‘Masculinity crisis’: Influencers on social media promote low testosterone to young men, study finds

The content is linked to the manosphere, encouraging hyper-masculine ideals, and framing common experiences – tiredness, stress, reduced sex drive – as hormonal deficiencies.

University of Sydney

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Young men are being encouraged to undergo testosterone testing and start hormone therapy through Instagram and TikTok content that promotes unproven health claims while downplaying medical risks, a new international study has found.  

 

The study was done at the University of Sydney’s Faculty of Medicine and Health, and led by Emma Grundtvig Gram, a visiting PhD student from the University of Copenhagen. It found that influencer marketing on social media is normalising unnecessary testosterone testing and treatment among healthy young men, despite these therapies being associated with potentially serious health risks including heart problems, infertility, kidney issues, blood clots, reduced libido and erectile dysfunction.  

 

Published in Social Science & Medicine, the study analysed 46 high-reach Instagram and TikTok posts promoting testosterone tests and treatments. The accounts behind these posts had a combined audience of 6.8 million followers and generated more than 650,000 likes. 

 

The researchers found the content was closely linked to the online manosphere, a cluster of online communities that promote narrow, hyper-masculine ideals and frame men’s health, identity and success through dominance, physical strength and sexual performance. Health and fitness misinformation is common within these spaces, and testosterone marketing has increasingly become part of this trend. 

 

“Influencer marketing is reframing everyday experiences like fatigue, stress, lower libido or ageing as signs of testosterone ‘deficiency’ that requires medical intervention,” said Dr Brooke Nickel, senior author on the study and senior research fellow at the University of Sydney’s School of Public Health

 

Manosphere influencers using fear to sell testosterone products

 

In one message analysed in the study, a “Sex coach” on TikTok with 102k followers warned: "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!"

 

In another post, one influencer declared: “I was like 3 numbers away from being called a female,” equating a testosterone test score with masculinity and gender distinction. 

 

None of the posts included in the study cited scientific evidence to support their claims. 85 percent were published by individuals rather than health organisations, 67 percent included direct purchase links and 72 percent had financial interests, such as selling tests, supplements or clinic consultations. 

 

“What we’re seeing isn’t health education, it’s marketing and fearmongering dressed up as medical advice,” said Dr Nickel. “Young, healthy men are being told that common experiences like tiredness, stress or changes in libido are signs that something is medically wrong and that testosterone is the solution.”

 

Testosterone marketed as a solution to a ‘masculinity crisis’

 

The researchers identified four recurring narratives that shape how testosterone is marketed to men online: 

• low testosterone as a crisis that threatens male sexuality
• rebranding low testosterone as a young man’s issue linked to idealisation of unrealistically muscular bodies 
• an emphasis on self-optimisation and gym performance, and;
• the promotion of a narrow ideal of masculinity, portraying femininity as undesirable or shameful for men. 

 

The study shows how these narratives closely mirror those promoted within the manosphere, where hormone levels are presented as a measure of manhood and testosterone is positioned as a way for men to reclaim power, status and control.

 

Posts frequently used crisis language around sexual performance, energy and confidence, encouraged men to “be their own advocate” and seek testing, and positioned private clinics and direct-to-consumer products as faster and more effective than conventional healthcare. 

 

“These messages are turning testosterone into a lifestyle enhancement product that defines masculinity,” said Dr Nickel. “The problem isn’t that men care about their health, it’s that social media is medicalising normal experiences and selling young men a dangerous, often false diagnosis.”

 

Why this matters for men’s health

 

Historically known as an age-related condition that affects older men, the social media posts included in the study repeatedly rebranded low testosterone as a problem affecting younger men, particularly those engaged in fitness and body optimisation. 

 

Sexualised gym imagery, muscular physiques, and before and after transformation photos and stories reinforced the idea that testosterone is a gateway to strength, dominance and sexual success, while routine testing and ongoing hormone monitoring were advised.

 

The study highlights the medicalisation of masculinity, where normal variation in men’s bodies and experiences is reduced to a testosterone deficiency with a simple fix. The researchers say mass screening for low testosterone is not clinically recommended, as healthy men often have lower levels without symptoms, and there are significant health risks associated with testosterone therapy. 

 

Dr Ray Moynihan, co-author and senior research fellow at the School of Public Health, said the study reveals how online misinformation is shaping young men’s identity and health choices. 

 

“Like many men, I’m appalled by the manosphere and these misguided and misleading versions of masculinity, which only serve to undermine the capacity of men and boys to have meaningful and mature human relationships,” he said. 

 

“Promoting testing and treatment to men without clear medical indications raises concerns about overdiagnosis and overtreatment,” added Dr Nickel. “When testosterone is sold as a shortcut to confidence and success, it’s doing more harm than good.  

 

“Manosphere-driven health narratives can amplify fear, shame and distrust of mainstream healthcare. They shape how men understand their bodies, ageing and identity, and often lead to negative self-perception and mental health,” she said.

