JUVENTUD REBELDE
February 24, 2997
http://www.juventudrebelde.cu/secciones/sexosentido/portadasexo.html
Secrets
of the penis (II)
Testosterone
Too much of this chemical in your body causes more than just a reduction of
libido or desire.
(Caption: “But it leaves all the work to the testosterone”…)
Judging from what many teenage and even adult males often say, as simple a
chemical as testosterone would be more effective than the human being’s main
organ: the brain.
Some men take advantage of this hormone’s stimulating powers to be extremely
aggressive or supposedly more «passionate» than the rest of us in their love
affairs, assuring it «controls» their will –and vice versa: they blame the
lack of sexual appetite as well as outgoingness and kindness on a low
hormonal level.
Just as odd
is the fact that in soap operas, advertising slots and street chats
testosterone is referred to as a male product held responsible for the
testicles’ alleged power.
Perhaps those who say so don’t know that testosterone is secreted by every
person’s adrenal glands and in the ovaries of females, although the male
body produces about twenty times the amount that a female’s body does,
according to Spanish andrologist José Luis Arrondo’s book Historia íntima
del pene (Intimate history of the penis).
SOMETHING
MORE THAN SEXUAL MERRIMENT
Testosterone’s overall importance becomes noticeable as
early in life as when a woman is three months pregnant. Intrauterine
photographs show future baby boys with an erect penis, an ordinary
physiological reaction that many parents usually misinterpret.
Its action conditions the future of a man’s organs and secondary sex
characteristics such as facial hair, voice deepening and muscle build, all
of which play a role in any male’s acting stereotypes.
Besides
«modelling» sexuality and providing erections, this hormone helps develop
proteins at any stage in a person’s life and is essential for a great deal
of metabolic activity, including blood cell production in the bone marrow,
bone maturation, lipid and carbohydrate metabolism, hepatic function and
prostatic growth. Testosterone also holds sway over the luteinizing and
follicle-stimulating hormones needed for spermatogenesis (spermatozoa
formation).
NEITHER TOO LITTLE NOR TOO MUCH
As revealed by studies made the world over, the levels of testosterone
deemed «normal» are significantly different in most healthy men. Around the
40th year of life, these levels start decreasing at a rate of 10%
every decade. In fact, not all the testosterone secreted by the glands runs
freely in the bloodstream: a large amount is trapped by proteins like
globulin and albumin, an absolutely ordinary event.
When a man’s libido declines as compared with past months or years, he is
quick to point an accusing finger to lower testosterone levels, but just a
few of those who think their sex life is at risk ever seek medical help, if
at all, which is even more worrying, Dr. Arrondo remarks.
However, loss of libido is not the only consequence of an insufficient level
of testosterone: other effects are emotional, psychological and behavioral
changes, and possibly less muscle mass and strength, increased fattening of
the upper and central body zones, osteoporosis, lumbago, and even risk of
cardiovascular disease.
Should such alarming symptoms appear, expert help must be sought at once to
fix the problem. Unfortunately, men’s so-called social «construction» keeps
many of them from seeing a doctor until things get really serious, deciding
instead to leave it to their testosterone to take charge of the difficult
task of defending a manhood felt to be impaired, failing to realize that
discovering and treating the root cause is more important than hiding its
effects.
Yet, a decreased level of this hormone in the blood is no less worrying than an excessive amount produced by the use of anabolic steroids, a ruse some sports players and bodybuilders try in the belief that by doing so they double their muscle power, a common mistake in that greater volume not always imply greater resistance.
At any rate, using steroids with purposes other than clinical –mainly in sports, where competing under the influence is prohibited– is a disloyal practice, not to mention a counterproductive habit, for the metabolism of a synthetic testosterone could suddenly change and turn into estradiol, a hormone responsible for the development of female secondary sex traits such as breast growth and milk production.
TRIAD OF
LOVE
As the hormone of desire, testosterone plays a key, if
not exclusive, role in a person’s sex life, first because it never acts
alone and second because it also has other functions, as describe
hereinbefore.
Oxy-toxins, a.k.a. «love hormones», are romantic chemicals released by the
hypophysis that favor interpersonal links by stimulating the sex organs and
making orgasm more intense during intercourse, Arrondo explains.
That’s when another pivotal element comes on stage: adrenaline, a messenger
of the action and responsible for visible changes during sexual arousal such
as increased heart rate, perspiration, gasping …
Yet, even as one they have no control over the situation. As any other human
psychic process, emotion is something more than interacting molecules.
No matter how much desire we feel for someone we like when we see them,
there are sociocultural factors involved that help us keep our sex drive in
check, adopt a respectful attitude and put off our yearning for a future,
more opportune moment when we can unrestrainedly let both our hormones and
our fantasies run free and our organism operate like a good program where
chemistry, history and linguistics are perfectly combined.
---ooOoo---
