Abstract
On the face of it, doping seems to be the most objectionable version of athletic enhancement. When considering the use of performance enhancing drugs in recreational sports there is a tendency to focus on young men’s use of androgenic anabolic steroids (AAS). However, other segments of the population might use drugs to enhance their performance when exercising too. For instance women. This chapter presents an insight into women’s use of performance enhancing drugs, as it is represented at the Danish internet community, www.bodyhouse.nu. Although the material is limited, the presented closereading of posts from this community gives an insight into which drugs are being used, how and why. The material reveals that women do show interest in and do use these drugs, however mostly other drugs than AAS. Women’s drug use seem in particular to ignite discussions on human biology and nature, and eventhough this is a community, where performance enhancing drug use is legitimate, the posts reveal boundaries that are regarded as non-transgressable. An idea of respect for human nature and the body grounds these limits, which especially concern irreversible side effects, in particular those relating to biological sex and gender: infertility and androgenic, virilising effects in women.
The article is based upon a study of Danish women’s use of performance enhancing drugs. The study is made possible by a grant from The Danish Ministry of Culture Committee on Sports Research (J.nr. TKIF 2010–045)
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Notes
- 1.
In the following section on androgenic anabolic steroids I am greatly indebted to Andreas Kimergård who has kindly shared his knowledge.
- 2.
Letigen was a medical weight loss product made by the Danish pharmaceutical firm Nycomed. It contained inter alia ephedrine and caffeine and was withdrawn in 2002 due to suspicion that it could cause thrombosis in the brain and heart, manic psychosis, cerebral haemorrhage and sudden death (Nielsen 2002; Carlsen 2002).
- 3.
There are references to Melanotan (also known as the “Barbie drug” due to its supposed effect: Slimming, tanning and increasing sexual libido) as well, but specific posts about Melanotan are in a separate thread. I have chosen to focus on topics on drugs known and used for their performance enhancing effect and have, therefore, not included melanotan, even though it could be argued that it is just as enhancing as for example fatburners, at least cosmetically.
- 4.
All quotations concern women’s use of performance enhancing drugs. Quotations are made anonymous. Each thread is given a number (#x), accompanied by the period of time, the posts span over. In every quotation the contributors are numbered, if more than one (*x). If they reply more than once in a single quotation, they appear with the same number. Numbering the contributors blurs any sign of gender. I have marked the assumed gender (M – F) based on an interpretation of their Danish username – this entails, as mentioned, a risk of misinterpretation. Furthermore, translations of quotations are mine. The quotations are translated culturally from Danish to English, leaving out misspellings, abbreviations, slang etc. in order to communicate their semantic content and present them in a readable way. This, however, removes important markers of style. The case thus might read: (*3[number of respondent], M[ale], 10.11.11 [date of post/period of correspondence: DD.MM.YY]; # 65 [number of thread]). In quotations I have used (), when the brackets apperar in the original text, and [] when I have added the brackets to explain something. References following the quotations are in ().
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Jespersen, M.R. (2013). “Definitely Not for Women”: An Online Community’s Reflections on Women’s Use of Performance Enhancing Drugs in Recreational Sports. In: Tolleneer, J., Sterckx, S., Bonte, P. (eds) Athletic Enhancement, Human Nature and Ethics. International Library of Ethics, Law, and the New Medicine, vol 52. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-5101-9_11
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