WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Wednesday that he is rolling out a new screening program for “testosterone deficiency” among troops, calling it necessary to allow them to operate at their “absolute best.”
The screenings will be conducted annually as part of service members’ required medical screenings for those 30 and older, he said. Troops under 30 can volunteer to be tested. In a video on social media, Hegseth said receiving testosterone replacement therapy would be voluntary.
Yay for gender-affirming care!
Now in all new MANDATORY flavor!
Every accusation… Man it’s getting old.
I’ve wondered about that reasoning. It’s understandable for when going beyond replacement therapy dosages aka steroid usage territory, then yeah it falls under gender affirming care.
But why does replacement therapy fall under that as well, because replacement therapies goal isn’t to make the person more muscular, it’s just to fix a deficiency as the body functions best when everything is in a certain range and that’s not limited to hormones either. And we do try to fix any other deficiencys as well, whatever through lifestyle changes, supplementation or even medical intervention.
If it’s for cross gender hormones it’s gender affirming care. Doing the same treatment but within one’s assigned gender therefore should also be considered gender affirming, because it’s focusing on one’s gender as the basis for the standards. For potassium levels there isn’t a gendered range of values, but for testosterone, there is a set of values for men, and a different set for women.
Fair point, thank you for elaborating. It makes more sense now.