Testosterone’s Effect On Attractiveness

Testosterone’s Effect On Attractiveness

Love thyself.

tl; dr ... Short and to the Point
Who is this article aimed at?
Anyone wondering if and how testosterone levels influence our chances of finding a partner.
I am busy - summarize it for me

We know that most of us, men and women, have an eye for a good body and that testosterone is essential to shaping such a body. But is that all T helps us with when we're looking to meet someone?

As it turns out no. It actually affects who we're attracted to and our chances with in a number of much less obvious ways. This article explains what these are and how you can best make them work for you.

The look of love

There are plenty of worthy reasons to raise your testosterone naturally. Better strength and stamina. To recapture some of that earlier vitality. Just trying to stay healthier generally. Or perhaps to give your mood a boost. You name it, higher T is a great way to achieve it.

Let’s be honest though, unless you’re only working out for an hour a day in an exercise yard before being returned to solitary confinement, most of us will also be doing it to look better to others.

And you know what? There’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. Upping T for a muscle mass makeover to turn heads may sound shallow, but attracting attention is vitally important. Whatever else we’re in the world to do, one of our main jobs is to keep humankind’s ball rolling.

To do this we need to stand out from the crowd and attract ourselves a willing partner.

The urge to pair off and reproduce (or at least practice reproducing) is a standard survival instinct. We’ve all got it. It puts the hard in hardwired and healthy testosterone levels plays a huge part how in successful we are at it.

So exactly how does T help how attractive we are? Is it simply a matter of getting built enough that women are queuing for season ticket to the gun show? Or is its influence sometimes a little subtler?

In this article we’ll look at the various ways male hormone potentially shapes who’s drawn to you romantically and vice versa.

Get up and go

Let’s start with the basics. As with anything you wish to do in life – including people – the first thing you need is motivation. When it comes to sex, testosterone is that motivation. Typically the higher our T is, the more eager we are to see action. That’s why guys in their late teens or twenties, when male hormone is usually peaking, often seem to have a one track mind.

If you’re now picturing being some sort of sex crazed cross between Benny Hill and Austin Powers, relax. You can focus and do plenty of other stuff even with max T. It just means when the opportunity for some loving arises, you will too.

A study in 2007 work from Emory University in Atlanta for example found that men at the higher end of the hormonal scale respond more easily to sexual stimuli. This is true whether it’s in the flesh or in a web browser incidentally.

Strong T production has long been associated with better sex. Aside from frequency, it’s also known to improve our performance, enjoyment and duration.

One of the best illustrations of how important T is to lighting our fire is what happens when it deserts us. In one trial when men effectively had their tap turned off by researchers when their GnRH hormone was supressed. The result was subjects having sex noticeably less, either with a partner or solo.

Heaven scent

Evidence does suggests that women respond more positively to guys who display traits of higher male hormone. So sure, that’s means the more clichéd tell-tale signs, such as the rippling physique, lantern jaw and deep voice, but it’s not all about looks. Healthy T brings a little more to the romantic, candle lit table than that.

Personality counts for a lot too of course. Women, most people in fact, are often drawn to partners who are confident, sociable, outgoing and exciting. As luck would have it are all aspects of personality linked to a greater testosterone.

Another way raised T may help your chances with whoever you’re into is by stimulating more androstenone. Androstenone is a steroidal pheromone we give off which does its bit to help attract positive attention.

Don’t get us wrong it ISN’T one of those ridiculous so-called ‘female brain hacks’ you’ll hear about on popup videos in the darker corners of the internet (we’re told). Androstenone is far from nature’s Sex Panther.

However, a 1998 study by the Athena Institute for Women’s Wellness Research in Pennsylvania did report men giving off greater androstenone had encountered not only more sex but things like kissing and affectionate behaviour generally.

Under their spell

So far we’ve covered how healthy T inspires you to be in it to win it and how it helps you stand out to potential partners. But what about influencing who you’re drawn to in the first place?

Well in the same way that plenty of women are attracted to more masculine features, indications are the opposite is also true. As an investigation by the University of Aberdeen was able to show this in 2007.

In the study, 29 men were asked to rate the attractiveness of various women’s images. However the images had been altered by researchers, making them appear either more masculine or feminine. The men were also divided into high T or low T groups.

Sure enough the men subjects with superior hormone levels judged feminine faces as more appealing.

Think of your gene pool as a baseball card collection.  Neither sex is looking for doubles of what they already have. It’s all about swapping with someone who’s got what you need to complete your set.

It’s worth mentioning too that it’s not just male hormones and actions pulling the strings here. For instance, the attraction between men and women is usually strongest, not just when our T is surging but also while she’s ovulating and most fertile.

That’s right. Just because you don’t plan on a bit of 1 + 1 necessarily equalling 3, that doesn’t mean it’s not still your body’s ultimate goal.

Similarly one experiment found that a women’s flirty behaviour can cause T to rise by up to 14%. Don’t kid yourselves lads, you’re dancing to her tune as much as she is yours in all this.

Fonz-T?

Is it really just a case then that simply increasing your T will get you’re dating game automatically on point? Unfortunately not, no shot, sorry. At the end of the day you’re still going to need a fair amount of good old fashioned charm.

So don’t expect to just strike a bodybuilding pose in front of whoever you fancy and have them swoon into your admittedly impressive arms. Likewise it’s probably not a great idea to cross a party and just start wordlessly wafting your androstenone at someone.

Equally, you shouldn’t worry if you’re already in a relationship and start increasing your testosterone that you’ll chuck your significant other out of the blue becuase their nose suddenly isn’t dainty enough for you. Natural T’s influence isn’t so drastic that it’ll cause radical a shift in behaviours or tastes.

But as we’ve seen testosterone is key and will almost certainly boost your chances of success when single and mingling. What it is really is a kind of hormonal wing man, helping to big you up and showcasing your best attributes.

That’s why it’s crucial we don’t let levels of this potent internal love potion slip. Something they regretably will do if we don’t look after ourselves or inevitably as we age. The sooner we make a start on keeping our T at a natural peak, the longer it will stick around to have our back (or front) when we need it.

tl; dr ... Short and to the Point
Who is this article aimed at?
Anyone wondering if and how testosterone levels influence our chances of finding a partner.
I am busy - summarize it for me

We know that most of us, men and women, have an eye for a good body and that testosterone is essential to shaping such a body. But is that all T helps us with when we're looking to meet someone?

As it turns out no. It actually affects who we're attracted to and our chances with in a number of much less obvious ways. This article explains what these are and how you can best make them work for you.