MixMag, which bills itself as the “world’s biggest dance music & club culture magazine”, recently explored the alleged increased popularity of anabolic steroid use by clubbers and ravers. MixMag writer Mike Power interviewed club DJs, harm reduction workers at needle exchanges and academics specializing in drug and club culture to get a sense of why male clubbers are becoming more and more muscular.
MixMag article on casual steroid use by clubbers
From his previous experience working the door at the popular gay club Trade at Turnmills in London, DJ Stewart Who? witnessed the rise of steroid use among gay club goers during the 1990s. That was when anabolic steroids gained popularity as a treatment for body-wasting diseases such as AIDS. This included the therapeutic prescribing of steroids such as testosterone, Deca Durabolin, oxandrolone as well as human growth hormone specifically for their muscle-building effects. The muscular body gained greater significance because of its health status in the gay community.
“Back in the nineties no-one wanted to look skinny, or like they were losing weight,” according to Stewart. “Getting big was part of a drive to present a healthy and HIV-free image.”
From there, steroid use among clubbers made the jump to the heterosexual community. Stewart believes the recent trends in steroid use reflect a “shift in masculinity” where the body beautiful is more celebrated among straight men.
The Only Way Is Essex, Elliott Wright and the TOWIE syndrome
Stewart even has a name for the phenomenon. He calls it the “TOWIE syndrome”. The faux syndrome is based on the name of the British “scripted reality television show called The Only Way Is Essex and its cast of stars that are more muscular than average such as Elliott Wright, Dan Osborne, Mark Wright and James Lock. With the ubiquity of muscular male images appearing on television, the average guy simply experiences increased pressure to look good.
“The straight boys have taken to steroids with gusto,” Stewart said. “It’s the TOWIE syndrome. They get the sleeve tattoos and the slicked-over hair and the big bodies. It was just gay men and body-builders before. That Men’s Health, body beautiful thing is mainstream now. It’s a shift in masculinity.”
The Only Way Is Essex, Dan Osborne and the TOWIE syndrome
“You can tell when someone has done steroids. You can sense the exaggeration – even if it’s the first time you’ve seen them,” he says. “You can go to the gym but you reach a plateau, even if you’re dedicated. That’s what leads people to steroids.”
Karenza Moore, a lecturer in Applied Social Science at Lancaster University, specializes in the role of drug use in raving and clubbing. She believes the pressure to “look good” is greater for men than ever before in today’s society. This pressure includes the added pressure of impressing your friends on social media sites like Instagram.
“We used to go clubbing in jeans and trainers,” Moore said. “Now, straight lads are going out in tight T-shirts, dressed to impress, and part of that look is being big and muscled. There’s huge pressure on young people nowadays to look good, and to present yourself well on social media.”
Steroid users are flooding the free needle exchange clinics in the UK according to harm reduction workers such as David Rourke of the Arundel project in Sheffield. This includes a greater number of casual steroid users who simply want to “look good in clubs”.
“You always know, when it’s sunny, that we’ll get dozens of guys coming in to get needles,” Rourke said. “As soon as the sun comes out they’re all thinking of how they can look their best. Young guys want to look good in clubs. Part of the look is being big now. When they go out on the pull it gives them a bit of a boost if they’re looking muscular. Steroids do that for them.”
Casual steroid users just want to look good for the clubs and the beach
Gary Beeny, a harm reduction worker at the needle exchange in Manchester, confirmed that steroid use peaks in the spring before young men go on spring break.
“A lot of the lads use steroids when they’re getting ready to go to Ibiza, Ayia Napa, Magaluf, all that,” Beeny said. “They know they’re gonna have their tops off, so around March and April we always get loads busier.”
Jim McVeigh, the acting director at the Centre for Public Health at Liverpool John Moores University, believes steroid users today are not the same dedicated bodybuilders who were the primary users decades ago. Nowadays, a large percentage of steroid users are casual users who go clubbing and use other recreational drugs such as alcohol and even cocaine.
“It’s a lot of lads in their late teens and twenties now. When I first started working with these groups 25 years ago it was either bodybuilders or doormen. Now it’s more casual users, lads who want to put a bit more bulk on, and they often do it just to fall in line with their mates. For these lads, it goes hand-in-hand with going to clubs and bars, drinking and doing cocaine.”
Whatever the explanations or causes, it seems that steroids have become practically mainstream in clubs if MixMag’s assessment is correct.