Testosterone gave me my life back - by Cate Hall

I’ve been going back and forth for a long time — like, months — on how to frame this piece, which concerns the fact that taking testosterone has massively, unmistakably improved my quality of life. I’ve been vacillating because I can see how easily it could be weaponized as evidence that women don’t belong in leadership roles or in male-dominated fields. Conceding that there may be a biological foundation for certain disparities feels like it risks excusing bias against women, and like a betrayal of some of my core beliefs. When I played poker professionally, I was a staunch advocate for the position that there are few women at the top of the game for reasons that are primarily sociological: women aren’t encouraged to learn (96% of serious players are male); the environment is unwelcoming to them (see “The Royal Flush Girls”); and they aren’t invited to join the study groups that are critical for cracking into the elite tier. When I won the Female Player of the Year award at the 2016 A

I’ve been going back and forth for a long time — like, months — on how to frame this piece, which concerns the fact that taking testosterone has massively, unmistakably improved my quality of life. I’ve been vacillating because I can see how easily it could be weaponized as evidence that women don’t belong in leadership roles or in male-dominated fields. Conceding that there may be a biological foundation for certain disparities feels like it risks excusing bias against women, and like a betrayal of some of my core beliefs. When I played poker professionally, I was a staunch advocate for the p