We use cookies and other tracking technologies to enhance your browsing experience. If you continue to use our site, you agree to the use of such cookies. For more info, see our privacy policy.
Skip to main content

Hi. We love you. Be our Life Partner.

Support the show to get ad-free listening, bonus content, and our new Greatest Hits Archive.

Learn more
This American Life Partners logo
00:00
00:00
  • Transcript
  • Share
This American Life
  • Life Partners
  • How to Listen
  • Episodes
  • Recommended
  • About
    • Overview
    • Staff
    • Announcements
    • Fellowships
    • Jobs
    • Music
    • Make Radio
    • On The Road
    • FAQ
    • Submissions
    • Merch
    • Contact Us
    • Our Other Shows
  • Merch
  • Follow Us
  • Life Partners
220
August 30, 2002

Testosterone

Stories of people getting more testosterone and coming to regret it. And of people losing it and coming to appreciate life without it. The pros and cons of the hormone of desire. And we get our testosterone measured, as a staff.

  • Download
    Control-click (or right-click) Tap and hold to download
  • Subscribe on Spotify Subscribe in Apple Podcasts Subscribe
  • Transcript

Prologue

Producer Alex Blumberg explains that he wanted to do this show because of his conflicted relationship with his own testosterone. He tells host Ira Glass that the reasons go back to a girl in his eighth-grade homeroom and the 1970s seminal feminist novel The Women's Room. We also hear from a man who stopped producing testosterone due to a medical treatment and found that his entire personality was altered. (9 minutes)

By

Alex Blumberg
Ira Glass
Act One

Life At Zero

The interview with a man who lost his testosterone continues. He explains that life without testosterone is life without desire—desire for everything: food, conversation, even TV. And he says life without desire is unexpectedly pleasant. The man first wrote about his experiences, anonymously, in GQ Magazine. (8 minutes)

By

Ira Glass
Act Two

Infinite Gent

An interview with a transgender man, who started life as female and began taking testosterone injections several years ago. He explains how testosterone changed his views on nature vs. nurture for good. (17 minutes)

By

Ira Glass

Song:

“To Sir With Love” by Lulu
Act Three

Contest-osterone

The men and women on staff at This American Life decide to get their testosterone levels tested, to see who has the most and least, and to see if personality traits actually do match up with hormone levels. It turns out to be an exercise that in retrospect, we might not recommend to other close-knit groups of friends or co-workers. (12 minutes)

By

Ira Glass
David Rakoff

Song:

“What Kind of Man Are You” by Ray Charles
Act Four

Learning To Shut Up

Novelist Miriam Toews, author of The X Letters (which appeared in an earlier episode of the show), tells the story of a road trip she took with her 15-year-old son. Her most recent book is called All My Puny Sorrows. (11 minutes)

By

Miriam Toews

Related

If you enjoyed this episode, you may like these
79: Stuck in the Wrong Decade
Oct. 10, 1997

Working In Another Decade [Retracted]

This episode originally included a story by reporter Stephen Glass (no relation to Ira) about an internship at George Washington's former plantation, which we have removed because of questions about its truthfulness.
88: Numbers
Jan. 2, 1998

Act Five: Break It Down

A man tries to calculate what love costs.
94: How To
Feb. 27, 1998

Act Three: How To Increase Your Value As A Person

In which we tackle the biggest possible how-to we could think of: how to make your life worth more.

Staff Recommendations

View all
429
Mar. 11, 2011

Will They Know Me Back Home?

Stories of people who've grown so accustomed to wartime that the lives they've left behind no longer make sense.

504
Sept. 6, 2013

How I Got Into College

How a stolen library book got one man into his dream school and changed his life forever. Or at least that's the story he tells himself.

This American Life

This American Life is produced in collaboration with WBEZ Chicago and delivered to stations by PRX The Public Radio Exchange.

  • How to Listen
  • Episodes
  • Recommended
  • About
    • Overview
    • Staff
    • Announcements
    • Fellowships
    • Jobs
    • Music
    • Make Radio
    • On The Road
    • FAQ
    • Submissions
    • Merch
    • Contact Us
    • Our Other Shows
  • Merch
  • Contact
  • Life Partners
  • Serial
  • S-Town
© 1995 - 2025 This American Life Privacy Policy | Terms of Use

Share

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Email

Subscribe

  • on Spotify
  • in Apple Podcasts

Share

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Email