Recently, conservative commentator Lauren Chen posted a tweet asking why transgender women aren’t given testosterone instead of estrogen. Her exact words were:
“Instead of cross-sex hormones, why don’t we give trans people same-sex hormones? If a male ‘feels like a woman,’ why not give him testosterone, not estrogen? Genuine question. Making a man feel more like a man seems more logical than making him into an imitation of a woman.”
This comment quickly sparked widespread discussion on Twitter and in transgender online spaces. For some, it was just another dismissive jab at trans identity. For others, it raised genuine confusion: why wouldn’t giving testosterone help someone “feel more like themselves”?
But for many transgender women, this isn’t a hypothetical. It is a lived reality. Countless trans women, especially those who grew up in earlier decades, attempted to bury or “cure” their dysphoria by embracing hypermasculinity. They tried testosterone through bodybuilding, through medical prescription, or by forcing themselves into stereotypically masculine roles.
It didn’t work. In fact, for many, it made things worse.
This article will explain why hypermasculinity is not a cure, how forcing trans people into “same-sex” hormones is a form of conversion therapy, and why transition, not repression, is the path to health and authenticity.
The Myth of Testosterone as a Cure
The suggestion in Chen’s tweet rests on a flawed assumption: that transgender women are confused men and that if they simply embraced their masculinity harder, their discomfort would fade away.
This idea has been tested in real life, both voluntarily and involuntarily. The results are consistent. Hypermasculinization only deepens dysphoria, worsens mental health, and accelerates the pain trans women feel living in a body and identity that does not align with their true selves.
Testosterone is not a neutral experiment for a trans woman. It pushes the body further from her internal sense of self, broadening features, deepening the voice, stimulating muscle growth, thickening hair, and reinforcing the very traits that intensify dysphoria. Instead of relief, it adds layers of distress.
For many, testosterone becomes less of a hormone and more of a prison.
A Personal Example: When Hypermasculinity Failed
I am one of those examples.
Growing up in the suburbs of Detroit, Michigan, in the 1970s and 80s, being transgender wasn’t an option I felt I could express. There were no affirming resources, no visible role models, and certainly no safe spaces to talk about it. Instead, I did what many trans women of my generation did. I hid.
I followed societal norms, stayed closeted, and leaned into the roles expected of me. When that wasn’t enough to silence my dysphoria, I took it further. I embraced hypermasculinity. I pushed my body through grueling workouts, trained for bodybuilding competitions, and let testosterone sculpt me into society’s image of a man’s man.
It didn’t help. In fact, it nearly broke me.
The more testosterone coursed through my body, the worse my dysphoria became. My body physically began to push back against my self-imposed conversion therapy. No amount of muscle or masculine appearance erased the voice in my head reminding me of who I truly was.
And then, within weeks of starting hormone replacement therapy with estrogen, everything changed. My mind cleared. The fog of dysphoria lifted. For the first time in decades, I felt like myself, not a performance, not an act of survival, but me.
This is why Chen’s suggestion stings so deeply. Many of us already tried exactly what she is proposing. It didn’t work then, and it will not work now.
The Historical Context: Conversion by Masculinity
What Chen suggested is not new. It echoes decades of failed medical and social “treatments” for transgender people.
In the mid-20th century, conversion therapy programs often forced trans women into hypermasculine behaviors. Doctors, psychologists, and even religious leaders believed that pushing male-coded hormones, activities, and expectations would “correct” identity.
This took many forms:
- Forcing trans women to take testosterone
- Pushing them into military service or male-dominated trades
- Encouraging bodybuilding, sports, or “manly” hobbies
- Discouraging or punishing any feminine expression
These efforts didn’t cure anyone. Instead, they left scars. They deepened depression, encouraged substance abuse, drove people toward self-harm, and in many cases, led to suicide.
The truth is simple: trans people aren’t confused about who they are. They are struggling to survive in bodies and environments that deny their identity.
Why Hypermasculinity Backfires
To those unfamiliar with gender dysphoria, testosterone might seem logical. If someone was assigned male at birth, why not reinforce that? But here’s why it fails.
- Biological Reinforcement of Dysphoria: Testosterone exaggerates the very traits many trans women wish to minimize. It deepens voices, strengthens jawlines, increases hair growth, and fuels muscle mass. These changes can feel like a physical betrayal.
- Psychological Distress: Living a hypermasculine life when your inner truth is feminine is like wearing a mask that cuts into your skin. The dissonance between inner identity and outward appearance intensifies, not lessens.
