Drug-taking, risk boundaries and social identity: Bodybuilders' talk aboutEphedrine and Nubain

The instrumental use of steroids and analogous drugs is a normalised practi ce in bodybuilding subculture. However, in a society where bodily health an d lifestyle are conjoined, such risk-taking carries negative connotations. Bodybuilders using drugs for purposes of physique enhancement are able to r esist accusations of opprobrium and maintain competent social identity by d rawing a sharp contrast between themselves and 'junkies'. This self-serving differentiation appears untenable, however, when bodybuilders take Ephedri ne and Nubain: drugs that may be compared respectively and unfavourably to amphetamines and heroin. Using qualitative data, this paper considers the v ariable status of Ephedrine and Nubain as risk boundaries among bodybuilder s. In operating as risk boundaries, these drugs signify limits beyond which 'sensible' drug-using bodybuilders should not venture. As social construct s, risk boundaries are also contingent. Correspondingly, bodybuilders using Ephedrine and Nubain may redraw lines delimiting (in)appropriate behaviour thereby retaining competent social identity. These ethnographic observatio ns ground theoretical debate about the impact of risk society on body- and identity building in late modernity and highlight some of the limitations o f influential cultural theories of risk.