 

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Journal

Social Science & Medicine

DOI

10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.118903 

Method of Research

Content analysis

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Selling masculinity – A qualitative analysis of gender representations in social media content about “low T”

Article Publication Date

27-Jan-2026

COI Statement

Emma Grundtvig Gram and Dr Brooke Nickel are current members of the International Scientific Committee of Preventing Overdiagnosis.

 

Study finds banning energy disconnections shouldn’t destabilise markets

RMIT University

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Approaches by some European countries and Australia to protect energy consumers could help countries worldwide phase out harmful electricity disconnections without destabilising power markets, new research has found.

The RMIT University-led study examines protections in Spain, France and Ireland and outlines how similar measures could be adapted in other competitive energy markets to reduce the harms caused by disconnections for non‑payment.

Across Europe, 20 million households were disconnected from electricity and gas at some point during 2022, according to the EU Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators. In Australia, about 23,000 households had their electricity cut in 2023–24 for non-payment.

Even the threat of disconnections are known to amplify stress, risk health problems and deepen financial hardships.

That said, RMIT’s joint review with Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, University College Dublin and ISG International Business School in France found some countries have adopted strong protections that significantly limit or avoid disconnections.

Lead researcher Associate Professor Nicola Willand from Australia’s RMIT said the research makes clear that governments and energy retailers have options if they choose to use them.

“Ending harmful disconnections is a policy choice, not an inevitability of how energy markets operate,” she said.

“If governments and regulators are prepared to act, they can design systems that keep households connected while still allowing energy businesses to remain viable.”

In Spain, vulnerable customers cannot be disconnected and the electricity costs of the most vulnerable are shared between retailers and local governments, while a national social bonus tariff provides discounts of up to 65 per cent for designated vulnerable households.

In France and Ireland, households are protected from disconnection during winter and in both France and Spain supply can be reduced rather than cut off completely, allowing essential household services to be maintained.

The Australian electricity market sets minimum debt thresholds of at least AU$500, while France, Spain and Australia do not use prepayment meters in ways that drive self‑disconnection.

Co-author Orla Dingley from University College Dublin said Ireland’s Energy Engage Code shows how disconnection policy can prioritise support over punishment.

“The commitment to keep engaged customers connected provides a model other countries could adopt," Dingley said.

Some electricity retailers in France and Spain have also voluntarily chosen to never disconnect households.

Willand said the findings underline the need for evidence-led action in many countries to extend disconnection prohibitions and strengthen safeguards for vulnerable consumers.

“By examining European and Australian models, we can see stronger protections against disconnections are both feasible and effective,” Willand said.

“These examples offer valuable lessons for any country grappling with energy affordability and consumer vulnerability.

“Existing European safeguards could be further strengthened and adapted elsewhere to ensure secure access to essential energy services.”

The study recommends extending disconnection protections to users of prepayment meters and residents in embedded networks – such as people in apartment complexes or caravan parks who buy electricity through a private intermediary – who often lack the safeguards available to other customers.

Its findings are particularly relevant for European countries reviewing consumer protections in the context of rising energy prices and the European directive to “fully protect” vulnerable and energy poor customers from electricity disconnections.

The research was funded by Energy Consumers Australia, an independent organisation established by the Council of Australian Governments to advocate for residential and small business energy consumers. Organisations wishing to partner with RMIT University can contact research.partnerships@rmit.edu.au.

‘Balancing rights and markets: Towards a typology and critical review of residential electricity disconnection prohibitions in France, Spain, Ireland and Australia’ is published in Energy Research & Social Science. (DOI: 10.1016/j.erss.2025.104485).

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Journal

Energy Research & Social Science

DOI

10.1016/j.erss.2025.104485 

Method of Research

Literature review

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Balancing rights and markets: Towards a typology and critical review of residential electricity disconnection prohibitions in France, Spain, Ireland and Australia

Article Publication Date

5-Dec-2025

COI Statement

Nicola Willand is an Associate Editor of this journal. Appropriate measures have been taken to ensure an impartial and unbiased peer review process.

 

Risk for Lyme disease in Ohio is equal to Connecticut, study shows

Prevalence of infected ticks, hosts is comparable to endemic US regions

Ohio State University

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image: 

Left to right: Female and male blacklegged ticks (Ixodes scapularis)

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Credit: Risa Pesapane, The Ohio State University

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The risk for being bitten by a tick infected with bacteria that cause Lyme disease is as high in Ohio as it is for those living in Northeast states that have dealt with Lyme disease for over 50 years, according to a new study.

Researchers followed up on a 2014 study finding that Ohio’s first established population of blacklegged ticks, carriers of the bacteria that cause Lyme disease, had been detected in 2010 in Coshocton County.

