Testosterone levels don't fall off a cliff in menopause. We need to be really honest about that.

they actually start to decline in your 30s. They have a slow decline in your 40s. And the year before and the year after menopause, your body isn't like, oh, I suddenly don't have testosterone

anymore. It's been low for a while. And so I don't think it's wrong ever to give testosterone,

but I don't think we say, well, because now we're in menopause, we're not making testosterone. That's not

actually physiologic. Yeah. You know,

it's a therapy.

The views and opinions expressed on unpaused are those of the talent and guests alone

and are provided for informational and entertainment purposes only.

No part of this podcast or any related materials are intended to be a substitute for

professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.

One of the most persistent problems in women's health care is that we've taken some of the

most complex, intimate parts of women's lives, her hormones, sexuality, pleasure, pain,

and identity, and either oversimplified them or avoided them altogether.

Today's guest is someone who has spent her career doing the exact opposite.

Dr. Tammy Rowan is an obstetrician gynecologist and leading gynecologic surgeon at the University

of California, San Francisco, and an internationally recognized expert in sexual health.

Her work sits at the intersection of hormones, anatomy, desire, pain, and autonomy.

She doesn't just talk about sexual function.

She studies it, teaches it, operates on it, and defends it in a medical system that has too often dismissed it.

Dr. Rowan understands where so much of the

confusion around women's hormones comes from, conflating contraception with menopause hormone

therapy, the fear around progestins, the lack of nuance in how we talk about testosterone,

...