Great keyboard-thumping example of the two-sphere model of gender run amok. Plus the Two Rules of Desire run wild. Plus the “no-sex” class paradigm in full bloom. Echidne of the Snakes says

One misogynist comment in that place where they now gather (the Atlantic Monthly) stated that women are useless creatures because the only reason they feel the faintest sexual desire is testosterone. And testosterone belongs to men!

She said it here.

M’yeah, and since nipples belong to women any man with nipples is gay. But I digress.

What was I going to say? Oh yeah — Great sweet mother of pearl!

Would a been nice to get a link but…

Clearly I’m a bit speechless. Not at the misogyny of course, but of the blunt misunderstanding of anatomy, physiology, and endocrinology. Not that I’m a huge expert but that’s the whole point — I learned most of what I know about it in a berloody 10th-grade “applied chemistry” class!

Anyway, from the Wikipedia entry on testosterone (emphasis mine)

Testosterone is a steroid hormone from the androgen group and is found in mammals, reptiles, birds, and other vertebrates. In mammals, testosterone is primarily secreted in the testes of males and the ovaries of females, although small amounts are also secreted by the adrenal glands. It is the principal male sex hormone and an anabolic steroid.

In men, testosterone plays a key role in the development of male reproductive tissues such as the testis and prostate as well as promoting secondary sexual characteristics such as increased muscle and bone mass and hair growth. In addition, testosterone is essential for health and well-being as well as the prevention of osteoporosis.

On average, an adult human male body produces about ten times more testosterone than an adult human female body, but females are, from a behavioral perspective (rather than from an anatomical or biological perspective), more sensitive to the hormone. However, the overall ranges for male and female are very wide, such that the ranges actually overlap at the low end and high end respectively.

Source: Wikipedia

Yup. About that last part? Based on testosterone production-decline curves the sort of cranky 50-year-olds who, well, crank out testosterone uuber allies malarky are quite likely to have lower testosterone levels than many healthy women in their 20s.

Unlike healthy 20-year-old women at least healthy low-testosterone middle-age men can thank testosterone for the nice big manly erections they can still get, right? Oh wait!

...an appropriate amount of estrogen is required in the male in order to ensure well-being, bone density, libido, erectile function, etc.

So presumably men are also useless creatures because the only reason we can ge erections is because of estrogen. And estrogen belongs to women. Right?

I mean right?

Stupid gender essentialists!