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Developments within bodybuilding, from the 1970s onwards, can be interpreted as a zeitgeist and as an example of how a somewhat subcultural practice is gradually both globalised and normalised in the common culture (as briefly discussed in the introductory chapter). The development towards a global culture, the fitness revolution, is also accentuated by the mediatisation of society and the development of a global business enterprise. However, parallel to these developments, the reputation and popularity of bodybuilding have been negatively affected by the increasing use of performance-/image-enhancing drugs, and the health problems associated with so-called distorted body images. Therefore, bodybuilding has gradually become disconnected from the more general development and trend of fitness gyms, and from a conception of the gym as a place for everyone and for mass leisure activity (Smith Maguire 2008). This recent popularisation of somewhat extreme cultural body ideals marks a somewhat confusing period, in which techniques for building muscles and sculpting a perfect body are idealised, at the same time as the people embodying these techniques—bodybuilders—seldom are (Pope et al. 2000).

Furthermore, through various self-confessions, such as Sam Fussell’s famous Muscle: Confession of an Unlikely Bodybuilder (1991), the public’s images of bodybuilding have been discussed and fuelled by negative imagery (Hoberman 2005). In this autobiographical book, Fussell describes, vividly and in detail, the world of bodybuilding, and how for him daily exercise became a necessity. As his personality gradually changed, and he became unpleasant and aggressive, Fussell began a process of reconsolidation and succeeded in freeing himself from bodybuilding, illicit drugs and his dependency on four hours of daily exercise (Andreasson and Johansson 2014). This sort of discursive narrative was not then and is not now unique; it has persisted over time. Since the 1990s onwards, bodybuilding has come to be associated with a fragile, doubted masculinity and steroids, and bodybuilders have often felt forced to defend their lifestyle choices from, among other things, public condemnation (Glasner 1990; Klein1993; Denham 2008; Locks and Richardson 2012; Liokaftos 2012).

At the same, since the turn of the century, a large number of international magazines—such as Flex, Muscular Development, Ironman, Muscles, Bodypower, Bodybuilding and Musclemag—have been devoted entirely to the art of bodybuilding. There are also many books and manuals on the market that offer training programmes. Through different organisations, such as the International Federation of Bodybuilding and Fitness (IFBB), bodybuilding has become a global enterprise and sport. Nevertheless, bodybuilding is still often described as a subculture (Bridges 2009), and the bodybuilder and the huge muscular male and female body continue to have an ambivalent position in contemporary culture.

In this chapter, we focus on how bodybuilders negotiate the social meaning of the muscular body in relation to their sociocultural surroundings, at the gym and in everyday life outside their training environment. Our discussion focuses on how different ideas about idealised bodies are pitted against each other and how gym bodies are negotiated in relation to gendered ideals about employability, parenthood and more. The chapter utilises both interview material and online narratives gathered in an online bodybuilding community (see Appendix on methodology for further information).

The structure of the chapter is as follows. First, we shortly present some key concepts used in our analysis. Thereafter, we present a case study of a female bodybuilder (Annie). Through a highly personal portrait, we discuss processes of marginalisation, in which some ideals, values and knowledge concerning how to train the body are recognised and normalised, while other aspects of the bodybuilding body and culture are dismissed, for example in relation to the notion of being a good parent. The following sections address different aspects of being part of a bodybuilding community, such as the role and functions of online communities as well as negotiations concerning illicit steroid use. The chapter ends with some concluding thoughts.

Gender, Equality and Bodybuilding

Below, we analytically explore the dynamic interplay between what is considered ‘accepted’ and legitimate positions and bodybuilding bodies, on the one hand, and alternative or even ‘deviant’ positions/identities, on the other. To accomplish this, we employ, among other things, the concepts of hegemonic masculinity, marginalised masculinity and emphasised femininity. For instance, Connell’s (1995) understanding of marginalisation situates masculinities within a gender theoretical framework configured by hegemonic masculinity. Thus, marginalised masculinities are often referred to as cultural ‘outcasts’, or as Cheng (1999, p. 295) expresses it, as masculinities that have a ‘disadvantaged unequal membership’. Thus, in many ways, marginalised positions and bodies are seen in relation to a middle position that has cultural privilege. Dahl-Michelson and Nyheim (2014) develop the notion of marginalised masculinities as not only those that cannot meet hegemonic standards, but also those that do not operate or make sense of their identities on the basis of hegemonic gender norms (Anderson2009). In contemporary Western societies, hegemonic masculinity can be framed as involved, communicative, gender equal and well-trained, but certainly not as huge or too muscular. As we can see, there is a dynamic interplay between dominant gender ideals in society at large and the somewhat subcultural ideals nurtured in certain social and cultural contexts. Bodybuilding culture may, for example, foster protest positions involving anti-social activities, such as excessive muscle building, and illicit drug use, such as steroids and human growth hormones. Another way of looking at this could be to use the concept of hyper-masculinity, which can be described as a strong exaggeration of certain stereotypical qualities that have male connotations, such as the emphasis on muscular strength, aggression, sexual virility and the subordination of women (Mosher and Sirkin 1984; DeReef 2006). At the same time, within the subculture, these identities can in fact be combined with a desire to fit into hegemonic gender scripts and ideals (McDowell et al. 2014). This means that the ideals and bodies saluted within bodybuilding are also approached and negotiated differently in relation to other ways of doing gender.

