Testosterone is present in both men and women. But men produce a lot more of it, about ten time more than women do. And it’s found in all vertebrates. Even fish and insects have it (in a slightly different form), suggesting that testosterone has a long history.
Testosterone is the hormone driving two activities for guys. What are those two activities? Kids, please go to your rooms for a bit… OK, fucking and fighting are driven by testosterone. When one activity is held down the other one compensates by taking on a bigger role. Like the old “whack a mole” game – when you whack one down, up pops the other one.
Who has lots of testosterone? Young men. Not too many 60-year-old guys are getting in bar fights or blowing themselves up. We’ll never know, but I’ll bet that most suicide bombers don’t have (and maybe never have had) girlfriends. Sort of like I’ll bet most conspiracy theorists probably haven’t gone to college. Too bad for those around them.
In “Sex at Dawn” the authors contend that “… of all Earth’s creatures, none is as urgently, creatively and constantly sexual as Homo Sapiens.” Sounds about right.
Most fundamental religious groups throughout the world demonize sex and make every effort to repress any sexual release, sometimes even innocent contact with women. When a young guy is prepared to do violence and thinks it’s driven by righteousness, it’s actually fueled by a testosterone and frustration cocktail. I wonder how much sex that guy is having who shoots an abortion doctor or blows up a bus full of innocent people. Not much, especially with someone else.
Sure there are cultural norms and peer recognition at work, but those young guys are being driven by the basest of urges and wind up in situations following unquestioned authorities who dangle a lustful and peaceful afterlife that includes most of what they’re being denied now in this life.
I’ll make one more bet. Not many young guys would slip into a bomb vest if they were slipping into their lover’s bed the night before.