Testosterone has become one of the most politically-charged substances of the 21st century. It now circulates not only through bodies, but through campaign speeches, Tiktok advertisements, culture wars, and most crucially, a biological determinator of the strength of political affiliation. With a peer-reviewed publication by Brains and Behaviour, once seen as exclusively a realm of ideology and rational choice, political affiliation now intersects with neuroscience and endocrinology.
It seems that biology can influence ideology and how we think about politics.
Testosterone-tied
Published in July 2025, the article ’’Testosterone Administration Induces a Red Shift in Democrats’’ delivered an unprecedented conclusion, demonstrating that testosterone induces a ‘’red shift’’ among weakly affiliated Democrats, and by extension, created an evidence-backed precedent that testosterone affects political preferences. The study is an extension of a previous one, finding that the hormone oxytocin boosted overall interpersonal trust and led Democrats with low levels of trust to express greater trust in Democrat and Republican politicians, and more holistically, the federal government. Inspiring the study, the authors became particularly interested in the possible influence of testosterone, given its wide-ranging effects on decision-making and competition, alongside its exponential prevalence in determining social behaviors and defining conceptualizations of ‘’masculinity’’ increasingly politicized in American presidential campaigns.
The Capitol T - Testosterone and Traditional
Testosterone is certainly having a moment. Within “the gym bro internet phenomenon”, the trend of testmaxxing has gathered steam. Now, countless videos dedicated to how one might naturally increase testosterone levels, or unnaturally through testosterone replacement therapy, circulate the internet. Its influence on politics has become especially visible. For instance, just last year Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, engaged with a post on X originating from an anonymous online forum that framed women and certain men as inherently less suited to leadership than so-called “alpha” men, reinforcing a vision of politics built around hierarchical, hyper-masculine ideals of power and decision-making.
Cunning instrumentalization of testosterone for political gain originates from traditional understandings of the sexes, the understanding of what makes us either feminine, or masculine, and its misconstrued label as a pronouncing indicator of this dichotomy. When we consider this distinction through a scientific lens, the ‘male’ hormone doesn’t map neatly onto binaries captaining our understanding of the body. Research illustrates hormones as not being exclusive to one sex, testosterone is produced both by men and women. Interestingly, before menopause, women produce three times as much testosterone as estrogen. The understanding of masculinity being exclusively testosterone-bound reveals how unstable this dominating social conceptualisation of sex superiority actually is. Rather, it was born as a paradox, a double-edged essence of manhood that never was.
Testosterone on the Shelf - Commodification for Economic Gain
The selective commodification of testosterone illuminates the contradiction its inherent value is predicated upon. The Republican Party is on a relentless crusade to preserve the masculine-feminine dichotomy by limiting testosterone access for those seeking gender-affirming care while gutting testosterone provisions for American farming industries. The market has become a mechanism for preserving sex dichotomy through the supply of testosterone replacement therapy, which is set to break $2 billion in the next few years. The idea that masculinity can be topped up by enhancing a pervasive capitalistic market re-enforces the culture-cutting character testosterone now assumes. The Food and Drug Administration has approved 31 different testosterone products for men, and even more for livestock, yet not a singular product has been approved for female consumers. This goes against the several studies indicating testosterone could offer women a range of benefits from osteoporosis prevention, to breast protection.
President T - Trump, or Testosterone?
Prior to the 2016 Presidential Election, Donald Trump disclosed his health information (testosterone level) on TV, appearing on the Dr. Oz show. To the ordinary mind, the strategic motive behind this disclosure may seem illusive. Yet, it arguably placed gender in a central role steering election outcomes. Around the time of the election, 68% of Trump supporters believed the US had grown too ‘’soft and feminine’’. In addition, 50% of Trump supporters believed it ‘’benefits society for men and women to embrace traditional gender roles’’. His previous campaigns have tirelessly branded him as a strong, healthy man, in the hope of him resonating with strong traits of masculinity that fit into the sensibility that ‘’a masculine leader is a good leader’’.
Testosterone is seen as a last resort for men to ground their masculinity when our ideas of gender are more fluid than ever, and traditional understanding of masculinity is facing extinction.
So, what does this mean?
It is through Trump’s intentional parading of masculinity that we can understand the gravity of the study’s findings. Testosterone has become more than a hormone, it is now a political symbol campaigns can target, a commodity, and a tool for defining masculinity in an age of cultural uncertainty. Its paradoxical use in science, politics, and popular culture reveals a society torn between biological determinism and gender fluidity, a tightrope that figures such as Donald Trump can balance with ease. In this tension, testosterone functions not only as a measure of manhood but a mechanism through which power, identity and ideology are contested.
Louise Sharkey is an undergraduate student in Law and Political Science at Trinity College Dublin. She is passionate about amplifying student voices and engaging with the global issues shaping her generation, particularly human rights, social justice, climate justice, inequality, and migration. Louise is especially interested in the power of journalism, activism, and storytelling to spark informed and meaningful conversation.