Here, we use the concept of subculture to investigate how particular gender configurations and bodies are negotiated through social interaction, thus taking a closer look at the interplay between subcultures and the mainstreaming of certain body ideals and practices. According to Fornäs (1995):

One problem with earlier subcultural studies was their exclusive focus on homologies, on the ways in which subcultural styles fitted together into homogeneous totalities. This has to be counteracted by an attendance to the inner differences, tensions and contradictions within subcultures and groups, which newer studies of social relations show as an increasingly important element in late modern lifestyles and life forms. (p. 112)

Becoming a bodybuilder involves aspects of both identity construction and learning (Wenger 1998). Here, we suggest that such learning processes also affect the individual’s identity and perhaps more specifically how gendered bodies and identities are understood (Becker 1953; Denham 2008). As individuals gain knowledge and discuss theories concerning how to achieve desired goals as bodybuilders, they become increasingly integrated into a bodybuilding community (as discussed in previous chapter). As a consequence of this, some people will choose to, for example, engage in steroid use, thus challenging dominant norms and values in mainstream Swedish society. Others will use different means to avoid engaging in such activities. Following our discussion of bodybuilding subculture as complex and sometimes involving contradictory social constructions, we look more closely here at how bodybuilders’ perceptions of themselves adhere to different and sometimes even conflicting bodily ideals, among other things. We initiate this discussion with a rather personal portrait of a dedicated bodybuilder and parent.

The Diary of a Bodybuilding Mom

Annie has always lived a hectic life. When she was young she was heavily into martial arts and kick-boxing, and for a time she competed on a fairly high junior level. When she was 20 years old, her best friend’s parents bought a gym facility. She and her friend spent a great deal of time at this gym, working out, relaxing, socialising and sometimes flirting with men. Annie soon realised that the gym environment ‘spoke to her’; she enjoyed the setting and culture, not only in terms of training and how muscle building was promoted and discussed, but also on a somewhat broader level. She especially enjoyed the focus on aesthetics and on the different forms and shapes of muscular and able bodies, idealised within this cultural context. For quite a few years, she combined Thai boxing with weightlifting, gradually creating a high-performing, flexible and muscular body. In her mid-thirties, however, she went through three pregnancies, taking several prolonged periods of maternity leave. As a consequence, she came to focus on raising her family during these years, cutting down on her training activities. When the kids got a bit older, however, she returned to her old gym and soon started to invest large amounts of time in reshaping a body that had changed due to the pregnancies. Her goal was to become a bodybuilder and at the same time maintain the close emotional bonds she had with her children. Below she discusses her recipe for making this work.

I try to maintain a distance to the whole thing, you know, the competitions, the lifestyle, the industry. Luckily it’s very easy for me to gain muscle mass, and people around sometimes get like really annoyed, when I misbehave on my diet. Like, ‘come on, keep it real’. But, when I’ve decided to compete, first, this shouldn’t affect my kids negatively. They must have their time and focus. So, still I cook and fix things and try to meet their needs. They shouldn’t even notice that I’m exhausted and in a bad mood. It shouldn’t affect them. /…/ I have a great distance to it. I can go to the gym and have a training session and after that I can focus on other things. I’m not so totally into it, like nothing else exists. You know, many bodybuilders you talk to, you probably agree, it’s like a matter of life or death for them. It’s a big deal, being dedicated, but I’m more in it to have a good time. It’s supposed to be fun as well. ‘Yeah, what the hell I didn’t manage to get in shape for this competition. Okay, then I’ll do better next time’.

Today, Annie competes at the highest international level in women’s bodybuilding. She is in her late forties and lives a hectic single life, with her three teenage children, three cats and two dogs. Talking to Annie, it becomes clear that she is trying, in different ways, to balance her own interest in bodybuilding with family life and friendships. She seems to constantly return to the challenges that accompany trying to keep these issues together, or perhaps separate. She is a dedicated and successful bodybuilder, but still tries to distance herself from both what she perceives to be the ultra-excessive aspects of the culture and the more orthodox and excessively involved bodybuilders.

Listening to Annie, it becomes obvious that the cultural position of the female bodybuilder is understood as somewhat marginalised, both in relation to idealised representations of female and male bodies within gym and fitness culture and in relation to Annie’s understanding of normative gender scripts within mainstream society. Below she initially talks about the possibility of being a professional female bodybuilder and then develops her line of reasoning regarding the value and commodification of bodybuilding bodies.

There’s no money in the professional circus of female bodybuilding. I’m lucky to have a sponsor in the US who pays my expenses. They arrange for me to attend different competitions, and I sign pictures and do a bit of advertising for them. Then, you can always do photo sessions all year round, even off-season. When you compete, there are about 100 photographers there. Then they start emailing you, aiming to book you for an hour or so. They have their own websites, some might be a bit conspicuous, and you must decide for yourself what you want to do. I don’t do nudity, although close sometimes. They buy your pictures, and put them on their websites and our fans can go there and buy them. We get about 3-400 dollars for an hour. Female bodybuilding exists kind of in the shadows, there are male bodybuilders and then there are fitness and bikini competitors. The female bodybuilder fan is not an ordinary girl you know. So there’s no obvious advertising purpose for us. There are the fitness girls, and usually girls can relate to this body type, ‘that’s nice, I want to look like that’. So it’s not a good climate for female bodybuilders.

