[MUSIC] Welcome to the video, becoming a bodybuilder and using prohibited substances. As we saw in the last video in an attempt to understand doping has more than merely individual misconduct, we suggest taking a look at bodybuilders practices. This video has three objectives to critically approach stereotypical explanations of why people take up bodybuilding. Second, to identify various ways of analyzing bodybuilders's practices. Third, to understand adherence to bodybuilding as a conversion process, explaining how relatively normal people start using substances. This work is mostly drawn from research and I carried out at the University of Lausanne with the support of the Swiss National Science Foundation. I will therefore, be speaking mainly about bodybuilders in Switzerland. So, how does one become a bodybuilder? Many explanations have been put forth to attempt to grasp why bodybuilders resort to substance use. The first common explanation is a financial one, suggesting that doping is leading to monetary gain. This is however, highly unlikely, since there is very little money to be made in the sport. The second common explanation is to think that bodybuilders use prohibited substances, because of the prestige linked to competitions. But in Switzerland, the audience for bodybuilding is really quite limited and the symbolic value that might be linked to peer recognition does not reflect widespread media attention. The sad explanation is to affirm that bodybuilders result to substance use to have beautiful muscles, because they are a seduction tool, but that is not true either. Bodybuilders are often quite embarrassed about a hypertrophic muscles. Muscles can be an embarrassment or even a stigma, especially for women. A false common explanation, which is more in line with actual research is to point out that there is a connection between poor body image in teenage years and bodybuilding. Most bodybuilders didn't look like example this. Felt too skinny or too heavy. Even so, this seems to be relatively common among bodybuilders. One might also argue that poor body image during teenage years is fairly common in the general population. Yet, not everyone becomes a bodybuilder. This explanation is not satisfactory, either. Finally, continuing along this line of thought, there is a far more psychological explanation that evokes a narcissistic dimension which is assimilated with self love. This interpretation, however is problematic for two reasons. First, narcissism is often understood as unhealthy love for one's self. It is however, according to modern psychology, one of the foundations of self-confidence. For bodybuilders, it is effort or lack of narcissism that will explain the low self-esteem of people who take up bodybuilding. Their quest for self-confidence will find an answer in bodybuilding. Understanding why people work out. One might say that there are what sociologist, Pierre Bourdieu might call certain predisposition to working out. These are determined by social factors, such as age, gender, social class and culture, but social demographics are not sufficient in explaining what motivates someone to take up bodybuilding. So, first motivation is indeed conformity to ethical norms. Diego, one of the people that was interviewed during the research conducted [INAUDIBLE] said, I was a ball of lard. So one day, I looked into the mirror and said to myself, this has got to stop. Oat stated that she started because she was fat. So she started to diet and to workout, but the motivation for bodybuilders is not simply conformity to ethical norms There is a second type of motivation. Leo, a hockey player felt too small for his sport. He said, he started working out to gain bulk. He weighed about only 60 kilos. In this case, it was about conforming to athletic standards. Finally, the third reason is hygienic. Like Beatrice who says, she does it to stay in shape. So, there are at least three different reasons for working out. [FOREIGN]. These three reasons correspond to those of ordinary people while not particularly interested in bodybuilding per se. A mystery must then be solved. Why do ordinary people become obsessed with muscles? There is something mysterious about working with ordinary people transform and start using prohibited substances. So, what explanatory model should be used to grasp bodybuilding? So first interpretation would be to follow sociologist, Christopher Lasch thoughts in his book the Culture of Narcissism. He shows that narcissism has a social dimension. The narcissism corresponds to a withdrawal from society due to a collapse of authority and of normative identification sources. This last classically normal socialization requires coming up with one's own set of norms. Consumerism has that solicits rather than constraints. Creates a perfect factor for this kind of under socialization. Embracing a career in bodybuilding is a way of constructing a set of norms that drove from the extremely normative association of bodybuilding regarding diet, training and substance use. If this model serves as a backdrop, it still doesn't explain why most people who workout do not become bodybuilders, only a minority does. The second more passive model would be to study how people convert to bodybuilding. It makes sense to use a world conversion almost in a really just sense to explain the transformation of ordinary people into bodybuilders. How do you put it? I started off working out to lose a little weight to become a little more disciplined, an no competition was in no way an obligation. This is similar to what Sociology Charles Sieur describes in one of his books on conversion in a real priest. It is through physical effort that the practice itself gains importance in a person's life and that he or she is integrated into a community. For body builders, one does not observe a radical change. It is more a gradual process. The spread of influence of the practice over different parts of the body. Not only are all the body's muscles gradually transformed by body building practices, but there is a shift in moral stance as well. Not only do body builders think about their body differently then everybody else does, they also see the world differently. Their activity progressively becomes centered on the body. New moles and a new set of norms characterizes these conversions. They do not merely work out. They abide by strict rules to an aesthetic lifestyle made up of tough training sessions, strict diets and of practice. How they express themselves sink and good, that was everyday lives as changed. For example, in the first stages of my investigation, I suggested meeting a bodybuilder in a restaurant. He answered, but it was impossible for him, because he couldn't eat out. Then when we will finally meet in the middle of the afternoon, he asked if we could eat. And he took out five slices of ham that he quickly swallowed which were followed by a triple waffle filled with an unspecific amount of plain rice, which he gulped down very quickly as well. The impact of bodybuilding on these people's life is very big and every activity seems to be focused around gaining muscles. These internal processes of conversions through physical effort completed by other external elements. There is of course, a certain validation through specialized media, but that is not very important in terms of conversion. The two following paths of conversion have been identified. The first called consonant is when being muscular is valued by the person's immediate circle, friends, family and at work. This is often the case of working class individuals without higher education who work in sectors related to security and for whom being muscular is valued in their social context. Quentin who works as a security guard tells us, it makes me look and feel good in my uniform. The one I wear for work, I feel good. I feel like I occupy this polo shirt. So, second rather atypical path is referred to as introspective. These people are generally more highly educated than their counterparts. So a professional situation does not value strength, but they all have felt vulnerable at one moment of their lives. Bodybuilding is use as a way of overcoming this feeling of vulnerability. Leo, a former executive in a big company converted to bodybuilding after his life underwent major turmoil, including a divorce, burnout and losing his job. Committing to bodybuilding helped him gain a sense of control of his life. He says that it helped him increase his self-esteem and that the benefits in his everyday life are what makes him really enjoy it. The same is true for Kevin. He went through a bit of a rough patch and describes how body building helped him feel better. He says, I was 18. I didn't have anything, except multiple jobs I had to do to get by. My life felt empty, I didn't have any hobbies. It's help, because it's something I can identify to. I never felt so good in my life. Kevin's case suggests that bodybuilding can be used to confer meaning to one's life. It is something that has made him feel good. In conclusion, it's necessary to distance oneself from a number of preconceptions to be able to grasp these processes. Various ways of analyzing why people take up bodybuilding has been identified. Analysis in terms of a conversion process seems adapted to the cases that we have observed. To learn more, read the article that Ronan Coquet and I published on the that is available on the platform. Conversion is an important element to consider when attempting to understand why people start to use prohibited substances and how is that perception of the risks incurred is transformed by this conversion. This is what we shall look into in the next video. Thank you for watching. [MUSIC]
