Research project This interdisciplinary project explores testosterone testing and treatment, and the experiences and consequences for cis men with testosterone deficiency and for transmasculine individuals.
This interdisciplinary project explores testosterone testing and treatment, and its implications for cis men with testosterone deficiency and transmasculine individuals. The project includes interviews with healthcare providers and patients as well as text analysis of medical information. It offers a new perspective that combines health science and socio-cultural aspects of testosterone testing and treatment.
Testosterone tests and treatment are increasingly advertised by companies and requested by patients. The prescription of testosterone has increased remarkably in Sweden between 2000 and 2020, and there is a lack of explanations as to why. Some treatments are defined as crucial and offered within public healthcare, while others are requested but with uncertain medical evidence and guidelines that advise against routine tests.
This interdisciplinary project provides an in-depth examination of testosterone testing and treatment and the experiences and implications among cis men with testosterone deficiency and trans masculine individuals. By focusing on the two different groups, the study seeks to explore the nuanced experiences and societal perceptions surrounding testosterone. It is a three-year project conducted in four phases and builds on interviews with care-providers and care-seekers, as well as text analysis of medical information. It integrates ethnography and narrative analysis within a gender studies and biomedicalization theoretical framework.
Knowledge about sex hormones is dominated by medical research and biomedical understandings of the body; in contrast, this project provides a health systems and sociocultural perspective on testosterone testing and treatment.
