The idea seems to be to have the sperm reducing effect of low testosterone without all the other negative effects of low testosterone. They don’t even wave their hands at how this might be except to say their study was too short to detect. Sounds like they have a long way to go.
I was waiting for gel based male contraception (vasalgel, RISUG, or echo-v) because it promises better reversibility that vasectomy. It always seems to be a year away. But my doctor pointed out that even once it is available I wouldn’t trust it until many years of results are in. So now I’m looking again at getting snipped.
I was gonna say something like “Well, sucks to be you, I guess,” but then saw the “functional and esthetically pleasing” part, so I will just say that there’s room in this world for those with eggplants, and those with… erm… other bits! [link is SFW]
Unfortunately, even if efficacious, I foresee difficulty marketing this. Tell a dude, “this works by lowering testosterone” and you’ve just turned off a significant portion of your target audience.
Who was that comedian I heard on Sirius recently saying that a life of “low T” would basically have prevented him from making every stupid decision he’s ever made?
But in practice birth control pills for women are something like 95% effective (though their theoretical effective rate is higher with perfect use). So if both partners were on birth control then the effective rate could approach 100% even if the male pill alone was less effective.
I liked the part of the episode where the trans dude on a heavy testosterone regimen finally realized why adolescent boys act like assholes. That stuff makes us aggressive and dumb.
Case in point: I’m so dumb I don’t want to lose any of my testosterone even though it’s responsible for both my bald spot and my back hair.
You just haven’t run into the eggplant that does look like your genitals. Or were distracted when they erupted entirely into a field full of muffaletta-themed butterflies, as is often the case.
“New scientific evidence refutes the preconception that testosterone causes aggressive, egocentric, and risky behavior. A study with more than 120 experimental subjects has shown that the sexual hormone with the poor reputation can encourage fair behaviors if this serves to ensure one’s own status.”
"Test subjects with an artificially enhanced testosterone level generally made better, fairer offers than those who received placebos, thus reducing the risk of a rejection of their offer to a minimum. “The preconception that testosterone only causes aggressive or egoistic behavior in humans is thus clearly refuted,” sums up Eisenegger. Instead, the findings suggest that the hormone increases the sensitivity for status. For animal species with relatively simple social systems, an increased awareness for status may express itself in aggressiveness. “In the socially complex human environment, pro-social behavior secures status, and not aggression,” surmises study co-author Michael Naef from Royal Holloway London. “The interplay between testosterone and the socially differentiated environment of humans, and not testosterone itself, probably causes fair or aggressive behavior.”
“Moreover the study shows that the popular wisdom that the hormone causes aggression is apparently deeply entrenched: those test subjects who believed they had received the testosterone compound and not the placebo stood out with their conspicuously unfair offers. It is possible that these persons exploited the popular wisdom to legitimate their unfair actions. Economist Michael Naef states: “It appears that it is not testosterone itself that induces aggressiveness, but rather the myth surrounding the hormone. In a society where qualities and manners of behavior are increasingly traced to biological causes and thereby partly legitimated, this should make us sit up and take notice.” The study clearly demonstrates the influence of both social as well as biological factors on human behavior.”
This somewhat reflects the anecdotal findings of the This American Life episode I linked above.
When the staff of the show all agreed to have their testosterone levels tested, it turned out that the barely-average-height, easygoing, gay, Martha Stewart-loving, non-sports fan David Rakoff had twice the testosterone as the next highest result among the staff.
Anecdotally, this is confirmed by my years as a teenage boy (not counting my current emotional immaturity). Lots of testosterone, no fights or overly aggressive behavior.
Testosterone levels are also only half (if that) of the equation. Different people have varying degrees of sensitivity to testosterone. There are women with XY chromosomes because they have Complete Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome, which basically means that their body just doesn’t respond to testosterone. There’s a point in fetal development where the body is suppose to start masculinizing (basically, we all start out female, and there’s a hormonal switch that gets flipped that makes male development happen). If the body does not respond to male hormones, nothing happens and it basically goes “okay, guess we’re just doing the female thing” and you get a woman with a Y chromosome.
Partial Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome is also a thing, which can have different effects depending on how much we’re actually talking. My understanding is that in some cases the body may produce lots more testosterone to compensate.
As a trans woman with a brain that is apparently not suited to testosterone, even with levels on the low end of the normal male range, I experienced a lot of anger, depression and negative emotional stuff that stopped or dramatically reduced within 48 hours of starting hormone therapy. Trans men, on the other hand, report an increase in mental and emotional well-being once starting testosterone.
but then saw the “functional and esthetically pleasing” part, so I will just say that there’s room in this world for those with eggplants, and those with… erm… other 
