Monthly Archives: February 2022

Lucas Aoun and DHT

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Lucas Aoun made a video outlining his thesis that pubertal dihydrotestosterone (DHT) levels affect penis size. He then put up images of a semi-nude African male bodybuilder and a fit East Asian male to illustrate ethnic DHT differences.

He quoted from two peer-reviewed studies with his point being that East Asians have the lowest DHT levels, African males the highest and Europeans intermediate.

There are however, multiple problems with this ‘race science’ as follows:

  • The two studies quoted (Wu et al. 1995 & Wu et al. 2001) do NOT pertain to adolescent males but elderly males.
  • Both studies are about US Africans, US Europeans and US East Asians. This is stated explicitly in the titles. All three groups are known to be ethnically mixed to varying degrees especially US Africans.
  • He uses the DHT to testosterone ratio (DHT/T) instead of the DHT value alone. If he had, he would have had to say that East Asians had the highest DHT levels [exactly the opposite of his main thesis] as well as the highest T levels.

What is concerning about this video is that it reinforces stereotypes while quoting science. The picture has a tick next to high DHT and an X next to low DHT. It is as if he is X-ing out East Asian males.

The comparison between a semi-nude bodybuilder and a clothed fit guy suggests that East Asians are smaller in muscularity and genitals due to DHT. Now imaging seeing the opposite being presented and the resulting outcry.

SOURCES:

  • Aoun, Lucas. 2021. Penis Growth Hacks: What Increases Penis Size? Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3fgrWtBG-k
  • Wu. A., Whittemore, A., Kolonel, L., et al. 1995. Serum Androgens and Sex Hormone-binding Globulins in Relation to Lifestyle Factors in Older African-American, White, and Asian Men in the United States and Canada. Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention 4(7): 735-741.
  • Wu. A., Whittemore, A., Kolonel, L., et al. 2001. Lifestyle Determinants of 5a-Reductase Metabolites in Older African-American, White, and Asian-American Men. Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention 10(5): 533-538.