In one sense, the bodybuilding lifestyle and the financial prerequisites for female bodybuilding have forced Annie to take somewhat difficult decisions regarding how to make things work. Challenging traditional feminine iconography, the female bodybuilder offers political resistance and calls into question hegemonic gender paradigms (Holmlund 2002; Andreasson and Johansson 2014). According to Annie, however, female bodybuilding is also expected to display femininity within the context of gym and fitness culture. Thus, the female bodybuilding body cannot really compete with the value that is inscribed onto other types of gym bodies (such as male bodybuilding bodies and female fitness bodies). Selling photo sessions to suspect photographers is, therefore, understood as a somewhat unwelcome solution and as caused by cultural marginalisation; this is not the optimal choice for Annie.

Annie suggests that there is a tendency for female bodybuilders to be drawn into online contexts in which hyper-muscular female bodies are eroticised by the gaze of muscle worshippers and muscle fetishists (Richardson 2008), and to simultaneously be gradually pulled away from the spotlight of the international bodybuilding scene. Annie talks about two different body perspectives that are sometimes hard to combine. First, in the context of competition, we have a perspective on the body that is somewhat erotically numb. In the very first interview with Annie, for example, one of the authors experienced how this perspective was manifested, when she showed pictures of herself on her mobile phone while talking about her physicality. She zoomed in on her bikini top and a line on her breasts just underneath the skin, clarifying that one could even see her breast implants. She talked about her physicality in a largely instrumental manner. From this perspective, her body and other bodies are looked at and analysed in terms of shape, muscle growth and symmetry. This erotically numb way of approaching and understanding bodybuilding bodies also means that competitors, regardless of gender, do not connect nudity and visible intimate parts with potential sexual encounters, but rather with how well prepared a person might be for the upcoming showdown. Second, we also have the more eroticised gaze being put forward in Annie’s narrative. Trying to make a living through contacts with photographers and being linked to the eroticised muscle worshippers has meant that Annie’s bodybuilding body has simultaneously been contextualised in quite a different way, by others. When talking about this, and about body fixation, ideals and erotised images of female bodies, Annie connects the discussion not only to her everyday life as a bodybuilder, but also to her parental responsibilities.

I think it’s really important to reflect on these body issues, in particular when you have a daughter who is into classic ballet. We have this extreme body fixation, and you do not want her to get the wrong impression or view regarding what you are supposed to look like. But I think I’ve managed okay, because she can sit on the couch and when I’m off-season she’ll rest her head on my stomach and say, ‘you’re getting fat mum’, and I’ll reply ‘yeah isn’t it good to have some extra bacon there’. I really try not to make it weird. Currently, mum looks like this and then suddenly before competition you can see every line on her body, muscle fibres, and so on. So, my body is constantly changing. But, I mean, that’s okay because it is only for a while that I am so vascular. It’s just for competition. But still, it is a delicate balance.

Like for many other mothers (and fathers), parenthood meant that Annie came to look upon herself, her body, her responsibility as a parent and the lifestyle of a bodybuilder in a slightly new and different light (Golden 2001; Palmer and Leberman 2009). Adding to this, she felt that being a mother also carried social expectations regarding what were considered appropriate behaviours and interests and what were not (Johnston and Swanson 2006). As she saw it, the people in her social surroundings did not always view being a female bodybuilder and a mother as a good combination. In order to address this social hesitation regarding her perceived body fixation, she made great efforts to emphasise her awareness of as well as distance to the bodybuilding lifestyle. She decided early on not to do nudity pictures, as previously mentioned, and she also explains that she repeatedly talks about the risks of online contacts and narrowly defined body ideals. In a way, these efforts can be read as attempts to construct a respectable motherhood within the context of a questioned femininity and subcultural lifestyle (cf. Skeggs 1997). Annie continues to talk about these issues, focusing on a critical situation in which she was brought in for questioning for illicit steroid use. To her, this situation exemplified not only some problematic consequences of her bodybuilding ambitions, but also how her aim to be a good parent was being made impossible.

You know, someone had called the police. I was just leaving the gym, to pick up my daughter after her ballet training. The ballet studio is in this industrial area, and the time was about 7 or so, in the evening. And I’m always on time. Well, I’m on my way to the car and these five civilian officers approach me, ‘give us your bag and phone, okay’. Yeah and they start asking questions, about steroids and things, and this was 3 weeks before competition. So I said ‘I’m not clean now, I’m not going to stand here and lie about that’. And they replied, ‘okay, do you have any stuff at home’, and I told them ‘no’, because I do not take anything so close to competition. Then I told them I needed to go and pick up my daughter at the ballet, and she was 13 at the time. They told me, ‘we can’t help you with that, you need to give a urine sample, and we also need to do a search at your place’. I said, ‘Are you kidding me?’ Then when we stood there talking, my daughter called and they have the phone, right. I tell them ‘if it says Lory on the display, it’s my daughter, please just answer and say that I’ve had a problem with the car or just anything’. I mean they could have said that to her just to let her know that I will be a little late. Because they said that they could go and pick her up in a while, but not directly. ‘Nah’. And I was getting really annoyed, ‘so you mean you’re going to let her be there all by herself?’ I mean what if something happens to her, it’s an industrial area you know, not very fancy. So, one and a half hours later I showed up there. The studio was closed and locked. It was dark outside and she was sitting there in front of the door, crying. I really wanted to report those officers, I mean that way of dealing with the situation really must be fucking criminal. Even worse, they had this really tough attitude when they picked me up, like I was this worst kind of thug. But after a while they realised that I was fairly normal, and worried about Lory. It was so crazy. You know, in the car when they had interrogated me and drove me back to the gym, they actually asked for some pointers on how to lose weight, ‘Do you have any good training advice?’

