TIME EUROPE
APRIL 24, 2000 VOL. 155 NO. 16
Never Too Buff
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A historical loop forms: steroids beget pro wrestlers — Hulk
Hogan, for one, has admitted taking steroids — who inspire
boys to be just like them. Steroids have changed even
boys' toys. Feminists have long derided Barbie for her tiny
waist and big bosom. The authors of The Adonis Complex
see a similar problem for boys in the growth of G.I. Joe.
The grunt of 1982 looks scrawny compared with G.I. Joe
Extreme, introduced in the mid-'90s. The latter would have
a 140-cm chest and 69-cm biceps if he were real, which
simply can't be replicated in nature. Pope also points out a
stunning little feature of the three-year-old video game
Duke Nukem: Total Meltdown, developed by GT Interactive
Software. When Duke gets tired, he can find a bottle of
steroids to get him going. "Steroids give Duke a super
adrenaline rush," the game manual notes.
To bolster their argument, the Adonis authors developed a
computerized test that allows subjects to "add" muscle to a
typical male body. They estimate their own size and then
pick the size they would like to be and the size they think
women want. Pope and his colleagues gave the test to
college students and found that on average, the men
wanted 28 lbs. more muscle — and thought women wanted
them to have 30 lbs. more. In fact, the women who took
the test picked an ideal man only slightly more muscular
than average. Which goes a long way toward explaining
why Leonardo DiCaprio can be a megastar in a nation that
also idealizes "Stone Cold" Steve Austin.
But when younger boys took Pope's test, they revealed an
even deeper sense of inadequacy about their bodies. More
than half of boys ages 11 to 17 chose as their physical
ideal an image possible to attain only by using steroids. So
they do. Boys are a big part of the clientele at Muscle
Mania (not its real name), a weight-lifting store that TIME
visited last week at a strip mall in a Boston suburb. A
couple of teenagers came in to ask about tribulus, one of
the many over-the-counter drugs and body-building
supplements the store sells, all legally.
A friend of mine," one boy begins, fooling no one, "just
came off a cycle of juice, and he heard that tribulus can
help you produce testosterone naturally." Patrick, 28, who
runs the store and who stopped using steroids four years
ago because of chest pain, tells the kid, "The s___ shuts
off your nuts," meaning steroids can reduce sperm
production, shrink the testicles and cause impotence.
Tribulus, Patrick says, can help restart natural testosterone
production. The teen hands over $12 for 100 Tribulus Fuel
pills. (Every day, Muscle Mania does $4,000 in sales of
such products, with protein supplements and so-called fat
burners leading the pack.)
Patrick says many of his teen customers, because they're
short on cash, won't pay for a gym membership "until
they've saved up for a cycle [of steroids]. They don't see
the point without them." The saddest customers, he says,
are the little boys, 12 and 13, brought in by young fathers.
"The dad will say, 'How do we put some weight on this
kid?' with the boy just staring at the floor. Dad is going to
turn him into Hulk Hogan, even if it's against his will."
What would motivate someone to take steroids? Pope,
Phillips and Olivardia say the Adonis Complex works in
different ways for different men. "Michael," 32, one of their
research subjects, told TIME he had always been a short
kid who got picked on. He started working out at about 14,
and he bought muscle magazines for advice. The pictures
taunted him: he sweated, but he wasn't getting as big as
the men in the pictures. Other men in his gym also made
him feel bad. When he found out they were on steroids, he
did two cycles himself, even though he knew they could
be dangerous.
But not all men with body-image problems take steroids.
Jim Davis, 29, a human-services manager, told TIME he
never took them, even when training for body-building
competitions. But Davis says he developed a form of
obsessive-compulsive disorder around his workouts. He
lifted weights six days a week for at least six years. He
worked out even when injured. He adhered to a rigid
regimen for every session, and if he changed it, he felt
anxious all day. He began to be worried about clothes, and
eventually could wear only three shirts, ones that made
him look big. He still felt small. "I would sit in class at college
with a coat on," he says. You may have heard this
condition called bigorexia — thinking your muscles are puny
when they aren't. Pope and his colleagues call it muscle
dysmorphia and estimate that hundreds of thousands of
men suffer from it. MORE>>
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April 24, 2000
COVER STORY
The Incredible Bulk
Testosterone, which can increase libido and help build muscles, will be available soon in easy-to-use gel form. But it can cause liver damage and prostate cancer. Why are people willing to risk their health for it?
Never Too Buff
A new book reveals a troubling obsession: how male self-worth is increasingly tied to body image
Viewpoint
Joel Stein worries about his testosterone
Never Too Buff
A new book reveals a troubling obsession: how male self-worth is increasingly tied to body image
Viewpoint
Joel Stein worries about his testosterone
EUROPE
Blowing the Whistle on the Past
A former Czech political dissident hunts down communist-era secret police collaborators
Neither Here Nor There
Serbs who deserted the war in Kosovo are finding no welcome in the West
History Wins, Irving Loses
Controversial historian David Irving loses his libel suit and is branded a pro-Nazi falsifier of history
Viewpoint
Rich Westerners make poor advocates for their friends in the Third World
Viewpoint
Law enforcers must learn to move faster to snare global lawbreakers
MIDDLE EAST
Withdrawal Symptoms
Syria vacillates as Israel seeks world support for a plan to pull its troops out of southern Lebanon
Jews on Trial
An Iranian spy case undermines an ancient minority and a modern President
THE ARTS
The Rem Movement
Architecture is changing. The proof? Its biggest prize, the Pritzker, goes to a thinker rather than a pure designer
Performed with True Passion
The English National Opera brings Bach to vivid dramatic life
The End of Innocence
Ishiguro's new novel, When We Were Orphans, probes the wounds of vanished childhood
DEPARTMENTS
Techwatch
World Watch
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