Manosphere influencers are whipping up fear over low testosterone levels, encouraging supplements with long-term dangers. Photo / Getty Images
In his Netflix film, Inside the Manosphere, documentary-maker Louis Theroux highlights the toxic masculinity that is rife online. Misogyny, homophobia and misinformation are being spread by manosphere influencers on social media platforms and Theroux meets some of the people who are driving this culture. Now, a study suggests a
number of them may also be putting the health of their followers at risk.
Researchers at the University of Sydney have found influencer marketing is encouraging young men to undergo unnecessary testosterone testing and start hormone therapy – and minimising potential medical consequences.
Senior research fellow Brooke Nickel says the team was initially investigating a range of health tests being promoted online to healthy people – including the full body MRI made popular by Kim Kardashian – despite no evidence of benefits. Testosterone testing warranted a closer look.
“It was being heavily marketed to healthy young men and we were finding strong and concerning underlying narratives that we wanted to dig into,” Nickel says.
Using a fake account, researchers analysed 46 popular Instagram and TikTok posts that had a combined audience of 6.8 million followers and generated more than 650,000 likes.
“We found they were using fear-mongering messages to promote these tests and treatments, strongly playing on a narrative around masculinity and sexuality.”
In the manosphere, testosterone is positioned as a way for men to reclaim power, status and control, the study says. Low testosterone is framed as a health crisis and the hormone is linked to unrealistically muscular bodies and sexual performance.
One message analysed in the study had a TikTok influencer with 102,000 followers warning: “Watch out for this scary sign of low testosterone levels … you should be waking up in the morning with a boner, if you’re not waking up in the morning with a boner, there’s a large possibility that you have low testosterone levels. Get it checked!”
Another influencer claimed his testosterone was so low he was three numbers away from being called a female.
“How am I going to build muscles like a man, if I have testosterone levels like a female?”
“This is what makes us men, this is what makes us who we are,” said another.
The majority of posts had a financial interest such as selling tests, supplements or consultations, and 67% had direct purchase links. None cited scientific evidence to support their claims.
“When you’re seeing them repeatedly, they’re such strong messages that they’re very persuasive, even for people with high health literacy,” says Nickel. “They’re playing on the idea of optimising your manliness – if you’re not at this peak level, then you’re not doing all you can. Common experiences such as fatigue, stress, lower libido or ageing are being reframed as signs of testosterone deficiency that require medical intervention.”
For men, testosterone levels naturally decline by about 1% a year after age 30. Hormone therapy is recommended for those with a condition called hypogonadism, where the body can’t make enough testosterone, resulting in symptoms such as erectile dysfunction, muscle loss and fatigue.
However, healthy men often have lower levels with no symptoms and supplementing testosterone may do more harm than good. It has been associated with heart problems, infertility, kidney injury and blood clots. Also, when supplements are being used, the body’s natural hormone production slows down, meaning the treatment needs to be continued to avoid a withdrawal period.
Influencers are now an established part of medical marketing and Nickel urges consumers to be sceptical.
“Social media is a shopping mall. Overwhelmingly now, when it comes to health and wellness, people are there to sell you things, and they’ll say, do and look however they need to.”
She would like to see more regulation and consumer protection in place.
“It’s tricky because a testosterone test is a legitimate medical test; it’s not fake or flawed. But the way it’s being promoted to healthy men is highly misleading.
“The main thing I was shocked about was this promotion of a really narrow ideal of masculinity and turning it into a medical problem and an industry.”
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