BellaOnline Forums Relationships Married No Kids Testosterone levels and remaining childfree

I've read a few articles recently which stated that women with higher-than-average levels of testosterone in their systems tend to have fewer children or not any at all. Apparently the desire for children is much lower in testosterone-high women than those in estrogen-high women.

What are the signs of higher than average testosterone in women?
Usually lots of hair on the arms, legs, armpits, face, etc., where male hairgrowth is normal. An enlarged clitoris. A deeper voice. A high sex drive with increased competitiveness.

Note that not all of the above symptoms need to be present to be diagnosed with high testosterone.

How many of you here can identify with the above? I definately have a high hair growth level and I've actually noticed that men usually like this in a woman.

A related study....how stupid can this be?
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I would warrant that women are more attracted to the "less masculine men" because of all the other studies that say that those men are "safe." You know, less likely to be dangerous, violent, etc. At least, that is how they are perceived.

I don't have any of the physical signs of testosterone but people in my life have always told me that I approach life and problems like a man. ('cause in a woman you're just a [censored]?)

When I was younger, I wasn't very good at just listening to my friends� problems without trying to find a solution to fix them. (apparently that's masculine trait).

And if I received negative feedback at work, I never took it personally because I knew they were referring to the job and not me. (I guess that's unusual for a woman too). And I never had any qualms or guilt about firing incompetent people.

I was also very ambitious, aggressive and blunt (though I'm a little more gentle now) with everyone in my life. Everyone knew not to ask me a question if they didn't want to hear the truth as I saw it! I was so black & white back then. That might've been an age thing though.

I don't think being CF has anything to do with testosterone levels however. I think being an analytical thinker might be the reason for the CFness.

But being an analytical thinker is also correlated to having high testosterone. Check you finger pattern. Is you index finger shorter than your ring finger?

Yes, my index finger is shorter than my ring finger. What does that mean?

It means that your testosterone level is higher than your estrogen level. Do a google search on "index finger versus ring finger length in women" and you will see some interesting studies.

Ah, we saw something on TV about this a few months ago, and immediately DH and I had to look at the size of our fingers. My index finger is shorter than my ring finger, but my husband's is not.

I guess we know who wears the pants in this family ...

I have two of the listed traits. I have wondered if I have higher testosterone levels since my body fat sits high around my waist instead of on my hips. But I have very little body hair.

This pattern in women is also supposed to indicate average to lower than average fertility. It actually makes sense since a higher testosterone level would hinder the effects of estrogen (which is supposed to be higher than testosterone in most women)and leads to a more "masculine" brain. Both my mother and I have this sort of finger pattern, although mine is more pronounced. She only has one child (me) and did not even raise me until the age of six (I was raised by my grandma) because she was a career woman and very devoted to my dad at the same time.

Women with higher testosterone are not only more aggressive, they are also better at analytical skills and when confronted with someone else's emotional problem, they do not act in a typical female way (i.e., they do not empathize much with the other person's feelings) but rather in an analytical way. They try to analyze and solve the other person's emotional problem.

It is an interesting study emerging from several tested variables. I think that unlike many other studies, this one makes sense.