#288 “Low T”: Medicalization, Masculinity, and Influencer Marketing (with Emma Grundtvig Gram)

On this episode of #mensexpleasure, Cam discusses how medicine, culture, and commerce intersect in social-media health narratives with Emma Grundtvig Gram, PhD. They unpack Emma's research focusing on “low T” content on TikTok and Instagram. She explains her content-analysis study examining how influencers promote testosterone testing and treatment through narratives rather than evidence, often linking testosterone to confidence, dominance, success, muscles, sexual performance, leadership, and happiness while framing ordinary experiences (fatigue, stress, weight gain, stalled gym progress, sexual fluctuations) as signs of deficiency. The conversation covers regressive gender ideas, disparagement of femininity, manosphere links, optimisation/T-maxing pressures, appeals to fear of aging and masculinity loss, and concerns about young men as long-term consumers.Key Points:03:07 Why Study "Low T"08:05 Disease Mongering Explained16:36 Sexuality Framed As Deficiency27:46 The Optimisation Trap37:30 Homosocial And Homoerotic Ads41:18 Parasocial Trust And Algorithms44:33 Healthier Testosterone Talk