I’m currently having a hard time finding the study, but I distinctly recall reading an article that tried to address the question of relative sex drives by looking at the sex drives of people who took hormones as part of the gender reassignment process. Female->male sex changes reported greatly increased libido when they began taking testosterone.
I can see why one might be reluctant to generalize to the population as a whole, but it is at least weak evidence that the current conventional wisdom correctly reflects the difference in sex drives today.
One more piece of weak evidence—a woman I know was taking testosterone for a medical reason I’ve forgotten, and was pleased to find that it increased her sex drive.
Everyone I talk to reports a big increase, so most of the effect probably comes from having the right (for some value thereof) hormones. But yeah, the increase is much larger in that direction.
My understanding is that testosterone, gram for gram, affects the female body more potently than it does the male body. So bringing up a female’s testosterone level to that of a male might not be dose-equivalent.
Or to put it another way: men’s and women’s physiologies are different. I’m not sure it’s safe to assume that someone who has transitioned from female to male through hormone replacement is identical (and so directly comparable) to someone who was born male, so I’d question the validity of comparisons made between the two.
I’m currently having a hard time finding the study, but I distinctly recall reading an article that tried to address the question of relative sex drives by looking at the sex drives of people who took hormones as part of the gender reassignment process. Female->male sex changes reported greatly increased libido when they began taking testosterone.
I can see why one might be reluctant to generalize to the population as a whole, but it is at least weak evidence that the current conventional wisdom correctly reflects the difference in sex drives today.
One more piece of weak evidence—a woman I know was taking testosterone for a medical reason I’ve forgotten, and was pleased to find that it increased her sex drive.
Everyone I talk to reports a big increase, so most of the effect probably comes from having the right (for some value thereof) hormones. But yeah, the increase is much larger in that direction.
My understanding is that testosterone, gram for gram, affects the female body more potently than it does the male body. So bringing up a female’s testosterone level to that of a male might not be dose-equivalent.
Or to put it another way: men’s and women’s physiologies are different. I’m not sure it’s safe to assume that someone who has transitioned from female to male through hormone replacement is identical (and so directly comparable) to someone who was born male, so I’d question the validity of comparisons made between the two.