Testosterone Rules?
The latest incarnation of the old "biology is destiny" argument appeared in a recent article in the New York Times Magazine, which begins with the blurb:
"As testosterone becomes increasingly available, more is being learned about how men and women are not created equal. So let's accept it and move on."
The author, Andrew Sullivan, goes on to say:
"Men and women differ biologically mainly because men produce 10 to 20 times as much testosterone as most women do, and this chemical, no one seriously disputes, profoundly affects physique, behavior, mood and self-understanding.
"It helps explain, perhaps better than any other single factor, why inequalities between men and women remain so frustratingly resilient in public and private life."
Sullivan notes that both men and women produce testosterone, and adds that:
"the central biological difference between adult men and women, then, is not that men have testosterone and women don't. It's that men produce much, much more of it than women do."
This conveniently ignores the corollary, of course: Women produce much, much more estrogen than men do. I understand why some men want to believe that testosterone is the only hormone that counts, really I do. It's the hormone they have the most of, so, if it's the only one that counts, it justifies all manner of discrimination, as well as the patriarchal paradigm of our current society. But, I'm not buying it. As my husband observed, if testosterone is the only hormone that matters, why aren't teenage boys running the planet?
Testosterone has indeed been shown to be a factor in both aggression and self-confidence. Then again, it has also been shown to be a factor in male depression. To muddy the waters even more, a study conducted at Pennsylvania State University has shown that estrogen may influence aggressive behavior in adolescent girls much like testosterone does in boys. In this study, researchers administered varying doses of sex-specific hormones - estrogen to the girls, testosterone to the boys - and used questionnaires completed by the adolescents to measure the effect on aggressive behavior. The researchers found that both hormones seem to directly affect aggressive behavior. What's more, the girls showed earlier and larger increases in aggression than did boys, until the researchers administered the highest dose of each hormone.
Then there's the brain-boosting effect of estrogen. Several studies have now shown that estrogen is essential to the functioning of the brain. Studies in the late '70s and early '80s showed that estrogen acted as "fertilizer" in the brain's communication network of tree-shaped cells known as neurons. A 1996 study at the John Hopkins Medical Institute showed that natural levels of estrogen offer females three times more protection against brain damage from strokes than their estrogen-lacking male counterparts. Recent studies on the effect of estrogen supplements have shown promise in slowing or even preventing the development of Alzheimer's Disease.
All this might seem to lead to a counter "biology is destiny" claim: Estrogens are the most important hormones in human society, since it's our brain power that differentiates us from lower animals. But, to turn my husband's observation around, if estrogens are the only hormones that matter, why aren't teenage girls running all the research institutions on the planet?
Scientific research helps us learn more about how our bodies work, and perhaps point out ways to help them work better. And such research gives us one answer to the "biology is destiny" argument: There is no one hormone or chemical that accounts for our society's structure. Our bodies are a complex chemical soup in which different chemicals affect different functions at different times - all of it occurring in ways we don't fully understand. While it would be silly to insist that varying levels of particular hormones make no difference in our interactions, it is equally silly to insist that a single hormone makes all the difference.
But, as valuable as such research is, it also obscures the real answer to the tired old "biology is destiny" argument: Our society is a complex interaction between our physiology and the sentience that shapes and informs our values. It may well be true that men have a biological tendency toward aggressive behavior, and that women have a biological tendency for cerebral activities. But it is through our sentience that we value - or do not value - such tendencies. If men are favored in our culture, it is not because of their biology, but because of our values. Those values are choices we make, both as individuals and as a society, and those choices can and do change.
No, biology is not destiny; biology is merely the environment in which we, as a sentient species, make our own destiny.
Karen
Rethinking Testosterone
An examination of the "supposedly objective report on the current state of testosterone research" in Sullivan's article, by Slate columnist Judith Shulevitz. Includes a lengthy response by Sullivan.
The He Hormone
The New York Times Magazine article by Andrew Sullivan
How Testosterone is Linked To Male Depression
UniSci - Daily University Science News article regarding the publication of "Testosterone and Men's Depression: The Role of Social Behavior," in the June issue of the Journal Of Health And Social Behavior.
Sex Hormones and Aggression in Teens
College of Health and Human Development, Pennsylvania State University. Report of the estrogen/testosterone effect on aggression in teens.
Estrogen's Influence on the Brain
Society for Neuroscience: Brain Briefings article on recent studies of the role of estrogen in brain function.
Natural Estrogen Reduces Stroke Damage
John Hopkins Medical Institute press release regarding the role of estrogen in preserving blood flow to the brain during strokes.