Death, Jouissance and the Bodybuilder (original) (raw)
Related papers
Bodybuilding has generated debate and controversy for its position in the sporting world, with research having largely focused on pathologizing the sport. This study aimed to gain insight from the accounts of bodybuilders regarding their personal meanings, experiences, and motivations for engaging in the sport within Greece. Semi-structured interviews with six elite competitive bodybuilders were conducted. The emergent themes, using interpretative phenomenological analysis, were 1. the need to stand out vs toll of being different, 2. self-affirmation through challenges and personal sacrifices, 3. the importance of the mind in bodybuilding, and 4. the impacts of a transformational body. In conclusion, bodybuilding was referred to as a lifestyle choice which enhanced their self-confidence, their attunement with their own bodies and minds, and reinforced their state of being. Suggestions for future research and theoretical implications of these findings are outlined.
AN INTRODUCTION TO THE ETHICAL AND SOCIAL PROBLEMS OF BODYBUILDING: A PHILOSOPHICAL ANALYSIS FROM SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY STUDIES (STS), 2024
ABSTRACT: since the 20th century bodybuilding has been an object of study that interests and challenges researchers in the sociology of sport (see Conquet, 2014; Tajrobehkar, 2016; Wellman, 2020) and, recently, in the philosophy of sport (see Aranyosi, 2017; Madej, 2021; Worthen, 2016). However, many of its problems are little known in the orthodox philosophical literature. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to contribute from STS studies to the posing and discussion of the central ethical and social problems of bodybuilding by contributing to the philosophy of sport or the philosophy of body techniques. Therefore, I will plant the following problems in relation to bodybuilding: gender and sexism; racism, ableism and eugenics; and lastly, fatphobia. Finally, I propose that many of these problems are generated from the indiscriminate use of anabolic androgenic steroids (AAS) within this sport subculture. In this sense, a precautionary framework (epistemic values, moral values, hormonal benefit principle and sports precautionary principle) is proposed from STS studies with the aim of regulating their use, avoiding adverse effects in individuals who are not professional bodybuilders.
Vocabularies of motive for illicit steroid use among bodybuilders
Social Science & Medicine, 2002
Illicit steroid use, for purposes of performance and physique enhancement, is widely deemed unnecessary, wrong and dangerous. Such activity would appear especially foolhardy when engaged in by non-professional athletes who otherwise adhere to 'healthy' exercise regimens. Here a gap exists between many illicit steroid users' actions and societal expectations. Using qualitative data generated in South Wales, this paper explores bodybuilders' vocabularies of motive for illicit steroid use. These accounts which justified, rather than excused, steroid use were predominant during question situations between the participant observer and the researched. In supporting the fundamental tenets of their drug subculture, and as part of the underlying negotiation of self-identity, respondents espoused three main justifications for their own and/or other bodybuilders' illicit steroid use; namely: self-fulfilment accounts, condemnation of condemners and a denial of injury. Here steroid use was rationalised as a legitimate means to an end, observers passing negative judgements were rejected and it was claimed steroids do not (seriously) harm the user's health or threaten society more generally. These vocabularies of motive, acquired and honoured within bodybuilding settings, comprise a complex of subjective meanings which seem to the actor to be an adequate ground for the conduct in question. Similar to other sociological studies, this paper states that it is imperative to explore the social meanings which illicit drug users attach to their 'risk' practices. Without these understandings, researchers and health promoters may struggle to appreciate fully why illicit drug users behave as they do.
Challenging medicine? Bodybuilding, drugs and risk
Sociology of Health & Illness, 1999
This paper draws on data from a qualitative study of bodybuilding and drug‐taking. It discusses the ambiguous role of medicine as a source of knowledge and expertise among participants who systematically disavow medical pronouncements on the uses and dangers of ‘physique‐enhancing’ drugs. Empirical data on perceptions of the medical profession, risk, and bodybuilders’ various sources of ethno‐scientific knowledge, suggest that medicine is simply one ‘authority’ among many in the construction of the self and body within late modernity. These ethno‐graphic observations correlate with sociological claims that medical orthodoxy is currently being subjected to an external critique and that implicit trust in both the individuals who practice medicine and the underlying system of knowledge may have been weakening.
Bodybuilder's Lifestyle : The diet and the obsession with body
Fashion models and professional bodybuilders seem to share the experience of walking on a runway incommon however the nature of the relation to their bodies exposed on the catwalk is rather different. One of the apparent difference regarding their bodily experiences is the fact that fashion models are expected to expose the dress instead of their bodies while bodybuilders have to display their figure trying to make explicit each muscle they have made. Nevertheless it is not false to claim that they have something else in common in their daily lives which they have to put up with each day, namely strict diets. Although much more is known about the diets of the models, diets of the bodybuilders and the way those diets interact with their daily experiences are rarely discussed. In this article, an ethnographical account of the diets those are practiced by the body builders will be discussed so as to explain the bodily strains they go through. This article is based on a study that took place in a local gym in Turkey. It is the aim of the article to discuss the strict food regime of the bodybuilders from a phenomenological perspective to give a better understanding about their daily acitivities organising around this sport. Body builders are usually associated as the bodily expression of a hard core masculinity and have a bad reputiton because of the drugs. In fact the strict diets they have to undergo before the competitions have far more importance in their daily routines since the diets themselves continue for much longer periods in their lives, usually a life time. In order to look more masculine, these bodybuilders show a great effort to abstain from the worldly pleasures of food.
