having them. What matters are actions, and he has control over those.” (260)
Liked the quotes? Buy the book here.
