Testosterone is grossly misunderstood

Testosterone neither ensures dominance nor acts as a straightforward trigger for aggression.

- Robert Sapolsky

I was observing a nine-year-old male baboon in the Serengeti of East Africa one day in 1983. Baboon troops are very hierarchical, and this baboon was a familiar type - a young macho bruiser on the way up, intent on toppling the alpha male.

But the alpha male, busy grooming a young female, paid little heed as his challenger threw threatening eyebrow flashes and bared his canines. It was only when the younger baboon got even closer, making guttural vocalisations and slapping the ground, that the alpha stopped and stared at his antagonist for a tension-filled moment. Then the alpha went back to grooming, paying no attention to the histrionics, leaving his challenger to stomp away in frustration.

My research on these baboons has shown that a well-entrenched, confident alpha male gets into very few fights - and typically has lower testosterone levels than a frenetic challenger.

MANLINESS AND TESTOSTERONE

In particularly prickly corners of MAGA world, a low-blow way of dissing the men you despise - often left-leaning guys with a fondness for empathy, equality, even democracy - is to charge them with having low levels of testosterone.

Take billionaire Elon Musk, who a while back reposted a screed about how “low T” men can’t think freely because they “can’t defend themselves physically”. Or consider the “soy boy” insult popular a few years ago in the same circles, based on the false idea that chemical compounds in soy feminise men’s hormonal makeup.