09/05/2026
Testosterone belongs in the conversation about women's health.
Testosterone is not a “male hormone.” It is a human hormone—and women need it too.
One of my patients sent me this article, and I think it highlights something we don't talk about nearly enough.
Women naturally produce testosterone. We have androgen receptors throughout our bodies, and testosterone is part of normal female physiology throughout our lives. Yet we still live in a medical system where testosterone is largely viewed as a hormone for men.
This article describes menopausal women who have actually resorted to posing as men online to obtain testosterone because they couldn't access appropriate treatment through the healthcare system. At the same time, the article acknowledges that testosterone is naturally produced by women and that it has proven benefit for sexual desire in appropriately selected postmenopausal women.
Think about the contradiction in that.
Women aren't trying to take a man's hormone. We are talking about restoring a hormone that has always been part of the female operating system.
Testosterone also has important physiologic roles beyond sexuality. Androgen signaling contributes to skeletal muscle, bone, sexual function, and other tissues throughout a woman's body. As women age, preserving muscle becomes increasingly important because loss of muscle mass and strength threatens metabolic health, mobility, independence, and healthy aging.
The research on testosterone therapy specifically for preserving or building muscle in postmenopausal women is surprisingly limited. But lack of evidence is not the same as evidence of no effect—especially when the research has not adequately been done.
We already know from human physiology that testosterone is anabolic and plays an important role in skeletal muscle. We readily recognize the relationship between adequate testosterone and the greater capacity for muscle development in men.
In my own clinical experience, I also see women with low testosterone respond differently once their testosterone is appropriately supported. When they combine testosterone therapy with strength training and adequate protein, many report improved strength and an increased ability to build and maintain muscle. That clinical observation does not substitute for randomized controlled trials, but it is exactly the kind of observation that should prompt more research—not be dismissed simply because women's testosterone has been understudied.
Resistance training and adequate protein remain foundational. Testosterone isn't a substitute for either one. But I believe we need much better research into whether restoring low testosterone in women can help those interventions work more effectively and help preserve muscle as women age.
And muscle isn't the only area where the research is lagging. The article acknowledges that while the evidence for testosterone improving sexual desire is established, women also commonly report improvements in energy and cognition, and researchers are now studying whether those benefits can be demonstrated scientifically.
This is why I find it remarkable that in 2026 we are still having this conversation.
The article itself states that testosterone is a naturally occurring hormone in women, yet it describes a healthcare system in which women have struggled to access it and historically have had to use testosterone products manufactured for men at much smaller doses.
Women deserve research, medications, dosing, and medical care designed specifically for women's bodies.
And, of course, testosterone needs to be prescribed responsibly. More is not better. The article describes women obtaining testosterone without appropriate medical supervision and developing extremely high levels, with the potential for irreversible androgenic effects.
The answer isn't women secretly buying testosterone on the internet.
The answer is better research.
Better physician education.
Appropriate access.
Female-appropriate dosing.
Thoughtful monitoring.
For far too long, women's testosterone has been treated almost as though it doesn't belong to us.
It does.
Estradiol, progesterone, and testosterone are all part of female physiology. We need to stop thinking of testosterone as exclusively a “male hormone” and start asking better questions about what happens to women's bodies when testosterone declines—and what appropriately restoring it may mean for sexuality, strength, muscle, energy, cognition, and healthy aging.
Testosterone belongs in the conversation about women's
