Abstract
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Journal | Journal of Consumer Culture |
| Publication status | Published - 9 May 2019 |
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Boosting Bodily Capital : Maintaining Masculinity, Aesthetic Pleasure and Instrumental Utility Through the Consumption of Steroids. / Kotzé, Justin; Antonopoulos, Georgios.
In: Journal of Consumer Culture, 09.05.2019.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review
TY - JOUR
T1 - Boosting Bodily Capital
T2 - Maintaining Masculinity, Aesthetic Pleasure and Instrumental Utility Through the Consumption of Steroids
AU - Kotzé, Justin
AU - Antonopoulos, Georgios
PY - 2019/5/9
Y1 - 2019/5/9
N2 - Anabolic-androgenic steroid consumption is considered a significant public health issue in a number of countries but particularly in the northeast of England. Informed by ongoing ethnographic work on steroid use, this paper aims to explore two particular dimensions of bodily capital within the overarching context of hyper-masculinity. Towards this end we focus on aesthetic pleasure as the ‘boosted’ body becomes a site of contemporary consumption before taking a look at the instrumental utility derived from a sufficiently primed and tuned body. Accordingly, and with a view towards the changing currency of bodily capital, we explore the contemporary importance attached to both attaining and maintaining both elements of a ‘boosted’ bodily capital. The significant role steroids play in facilitating this is then discussed; yet rather than locating its consumption in the realm of ‘deviancy’, we view it as a means of hyper-conforming to neoliberalism’s cultural norms and values. By drawing upon a range of perspectives, we hope to offer up new insights into the demand for steroids apropos the pursuit for an aesthetically pleasing and instrumentally effective body.
AB - Anabolic-androgenic steroid consumption is considered a significant public health issue in a number of countries but particularly in the northeast of England. Informed by ongoing ethnographic work on steroid use, this paper aims to explore two particular dimensions of bodily capital within the overarching context of hyper-masculinity. Towards this end we focus on aesthetic pleasure as the ‘boosted’ body becomes a site of contemporary consumption before taking a look at the instrumental utility derived from a sufficiently primed and tuned body. Accordingly, and with a view towards the changing currency of bodily capital, we explore the contemporary importance attached to both attaining and maintaining both elements of a ‘boosted’ bodily capital. The significant role steroids play in facilitating this is then discussed; yet rather than locating its consumption in the realm of ‘deviancy’, we view it as a means of hyper-conforming to neoliberalism’s cultural norms and values. By drawing upon a range of perspectives, we hope to offer up new insights into the demand for steroids apropos the pursuit for an aesthetically pleasing and instrumentally effective body.
M3 - Article
JO - Journal of Consumer Culture
JF - Journal of Consumer Culture
SN - 1469-5405
ER -