Bodybuilding, Drugs and Risk Current popular interest in bodies, fitness, sport and active lifestyles, has made bodybuilding more visible and acceptable within mainstream society than ever before. However, the association between bodybuilding, drugs and risk has contributedtoanegativeimageofanactivitywhichmanypeoplefindpuzzling. Usingdataobtainedfromparticipantobservationandinterviews,thisbookexplores bodybuildingsubculturefromthebodybuilders’perspectives.Itlooksat: • how bodybuilders try to maintain competent social identities (cid:127) how theymanagetherisksofusingsteroidsandotherphysique-enhancingdrugs (cid:127) how they understand the alleged steroid-violence link (cid:127) how they ‘see’ the muscular body Through systematic exploration it becomes apparent that previous attempts to explainbodybuildingintermsofa‘masculinity-in-crisis’orgenderinsecurityare opentoquestion.Differentandvaluableinsightsintowhatsustainsandlegitimates potentiallydangerousdrug-takingactivitiesareprovidedbythisdetailedpictureof ahugeundergroundsubculture. LeeF.MonaghanislecturerinSociologyattheCardiffSchoolofSocialSciences, CardiffUniversity. HEALTH,RISKANDSOCIETY Serieseditor GrahamHart MRCSocialandPublicHealthSciencesUnit,Glasgow Inrecentyears,social scientificinterest inriskhas increasedenormously.Inthe healthfield,riskisseenashavingthepotentialtobridgethegapbetweenindividuals, communities andthe larger social structure, witha theoretical frameworkwhich unifiesconcernsaroundanumberofcontemporaryhealthissues.Thisnewseries willexploretheconceptofriskindetail,andaddresssomeofthemostactiveareasof currenthealthandresearchpractice. Previoustitleinthisseries: Riskandmisfortune JudithGreen Theendangeredself:managingthesocialriskofHIV GillGreenandElisaJ.Sobo Bodybuilding, Drugs and Risk Lee F. Monaghan London and New York First published 2001 by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2001. © 2001 Lee F. Monaghan All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Monaghan, Lee F., 1972– Bodybuilding, drugs and risk / Lee F. Monaghan. p. cm. – (Health, risk and society) Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Doping in sports. 2. Bodybuilders–Drug use. 3. Anabolic steroids. I. Title. II. Series. RC1230 .M65 2001 362.29′088′796–dc21 00–062722 ISBN 0-415-22682-1 (hbk) ISBN 0-415-22683-x (pbk) ISBN 0-203-13652-7 Master e-book ISBN ISBN 0-203-17992-7 (Glassbook Format) ToBeccieandNiamh Contents List of tables ix Preface xi Acknowledgements xiii 1 Introduction: risking the physical and social self 1 2 Bodybuilding: a demonised drug subculture 25 3 Parameters for successful bodybuilding 45 4 Creating ‘the perfect body’: a variable project 73 5 Bodybuilding ethnopharmacology: managing steroid risks 95 6 Steroid accessory drugs 129 7 Bodybuilding, steroids and violence 156 8 Conclusion: constructing ‘appropriate’ bodies and identities 181 Bibliography 197 Index 209 vii Tables 4.1 A typology of male muscular bodies 81 5.1 An ethnopharmacological taxonomy of different steroids used in bodybuilding 98 ix