At that time, the infectious bacteria were detected in 2.4% of collected blacklegged ticks and antibodies indicating prior exposure to the pathogen were detected in 20% of white-footed mice, one of the most common of several small mammal sources of wildlife infections to ticks in their nymph and larval stages.

In the new study, the research team from The Ohio State University found that the prevalence of infection in captured ticks had increased to as much as 47.6% and in infected small mammals, up to 60.4%.

“Our suspicion was that 10 years later, when we have robust populations of the right hosts in this ecological community in Ohio, that this pathogen vector system could really establish and take off. And that’s what this study essentially shows – that that is what happened,” said senior author Risa Pesapane, associate professor of veterinary preventive medicine at Ohio State. 

“And now Ohio has the same risk as those endemic regions in the Northeast. I think that is surprising to a lot of people because we think, sure, we have the tick and we have some of the hosts, but we’re not Connecticut. But for some parts of Ohio, we are Connecticut at this point.”

Pesapane noted that the risk for infection varies across Ohio and is highest in forested areas in the eastern and southern regions of the state. That said, the presence of blacklegged ticks has been reported in all 88 counties.

“I think it’s really important to convey, when it comes to both personal protection and to the medical community’s awareness, that you have the same chance of getting Lyme disease in Coshocton, Ohio, and other Ohio areas with the right habitat, that you do in Lyme, Connecticut.”

The study was published recently in the Journal of Medical Entomology.

Blacklegged ticks, also known as deer ticks, are widely distributed in the eastern United States and are a known carrier of the Borrelia burgdorferi strains of bacteria that cause most North American Lyme disease cases in people and dogs. The ticks also carry Anaplasma phagocytophilum, the pathogen that causes anaplasmosis.

Ningzhu Bai, a PhD student in the Environment and Natural Resources Graduate Program at Ohio State, led this study for her master’s thesis. The team collected 654 ticks demonstrating questing behavior and trapped 106 small mammals. Ticks pick up the infectious bacteria from small mammals that are reservoir hosts, which infect the ticks that bite them for a blood meal.

Deer, by the way, are not involved in the cycle of infection that occurs in ticks’ earliest life stages, but are strongly linked to blacklegged ticks because white-tailed deer are the main hosts of adult ticks that are looking for blood meals and mates.

The researchers extracted genomic DNA from 368 ticks and from mammal tissue and blood samples to test for Borrelia burgdorferi and Anaplasma phagocytophilum.

“It was shocking to find that infection prevalence increased from 2.4% for Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato to almost 50% in 10 years,” Bai said. “And it was also really high for Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto – over 40% carried that pathogen.”

The infection prevalence in ticks for the anaplasmosis pathogen was 15.5%. Six of the eight mammal species tested positive for infectious bacteria with prevalence of 60.4%, 19.8% and 11.9% for the same pathogens, respectively. White-footed mice and eastern chipmunks were the most frequently infected hosts.

“When I talk to people, I like to stress this means one out of every two ticks that you might encounter in Ohio could possibly be infected,” said Pesapane, who also has a faculty appointment in Ohio State’s School of Environment and Natural Resources.

The study provides the ecological data needed to guide where interventions could have the most impact – evaluating the effectiveness of tick-killing acaricides on small mammal reservoirs is an upcoming research plan for the Coshocton properties visited in this study.

“Ecological interventions are challenging. That’s why we keep promoting personal protective actions, which work extremely well,” Pesapane said. Steps include wearing tick repellent and long sleeves and pants, and tucking pants into socks while outdoors; performing a thorough tick check once inside, and showering; and using preventives for companion animals.

In Ohio, these protective tasks are worth it, she said: “If we look from 2010 all the way to 2025, there’s been a 48-fold increase in the number of Lyme disease cases in Ohio, and we are going to be considered a high-incidence state moving forward.”

In addition to frequently collecting and studying ticks of medical concern across Ohio, Pesapane invites the public to mail ticks to her lab. She is also the faculty director of the Buckeye Tick Test, an Ohio State service that tests submitted ticks for pathogens that cause disease, including Lyme disease, for a fee.

These submissions, and her own research, have made it clear that tick bites are not only a warm-weather threat.

“Even on days that have snow, as long as the ambient temperature is above freezing, blacklegged ticks will be seeking hosts and biting rather indiscriminately whomever they encounter,” she said. “So year-round, there’s a tick exposure risk.”

Andreas Eleftheriou of Ohio State was also a co-author of the study. This work was supported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture.

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Contact: Risa Pesapane, Pesapane.1@osu.edu

Written by Emily Caldwell, Caldwell.151@osu.edu

 

Vials containing blacklegged ticks captured by a tick drag in Ohio. 

Credit

Risa Pesapane, The Ohio State University

Journal

Journal of Medical Entomology

DOI

10.1093/jme/tjaf169 

Article Title

Pathogen and host associations of Ixodes scapularis (Acari: Ixodidae) in eastern Ohio 10 years post establishment