Bodybuilding is an increasingly popular sport in the United States. Across fields of psychology, history, sociology, and anthropology, bodybuilding has been examined as being related to, or as manifestly being, a pathology. Extant work on men who are bodybuilders are often built on the assumption that narcissism, self-doubt, and insecurity are the driving forces for men’s involvement. The present study sought to examine the experiences of eleven men who have competed in bodybuilding competitions. In contrast to the dominant academic discourse on bodybuilding as an embodiment of toxic masculinity or as a reaction to underlying feelings of inferiority, the study participants described friendly, supportive competition contexts. That such feelings were found backstage, as opposed to in a gym, strengthens the need for a more nuanced distinction between bodybuilding as a culture, and bodybuilding as a sport. This study disrupts dominant narratives of bodybuilding as pathological and contributes to work on the construction of gender and masculinity in sport. The present work suggests a scholarly approach to men’s bodybuilding in an open and nuanced manner that does not focus on pathologizing bodybuilding or competition.

健美运动在美国是一项越来越受欢迎的运动。在心理学、历史学、社会学和人类学的各个领域，健美运动已被视为与病理学相关或明显是病理学。现有的关于健美运动员的工作通常建立在自恋、自我怀疑和不安全感是男性参与的驱动力的假设之上。本研究旨在考察参加健美比赛的 11 名男子的经历。与将健美作为有毒男子气概的体现或作为对潜在自卑感的反应的主流学术话语相比，研究参与者描述了友好、支持性的竞争环境。这种感觉是在后台发现的，而不是在健身房，加强了对作为一种文化的健美和作为一项运动的健美进行更细微区分的需要。这项研究打破了关于健美运动病态的主流说法，并有助于在体育运动中构建性别和男子气概。目前的工作提出了一种以开放和细致入微的方式研究男性健美的学术方法，而不是专注于病态健美或竞争。