When talking about this situation Annie, quite understandably, becomes irritated. The situation brings back a memory of being prevented from performing her parental duties. The meeting with the police made it impossible for her to be there for her daughter. Naturally, this situation is coloured not only by anger and frustration aimed at the officers, but also to some extent by guilt and shame. In some respects, it captures the complexities Annie deals with due to her involvement in bodybuilding. For example, her use of illicit substances to maintain her bodily development is a criminal activity, which in the situation described above has an impact not only on herself, but also on her daughter’s well-being. Thus, talking about being a present mother and a good role model and, at the same time, making choices in the context of competitive bodybuilding are not always compatible. Adding to this, the complexity of gendered and idealised gym bodies becomes abundantly clear when the officers seem to both fear (respond to with suspicion and authority) and admire (wish to acquire) the knowledge needed to construct and reshape the human body.

In the remaining sections of this chapter, we continue our discussion on how the bodybuilding body is socially negotiated and understood, both in the context of bodybuilding and in relation to our informants’ social surroundings, including friends, family and colleagues. We will, thus, reconnect to some of the themes introduced in relation to case study of Annie and develop our line of argument and analysis of the social dimensions of the hyper-muscular bodybuilding body.

Negotiating the Sociality of Muscles

In our interviews with bodybuilders, we have repeatedly encountered narratives in which the existence of a community is described. In this section, we further develop our reasoning around the interviewed bodybuilders’ thoughts about the bodybuilding community, and how they talk about a somewhat loosely defined social group of like-minded dedicated muscle enthusiasts. James initiates the discussion, explaining:

It’s sort of a small world, one could say. Like this popular and well-known bodybuilding magazine, Body. I mean that’s a fairly big magazine, everyone into bodybuilding is familiar with it. It’s the most popular magazine in Sweden I would say. And for example we know the editor and some of the writers and the photographer they usually use. So everyone kind of knows one another, and these big bodybuilding guys often hang out with girls doing body fitness, and they share coaches and the like. (James, 38)

James works as a service mechanic at Volkswagen and has competed off and on for more than 10 years. In the interview, he explains how he, by participating himself and by coaching others, has gradually made a name for himself in the culture and on the Swedish bodybuilding scene. At competitions and different fitness festivals, he can usually walk around and talk to every other person he meets. He talks about a community and ‘small world’ of bodybuilders who share an intense interest in and understanding of the fit body, the muscular body, symmetrical perfection and more. Although there is quite a different set of (gendered) expectations concerning what different competing bodies are supposed to look like (in, e.g. bodybuilding and classic bodybuilding), there are similarities that emerge in the narratives, in that sense that the muscular, fit body is highly idealised and appreciated within the community. Of course, these ideals are not only bound to the cultural context of bodybuilding. In some situations, a well-defined, fat-free and symmetrical body can be truly rewarding even outside the sphere of competitive bodybuilding. At the same time, on other occasions, the same body may be met with doubt and contempt. We will return to some examples of the latter later on, but first explain how one of our male informants talks about the bodybuilding body and its benefits when trying to hook up with women.

Andreas is currently 59 years old and has not competed for quite a few years. Nevertheless, he talks about himself as a genuine bodybuilder, and he describes his lifestyle as strictly routinised when it comes to training, diet, rest and work. Currently, he works night shifts at a psychiatric ward as a hospital attendant. On weekends, he also works as a guard at a nightclub. Andreas addresses the question of the social benefits of maintaining a lean, muscular body. In the gym setting, he feels appreciated and acknowledged by his peers, but he also situates the benefits of keeping the body in shape outside the sphere of muscle-building practices. In the interview, his description of his body almost portrays it as kind of social (and sexual) capital. He explains:

I really hope to be able to keep on exercising for a long, long time. You know, I think this really can slow down the process of aging. And I’m almost sort of, not obsessed, but I like living and I enjoy my life very much because I can be in control. I do not need to follow anyone else, and don’t need to follow anyone else’s instructions. Well, of course, you have your job and all that, but except for that, I can take care of myself, which is very nice. So, there are loads of good friends and nice women, not only one you know. /…/ it’s nice to feel that the ladies still find you attractive. Recently I’ve been quite blessed on this issue actually. I’ve noticed a huge difference between those who are around 40, 45 and older. When you’re at the beach, or do something else, a party or anything. You can see how they look at their husbands and then look at me. They seem very interested in a nice body then.

