For a section of the American far right, masculinity is still linked to physical strength. In the picture an illustration of the male body from the 18th century. Universal Images Group via Getty
The thesis is as simple and popular as it is difficult to test. Masculinity as a “concept” or as a “phenomenon” may have declined at some unspecified point in recent decades, perhaps between 1960 and the end of the 20th century. Some attribute it to cultural, social, psychological or political factors. Others attribute it to biological indicators of very different kinds, from a sharp drop in sperm concentration to a general decline in muscle mass in men to a supposed drop in testosterone levels.
Some of those denouncing the alleged decline have also rushed to foreground prescriptions to try to mitigate, redirect or reverse it. This is the case in academia with Richard Reeves, whose book Of Boys and Men proposes survival strategies for male “identity” in a post-feminist world. Also from the Briton Niall Ferguson, the proclaimer of a neo-imperialism destined to once again “virilize” the geopolitics of the Western world, or the Canadian Jordan Peterson, the advocate of a “male reaction” against “radical feminism”. In another environment, that of the American digital and media extremes, all kinds of strategies to restore lost masculinity coexist, from those that insist that men are victims of the deliberate use of pharmacological and chemical agents, to those that who propose the cult of anabolic steroids or Greco-Latin antiquity, the abstinence from masturbation and even such strange and exotic “solutions” as tanning the testicles.
However, it was necessary for the Silicon Valley entrepreneurial ecosystem to decide to take action on the matter. If masculinity as a biological reality or a way of being in the world is in crisis, why not evaluate, quantify and “solve” the phenomenon once and for all in a technological and scientific way? That’s exactly what Jeff Tang, a 27-year-old self-proclaimed “biological hacker” and founder of T-Party, a quirky startup based in San Francisco, along with his partner Andros Wang, set out to do.
Testosterone will set you free
Tang organizes T-parties, “parties” with T for testosterone, which are actually collective sessions of consciousness-raising and male “therapy.” For the young entrepreneur, masculinity is fading because men have forgotten what’s most important: actively striving to keep their testosterone levels at an “optimal” level. That means the higher, the better.
His (notwithstanding the name of the company he runs, which evokes both the conservative Tea Party Restoration movement and the tea riots that served as its inspiration) would not purport to be an ideological perspective consistent with the Right-wing Trumpian orbit or the right-wing Trump environment It is not an angry reaction against feminism, but a proposal aimed at promoting a healthy lifestyle. This is, in Tang’s own words, promoting “positive” masculinity.
Tang is based on recent studies that have found a gradual decline in blood testosterone levels in both the United States and Denmark and other developed countries. According to Tang, once it is determined that the nectar of masculinity is drying up, it is obvious that men’s health and quality of life is at risk.
Last August, as Liz Lindqwister explains in an astute chronicle in the San Francisco Standard, T-Party brought together a group of men interested in testosterone as an elixir of youth and well-being. They met in a luxurious apartment in the Marina district, next to San Francisco Bay, among tapestries dedicated to Greek gods, bodybuilding equipment, barrels full of ice water in which to do “toning dives” and trays full of smoked salmon and Matcha tea and macrobiotic juices.
Tang and Wang had enlisted the services of a phlebotomist, an expert in blood draws, because of course the first step to increasing testosterone levels is knowing them. The guests, “a large number of business people, senior managers of technology companies or software developers,” who had paid between $100 and $400 to attend the session, underwent the ritual of blood sampling and waited patiently for the results.
As they waited, Tang, an enthusiastic guy who alternates a sense of humor with an educational tone, explained to them that low testosterone levels can be due to causes as varied as “stress, lack of sleep or exercise, alcohol or drug use, an inadequate diet, or even poorly targeted and coordinated physical efforts.” The solution, therefore, is to reverse these bad habits and undergo strict discipline in diet, exercise and changing habits and attitudes.
But that is not all. For Tang, the mere fact of developing a clear awareness of the importance of testosterone, knowing the optimal levels and sharing with other people the most effective strategies to achieve them would already have a positive effect on the general health of those interested. in biological hacking. T-parties therefore aim to be community self-help groups. Safe spaces for male interaction where the testosterone tribe meets to regularly monitor their “masculinity indicators” and share the results.
