Elon Musk is intrigued by the idea women can’t think freely because of ‘low T’

Every time I think Elon Musk can’t possibly sink any lower, he grabs a shovel and starts digging. In recent months, Apartheid Clyde (as he is nicknamed) has been doing his best to get Donald Trump elected by any means possible. As well as throwing money and an endorsement Trump’s way, Musk has posted multiple false election claims and reposted a fake version of Kamala Harris’s first campaign video that has been doctored to make her say she is the “ultimate diversity hire”.
When Musk isn’t meddling in politics, he’s busy posting misogynistic memes on X, the social media platform he has slowly been turning into an advertiser-haemorrhaging cesspool of hate. He’s posted an extraordinary amount of unhinged content in the past, but last Sunday he really outdid himself: the billionaire reposted a tweet from “Autism Capital” that suggested that “women and low T men” are not able to think freely because they “can’t defend themselves physically”. The only people who can think freely are “high T alpha males and aneurotypical people … this is why a Republic of high status males is best for decision making. Democratic, but a democracy only for those who are free to think.”
So what did Musk write in response to this wildly sexist post that originally appeared on 4chan, the far-right messaging board that has been described as the “blueprint for white supremacist groups”? He wrote: “Interesting observation.”
It’s possible, I suppose, that Musk meant “interesting” in the sense that British people often use it – which is as a polite way of saying: “That’s total nonsense, you ridiculous loon.” But judging by Musk’s past behaviour, one imagines there’s a very good chance he found the post genuinely interesting.
Of course, Musk wouldn’t be the first billionaire to dabble with casual thought experiments such as: what if we stripped women of all their rights? Peter Thiel, who runs Palantir, the dystopian technology company, and who has bankrolled JD Vance’s political career, once mused that women getting the right to vote had been bad for democracy. And we all know what Vance’s boss, Trump, thinks of women.
But this isn’t just about women: Musk platforming terms like “low T men” shows how toxic masculinity hurts men, too, and how testosterone has been politicized. Ever since 2016, “it has become a strange kind of orthodoxy among American conservatives that being a liberally minded man who supports feminism is simply a result of having abnormally low levels of testosterone”, the Guardian’s Sam Wolfson wrote back in 2019. This is partly thanks to a dubious study linking leftwing politics to lower testosterone.
Being “low T” has become the ultimate insult in certain circles and the likes of Trump have paraded their testosterone levels on national TV. Businesses have popped up to monetize male insecurity and promote dubious ways to boost testosterone. Last year, a startup called T Party invited tech bros in Silicon Valley to gatherings where they all tested their testosterone together, for example. And who can forget when Tucker Carlson had a personal trainer on his show to extol the virtues of “testicle tanning” to boost testosterone?
There are, to be clear, serious concerns to be had about dropping testosterone levels. Studies show that there has been a “substantial” decrease in US men’s testosterone levels since the 1980s. Sperm counts have also plummeted around the globe. But that, it should go without saying, has nothing to do with feminism and a lot to do with forever chemicals and environmental stressors.
Ridiculous 4chan memes aside, there is also an interesting conversation to be had about the effects of testosterone levels on decision-making – it’s a question that has been studied for a very long time. And you know what those studies show? That testosterone makes men “less likely to question their impulses” and is linked to “less self-reflection”. Which sounds a lot like Mr Musk, doesn’t it? Not that it’s meant to imply that Musk is bursting with testosterone, to be clear. I hear ketamine, which Musk is very fond of – and says investors should want him to keep taking – can sometimes have a similar effect on people’s ability to make rational decisions. Or perhaps he’s just high on misogyny: it’s one hell of a drug.
This story is absolutely harrowing and Gisèle Pélicot, who has waived her legal right to anonymity so justice can be done in public, is an incredibly impressive figure. What isn’t impressive is some of the coverage – in particular, this disgraceful headline (which has since been changed) in the Telegraph: “Wife takes public revenge on the men who ‘raped her every night on husband’s orders’.” It should go without saying that justice – much overdue – is not revenge. Nor were any of the more than 80 men who raped Pélicot following “orders”.
The Ugandan athlete was set on fire and sustained burns on 80% of her body in the attack in Kenya, where she had trained. Cheptegei is the third female athlete to be killed by an intimate partner in Kenya in the last three years.
This week’s edition of Caitlin Dewey’s excellent newsletter Links I Would Gchat You If We Were Friends contained a link to an award-winning 2014 essay about online misogyny by Amanda Hess titled Why Women Aren’t Welcome on the Internet. It’s 10 years old but it’s still very much worth reading because basically nothing has changed – largely because misogynists like Elon Musk run these platforms. Women are still subject to relentless abuse online and we’re essentially left to just deal with it. My Twitter account is now locked and I don’t use Instagram because waking up every day to harassment and death threats just isn’t worth it. It shouldn’t have to be like this.
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A beloved cat called Ted gave his family a fright when he nonchalantly strode home after apparently drowning and being “cremated”. His owner soon realized she had cremated someone else’s cat. “When she later went to collect the ashes, she saw the urn had been labelled ‘Not Dead Ted’,” writes the Guardian’s Jamie Grierson.