Reconceptualising the Gender of Fitness Doping: Performing and Negotiating Masculinity through Drug-Use Practices

Social Sciences

Jesper Andreasson¹ 

[1] Department of Sport Science, Linnaeus University, Kalmar SE-391 82, Sweden; E-Mail

关键词: masculinity;    sexuality;    health;    body;    fitness doping;    gym culture;   

DOI  :  10.3390/socsci4030546

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

This article analyses self-portrayals and gender constructions among Swedish male bodybuilders who are engaged in fitness doping. The empirical material comes from a larger ethnographic investigation into gym culture. The results show that there is a strong propensity to conform with particular gender fantasies that rests heavily on a binary understanding of gendered, doped bodies. However, this storyline does not apprehend the entire self-presentation of the analysed drug users. Negotiations and inclusive subversions of traditional gender norms are also expressed. For example, the narratives show how the use of performance-enhancing substances makes it possible for (heterosexual) men to approach, touch and express feelings of desire towards other men and their bodies. As such, this practice can be viewed as a contestation of hegemonic gender values, in which masculinity and fitness doping are detached from a quite heterosexist understanding, and turned into a symbolic world of homoerotic pleasure.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2015 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.