No injections or pills
The novelty of Tang’s approach, according to Lindqwister, is that it provides “natural” recipes that seem sensible and scientific and are intended especially for those who have already rejected the supposed magical solutions, i.e. the superficial and untested information from the “owners”. . Gyms trying to sell you vitamin supplements, or unscrupulous doctors prescribing testosterone pills or injections.” Although T-Party’s founders admit they are not biologists or doctors, they claim to have the advice of a multidisciplinary team of experts including the neurologist and popularizer from Stanford University, Robert Sapolsky.
Lakshmi Varanasi explains in Business Insider that Tang describes himself as “a person who is interested in experimenting with his own health and sharing his findings.” His achievement, as he claims, is to lead by example : “Using a proven method, I managed to increase my testosterone level from 790 [nanogramos por decilitro de sangre] at 1090″.
Tang organized his first “Testosterone Festival” in Colombia last May. 24 men under the age of 40 donated blood samples, participated in a comprehensive presentation and shared their experiences after the mandatory and “healthy” immersion in the ice water tank. The next meeting took place in New York. The event in San Francisco was the third and received remarkable media coverage. Enough to make T-partying a fad, we don’t know if it’s fleeting.
In doing so, Tang and Wang are continuing the tradition of biohacking, in which attempts are made to “hack” one’s own body by making use of both lifestyle changes and technical aids. It became fashionable in the 2010s and was promoted by millionaires like Richard Branson or coaching stars like Tony Robbins. The new thing is that the umpteenth attempt to hack our bodies to shape them optimally, this time is aimed exclusively at men and focuses on the androgen substance, which affects aspects such as sexual appetite, pubic, body or facial hair, Muscles, sperm production, etc. regulates bone health. He goes to the source of masculinity with the intention of restoring it in a “scientific” way. Like most technological trends that have taken hold in recent years, biohacking has already reached the status of a phenomenon that is neither created nor destroyed, but transformed.
The essence of masculinity?
It is explained by Paul B. Preciado in Testo Junkie. Testosterone, the hormone secreted by the testicles, has a profound impact on health and the biochemistry of sensitivity. Very low levels of this substance can cause lack of sexual desire, chronic fatigue, loss of muscle mass, irritability, depression or erectile dysfunction. A very pronounced excess can lead to mood swings, aggression, erratic behavior or an increased susceptibility to cardiovascular disease and prostate cancer.
In short, testosterone is one of many physical parameters that should be kept in balance, such as blood pressure or body mass index. The good news is that, in most cases, maintaining this optimal balance requires no effort. The range that is considered “normal” or “healthy” for adult men under 50 is very large. It is between 300 and 1,000 nanograms per deciliter of blood (more specifically between 270 and 1,070 according to a recent study from the University of San Diego, California) and there is no evidence that levels close to 1,000 are preferable. since from the point of view of health or emotional balance to those close to 300.
It has been documented that blood levels of this androgen hormone tend to decrease with age as part of the gradual process of male aging called andropause. From the age of 40, the average reduction is 1.6% annually. Only when a much greater decline occurs and the total values are below 150 nanograms are we talking about pathological values, which are compatible with a syndrome, late-onset hypogonadism (LIT), and which can impair the quality of life, but are rare. It also seems documented that there is a gradual decline in averages in certain age groups and certain countries. However, scientists do not fully agree on the possible reasons and their significance.
As medical anthropologist and sexuality and gender expert Alexis Ruth Matza noted a few years ago, the need for continuous monitoring of testosterone levels is quite relative, except in cases of pathological falls related to age or hormonal therapies in sex reassignment processes. In all other circumstances, “the relationship between testosterone levels and male identity” is more a matter of “cultural perceptions” than biological evidence.
At least that is the opinion of medical anthropology. If masculinity is declining, the gradual, moderate and perhaps not entirely significant decline in testosterone levels seen in recent years is not to blame. Maybe the latest biohacking fad is all about fixing what isn’t broken. Or give men who devote a significant amount of their free time to improving their health and masculinity a good excuse to compete with each other to see who has the highest testosterone levels.
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