- Social Isolation: The performance of masculinity isolates trans women from their true selves and from communities where they might otherwise find belonging.
- Accelerated Dysphoria: Instead of easing discomfort, testosterone often accelerates it, pushing people toward crisis points faster.
This is why hypermasculinization is not neutral experimentation. It is actively harmful.
Why Estrogen Works for Trans Women
By contrast, estrogen and anti-androgen therapy align trans women’s bodies closer to their identities. While not a magic wand, hormone replacement therapy brings profound relief:
- Mental Clarity: Many describe the brain fog of dysphoria lifting within weeks.
- Physical Changes: Softer skin, breast growth, body fat redistribution, and slowed hair growth help reduce dysphoria.
- Emotional Balance: Mood stability often improves, replacing constant anxiety with a sense of calm.
- Authenticity: Perhaps most importantly, estrogen allows trans women to see themselves more clearly in the mirror, fostering self-love instead of self-rejection.
The difference isn’t subtle. For many, estrogen is life-saving.
Same-Sex Hormones as Conversion Therapy
Chen framed her tweet as a “genuine question,” but the subtext echoes old conversion therapy rhetoric: make a trans woman more of a man, and the problem will go away.
But this isn’t curiosity. It is coercion. Suggesting that trans women should be forced onto testosterone rather than offered affirming care is suggesting conversion therapy, just dressed up in modern language.
The American Psychological Association, the World Health Organization, and every major medical body recognize that conversion therapy is dangerous and unethical. Proposing testosterone as a “treatment” for trans women falls squarely into that category.
It’s not treatment. It is harm.
Growing Up in the 70s and 80s: A Case Study in Hypermasculinity
For those of us who came of age before widespread trans visibility, hypermasculinity wasn’t just suggested. It was expected.
If you were assigned male at birth and didn’t conform, you faced ridicule, violence, and ostracism. The only “acceptable” response was to lean harder into masculinity. So we did: sports, weightlifting, military service, macho jobs, exaggerated performances of manhood.
And yet, beneath it all, dysphoria festered. It didn’t fade. It didn’t heal. It grew.
This is why Chen’s tweet feels less like a question and more like déjà vu. We have been here before. We already know how the story ends.
Addressing the Curious but Uninformed
Not everyone who echoes Chen’s question does so maliciously. Some are genuinely curious: why doesn’t testosterone help?
To those people, the answer is straightforward. Gender dysphoria isn’t about “not being man enough” or “not being woman enough.” It is about identity not aligning with assigned sex. More of the wrong hormone doesn’t bring peace. It brings torment.
Imagine trying to fix a right-handed person by forcing them to use their left hand harder and harder. It doesn’t make them left-handed. It just makes their life more difficult.
Gender works the same way. Forcing testosterone on a trans woman won’t make her a man. It will make her a woman trapped in a more masculine prison.
The Danger of Social Media Rhetoric
Chen’s tweet is part of a broader trend where trans lives are reduced to debate topics. Social media often treats our existence as abstract puzzles rather than real people’s lives.
This is dangerous. Every time someone with a platform suggests “alternative treatments” for being trans, they lend legitimacy to harmful practices. Curious minds may see it as an innovative idea rather than recycled conversion therapy.
For trans people already struggling, such rhetoric can reinforce shame, delay transition, or push them toward harmful experiments in hypermasculinity.
Words have consequences. Tweets can wound.
The Relief of Transition
The contrast between testosterone’s harm and estrogen’s relief is stark. For many trans women:
- Weeks on testosterone brought crisis.
- Weeks on estrogen brought clarity.
This is why medical transition is recognized as evidence-based, life-saving care. It isn’t about creating “imitations.” It is about allowing people to live as who they are.
I spent decades trying to prove I was “man enough.” Within weeks of starting hormone therapy, I no longer needed to prove anything. I could simply be.
The Bottom Line
Lauren Chen’s tweet may have been phrased as a question, but the answer is clear. We already tried giving trans women testosterone. We already tried hypermasculinity as a cure. We already tried pretending identity can be beaten into submission.
It didn’t work. It never will.
Transition works because it aligns body and mind, not because it forces conformity. Denying that truth isn’t logic. It is cruelty disguised as curiosity.
For those outside the community, the best way to understand is to listen. Listen to trans women who lived through decades of hypermasculinity, who tried testosterone, who gave everything to “become men” and found only despair.
Then listen again as they describe the peace that came with transition. That contrast tells you everything you need to know.
Hypermasculinity isn’t a cure. It is a cage. And every cage has a key. For trans women, that key is authenticity, not testosterone.
