Gay and bisexual boys are more likely to abuse steroids

sun-sentinel.com ^ | February 3, 2014 | Will Boggs MD

[ilovesarah2012]

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Gay and bisexual boys are almost six times as likely as their heterosexual peers to misuse steroids, according to a new study.

"What was most surprising to us was the magnitude of the disparities that emerged between sexual minority and heterosexual boys," Aaron J. Blashill from Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston told Reuters Health in an email.

Upwards of 5 percent of adolescent boys use anabolic-androgenic steroids to enhance strength, athletic performance, and muscle size, but nobody had studied the association between sexual orientation and steroid abuse before, Blashill and his colleague Steven A. Safren noted.

Long-term misuse of steroids can lead to heart problems, hormone-related changes and psychiatric disorders.

The researchers were concerned that gay and bisexual boys might be more likely to misuse steroids because of other factors that have been tied to steroid and other substance abuse. Those include depression, victimization, suicidal thoughts and intent and poor body image.

[fwdude]

Maybe they accidentally misuse steroids while they are strung out on crystal meth.

[miss marmelstein]

Guess you don’t know much about gay culture, do you?

[Durus]

A adolescent boy who was recently raped into thinking he is “gay” isn’t part of any culture.

[miss marmelstein]

The article is talking about teenagers who identify as “gay” are bulking up on steroids and using weightlifting to increase their size. There is a frisson of victimization in the article but very little detail. Mostly it's about how they don't like their body images. As someone who knows the culture up front and personal, I will reiterate that these kids are doing it to make themselves attractive - not because they are afraid someone will kick sand in their face. I'm so sick of people buying into gay victimization.

[Durus]

What is with you and equating boys being raped by gay men and "bullying"? These are not the same things. Someone who is victimized in this way displays some very predictable behaviors (not the least of which is a predilection to become a predator themselves). Their profound sense of powerlessness and severe sexual identity issues, compounded by a popular culture that celebrates their rapist, is a lot more serious than someone kicking sand in their face.

These boys are not "gay" they are rape victims that need help. Until we understand that as a culture we are only perpetuating more victims.

[miss marmelstein]

What is it with you not to read the article you are commenting on? This article has nothing to do with rape. It is simply about male teenagers bulking up on steroids. Not all gay men were raped as a child. Many of them will tell you that they knew from an early age that they were “different.” Some will tell you they wanted to be girls as children. And, yes, some were abused by men as children and then identify with their abuser. But none of this has anything to do with steroids or bullying or rape. It is about the perfect body.

If you don’t believe me, after you’ve read the article, scroll down to a comment left by Squirrel 16. He will explain the whole sorry story to you.

[Durus]

There is no such thing as talking about boys being "gay" without talking about rape. Not all "gay" men (and women) were raped as children but the overwhelming majority were (some studies show more than 80%).

Thank you I've read the article, and I'm not all that concerned with the justifications and manifestations of their mental illness commonly called "gay culture". I'm much more concerned about child molestation and the spread of "gay culture" via molestation.

[miss marmelstein]

The comment explains - by a gay man - his horrified view of the idea fixe of the body beautiful in gay culture. That is all I’m trying to explain to you. You keep talking about rape & molestation that has nothing to do with the original article. Do you seriously believe that these kids are bulking up because they’re afraid of being raped?

[Dead Corpse]

I’m a weight lifting, heterosexual male who used a perfectly legal andro-stack before the idiots in Congress outlawed them in the same class as narcotics because some folks in the MLB were making everyone else look pathetic and weak.

Repeat after me: Correlation is not Causation.

I started lifting weights because I wanted to be stronger and look better to the opposite sex.

I keep lifting because it helps cut down on the number of health issues the rest of those sedentary types have to deal with.

Using this idiots “logic” in this article, you could just as easily make the claim that ANY kind of working out is just another way of being Gay.

Utterly moronic.

[Durus]

"You keep talking about rape & molestation that has nothing to do with the original article".

How can anyone talk about "gay" adolescents without talking about molestation and rape? This is how "gay" people are made, and even the homosexuals know this. They call it "recruiting". Their "culture" is made up of the manifestations and effects of this childhood trauma.

"Do you seriously believe that these kids are bulking up because they’re afraid of being raped"?

That is an oversimplification of a psychological reaction to abuse. It makes a lot more sense than a "gay gene" (which can't be proven to exist) causing people's body image problems, which seems to be manifested by a certain group, which just coincidentally have, to a overwhelming degree, been victims of rape.

[Dead Corpse]

You know who else likes a well-toned, solidly muscled physique?

Women.

Some of us heterosexual guys noticed this and workout to make ourselves more appealing to... That’s right... Women.

Whod’a thunk it?

[miss marmelstein]

What’s your point?

[Dead Corpse]

The article is another example of driving an agenda via correlation.

I thought that would have been obvious.