In Monday’s edition of The Times, James Beal, Social Affairs Editor, covered a story headlined “Testosterone for women a ‘life-changer’. 

The gist of the article is this: 

Researchers at the University of Warwick are developing the world’s first testosterone patch for women experiencing menopausal symptoms. Medherant, a company founded by Professor David Haddleton, plans to begin clinical trials in autumn.

If successful, the patch could significantly improve women’s lives, including boosting their sex drive, as they are currently not prescribed testosterone on the NHS. Women may resort to using irregular doses of testosterone gel, which is approved only for men.

While oestrogen and progesterone hormone replacement therapy patches are available, no testosterone patches exist for women suffering from menopause-related issues.

The new patch aims to address this gap in menopause products and provide a widely accessible treatment option for women. 

Testosterone for women ‘a life-changer’ James Beal - Social Affairs Editor Researchers are developing the world’s first testosterone patch for women with menopausal symptoms, and the UK could be the first country to test it. Medherant, a company founded by David Haddleton, a professor of chemistry at the University of Warwick, aims to start clinical trials this autumn. If these go well, Haddleton said the potential to improve women’s lives was huge, including helping them with their sex drive — as they cannot be prescribed testosterone for this on the NHS at present. Some instead turn to irregular doses of a gel that is approved only for use onmen, experts say. Testosterone is an essential hormone for women and its production drops heavily after the menopause. Oestrogen and progesterone hormone replacement therapy (HRT) patches — which stick to the skin to deliver medications — are available. However, there is no testosterone patch for women suffering with adverse symptoms from the menopause. Professor Haddleton said: “The work we’re doing at Medherant and at Warwick isn’t just theoretical, but instead aimed at a problem women are facing which can drastically affect their everyday lives and jobs. “This could deliver a product that is much needed and is just not available. With the technology already proven to work we can use our new patch to remove needless misery from women’s daily lives. We hope this will transform life for women suffering from postmenopause issues nationally and indeed globally.” Guidelines issued by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence in 2015 recommended testosterone supplementation be considered for menopausal women with low sexual desire if HRT alone was not effective. The new patch is intended to address this gap in menopause products and provide treatment for women that can be made widely available.
The Times, 3 April 2023

You will notice how this is all framed as a positive, which is odd when you consider that testosterone, according to anti-trans people, the ones The Times likes to platform, is often described as poison when trans masculine people take it. 

The Times are one of the leading voices in the relentless persecution of trans people in the UK media over the last load of years. This is not news.

Like all of their ilk, they do not notice their own hypocrisy, or, if they do, they don’t care.

When cis people want or need hormones, that’s ‘normal’ which, of course, is at the root of this entire trans panic – trans people are not seen as ‘normal’. 

This double standard clearly reveals the dangerous prioritisation of cisgender individuals’ needs and desires over the well-being and dignity of transgender people.

But trans people already know we live in a world that values even the sex lives of cis people over the actual lives of trans. 

Articles by Beal on various topics related to gender and identity simply serve to underscore the skewed perspective held by The Times and other similar media outlets.

Other James Beal articles

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