Whereas there clearly are some positive effects of bodybuilding and sculpting the body by pumping iron, there are also other, more negatively perceived effects of this body. When the body becomes more extreme (understood as ‘too’ muscular and vascular), the reactions to this body and the muscles also change, and the ideal body becomes the abject body. For example, many of the interviewees feel comfortable and ‘at home’ as long as they keep themselves within the boundaries of the subcultural milieus. But when they move outside this comfort zone, they also encounter other reactions. According to our informants, the fit and muscular body is in one sense understood as a globalised and Western body ideal that has many possibilities, as exemplified above. In another sense, however, this ideal has some inherent boundaries, which bodybuilders, due to their dedication to muscle growth, are at some point bound to transgress. There is a reoccurring question emerging concerning where the line is to be drawn, and the answer seems to be strongly tied to contextual conditions.

Pete, who works as a contact person for an organisation helping ex-convicts to adjust to society, tells us a little about this and the difficulties of understanding the social meanings of muscular bodies, especially when talking about it with his family. Currently, he has cut down on training quite a bit due to work, which means that he has lost some of his former muscle mass. The signals he has received in relation to this transformation have been somewhat contradictory.

I think it’s difficult, this thing with the muscles. It’s fragmented or divided I think. Like my parents, they don’t approve, at least I don’t think so. But at the same time, they point out how big I used to be even when we are around others. And what do they want to say with that? You know someone may say that I look pretty decent and then my dad would go on ‘yeah, but you should have seen what he looked like before’. I mean, what is that? Should I rebuild and regain my former body? It’s the same thing with my girlfriend. (Pete, 24)

According to Pete, neither his parents nor girlfriend was supportive of his interest in bodybuilding when he was performing at the top. They often complained and questioned him and, what they saw as, his extreme lifestyle. However, when he lost muscle mass and weight, he experienced that he had crossed an invisible line with his body, and both his parents and girlfriend changed their view and began talking about his former body in a more positive light. His former abject body became somewhat less abject when the physical conditions changed. This narrative thus exemplifies a bodily transformation that can be related to a confusing and liminal period in Pete’s life.

Others who have continuously experienced negative reactions to their extreme bodybuilding body have developed strategies to deal with the abject body instead of cutting down on training. Jens, working to become a carpenter, elaborates on this theme:

Instead of showing my body and being proud of what I have achieved – I am proud of being able to train hard and I also perceive my body as beautiful – I put on baggy clothes and try to cover myself. I am hiding to avoid experiencing the comments, gazes and suspicions. This is very dull. That’s why I love the competitions, where the community is gathered and where everyone belongs to the same social club, and cultivates the same ideals. (Jens, 35)

Emerging in the narratives are different negotiations around the relationship between a subcultural environment and perceived mainstream values and ideals. Another dimension that can be added to this discussion is gender. Below, Jessie, a housing agent, tells us a little about the different social and cultural contexts in which she operates. Jessie talks about a changeable and somewhat fluid understanding of the gendered bodybuilding body.

One minute I’ve found it, like, as good as it can be. Then, say I don’t train for a month and spend time with ordinary people, then I feel weird. I’m thinking that I should lose weight to make myself as slim as possible, you know. Then I come to the gym and then I think, ‘no, I might as well do some more’. So it’s precisely that jump between. I don’t know if it’s because I work in the ordinary world. Had I been working at some gym maybe it wouldn’t have been so evident. /…/ You’re trying to patch together a normal girl here and a muscular girl there, and then it looks really strange, you know. I try to dress as feminine as possible. I usually wear a dress or skirt or such things. I think that, in some ways, it’s to hide it, to make it a little milder, somehow. So people will not think, ‘God she looks like a transvestite. Damn, she’s been working out and doped herself.’ (Jessie, 28)

Jessie constantly refers to different bodily ideals. She relates to her life at the gym, and the social understanding that she and her bodybuilding friends have about muscular bodies. But she also thinks about the meaning of normality, and what she perceives to be the dominant norms of femininity in the world outside the gym. This type of experience, exemplified by Jessie, can of course be situated within a larger cultural framework of female athletes, who have felt compelled to emphasise attributes associated with femininity, due to their bodies and activities, which have male connotations (Malcolm 2003). The strategy is evident in Jessie’s story, and her understanding of her own body is seemingly situational and transformative. Naturally, this is a matter of complex identityperformance, in which she is trying to deal with different/contradictory subject positions, within a rather narrowly defined gender order (Halberstam1998).

In her story, Jessie talks about how she supervises herself and her body’s transformation, relating to different discursive perceptions of the female and male body, as well as the ‘normal’ and ‘abnormal’ body. She changes her understanding of her own corporeality depending on whether she relates it to normative perceptions of femininity or sees it as a manifestation of the high-held ideals of muscularity celebrated by her bodybuilding friends (which highlights the importance of the social context as a prerequisite for going beyond traditional concepts of gender). Nevertheless, these fluctuations in understanding can be seen as effects of the constant interconnection between muscular bodies and masculinity (Messner 1992; Johansson 2000; Andreasson and Johansson 2014). As a bodybuilder who exhibits muscle and strength, Jessie challenges normative feminine ideals (Leeds and Liberti 2007). Outside the gym environment, this has caused her to (at times) feel compelled to adjust to what she considers conventional feminine traits, which has also resulted in her limiting her use of drugs, as this practice too is perceived as crossing a gender boundary (Butler1990; Lock2003) (Fig. 4.1).

Fig. 4.1
A photograph of a female bodybuilder in a bodybuilding competition.

