Dude, make some space – Women’s experiences in an online steroid community

Citation

Henning A & Andreasson J (2021) Dude, make some space – Women’s experiences in an online steroid community. MESO-Rx Steroids [Blog post] 03.09.2021. https://thinksteroids.com/articles/dude-make-some-space-womens-experiences-in-an-online-steroid-community/

Abstract
First paragraph: Historically, the use of steroids has more or less been a question of men, muscles, and masculinity. This “holy trinity” has long prevailed. By the 1970s, for example, we saw the bodybuilding icon Arnold Schwarzenegger and his bodybuilding buddies hitting the weights in the documentary Pumping Iron. At that time, and outside the sphere of competitive sport, steroid use was largely connected to greasy basement facilities. There, men gathered to shape their bodies through pumping iron, discipline, diets, and the use of steroids. These secluded male spaces prevailed for quite a long time. But times did change, and the gym and fitness enterprise changed its guise. Gyms became health studios and fitness centers. Further, the target audience for muscle building exercises expanded to include everyone from casual exercisers to dedicated muscle-builders (a process known as the Fitness Revolution), including women. Consequently, muscle building and the spaces in which such practices are carried out today are no longer understood as reserved for men only. Following this, it is hardly surprising that the demography of doping has also changed and widened. For example, it has been noted in the community and by researchers that women are a growing group of users, found in fitness facilities as well as in recreational sport and elsewhere. Though their choices of substances, motives, and goals may vary from those of men, women use steroids and other substances, too.