2012
Through a combination of historical and empirical research, the present thesis explores the development of dominant, organized bodybuilding culture across three periods: early (1880s-1930s), middle (1940s-1970s), and late (1980s-present). This periodization reflects the different paradigms in bodybuilding that the research identifies and examines at the level of body aesthetic, model of embodied practice, aesthetic of representation, formal spectacle, and prevalent meanings regarding the 'nature' of bodybuilding. Employing organized bodybuilding displays as the axis for the discussion, the project traces the gradual shift from an early bodybuilding model, represented in the ideal of the 'classical,' 'perfect' body, to a late-modern model celebrating the 'freaky,' 'monstrous' body. This development is shown to have entailed changes in notions of the 'good' body, moving from a 'restorative' model of 'all-around' developme...
Drug-Taking, ‘Risk Boundaries’ and Social Identity: Bodybuilders’ Talk about Ephedrine and Nubain
Sociological Research Online, 2000
The instrumental use of steroids and analogous drugs is a normalised practice in bodybuilding subculture. However, in a society where bodily health and lifestyle are conjoined, such risk-taking carries negative connotations. Bodybuilders using drugs for purposes of physique enhancement are able to resist accusations of opprobrium and maintain competent social identity by drawing a sharp contrast between themselves and ‘junkies’. This self-serving differentiation appears untenable, however, when bodybuilders take Ephedrine and Nubain: drugs that may be compared respectively and unfavourably to amphetamines and heroin. Using qualitative data, this paper considers the variable status of Ephedrine and Nubain as risk boundaries among bodybuilders. In operating as risk boundaries, these drugs signify limits beyond which ‘sensible’ drug-using bodybuilders should not venture. As social constructs, risk boundaries are also contingent. Correspondingly, bodybuilders using Ephedrine and Nubain ...
Bigorexia: Bodybuilding and Muscle Dysmorphia
Muscle dysmorphia is an emerging condition that primarily affects male bodybuilders. Such individuals obsess about being inadequately muscular. Compulsions include spending hours in the gym, squandering excessive amounts of money on ineffectual sports supplements, abnormal eating patterns or even substance abuse. In this essay, I illustrate the features of muscle dysmorphia by employing the first-person account of a male bodybuilder afflicted by this condition. I briefly outline the history of bodybuilding and examine whether the growth of this sport is linked to a growing concern with body image amongst males. I suggest that muscle dysmorphia may be a new expression of a common pathology shared with the eating disorders.
Is competitive body-building pathological? Survey of 984 male strength trainers
BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine, 2020
ObjectivesHundreds of thousands, if not millions, of individuals worldwide engage in competitive body-building. Body-building often attracts derogatory characterisations such as as ‘bizarre’ or ‘narcissistic,’ or a ‘freak show’, seemingly implying that it is associated with pathology. Few studies have compared psychological features in competitive bodybuilders versus recreational strength trainers.MethodsUsing logistic regression with adjustment for age and race, we compared 96 competitive bodybuilders (‘competitors’) with 888 recreational strength trainers (‘recreationals’), assessed in a prior internet survey, regarding demographics; body image; use of anabolic–androgenic steroids (AAS), other appearance-enhancing and performance-enhancing drugs (APEDs), and classical drugs of abuse; history of psychiatric diagnoses; and history of childhood physical/sexual abuse.ResultsCompetitors reported a higher lifetime prevalence of AAS (61 (63.5%) vs 356 (10.1%), p<0.001) and other APED ...
Social Sciences
This article describes and analyses the historical development of gym and fitness culture in general and doping use in this context in particular. Theoretically, the paper utilises the concept of subculture and explores how a subcultural response can be used analytically in relation to processes of cultural normalisation as well as marginalisation. The focus is on historical and symbolic negotiations that have occurred over time, between perceived expressions of extreme body cultures and sociocultural transformations in society—with a perspective on fitness doping in public discourse. Several distinct phases in the history of fitness doping are identified. First, there is an introductory phase in the mid-1950s, in which there is an optimism connected to modernity and thoughts about scientifically-engineered bodies. Secondly, in the 1960s and 70s, a distinct bodybuilding subculture is developed, cultivating previously unseen muscular male bodies. Thirdly, there is a critical phase in...