(Challenging dominant perceptions of muscles, gender and femininity, female bodybuilding has remained controversial, both in competition and in the public discourse)

Muscles and gender

Full size image

While some informants try to negotiate and balance different perceptions of the ideal body in the gym setting and in private life, others choose to engage more unconditionally in the bodybuilding community. This will be the theme for the next section, where we enter a subcultural world of online communication in which bodybuilders discuss body ideals, illicit performance-enhancing drugs and the ultimate goal of reaching one’s genetic max.

Reaching the Genetic Max

In this section and the next, we focus on narratives gathered on an open online community called Flashback. This community describes itself as Sweden’s largest forum for freedom of expression, opinion and independent thinking (Flashback, n.d.) and may therefore be considered a highly open-minded forum for prohibited activities (see Appendix for further information).

The reasons for becoming a member of an Internet community certainly may differ. Logically, membership is preceded by curiosity about the particular activity being discussed on the forum. On Flashback, we find many seemingly novice bodybuilders who express their desire to learn and ask for advice regarding the use and effects of different (illicit) muscle-building substances. In contrast to the supportive attitudes often expressed by other members of the community when answering such questions, Swedish official policy and the attitude of the Swedish public towards doping are coloured by distrust and dislike. This issue is widely questioned on Flashback.

Why do the police want to stop us? There’s something fishy going on. That’s for sure. Results that you could get from AAS within a year now take 3–5 years instead. Why? Is there a conspiracy against ripped guys? There aren’t many people who have the patience to get there, and if there were a shortcut, surely loads of people would train to get in shape. (NoPolice)

In recent decades, governments and public health organisations have conducted fairly comprehensive anti-doping campaigns. Consequently, public and governmental representations of, for example, steroid users have been quite judgmental (Mogensen 2011; Locks and Richardson 2012). In the above thread and subsequent postings by other members, there is a certain degree of understanding for the legislation against doping, or as referred to above, anabolic–androgenic steroids (AAS). Opinions supportive of the legislation revolve mainly around the potential side effects of the drugs as well as the societal costs that the substances may involve. These arguments, however, are usually countered with postings in which prohibition is questioned (as above) and explained as the result of, say, ‘media propaganda’, the decision-making of ‘ignorant politicians’, or the ‘envy’ of ordinary people. Responses like these can be compared to what Sykes and Matza (1957) call the ‘techniques of neutralisation’, here meaning that community members try to shift the focus of attention and deflect the negative sanctions attached to their own use by condemning the condemners.

One highly popular theme to discuss on Flashback is the potential effects of steroids. Connected to these discussions is often a specific and somewhat subcultural developed language. One reoccurring term is the ‘genetic maximum’ or the ‘genetic max’. How people talk about the genetic max, the symbolic language, and the relationship between steroids and a person’s genetic max is a seemingly complex issue. Steroids are frequently discussed as a means to exceed one’s genetic max, but sometimes the talk is also about how to use steroids in order to reach that ‘max’. The conceptual discussions presented on Flashback regarding this concept can thus be understood as a mixture of conceptions of physical potential and phantasies, sometimes dramatic, about what is humanly possible to achieve (Locks and Richardson 2012). Most participants in the community and culture would probably agree that it is almost impossible to determine a person’s genetic max. Basically, however, there seems to be agreement that steroids will improve results and help increase the bodybuilder’s body mass.

Below, one community member initiates a discussion on the effects of the steroid drugs and what one can expect when one stops using them. Soon another member engages in the discussion. Under negotiation here are the possibilities and limitations of steroids and how the bodybuilder’s body will be affected when it is no longer boosted by illicit means. Clearly, this discussion also entails quite an advanced understanding of different competitive levels and the inherent limitations of the human body.

Steroids are a shortcut to fast development of muscle mass and strength. Results can be achieved in a short time. But how difficult is it to maintain these results? Now we’re not referring to IFBB builders on 120 kg, who will of course lose muscle mass quickly if they stop using steroids … However, when a man decides to stop using the drugs, but continues to exercise frequently and intensively, will he be able to keep his muscle mass and strength while staying clean? (StillMuscular?)

Answer: If we’re talking about a single cure, it’s easy. The closer you are to your potential, the harder it’ll be. If you’ve added 15 kg of quality muscle (not fluid) you’ll have to work hard, but it’s not completely impossible. (HardWork)

Many of the comments in this thread on how to keep muscle mass without using steroids are pessimistic regarding the possibility of remaining ‘clean’ and maintaining a certain muscle mass and strength. Building muscles without steroids is also often described in terms such as stagnation, regression and futility. Below, another member continues the reflections on what happens when someone gets clean.

I believe you lose more than you imagine. As for me, I’m far above my genetic max. The effects of stopping consuming the steroids will be remarkable. On the last occasion I lost a lot of my body mass in just the first two weeks. If I go off the steroids, I’ll probably look the same as I did before starting with AAS, because at that time I had already reached my genetic maximum. (GoBefore)

Negotiating the idealised bodybuilding body, here we see the strong subcultural incentives expressed for engaging in illicit drug use. Socially developing and nourishing this narrative in the community also accommodates the inherent difficulty of disengaging with such practices, as it suggests a return to a previous bodily state and identity, which is something the members seem to agree on: they want to leave that body behind.

