Page - 14 - in Psychoanalytic Perspectives on Puberty and Adolescence - The Inner Worlds of Teenagers and their Parents

14 The body ego Louann Brizendine compares the abruptly initiated change in the boy’s brain with a “construction site”, writing: Between the ages of nine and fifteen, his male brain circuitry, with its billions of neurons and trillions of connections, was “going live” as his testosterone level soared twentyfold. If testosterone were beer, a nine -year -old boy would get the equivalent of about one cup a day. But by age fifteen, it would be equal to two gallons a day. (Brizendine 2010, 53; italics original) Testosterone causes enlargement of the testicles, activates growth in muscles and bones, stimulates growth in facial and pubic hair, lowers the pitch of a boy’s voice and increases the length and thickness of the penis. The scope of change due to this hormonal activity lasts eight to nine years, according to Brizendine (Figure 1.2). According to Halpern et al. (1998), puberty sees a pronounced change and increase in sexual and aggressive thoughts, with testosterone the driving force behind this heightened tendency toward aggression (see also Archer 2006). Testosterone levels also rise before competitive situations and contests. For an adolescent boy’s sense of his body, these alterations are confusing. In contrast to girls, the sign of sexual maturity – the first ejaculation – is not as (potentially) evident to the world as the first menstruation. According to Kaplan, the awakening and growth of the so -called inner sexual organs – testicles and scrotum, prostate, seminal vesicle and Cowperian gland – tend to remind boys of femininity, passivity and weakness, characteristics they were able to suppress in the years before puberty. Boys in puberty often see their testicles as feminine organs like breasts or ovaries; the German slang word “Eier” (eggs) is an indica- tion of this view. The softness of the first pubic hair threatens to make conscious the unconscious fantasies of being transformed into a woman (Kaplan 1991, 51). Fetus 1 10 15 80G b Neonatal Puberty Adulthood Old Age Years Twentifold increase Childhood Figure 1.2 Testosterone levels throughout male life (from Brizendine 2010)