Mister, are you the one who is very particular about his appearance? Have time, and again people complimented you on your facial features, telling you how masculine you look with a well-chiseled out face? Well, if yes, then your testosterone has a vital role to play in the same. As per studies conducted, women, in general, find men with more testosterone levels, more attractive. Coming to how and why of the same, we will get into the details later, but let us first see what testosterone is and what role it plays in your body.

Testosterone is a male sex hormone that is important for reproductive development. It is found in humans and as well as in animals and is produced by your testicles. The production of testosterone starts around puberty and starts dropping at a rate of around 1% a year once you reach your thirties. Apart from playing an essential role in your sex drive and sperm production, it affects your bone and muscle mass and also the way your body stores fat. Your mood and energy levels are also determined by the level of testosterone in your body. Generally, on average, a healthy adult male has testosterone levels between 270 -1070 ng/dl, with the average being around 670 ng/dl.

Coming to testosterone and your looks, well in a recent study conducted, pairs of digital composites from the faces of men with high and low testosterone were created. The composites were then handed over to the judges, who were given the task of assessing the masculinity of the pair of photographs. As per the results, which were uniform across the board, pictures from high testosterone composites were judged to be more masculine than pictures from low testosterone composites. So, this was all about looks, but when it comes to attraction, that’s a different ball game altogether.

Since primitive times, mates have been attracting prospective mates on various qualities. Coming to the evolutionary standpoint, the traits that make a man attractive, are those that help improve our chances of survival and reproduction. As per the book ‘manhood in making’ authored by Dr. David Gilmore, all masculine traits fall under the umbrella of three broad characteristics that make a man attractive. These are 1) Protection, 2) Procreation 3) Provision. Let’s see how testosterone plays an important role in all these 3ps of masculinity:

  1. Protection: This is a fundamental masculine trait. A man should be able to protect his family or tribe from danger. He must be able to draw the fine line between safety and risk and when and if crossed, he should be able to protect and ensure safety to his family. A man with low testosterone levels will unlikely have the physical/mental strength or endurance to deal with such threats.
  2. Procreation: In other words, we can also term this as a man’s mating ability. He needs to find out a prospective mate, impress her, and make love to her to procreate. For all these, the hormone testosterone plays a very important role. It not only helps increase your sex drive but also ensures healthy production of sperms and a proper erection. Men who have low testosterone often suffer from sexual issues like low sperm quality and quantity, erectile dysfunction (inability of a man to get or maintain an erection firm enough for penetration), and low sex drive or libido.
  3. Provision: A man needs to provide for his family, be it financially, emotionally, spiritually, or economically. Your testosterone levels decide your motivation, your energy levels, and the drive to go ahead and provide for your family. So naturally, a man with low testosterone levels might not be able to fit the category perfectly.
 

Medically reviewed by Rishabh Verma, RP

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