'Masculinity Crisis': Influencers On Social Media Promote Low Testosterone To Young Men

'Masculinity Crisis': Influencers On Social Media Promote Low Testosterone To Young Men

Briefly

"Published in Social Science & Medicine, the study analysed 46 high-reach Instagram and TikTok posts promoting testosterone tests and treatments. It found that influencer marketing on social media is normalising unnecessary testosterone testing and treatment among healthy young men, despite these therapies being associated with potentially serious health risks including heart problems, infertility, kidney issues, blood clots, reduced libido and erectile dysfunction."

"The researchers found the content was closely linked to the online manosphere, a cluster of online communities that promote narrow, hyper-masculine ideals and frame men's health, identity and success through dominance, physical strength and sexual performance. Health and fitness misinformation is common within these spaces, and testosterone marketing has increasingly become part of this trend. "Influencer marketing is reframing everyday experiences like fatigue, stress, lower libido or ageing as signs of testosterone 'deficiency' that requires medical intervention," said Dr Brooke Nickel, senior author on the study and senior research fellow at the University of Sydney's School of Public Health."