The Tinder Generation is Pressured to Buy Steroids
01.12.2018

The Tinder Generation is Pressured to Buy Steroids

Criminologist Robert McLean believes dating apps like Tinder indirectly promote steroid use.

Robert McLean, a lecturer in criminology at Northumbria University in Newcastle, has hypothesized that dating applications like Tinder have indirectly pressured young people to start using anabolic steroids.

McLean believes the Tinder effect of short-term hookups based on superficial criteria like physical appearance heightens young men’s body image concerns. These concerns lead men to buy steroids to help build a more muscular and athletic physique. The improvement in physical appearance is expected to leader to greater Tinder success.

“Especially with dating apps as opposed to more traditional ways of meeting people, there’s been a growth in society of people focusing on the superficial as opposed to the internal,” McLean said. “There’s evidence that is what’s behind these drugs coming into the market.”

By the same token, young women who use dating apps also feel pressured to use image and performance-enhancing drugs (IPEDs) to receive more opportunities on “hookup apps”.

Steroids and injectable tanning drugs are popular amongst the Tinder Generation.

Both men and women use injectable tanning drugs like Melanotan-II. But women are more likely to use Melanotan rather than steroids. The use of the “Barbie drug”, as it is apparently called in Scotland, has increased dramatically in recent years according to Turning Point Scotland.

Melanotan-II is an interesting drug. While the injectable peptide drug promotes tanning, it also has a secondary side effect that is in great demand by the “Tinder Generation”. It is the prosexual side effect of melanotan.

Melanotan-II reportedly heightens sexual arousal and desire in both men and women. It increases the likelihood of spontaneous erections in men. However, men and women who are primarily after the prosexual effects will likely choose a derivative of melanotan-II called bremelanotide.

What could be better for the Tinder Generation than steroids and sex drugs?

McLean noted that drug dealers have added IPEDs like steroids and melanotan-II alongside traditional drugs like cocaine and heroin. Steroids allow drug dealers to expand their customer base without increasing the legal risk since they are Class C drugs.

McLean also suggested that steroid users might like cocaine too because, unlike alcohol, it is low in calories.

“Steroids and cocaine go hand in hand because cocaine doesn’t have the same bad calorie count as alcohol,” McLean said. “They carry lesser sentences and allow an expansion beyond dealers’ traditional customer bases.”

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