Problematising anabolic-androgenic steroids in Australian media: Violence, crime and disordered masculinity

As anabolic-androgenic steroid use has become more mainstream, so has media reporting on steroid-related problems and harms. The media is a particularly important site in shaping the social meanings of alcohol and other drug use, yet no research to date has focused on media representations of steroids and their effects. Informed by Bacchi’s post-structural method of problematisation analysis, we examine how the Australian news media problematises steroids and significant political effects produced by dominant problematisations. Australian news articles from 37 sources were electronically collected via the Factiva database during 2022, with 151 articles included in the final sample. In this article, we focus on the three most significant themes across the data. First, we analyse how steroid use is problematised in relation to alcohol use in public and men’s ‘natural’inclination to violence. We then explore how steroid supply and distribution is problematised as a matter of organised crime. Lastly, we analyse how steroid using subjects are constituted in relation to disordered masculinity and psychopathology, producing a range of negative material effects for consumers. We conclude by arguing that such media reporting is active in the normalisation of policies and interventions focused on pathologizing or criminalising individuals. As a result, the need for other credible policy responses, such as strategies for addressing steroid-related stigma, harm reduction policies and decriminalisation, tend to be ignored.