On Flashback, there appears to be a need for stories affirming that steroid use is an entirely sound and rational practice. There is also a constant demand for new ways of transforming and sculpting the body to perfection. Body-enhancement drugs are an intrinsic part of this online culture, and there are even people who speculate on how to influence and change the basic conditions of one’s physical manifestation. In this sense, we are witnessing the development of ideas about scientifically engineered ‘cyborg bodies’ (Pitts 2003). The following comment speculates on the consequences of this development, which is partly understood as a process of approaching science fiction and ‘space facts’.

So, genetic max? Maybe it is possible to influence and improve on your genetic max. People using growth hormones, who let their body grow (the skeleton and the number of muscle cells), also have to influence and change their genetic max, I guess. Or is this just about how much testosterone the body is producing? Cause, I’ve heard that, if you reach your genetic max, and start using growth hormones to increase your muscle cells and skeleton you can push your genetic max forward and reach another limit. After doing this, you can start to build ‘clean’. Maybe these are just ‘space facts’, I don’t know. (The Engineer)

Young men and women building their bodies seem to be looking for different ways to enhance volume and strength. Even though claims are made that it should be possible to reach one’s goals in ‘natural ways’, most members seem to be convinced that this is, more or less, an illusion. Therefore, although the above quotations to some extent indicate a trend towards natural bodybuilding, there seems to be no easy way out of the short cut that steroids represent. The anticipated effects of the drugs and the process of transformation are, of course, also largely connected to the issue of gender and most often to the construction of a dominant, muscular and self-assured masculinity.

Drugs, Performances and the Planet Porno

Negotiations concerning the doped body can in many ways be understood as a subcultural construction with masculine connotations. In this section, we discuss how this body is socially negotiated in relation to other ideals and identity aspirations. We focus mainly on how specific masculine ideals emerge on the forum. Below, for example, one community member explicitly tries to situate his drug use in relation to manhood, career and sexual virility.

I’ve experienced really good effects. I have become extremely focused—more of a man. At work, yeah, when I talk, people shut up and show respect. Since my goal in life is to dope myself as much as possible, to achieve as much as possible, I have always seen my job as a parenthetical detail – something you just must do until you arrive at your real job, the gym. So I’ve never really invested in pursuing a career. But still, I speak more in front of people. I have become more sincere and upright. I give and take more (…) not to mention the insane sex drive you get on testo – makes women think you are from Planet Porno. (HeMan)

The above posting vividly captures an understanding of steroids that involves an anticipated process of transformation. Steroid use is basically connected to adjectives describing the self as becoming more of something, such as focused, muscular and virile. Other posters describe how they developed greater interest in furthering their education, performing at the top of their class at university and more. Despite the occasional mention of other, negative consequences, these qualities are basically described as being desirable. They are connected to the construction of a dominant, muscular and self-assured (hyper-)masculinity. It is, thus, a rational and performance-oriented masculinity that emerges in the postings. This masculine position is further developed below, where a community member constructs a hypothetical experiment, while simultaneously trying to develop his ideas on the limit-pushing potential of steroids.

Think about this: Wouldn’t it be fun to conduct this experiment. Joe works as an officer and his brother works at Lindex [Swedish women’s lingerie chain], selling women’s underwear. You sneak some oestrogen into Joe’s coffee and give his brother testo instead. You do this for a couple of months. Talk about different results! What do you think would happen? Yeah, I think I know. In this way we would play out the extremes against each other, to see what really happens, within a particular profession. Testo can be EXTREMELY beneficial. Ha, ha, yeah, and it would be fun to see the outcome. The total ruin! From officer to army bitch! Ha, ha. I guess that the other military boys wouldn’t have to pay for porn mags any more. And the brother would probably be reported for sexual harassment at Lindex, found by the surveillance monitors jerking off, while watching the women trying on lingerie in the changing rooms. (The Professor)

Obviously, doping is connected to an expected transformation and construction of masculinity. Although not all of the resultant features are desirable, the outcomes of steroid use clearly relate to a masculine and heterosexual stereotype. Aggressiveness and dominance (or the lack thereof), sexual virility and callous sexual attitudes towards women are constructed as part of a hyper-masculine identity, fuelled by testosterone. The imagery of masculinity emerging in this narrative is thus not constructed in accordance with gender equality and the concept of the communicative, emphatic and involved father and man, for example. However, while many of the postings seem to rationalise illicit drug use for muscle-building purposes, constructing it as a masculinity booster or anchor, there are also narratives in which its use is understood as an activity that puts aspects of manhood at risk. This is exemplified in the posting below.

I actually think it’s hard to get anywhere in your career, if we’re talking about more qualified jobs. If I were an employer I would probably hesitate before employing a guy who was too big and had obvious side effects of steroids. Imagine that nice office and a guy who just wears GASP clothing, because regular shirts don’t fit. Hmmm. After all, my experience from different workplaces is that there’s a lot of bullshit said behind the backs of people who look like they’re doped. (The Employer)

Use of steroids is understood in quite a pessimistic way in relation to career advancement. It exemplifies the negotiation between a muscular and dominant hyper-masculinity and what are perceived to be other important aspects of manhood. The doped body, that is the dominant and intimidating body, is seen here as something of threat to employability and the image of the breadwinner. Although doping is mainly discussed in positive terms on Flashback, it is not always understood as a winning concept. Clearly, the understanding of the practice is situated and somehow shifting. This becomes abundantly clear below, where a young single dad—after asking for advice regarding the risk of losing custody of his child if he were caught by the police—tries to explain his perspective on life, drugs and fatherhood.

