[MUSIC] Welcome to the video Bodybuilder's attitude towards risk. This video has two objectives. First, to understand how bodybuilder's attitude towards risk changes over time. Second to be able to identify the main processes through which their perception of risk changes. Bodybuilder's attitude towards risk is especially interesting when it is understood has an effect of the conversion process we talked about in the last video. It can seem surprising to notice just how many bodybuilders use prohibited substances even though they are generally well informed about the risks involved. We have identified seven factors that help to explain how their attitudes toward doping change. The first factor is a shift in norms in which doping becomes a normal practice. This happens in two phases. The first phase is a shift in norms that is characterized by a specific diet in the early stages of the practice. Slowly, shaping one's body is no longer limited to working out. So use of food supplements has become totally normal in fitness centers and gyms. Products, such as protein powder, amino acids, creatine, or fat burners are systematically sold in gyms. Advertising for such products fills the pages of specialized muscle magazines and imagery of body builders use food supplements. The second shift in norms that pushes body builder's to result to doping is created within the body building community itself. Apparently the kind of muscle quality required for competitions cannot be obtained without resorting to substance use. Serge's, one of the body builder's that we talked to seemed to suggest that there was no alternative. He says, anabolic steroids and stuff like that, yeah, you necessarily take them. Unless you want to end up 11th out of ten you have to, everybody else is doing it. The second factor explains the development of a feeling of risk control. It is not the hot-headed, who would do anything for more muscles, that delve into more intense pharmaco practice. A sociologist, Monaghan, states in his book, Bodybuilding, Drugs and Risk, there is real experts in substance users. They combine knowledge on training, nutrition, physiology, pharmacology, recovery, and so on and so forth. Acquiring this expertise confers a strong feeling of control over the muscle production process and substance use becomes a part of such range of practices that it feels a master. So third factor that modifies the way pharmacological products are perceived is that risk are delegated to others. Information comes from people who are more experienced in body building. A rookie body builder will be guided by more experienced ones. Notably on methods of administration. Injections, for instance, are not an act most people are used to doing to themselves, and requires learning how to do it. Serge trusted one of his friends who encouraged substance use. He said that a more experienced friend helped him with this first injection. Because he didn't know how to do it and he didn't want to mess up because it was important. Gym owners or trainers who users trust are also frequently recognized as sources of expertise in substance use. Guillaume says, for me, it was always a trainer who knew what to take and how to take it. When, and how much. These role models, particularly coaches, initiate a person to substance use and thereby approve it. This is also what Guillaume says. He took a look at me and was like, have you ever taken any stuff? I was like, no, never. So he said, okay, so we'll start slowly then. It's true. We started off with really small doses that got bigger and bigger. Delegating expertise to a trainer establishes him or her has a trusted advisor. They are perceived as possessing extensive knowledge in that field. They just know everything, states another body builder we talked to. Of these advisor's figures will then be added the person's own experience with products and values techniques. This encourages trivialization of new pharmacological practices. Knowledge on the dosage and the duration of treatments are also elements give body builders a sense of control over the situation. This pharmacological culture has contributed to creating a hierarchy in doping products and there is a sense that products at the bottom of the list so to speak are harmless. Moreover many bodybuilders rely on doctors to control their health which further reinforces their feeling of risk control. This is what Guillaume's says. My sport physician knows about everything. And so I always have a check up before and after competitions. During the check up there is a blood sample. Complete check up and ultrasound of my heart and an ECG. I have made a point of it. I have always said to myself If there is the slightest problem, I will quit straightaway. Guillaume feels reassured by medical surveillance and that allows him to take doping substances and feel like the risks are contained. The fourth factor is a process of neutralization which is linked to a certain trivialization of practices. As Leo points out, I have nothing to hide, we know that it is a highly competitive sport. We all go through this. I mean let's be realistic, you really think that tennis champions that play for three hours in the boiling sun get by only by drinking water? Leo minimizes the risk by making doping a universal norm. A fifth factor is way of changing perception and strengthening the sense of expertise by criticizing novices. Less experienced users that seem to be jumping ahead are condemned in alarming and stigmatizing terms. For people who feel like experts, access to substances is something to be earned, and a substance use is only deemed legitimate if an athlete has a certain level of experience and a significant expertise. Methods of self-administration are one of the limits between experts and novices. For instance, there are those who refuse to use syringes because they don't possess the know how and therefore those substances already. Kevin states, all that's the worse, they just do it because they are scared. But in terms of results, it doesn't go straight into your blood It will mess up your liver. Intravenous is a way to go. I mean if you want to do it. You might as well do it properly. Serge agrees really you lose a lot because it has to go through your liver and it's really toxic with injections, however, well, they are better, but hey. For Serge, experts know how to take substances and novices take risks. Serge's sense of control is increased by criticizing novice's practices. The sixth factor corresponds to a shift in perceptions and leads to a normalization of doping in the world of bodybuilding. One must discover bodybuilding to truly comprehend why bodybuilders use prohibited substances. Unlike other spots in bodybuilding, doping isn't considered cheating. It isn't looked down upon by other bodybuilders and sport officials. Doping does not take away any of the value of a performance of the work accomplished. And unlike traditional sports doping does not symbolically discredit athletes. Leo for instance could not imagine a performance without chemical support. At the end of the diet, we get less than 50 grams carbohydrates a day and we lift crazy weight. So, without chemical substances it would be simply impossible. The final factor is an enchanted experience of the body. This might risk being trivialized. Some doubts do remain. But the feeling of power that comes with substance use and exhilaration during competition seem to help overcome these doubts very quickly. One bodybuilder told us I wouldn't say you feel like Superman, but pretty close. Through peer recognition the moments in the spotlight during competitions are described by bodybuilders as the utter climax of their existence. But what they also experience is the feeling that their body is capable of amazing feats when they use substances. Like Guillaume says, when you start taking you feel like you could stop a with your jaw. It's really satisfying. You feel great. You feel powerful. In conclusion, if we distance ourselves from our own representations, we can understand that bodybuilders are not irrational individuals that do not worry about the risks involved in substance use. But it is because they have converted, that they have taken on a new culture. That they adhere to a certain number of beliefs linked to their community. That their attitude towards doping and pharmacology have changed. In the next video, I propose to help you understand another sports culture linked to cycling this time in which doping is just as important. Again, in our approach was body builders, our aim is to understand, not to judge. You have time to stay neutral, we do not denounce neither do we approve. Thank you for watching. [MUSIC]
