Steroids are becoming more and more present in fitness and female bodybuilding.
Steroids, once notoriously famous for their abuse by bodybuilders, fitness buffs, and professional athletes, have found their way into wardrobes of many young damsels nowadays. Various surveys by both independent and federal agencies, including CDC, suggest that the abuse of steroids is surprisingly widespread in young women and that approximately 5 percent of high school girl students abuse steroids throughout the States. This figure reflects a small part of a big picture that includes young women in universities and married women which contribute almost equally to this rapidly growing trend, although for different reasons!
Various surveys have found that women use steroids for reasons that are often quite different from those of men. A diverse array of possible reasons has been documented by these surveys that include, but are not limited to, the following:
Women use steroids against victimization:
This is another cause why a lot of women have started using steroids. Women are weak as compared to their male counterpart. Due to this, they are the most affected when it comes to gender-related violence. There are very many cases of spousal abuse worldwide, and a majority of the victims are women. There are also very many rape cases worldwide, and still, the majority of the victims are women.
In fact, most of the steroid users who are female are more likely to be victims of gender-related violence. They consider themselves weaker, and therefore they start taking steroids so that they become stronger. I can not say I blame them, if I were in their shoe I would have probably ended up doing the same thing.
Some women, who either stay alone and are victims of rape, use steroids because of the circumstantial tendency of feeling insecure. They feel a strong need to protect themselves, and they begin abusing steroids often under the misguided beliefs that being bigger and stronger would discourage any attempts on their feminineness. So, women who have experienced physical or sexual violence fall for steroids to boost their muscle size and not to mention, their self-confidence!
Female bodybuilding and steroids in competition
There are a lot of women who take part in the bodybuilding contest. In fact in the recent bodybuilding tournaments among women has gained a lot of recognition and popularity. Women also want to attain active muscle progress just like their male counterpart, and what better way to do this than to use steroids. Professional bodybuilders who use steroids can achieve fast muscle development compared to their male counterpart.
This era is gripped with “winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing” philosophy which creates a substantial pressure to win and perform in sports. Some athletes, both girls, and boys succumb to such pressure and resort to steroids for help.
The cardiovascular system yields when an athlete blasts up with steroids. Heart attacks and strokes can happen to anyone on steroids, even teenagers. Many teenagers have died while taking steroids. Additionally, steroid use decreases the healthy levels of cholesterol. The risk of blood clots increases with steroid use as well.
Women use steroids to be fit and sexy
A majority of women take steroids so that they can enhance their sex appeal. The world we live in so materialistic and the first thing a guy will go for are your looks rather than your inside charm. Steroids can be able to transform their body.If they are skinny, they can be able to get a body full of curves, and if they are overweight, then steroids can help them get a trim figure. There is a lot of competition among men since they are the majority in the universe.
Statistics show that for every man there are five women and this is just how stiff the competition is. Such type of reasoning is what drives women to start using steroids in the first place.
If you need to know whether you are obsessed with your self-image below are some of the symptoms:
- Restraining yourself out in the mirror on a regular basis
- If you find yourself very depressed because of missing a single workout or meal
- If you are taking steroids and yet you are acutely aware of the potential side effects
- Being delusional about your musculature
- Surprisingly, many steroid users take the drug not to recover from injuries or for body building, but only to look better. It has turned out to be a dangerous trend to use steroids to get a fit, toned figure, especially among teenage girls!
As a result, there are certain side effects of steroids which affect women specifically, and these include acne, male pattern baldness, deepening of the voice, increased facial hair growth, increased sexual desire, hypertrophy of the clitoris, extreme irritability, delusions, and breast atrophy. There may be premature growth termination due to premature skeletal maturation, changes in or cessation of menstrual cycles, etc.
However, the condition becomes more complex when the women are pregnant. Some reports indicate that steroid use by pregnant women may lead to growth retardation of the fetus. It may even result in fetal death. However, these side effects have not been examined orderly.
Steroids, on the other hand, not only induce serious health concerns as mentioned but are counter-productive and make the anabolic conditions less desirable to severe muscle building. When your muscles get used to a dose of steroids, they keep expecting it and need it in larger doses all of the time. These long-term adverse effects of steroid use far outweigh any short-term muscle gain you may experience.
Conversely, women who take steroids often experience masculine traits, such as a loss of body fat, breast shrinkage, and rough skin. A body hair begins to grow extremely while their scale hair thins. Women on steroids also tend to have an enlarged clitoris and deeper voice.
To wind up, no doubt steroids are of immense medical significance, but they do more damage than benefit if they are not judiciously used. So, even if you get a brain fart and you decide to pop in some pills that you think will make you toned and muscular, just let your physician know about it. He or she should be able to advise you about many healthy alternatives that are available to increase your energy or improve your appearance!
