Watch television or scan through online video services and you will see them.
The ads show the elder statesmen of athletics strolling across a golf course, leaning on clubs and chatting about their energy levels. Maybe one is in a kitchen when his very chipper wife comes in for a hug. Maybe a guy is having date night with a beautiful woman who gives the camera a knowing wink.
There’s also a brisk business in gas station supplements promising the same results.
They may have different backgrounds, but the message is the same: Low levels of testosterone make you less of a man and fixing that is the way to happiness — on the course or at home.
Apparently it’s also the way to score on the battlefield.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wants to screen troops annually for “testosterone deficiency.” The tests would be mandatory for those 30 and over but are also available to volunteers under 30. Testosterone replacement therapy would be a voluntary option for those who don’t meet the cut.
The low-hanging fruit response here is to point out that therapy is gender-affirming care, something the Trump administration has adamantly opposed.
The issue that stares you right in the eye is how it impacts women. If a good soldier is a soldier with lots of testosterone, it sounds like there’s no room for a soldier with an abundance of estrogen. That’s certainly in keeping with Hegseth’s actions, which have included firing high-ranking women or passing them over for recommended promotions.
But there’s another question. Is a high level of testosterone really ideal?
Low testosterone can express itself with symptoms like muscle loss, fatigue, depression and low sex drive. All of those are things that should be addressed medically in conversations with a health professional. But high testosterone comes with its own complications, including higher potential for prostate cancer, high blood pressure, mood swings, irritability and increased risk of heart attack.
If that sounds a lot like a list of the side effects of steroid use, it’s worth noting that anabolic steroids are artificial versions of the hormone.
Harvard University says high testosterone in men is not common. However, a National Institutes of Health study showed a 400% increase in testosterone replacement therapy in men between the ages of 18 and 45 between 2003 and 2013. The increase was actually more dramatic than among older men who were more likely to have a natural, age-related decline.
But some of the downsides of testosterone seem to be what Hegseth wants, saying “we’re keeping you on the leading edge of lethality.”
Not strength. Not readiness. Hegseth, a former Fox News host, comes off equal parts frat boy playing “Call of Duty” and enthusiastic infomercial pitch man as he pushes the idea.
Should our men and women in uniform get every medical support possible to keep them healthy and prepared to support any mission? Of course. One would argue that fertility issues and flu vaccines should be priorities, but Hegseth has been less pumped about those.
Instead, it appears he has been getting a lot of ads for low testosterone medications coming across his screens.