11/13/2002: Transgender kickboxer

[tw]

Originally posted by Undertoad
This is interesting to me because the aggression involved in such a sport seems to be very male in origin, very testosterone-based. Physical contact sports always involve a lot of really male stuff - getting deep within your male attitude, finding the inner animal, etc. Eating raw meat, grunting, that sort of thing.

The question asks for clear associations between testosterone, aggression, male vs female, and other human parameters. Unfortunately these qualities are not mutually exclusive. Venn diagrams have numerous overlapping circles. The best answer can only be found in statistical percentages. And yet I read nothing that addresses or attempts to define those statistics. Therefore I find the discussion associated with the pictures not informative.

We tend to associate testosterone with aggression. But even women have testosterone. That association also fails to note other contributory factors to aggression.

Maybe I do not not fully understanding the question or why it would be interesting. Maybe because I regard such unique characteristics more normal for the cross section of humanity. People are not monolithic - and should not be expected so.

For example, a college friend talked about quitting the field hockey team and losing a scholarship - because she could not stand bed swapping in a mostly lesbian sport. Is that (assuming the details are correct which I also have doubts about) something unique to humanity? Not to me. And not something that I would even try to classify in terms of hormones or childhood upbringing. It is just another typical characteristic of mankind.