Pill ‘Some’ Think May Save Effeminate Boys From Becoming Gay
In the March 6th edition of Business Week you’ll find this mention of Androxal, a drug for testosterone deficiency.
Zonagen’s chief product, Androxal, is a one-a-day oral tablet for testosterone deficiency caused by a condition called hypogonadism. Early results of a study of 13 men showed that Androxal has the potential of restoring normal testosterone levels. CEO Joseph Podolski says a 200-patient Phase 3 clinical trial will be held later this year. Matthew Kaplan of Punk Ziegel, an investment firm, rates the stock a “buy, with a 12-month target of 14. “We’re impressed with Androxal’s efficacy,” and an oral pill “is a clear advantage over the topically applied AndroGel,” he says. Low testosterone afflicts 6.3 million men aged 50 to 80 in the U.S., he notes. Reduced sex hormone levels adversely affect muscle and fat mass, libido, mood, and cardiovascular health. Kaplan sees Androxal taking 4% of the U.S. market by 2010.
Some wishful thinking from this post at RedState: “It is not at all implausible that Androxal may reverse the tendency among ‘effeminate’ boys to homosexuality.”
Because, you know, effeminate gay boys are a different kind of gay – a curable kind.
interesting. the red state article does not talk about low testosterone, it talks about testosterone “deficiency”. hm. so does that mean that all men are supposed to have the same amount of testosterone, all women the same amount of estrogen, etc.? and that we’re supposed to be unhappy, alarmed or even ashamed if we don’t have the same levels of certain hormones? are we all supposed to have the same chemical cocktail in our bodies?
it’s always seemed to me that who we are both results from and influences what’s going on in our body chemically. e.g., there’s lots of estrogen in my body, so i ovulate. on the other hand, if i choose to watch a funny movie, i can laugh so much that i cry, and the chemical composition of my tears will be totally different than when i cry because i’m sad.
so really, all this chemical stuff is just another part of being human. another part of what makes us who we are, and we have a lot of influence on where we can take that part.
if that’s the case, then i fail to see why having a low amount of testosterone is necessarily a deficiency. is having blonde hair a deficiency of the genes that bring dark hair pigmentation? is being slender a deficiency of the genes that make other people store fat easily?
of course, that’s a lot of crap. so what’s wrong with having low testosterone? if you like it that way?
isabella mori
http://www.moritherapy.com
this is a reply i received to my comment. the person asked me to post it here – they couldn’t post it.
just a word before i post this. i thought i had also mentioned in my comment that of course, i know very little about endocrinology and so what i say comes purely from my own experience of my body as well as what little i know about others’ body chemistry (partly stemming from [academic] my research into pain medication).
anyways, here’s barb’s comment:
re: testosterone deficiency post on dailydoseofqueer-
There are medical problems that can be caused by hormone levels outside the normal range. My husband’s hormone profile closely resembled that of a pregnant woman at one point; this was a sign of a tumor on his pituitary which, if left untreated, could have put pressure on his optic nerve and caused him to go blind. His low testosterone has left me with a sexless marriage for almost a decade. If any one of his doctors had been more interested in his hormone levels, it could have prevented years of suffering and perhaps nipped the tumor in the bud. That’s not to say that every man or woman needs to have the exact same hormone profile, but it is important that levels of hormones, as well as other chemicals, fall within healthy ranges. That said, I am very disturbed at the prospect of drugging children to prevent them from becoming gay. That assumes there’s something wrong with being gay, which there isn’t. And if society weren’t so hung up on gender role stereotypes, we would be hard pressed to define words like “effeminate” and “masculine.” Thanks for listening, Barbara
isabella mori
Hi Isabella,
Thanks for posting the reply! I don’t know why Barbara wasn’t able to post – I’ll check and see if anything weird is going on.
I know very little about endocrinology as well. I’m glad Barbara shared some reasons why people might want to keep an eye on hormone levels – that they can be a clue that something else is wrong in your body.
I read the RedState post as calling testosterone deficiency something that makes a person less of a “man.” I’m glad one of your readers brought up that testosterone deficiency does exist – as a medical issue.