A ‘messenger of sex’? Making testosterone matter in motivations for anabolic-androgenic steroid injecting

ABSTRACT

Anabolic-androgenic steroids are synthetic derivatives of testosterone. They are thought to be the most commonly used performance and image-enhancing drugs (PIEDs) in Australia. However, the motivations for men’s use of steroids and other PIEDs are poorly understood. Established ways of understanding these motivations highlight men’s performance and/or image-related concerns, in the context of contemporary masculinities and gender norms. Researchers have paid little attention to how the social and political features of testosterone shape and transform steroid use. Instead, testosterone tends to be taken for granted as a ‘messenger of sex’ that acts on the body in predictable and routinised ways. This article takes a different approach. Drawing on feminist science studies and interviews conducted for an Australian research project, we investigate how the cultural and symbolic meanings assigned to testosterone shape the ontological politics of men’s steroid consumption. Approaching testosterone as an emergent social and biopolitical gathering rather than as a stable sex hormone allows us to better understand how men’s PIED consumption is mediated, particularly by pervasive ideas about sexual difference and the biology of gender. In concluding, we consider ways of better engaging men who consume steroids in health initiatives, in keeping with their concerns and perspectives.

KEYWORDS:

• Steroids
• testosterone
• hormones
• ontological politics
• feminist science studies

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the interview participants for sharing their experiences and the project's advisory board. Interviews were conducted by Renae Fomiatti, Emily Lenton, Aaron Hart, Mair Underwood, Jeanne Ellard and Dean Murphy. This project has been based in two institutions over time: The National Drug Research Institute, Curtin University, and The Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society, La Trobe University.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Renae Fomiatti http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6193-9634

J. R. Latham http://orcid.org/0000-0002-3705-4577

Suzanne Fraser http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1018-5865

David Moore http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5860-3109

Kate Seear http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0886-7069

Notes

1 This discussion of method is adapted from two earlier publications from the same research project (Fomiatti et al., under review; Latham et al., 2019).

Additional information

Funding

The research reported in this paper was funded by the Australian Research Council (Discovery Project DP170100302) and conducted at the Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society, La Trobe University and the National Drug Research Institute, Curtin University. The National Drug Research Institute is supported by core funding from the Australian Government under the Drug and Alcohol Program and also receives significant funding from Curtin University. Kate Seear is funded by an Australian Research Council DECRA Fellowship (DE160100134).