The thing is that I didn’t seek out family life. I thought that I would be with my girlfriend for life, that we would get our education and live the life of a child-free couple. Then I got the news that she was pregnant, and she wanted to keep it, and my whole world collapsed. I played along for a year. After two years I began to question my life situation on a daily basis. Then I left my family after 2.5 years. Now, I want to start a new life. The plan is to move, get a degree, focus on my training and start a course of steroids. Basically, I want to do what I want, before I start a family (I was 22 when I became a father). Am I selfish leaving my child? Yes, but what about a mother who has a child against the father’s will and thinks that’s going to work. (DaddyNo)

The above posting attracted a great deal of interest. DaddyNo did not, however, get as many comments about custody issues as he had initially hoped. Instead, several members condemned DaddyNo’s line of reasoning. To be clear, the discussion on Flashback is mainly encouraging when it comes to doping, but this is obviously not the case when steroid use is situated as it is in DaddyNo’s story. Instead, DaddyNo is strongly advised not to use drugs. Several community members become clearly irritated, calling him immature and self-centred—‘an idiot with no character’. He is instructed to rethink his priorities in life and to take responsibility for his actions. One community member summarises the advice contained in the thread by saying: ‘Be a man and take care of your child. I know what it means to grow up without a father and I would never expose my own child to that’. Clearly, there are different notions of masculinity being juggled in this discussion. The masculine body, the dominant man, the employee, the breadwinner, and particularly, the responsible and mature father are all integrated in the negotiation of manhood and steroids. The masculinities constructed in the postings are thus understood slightly differently, depending on the situation and on how the (potential) use of steroids is contextualised by community members.

Conclusions—Bodies, Gender and Contexts

The narratives presented in this chapter exemplify a transformational process, through which ordinary rules and regulations are balanced, questioned and sometimes partly put out of play. What is studied here is a process of deregulation and de-normalisation, in which the notion of gender and the acceptance of certain forms of drug use are extended and expanded considerably. This process of normalisation and acceptance of, for example, the hyper-muscular body as well as drug use are constructed in accordance with neoliberal attitudes and the cult of the individual, making it possible to transgress and challenge norms and regulations (Foucault 1994; Miller and Rose 2008). These processes are, of course, also connected to a more general discussion of how neoliberal discourses have penetrated our way of thinking about individual freedom and health (Rich and Evans 2013). In some ways, striving for the perfect body even makes it logically necessary, for instance, to challenge legislation on doping and to develop subcultural norms and values. And among peers, on- or offline, people can find extensive knowledge about and substantial support for the need to use certain means, and certain illicit drugs, to achieve their goals (Andreasson and Johansson 2016).

In the narratives and postings, we can see how different body ideals and gender configurations are pitted against each other. For example, a marginalised masculinity and identity in the subcultural context are sometimes regarded as a dominant and hegemonic ideal. It would seem, however, that obvious pride in one’s physical transformation, the attainment of an idealised body and the symbolically loaded language expressed by bodybuilders can rapidly turn into behaviour that is perceived as shameful—when the circumstances are laid out in a problematic way (Sparkes et al. 2012). For this reason, the notion of gender attached to the understanding of the bodybuilding lifestyle and doping use should be understood as an uncertain construction. Within a bodybuilding community, the gender discussion is most often evoked to counter and challenge reductive representations put forward by, for example, official policy and media (Mogensen 2011). This form of protest masculinity, however, is not always idealised within the community. Here, for example, masculinity is constructed at the intersection between a muscular masculinity and ideas about the employable man and the responsible father. When one member expresses a desire to be an absent father and to simultaneously focus on training and muscle development with the help of steroids, his plan is met with strong condemnation. Some community members apparently understand fatherhood and maturity as greater masculine ideals. Consequently, in the search for freedom and a muscular masculinity, abdicating one’s role as father and leaving an innocent child behind are not considered legitimate behaviours.

Many of the behaviours and bodily appearances constructed within this subculture could be regarded as signs of marginalisation in society at large. However, what we find here is an interesting relationship between hegemonic and marginalised hyper-bodies. In the world of the bodybuilder, the marginal position in certain senses becomes dominant. In one sense, achieving a muscular and well-trained body is regarded as a core aspect of masculinity within the community. In another sense, however, the practice—the trajectory—leading to such a hyper-masculine body is also challenged by other highly valued masculine ideals. What makes this even more complex today is the trend towards normalisation of the hard-core muscle culture cultivated in the fitness and bodybuilding context, which leads to changes in attitudes towards drugs, hyper-bodies and protest masculinity in society at large. To a certain extent, what we are seeing now is hyper-masculinity becoming normalised and brought into mainstream culture. Over time, bodybuilding culture has moved from being an extreme subculture to being integrated into the mainstream, feeding into contemporary masculine ideals and creating a new bodily ethos.

Still, the female bodybuilder is probably the ultimate challenge to common perceptions of muscles, gender and femininity. Reading the case study of Annie and seeing the relation between the subculture—where it is sometimes problematic, but still possible to be a female bodybuilder—and society at large—where Annie feels she is being questioned—it becomes clear that bodybuilding is still a highly ambiguous sport and body culture.