Current popular interest in bodies, fitness, sport and active lifestyles, has made bodybuilding more visible and acceptable within mainstream society than ever before. However, the association between bodybuilding, drugs and risk has contributed to a negative image of an activity which many people find puzzling. Using data obtained from participant observation and interviews, this book explores bodybuilding subculture from the perspective of the bodybuilder. It looks at: * How bodybuilders try to maintain competent social identities * How they manage the risks of using steroids and other physique-enhancing drugs * How they understand the alleged steroid-violence link * How they 'see' the muscular body. Through systematic exploration it becomes apparent that previous attempts to explain bodybuilding in terms of 'masculinity-in-crisis' or gender insecurity are open to question. Different and valuable insights into what sustains and legitimizes potentially dangerous drug-taking activities are provided by this detailed picture of a huge underground subculture.

Award-winning fitness expert Joyce Vedral--author of Now or Never and The 12-Minute Total-Body Workout--offers an age-fighting plan to tone muscles and burn off fat.

Focusing on the sociological embodiment of various "social actors", the authors consider the subsequent links with the constraints of daily life i.e. the male body, female therapists, body builders, marital and sexual counsellors, sex workers. They present recent or new research findings on aspects of the body, variants from what is conventionally seen as "natural" and consider and question aspects of self-image versus society's expectations. A number of developments in discussions of the body on such topics as feminist thought, the study of health and illness and cultural theory are presented as a series of essays which demonstrate the variety of interests mentioned.; The book is aimed at undergraduates/postgraduates students and lecturers in sociology, cultural studies, women's and gender studies.

Offering students an informed overview of some of the most significant sociological work on gender produced over the last three decades, these readings are supplemented by a substantial critical introduction and editorial commentary.

The fitness boom of the last two decades has led to many people incorporating exercise into their lifestyles through activities such as jogging and aerobics. However, whilst many physical and psychological health benefits have been documented, far too few people actually take part in enough exercise to glean significant improvements, and this is much more a problem for women than men. Femininity and the Physically Active Woman explores one reason many women offer for their lack of involvement in sport and exercise - that they are not the 'sporty' type. Precilla Y.L. Choi argues that the 'sporty' type is masculine, and to determine how this notion might affect women's self-perceptions, she critically examines the experiences of women athletes, bodybuilders, recreational exercisers and girls' physical education. What emerges is the importance of visible differences between women and men, in terms of muscularity, strength and agility in order to maintain the gender order. Thus, if a girl or woman wishes to play the masculine game of sport she must do so in conformity with a number of patriarchal rules which ensure she is first and foremost recognised as a heterosexual feminine being. Contributing to a psychology of the physically active woman by examining women's experiences from critical feminist and gendered perspectives, Femininity and the Physically Active Woman will be of great interest to students, researchers, practitioners and teachers from a range of disciplines. Precilla Y.L. Choi is the British Association for the Advancement of Science's Joseph Lister Lecturer for 2000. She has co-edited, with Paula Nicolson, Female Sexuality (Prentice Hall).

With contributions from many of the world's leading experts on the sociology of sport, this volume brings together influential articles that confront and illuminate issues of gender and sexuality in sport.

Breaking records and challenging the limits of human ability are central to much of our understanding of athletic track and field sports, with a world record title arguably as valued as an Olympic gold medal. Some particular limits and records take on greater significance, however, as in the case of the Four-Minute Mile which was roundly believed to be impossible until Roger Bannister shattered the illusion with half a second to spare in May 1954. These essays look at the background of Bannister’s achievement and the meaning that was ascribed to it by the media and the public at large, drawing on an array of interdisciplinary and international influences to unpick the legend surrounding an historic moment in our social and sporting past.