Women and Sports in the United States: A Documentary Reader

ANABOLIC STEROIDS

138 WOMEN AND SPORTS IN THE UNITED STATES Patrick, D. R., and Bignall, J. E. 1984. Creating the component self: The case of the wheelchair runner. In J. A. Kotarba and A. Fontana (Eds.), The existential self in society (pp. 207–221). Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Sherrill, C. 1993a. Women with disabilities. In G. L. Cohen (Ed.), Women in sport: Issues and controversies (pp. 238–248). Newbury Park, CA: Sage. Sherrill, C. 1993b. Women with disability, paralympics, and reasoned action contact theory. Women in Sport and Physical Activity Journal, 2(2), 51–60. Strauss, A., and Corbin, J. 1990. Basics of qualitative research: Grounded theory procedures and techniques. Newbury Park, CA: Sage. Taub, D. W., Blinde, E. M., and Greer, K. R. (in press). Stigma management through participation in sport and physical activity: Experiences of male college students with physical disabilities. Human Relations. Theberge, N. 1985. Toward a feminist alternative to sport as a male preserve. Quest, 37, 193–202. Wendell, S. 1989. Toward a feminist theory of disability. Hypathia, 4, 104–124. Whitson, D. 1990. Sport in the social construction of masculinity. In M. A. Messner and D. F. Sabo (Eds.), Sport, men, and the gender order: Critical feminist perspectives (pp. 12–29. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics. Willis, P. 1994. Women in sport in ideology. In S. Birrell and C. L. Cole (Eds.), Women, sport, and culture (pp. 31–45). Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics. y ANABOLIC STEROIDS The Gremlins of Sport Terry Todd Tam Thompson, a 27-year-old graduate student in physical education, has competed in the sport of powerlifting since 1982 and admits having used anabolic steroids to improve her performance. Like many other athletes in an increasingly wide variety of sports, Tam felt that using anabolic steroids (synthetic derivatives of the male hormone, testosterone, which helps in the building of muscle size and strength) would give her a competitive edge. Before using steroids, Tam had never won a national title nor set any official records and she hoped steroids would allow her to catch the top women. In this quest she was ultimately successful. Two years ago, Tam decided to stop using the drugs and the result was a significant drop in her level of strength. Excerpted from Terry Todd, “Anabolic Steroids: The Gremlins of Sport,” Journal of Sport History 14:1 (1987): 87–88. The following interview represents one of the few times a woman athlete has discussed her drug usage for the record.1 Much of what Tam has to say may seem extraordinary to those who are removed from the world of competitive sports, but neither the amounts of drugs she took, her attitude toward those drugs, nor the side effects she experienced are atypical of what many observers now see regularly among men and women who use these substances. Tam’s interest in, involvement with, and ultimate opposition to anabolic steroids began shortly after her first competition in powerlifting. I remember after my first powerlifting meet thinking, “I can’t believe I finished sixth out of the nine women in my weight class. I know I’m stronger than they are.” And so, instead of training harder or going to better techniques, I figured they were taking drugs and I would too. I’d catch up. “And besides,” I told myself, “if I decide this is a bad thing, I can simply stop.” The dealer was steering me. He told me, “Stay away from Dianabol and testosterone , they’re not good for women.” And of course, that was tantalizing to me. I thought, “What is this? This is chauvinistic. Why can the men take these stronger drugs and not me?” I started on Anavar and decided it didn’t work, so I switched to injections of Equipoise—you know, the new veterinary steroid everyone’s using—and decadurabolin . Then I added some Dianabol on top—generally five to six a day, and then, when I was about five weeks out from the U.S. Women’s Nationals I started a cycle of testosterone, too. I started off with one half cc a week, then one cc the next week, then to one and one-half, then two cc’s, and finally, the week before the meet, I took three cc’s. I was pretty well tanked. And then three days before the meet I started taking shots of aqueous testosterone —the real nasty stuff that hurts when it goes in. I mean you put that thing in your hip...