T: The Story of Testosterone, the Hormone that Dominates and Divides Us
-
- 11,99 €
-
- 11,99 €
Beschreibung des Verlags
Through riveting personal stories and the latest research, Harvard evolutionary biologist Carole Hooven shows how testosterone drives the behavior of the sexes apart and how understanding the science behind this hormone is empowering for all.
Since antiquity—from the eunuchs in the royal courts of ancient China to the booming market for “elixirs of youth” in nineteenth-century Europe—humans have understood that typically masculine behavior depends on testicles, the main source of testosterone in males. Which sex has the highest rates of physical violence, hunger for status, and desire for a high number of sex partners? Just follow the testosterone.
Although we humans can study and reflect on our own behavior, we are also animals, the products of millions of years of evolution. Fascinating research on creatures from chimpanzees to spiny lizards shows how high testosterone helps males out-reproduce their competitors. And men are no exception.
While most people agree that sex differences in human behavior exist, they disagree about the reasons. But the science is clear: testosterone is a potent force in human society, driving the bodies and behavior of the sexes apart. But, as Hooven shows in T, it does so in concert with genes and culture to produce a vast variety of male and female behavior. And, crucially, the fact that many sex differences are grounded in biology provides no support for restrictive gender norms or patriarchal values. In understanding testosterone, we better understand ourselves and one another—and how we might build a fairer, safer society.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Evolutionary biologist Hooven separates testosterone fact from fiction in her comprehensive debut. While testosterone is commonly viewed as "the essence of masculinity," both men and women produce the hormone, Hooven writes, and learning about it can be "satisfying, empowering, and even fun." She surveys how society has long manipulated traits influenced by testosterone, such as by castration, used on animals to control farmyard breeding and, historically, to keep male voices high for choirs. (More recently, she writes, the hormone has been used in dubious supplements intended to fight aging and increase sexual potency.) Hooven also explores testosterone's effects on aggression, and her consideration of its impact on athletic performance is provocative: apart from age and health status, she writes, "only T draws such a clear and consistent line between large groups of people who differ in athletic ability." The scope of Hooven's research is impressive—she takes readers to high-tech labs and on a day of "chimping" in Uganda's Kibale forest—and her writing is refreshingly free of jargon. The result is an approachable introduction to an often misunderstood aspect of human biology.
