5 days ago
More women are taking up bodybuilding — and illegal steroids
Jas Paterson is a natural bodybuilder and powerlifting coach who regularly appears in bodybuilding competitions in Australia and overseas.
She's made the decision not to take steroids to help enhance her physique and instead follows a strict fitness regime to help build muscle.
The 26-year-old is part of the burgeoning body building community in Australia that she says has "become incredibly popular, especially among women".
But behind the sculpted and bronzed physiques is an industry with a dark side.
Women bodybuilders are 12 times more likely to use anabolic steroid than the general female population, including recreational gym users, according to a study led by Tim Piatkowski from Griffith University.
Traditionally used by young male bodybuilders to build and repair muscle quickly, its popularity among bodybuilding women is growing.
The study showed a 4 per cent rate of steroid consumption among women globally, higher than the 1.4 per cent last reported in 2014.
This is despite it being illegal to possess anabolic steroids without a script.
According to Dr Piatkowski, there are also many more dangers, including permanent side effects, for women to consider when they choose to take steroids.
Anabolic steroids are among a group of performance and image enhancing drugs known as PIEDs. Usually injected directly into muscle, women prefer to take it in tablet form.
Laws around the possession and trafficking of steroids varies from state to state.
Steroids are classed alongside heroin as a Schedule 1 drug in Queensland and possessing it without a script can result in up to 25 years in jail. In Victoria, jail time for the same offence is as little as one year.
Anabolic steroids essentially mimic the masculinising effects of the male sex hormone, and its misuse can often mean dealing with several long-term side effects, including the risk of heart failure, stroke and liver damage.
Dr Piatkowski is a harm reduction researcher at Griffith University with a special interest in steroid use.
He says women's primary hormone production is estrogen and progesterone, but taking steroids can still have masculinising side effects.
"For women, there are a swathe of other side effects that they do need to be concerned about — facial hair growth, hair loss, voice changes … ," he tells ABC Radio National's Life Matters.
Other potential side effects from steroid use include insomnia, mood swings and depression, an irregular menstrual cycle or the absence of periods, a deepening of the voice and a reduction in breast size.
So why is there an uptick in women taking steroids?
Dr Piatkowski believes there are a few drivers for steroid use among female bodybuilders.
"[Body] ideals used to be skinny for women, and big [and] bulky for men. Some of the new research I've been doing has been looking at the convergence of those ideals," he says.
"Both men and women want to not only [look] lean — and have low body fat — but they also want a highly muscular appearance."
The display of "beautiful bodies" on social media together with the rise of fitness influencers are also to blame, says Dr Piatkowski.
"We like to present ourselves as these very put together, almost perfect, idealistic bodybuilders because that is what sells and that is what people are drawn to," Ms Paterson says.
"One of the things that I've really learnt over my years in the bodybuilding world and just social media in general is that there's nothing true about that for me personally.
"We are also human, and we are going to gain body fat … we too have bad days with body image."
Dr Piatkowski says "access" to steroids is another issue.
"We have an unprecedented level of access to an unregulated market. We can go onto Amazon and I can buy a bottle of testosterone right now," he says.
And in an unregulated market, what you think you're buying is often not what you end up with.
A series of steroid checking trials conducted in Queensland last year and earlier this year revealed the types of steroids preferred by women are commonly faked.
"Out of well over 100 samples we tested, which were submitted by community — including men and women — over 25 per cent of those were a different steroid than what the person thought they were going to get," Dr Piatkowski says.
"Fifty per cent were underdosed, so less steroid than intended. And about 6.9 per cent were overdosed."
Women who use anabolic steroids also faced challenges in accessing reliable suppliers compared to men, increasing their vulnerability to unsafe products.
Ms Paterson has chosen to compete as a natural bodybuilder in untested competitions, which means potentially going up against bodybuilders who use steroids.
She has noticed an increase in awareness of anabolic steroids among the female bodybuilders and says people are talking about it more openly than they have in the past.
"I definitely have seen more interest in females wanting to consider using things like steroids," she says.
"But one of the positives of more people talking about it … is that there are more people giving out information on how women can go about using performance enhancing drugs in ways that would really hope to minimise the negative side effects."
Dr Piatkowski believes open and honest communication, together with better safety guidelines for those who use steroids, is essential.
He also highlights the gendered nature of the steroid marketplace.
"Recently, there has been more steroid literacy emerging among women with leading steroid educators in this space, however, steroid literacy among this group is still developing," he says.
"There are things we can do [however] that actually minimise harm because a lot of the harm that we see come from very high doses, unregulated products and structural harms like stigma …"
He says steroid use should be fully regulated to ensure people are getting what they've asked for and to better monitor doses are correct. But should be off limits for anyone who is not yet fully developed.
"[We should also] encourage health monitoring — taking blood pressure, doing echocardiograms, blood tests, things like that. And create a space where there's good health and social outcomes."
