mekka okereke Mar 7

RE: https://flipboard.com/@lgbtqnation/lgbtq-nation-c65vn37sz/-/a-R9kjh0X7R_6U6xPciOIKIw%3Aa%3A3220327925-%2F0

Yup.

Like I've said: roid rage isn't a real thing. It's not. Anyone that tries to tell you that it is a real thing, is probably trying to justify violence by petulant man-babies.

If you're thinking "But steroids can make you irritable!🤡" I don't care. All women get irritable. All women know how guns and knives work. But they don't shoot and stab and beat people every time they get irritable. Part of being an adult, is learning how to regulate your emotions. Keep your hands to yourself.

Steroids don't make big men angry. Steroids make angry men big. What would've been a 150 lb twerp, is now a 200 lb twerp. Steroids give them the opportunity to try to live out their violence. When I worked as a bouncer in college, I often had to hulk-smash roided out dudes that don't understand that steroids won't help them against me, and that fighting is a skill, and that they didn't have that skill.

I've never taken steroids. I'm an elite level natural powerlifter. Many powerlifters and bodybuilders aren't natural, which means that they do take steroids and other performance enhancing drugs. They don't rage on people.

I don't judge people who take steroids for sports. I certainly don't judge people who do gender affirming care. I am pro-gender affirming care. What I'm against, is violent people that try to blame steroids as their excuse for hurting people that they perceive as smaller than them.

No.

It's not the steroids. It's you.

Show threadmorganMar 7

@mekkaokereke Reminds me of a study I read about many years ago where participants had to play a typical psychology-study game where had to make a choice to be more fair or more selfish. Control group got placebo. The three experimental groups got:

* placebo, but told it was testosterone
* testosterone, but not told what it was
* testosterone, and told it was testosterone

Show threadmorganMar 7
@mekkaokereke The ones who got t. and not told what it was played somewhat more fairly than the control group, which is interesting. But much more interesting was that the ones who were _told_ they were given testosterone played much more selfishly, whether it was placebo or not. The conclusion was that people's _idea_ of what hormones do completely overrides their actual effects on behavior.
Show threadDan

@mw @mekkaokereke because of lifelong hormonal issues, my E levels were high (>150pg/mL) and T levels low (<320ng/mL), all endogenous.

about six or seven years ago i started taking a non-HRT medication that cut the E to <20pg/ml and roughly doubled T (>650ng/mL).

i was more sociable, it was much easier to start conversations, and every interaction-related thing became almost weightless. T has far more to do with cooperation than aggression.

biological essentialism is a cursed idea.

Mar 8 at 12:17amWeb
Show threadDanMar 8

@mw @mekkaokereke i have a friend who started HRT in his 50s because of a different medical condition. he had the same experience.

more energy, easier interactions with others, and far more patience under trying circumstances.

the people flattening and corrupting the myriad ways hormones interact with behavior are demonstrably wrong and absolutely causing harm to everyone.

this is the twinkie defense all over again.

Show threadJackieMar 8

@dank @mw @mekkaokereke

I started estrogen after realizing I was suffering from lifelong gender dysphoria. I feel more sociable now because I hate myself less