By choosing drug-free bodybuilding as a novel object of study the project has shed light on a hitherto uncharted body culture and contributed to a deeper empirical and theoretical understanding of bodybuilding as a dynamic and varied phenomenon. New insights have been made possible into the complex ways people think about and experience health, gender and the body, as well as into how the choices of people involved in bodybuilding get formed and transformed over time. Methodologically, the research has been original in its comparative approach and fieldwork in three different countries, contributing to a more updated and nuanced understanding of not only bodybuilding culture but also the wider globalised gym/fitness culture.
By studying a body culture that defines itself in juxtaposition to a model increasingly relying on pharmacological means, the project contributes to the growing inquiry on human enhancement. At a theoretical level, it helps appreciate how anti-enhancement cultures are dynamically co-constitutive of the enhancement phenomenon. Regarding the specific issue of image- and performance-enhancing drugs, the findings of this project can be taken up for building social science-informed, proactive responses to the identified public health challenges by adding to the currently limited knowledge base of how and why exactly such substance use occurs or does not occur.
In terms of impact, this research project is placed in an area of intensifying public and scientific scrutiny and investment of resources. The benefit of the project and the overall action to society lies in a) generating new data and analysis with theory and policy-related implications on hotly-debated topics of social significance, and b) making findings available and accessible to different audiences. The research has been disseminated to different audiences and spaces, including peer-reviewed publications, conferences attended by academics as well as health professionals, policy makers, anti-doping officials and media, research workshops and retreats, stakeholders' meetings, scientific networks, and seminars to postgraduate students. Situated at the intersection of body culture, substance use and anti-doping research fields, the project and the training designed around it have allowed me to a) deepen my competencies in my established field of expertise (sociology/cultural studies); b) acquire basic skills in a new field (i.e. public health), and c) develop crucial transferable skills (e.g. project management, varied audience engagement). My ability for undertaking interdisciplinary work has significantly developed, and so has my understanding of the challenges and opportunities in working in and across different research environments and traditions. The action has also benefited the host and partner institutions by a) enabling knowledge transfer that strengthens their multidisciplinary profile and strategy of internationalisation, b) providing a platform for collaborations in the academic sector, and c) opening up dialogue with stakeholders in other sectors (gym/fitness industry, public health and anti-doping).
