Comment: The Bundeswehr must not be a testosterone army

US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth wants to order soldiers aged 30 and over to undergo a testosterone test in order to maintain their combat effectiveness. The Bundeswehr, on the other hand, tends to struggle with an excess of sex hormones among its personnel. Because sexualized misconduct - from verbal slip-ups to physical violence - is no longer a much-talked about isolated case in the German armed forces, but has a system.

Those affected are mostly young women and gay men, as the recently published “dark field study” commissioned by the Ministry of Defense has shown. Every single attack is one too many. But the real scandal lies in the fact that there is still a climate in the Bundeswehr in which those affected are afraid to even report attacks. And that superiors still not only hold a protective hand over the perpetrators, but sometimes set a bad example themselves.

An exaggerated ideal of masculinity, misunderstood esprit de corps, macho power games towards subordinates of the opposite sex - this image of the testosterone army perhaps fits into Pete Hegseth's world of thought. However, it is not compatible with the ideal of citizens in uniform, which the Bundeswehr has followed since its founding. And with the basic right to physical and mental integrity, which soldiers are prepared to give up in an emergency. They deserve to be treated with respect and dignity all the more in times of peace.