Beauty, Health and Doping Trajectories

Abstract

The process of cultural commercialization of health and the rapid growth of the fitness industry during recent decades can certainly be seen as a positive development, as the promotion of physical exercise and healthy eating habits helps to prevent disease, at least to some extent. Yet more and more, this development has also turned the body and its appearance into an important marker of just how healthy or successful a person is or is deemed to be (McKenzie, 2013). Moreover, this attitude appears to be fuelled by various fitness and health magazines (which will be discussed in Chapter 7), in which people with muscular bodies are portrayed as successful and healthy, thus as inspiring role models (Johansson, 1998). Undeniably, the media provide a continuous stream of good advice on how the body should be managed and trained and how it should be kept young, sexy, and beautiful. In many respects, success seems to include the image of a well-groomed body with a well-defined six-pack (Johansson, 2006). Within this cultural framing, it is not surprising that some people choose to take “short-cuts” in their pursuit of a desirable and perfect body in the form of, for example, performance-enhancing substances/drugs.