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to be career women. In contrast, ‘‘lower-testosterone women usually had a great deal more interest in children and in dressing up. They liked makeup; they liked jewelry. They liked cooking better than the high-testosterone women did. They enjoyed interior decorating more.’’75 The implication of this study is the same as that of the Hines, Brook, and Conway study: high levels of testosterone move women in a masculine direction, signified here by an interest in careers. In contrast, comparatively low levels of testosterone move women towards more feminine interests, signified here by interests in jewelry and interior decorating. To be sure, it seems bizarre that testosterone could have such definitive tastes. Even if we were to decide that an interest in jewelry is a feminine interest, despite the number of men who share it, we would still want to know why low testosterone would lead one to this interest. Moreover, given the results of the effects of competition on levels of testosterone in the body, it is surely more reasonable to assume that individuals engaged in careers have higher levels of testosterone than those without them just because they are in more competitive environments. If so, the study’s causal account is again backwards: higher levels of testosterone do not cause an interest in careers; instead, the pursuit of a career raises levels of testosterone. Likewise, lower levels of testosterone do not cause an interest in jewelry or interior decorating. Instead, a lack of competition lowers testosterone. Perhaps lowering one’s competitive urge also leaves space for the emergence of interests in jewelry and interior decorating. Or perhaps researchers have simply been misled by the introduction of sex and gender into endocrinology to suppose all sorts of strange bedfellows, including connections between low levels of testosterone, lack of interest in a career, and a love for bejeweled adornment. None of the studies we have looked at so far suggests that our hormones need to be understood through the perspective of sex and gender. One can increase the amount of testosterone in one’s body by 75
Moir and Jessel, Sex on the Brain, p. 184.