Over the last decade, developments in therapeutics increasingly have been directed at proxy markers and prevention rather than symptomatic treatment or cure, and this is particularly the case with late-onset hypogonadism in men (‘andropause’). Free seminars entitled “Restore the Man 2016”, sponsored by a pharmaceutical company, are currently being offered to doctors in England over the coming months to raise awareness; topics will include how to manage testosterone deficiency syndrome and how to evaluate risk of cardiovascular disease in men. A testosterone replacement gel has been advertised for some time now in journals with the strap line “Give him back his oomph”.

A carefully constructed argument has been developed that the male …