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Anabolic-androgenic steroids (AAS) are substances that can facilitate muscle growth and development. They are of appeal to a variety of individuals, including competitive athletes and persons dissatisfied with their body image-especially gay men. In this qualitative study, 16 elite gay male athletes from the United States, Canada and Australia were interviewed regarding their opinions of AAS, masculinity, homosexuality, and sport, among other issues. The athletes expressed a general dislike of AAS, asserting the substances were un-masculine, un-natural, un-healthy, and un-sportsmanlike. Despite these reservations concerning AAS, the athletes described their own use of other ergogenic substances. A contradiction thus exists between the athletes' reasons for not using AAS and the athletes' reasons for using other substances. These findings are used to critique and nuance contemporary theory in body image research, masculinity, and sexuality.
Keywords: gay men; athletes; body image; anabolic-androgenic steroids; masculinity; hegemonic aesthetic
Anabolic-androgenic steroids (AAS) are substances that can enhance muscle mass by mimicking the actions of testosterone within the human body. This ability of AAS to facilitate muscle growth may be of appeal to a number of individuals. Peters et al. (1999) delineate four groups of potential AAS users. These are (A) competitive athletes, who use AAS to provide enhanced sporting performance; (B) competitive bodybuilders, for whom AAS may assist in providing a more ideal physique for their sport; (C) individuals who require additional muscle mass for their jobs; and (D) people who are body image dissatisfied, many of whom are gay men, who seek additional muscle mass to achieve a culturally idealised body type. While AAS may assist these men in their pursuit of muscle, it is important to recognise that steroids use may yield serious physiological and psychological side effects (Kanayama et al., 2008; Monaghan, 2001 ; Straus & Yesalis , 1 99 1 ) . Thus , AAS may pose risks to the health of users .
In this qualitative investigation, we describe the attitudes toward AAS of a group of individuals whose identities overlap between the groups described above: gay male athletes.
Masculinity, Body Image, Steroids, and Gay Men
While there exists a social perception that steroids are a problem related to sport (Diacin et al., 2003; Hartman, 2008; Monaghan, 2001), competitive athletes actually constitute a minority of...