Once viewed as a hormone only for men, testosterone for women has quietly become one of the most talked-about topics in women’s health. “Nobody would talk about testosterone for women a few years ago,” says Susan Davis, a leader in testosterone research and women’s health and professor at Monash University. “Now, it’s everywhere.”

As more women look for ways to manage menopause symptoms—from hot flashes to brain fog and low libido—testosterone is being touted as a modern fix for energy, mood, and focus. But that worries researchers like Davis. “With the explosion about testosterone on media platforms, most of the medical community is not really caught up,” she says. “Some people are prescribing it without really understanding it in depth.”

For women, dosing, safety, long-term effects, and potential use cases remain understudied. So what does testosterone actually do? Here’s where the science says.

Why testosterone can help some women

Testosterone may be better known for its role in men’s health, but it’s essential for women, too. Produced by the ovaries and adrenal glands, it helps regulate sex drive, supports bone and muscle health, and contributes to mood and energy. “But understanding testosterone has been the last hormone that we’ve been racing to understand a little bit better” [in women], says Nora Lansen, a menopause society-certified primary care physician and chief medical officer at Elektra Health.

After a major study in the early 2000s linked certain hormone replacement therapies (HRT) with increased risks of breast cancer, stroke, and blood clots, interest in HRT plummeted, and both doctors and patients grew wary—even after flaws in the research came to light, Davis says.