ABSTRACT
The following excerpt, which constructs steroid users as responsible for the surveillance and management of their own risk environment, was taken from a bodybuilding steroid handbook. As well as accepting diverse information sources within ‘risk society’ (Beck 1992, Giddens 1991), a calculative orientation to risk behaviour is espoused by the bodybuilding author:
There just doesn’t seem to be any room for ignorance if an athlete has decided to use steroids. Any and all information must be applied in an effort to maintain a therapeutic course; one which is centred on getting maximum benefits while confronting the fewest side effects. In the risky business of self administering anabolic steroids, a layman’s [sic] knowledge just isn’t enough.
