Digital media’s discursive strategies against anabolic-androgenic steroids: A corpus-assisted discourse analysis

Abstract

The purposes of this study are twofold. First, it investigates how the digital media discursively react against the use of anabolic-androgenic steroids (AAS). Second, it examines how Thailand is portrayed as a venue for steroid holiday among recreational bodybuilders from the Western countries. Adhering to the principle of theoretical triangulation, the study employs two frameworks including Reisigl and Wodak’s discursive strategies and Van Dijk’s ideological structures. The methodology undertaken is a corpus-assisted discourse analysis. The corpus contains 100 articles published on various websites between the period of 2014 and 2019 with the total number of 107,116 words. Main findings indicate that, regarding the first purpose, the media portray AAS as the ‘outgroup’ by employing various negative lexical items while attempting to dilute any claimed benefits. Concerning the second purpose, Thailand is represented as a venue in which AAS are easily available coupled with corrupt dealers and lax regulations.

Keywords

Anabolic-androgenic steroids corpus-assisted discourse analysis digital media discursive strategies ideological structures Thailand

Introduction

Anabolic-androgenic steroids (henceforth AAS) are a range of hormones embodying testosterone and its derivatives (Kanayama et al., 2010). Available in both oral and injectable forms, they are popularly used in bodybuilding for enhanced sportive performance. Despite their powerful effects in increasing muscle size, definition and strength, medical discourses have reiterated health warnings against such substances. Physically, they can potentially cause impaired post-exercise hypotension (Junior et al., 2018), cardiomyopathy in young and fit individuals (Ahlgrim and Guglin, 2009), ischemic stroke (Esperón et al., 2016), sudden cardiac arrest in case of prolonged use (Lusetti et al., 2015), sexual dysfunction (Van Amsterdam et al., 2010) and acute kidney injury (Ostovar et al., 2017). Behaviourally, they correspond to ‘more aggressive alcohol use and a higher incidence of substance dependence and anxiety disorders’ (Ip et al., 2015: 450), polypharmacy and misuse of various prescription drugs (Ip et al., 2019). In adolescents, AAS was found to offer them ‘greater odds of engaging in other illicit drug, alcohol, and tobacco use, fighting, suicide risk taking, vehicular risk taking and pathogenic weight loss behaviour’ (Miller et al., 2002: 467).

Digital media: Their growing influence and representational role

Taken those possible health hazards into account, a global trend to curb AAS use continues. Nonetheless, evidence suggests that an attempt to take corrective measures exists at the government level (Andreasson and Henning, 2019). While the academia has made repeated calls for interventions from every party concerned (Bates et al., 2018; Christiansen et al., 2017), little scholarly attention has been paid to digital media’s discursive role in reinforcing such a trend. Therefore, it is an aim of this study to fill in this research gap.

As the world is becoming more extensively wired, the digital media are securing a position of growing prominence. They are perceived to be more influential than traditional offline media in a number of ways. First, their convergent characteristic renders more convenience to users. This means different kinds of media content including motion pictures, text or music can be broadcast simultaneously on various devices including computers, tablets and smartphones. Second, they are interactional, allowing users to become content creators and share their self-generated material within a network. Third, they are pervasive. Empowered by web 2.0 technology, they enable ‘people to access and post information at any time and from any location’ (Delfanti and Arvidsson, 2019: 10).

Regarding the role of the digital media, the current study asserts that they perform what Hall (2013) referred to as ‘representation’. Several approaches are developed in order to explicate how it operates. In this article, it is argued that the digital media adopt the constructionist approach by utilising ‘the conceptual systems of their culture and the linguistic and other representational systems to construct meaning’ (Hall, 2013: 11). Applying such approach to the context of AAS, the digital media do not merely reflect the fact that AAS use exists in society; they discursively manoeuvre the way the information regarding AAS is disseminated. As Hodkinson (2017) indicated, ‘media content does not reflect these [social trends and cultural values] perfectly or neutrally. Media producers are highly selective with respect to what they include, and they present those elements which they do include in very particular ways’ (p. 5, italic in original). Given their growing influence as mentioned earlier, what the digital media elect to represent is therefore worth a detailed investigation.

Recreational bodybuilders

The aforementioned discourse regarding anti-AAS use definitely aims to reach particular audiences. It is argued that the prime target is recreational bodybuilders. Historically, Kanayama and Pope (2018) outlined that AAS were highly popular among professional bodybuilders from the 1950s through the 1970s. Subsequently, as they observed, AAS spilt over to the general population and obtained widespread recognition. Unlike elite bodybuilders, this segment of users are known as recreational bodybuilders who resort to AAS not for competition but rather for an aesthetically pleasing physique, which is associated with ‘enhanced self-esteem and perceived social competence’ (Schwerin et al., 1996: 1). In their earlier work, Kanayama et al. (2010) noted that the majority of them are boys and men predominantly in Western countries.

Subsequently, Christiansen et al. (2017) constructed a specific typology of the men who use AAS. First, the Expert type is those who are enthralled by ‘the effects of pharmacological substances on human physiology as well as the knowledge and control one can acquire over one’s body’ (p. 297). Second, the Well-being type is those who are ‘oriented towards looking and feeling good’ (p. 299); the You Live Only Once (YOLO) type is those who have ‘a largely uncritical and haphazard engagement’ with AAS (p. 300); and the Athlete type is those who use AAS for competitions. It is this last group which belongs to the aforementioned ‘professional bodybuilder’ category, whereas the others are regarded as recreational bodybuilders. Building upon this work, Zahnow et al. (2018) presented the number of each type on a percentage basis. The recreational bodybuilder group (the first three types) accounts for 74.6% against the professional bodybuilder group (25.4%).

Steroid holiday in Thailand: Ongoing uncharted territory

With regard to destination management, particularly in case of Thailand, previous literature tends to analyse it according to two major tenets. On a positive aspect, it is regarded as pursuing a successful marketing strategy of ‘Amazing Thailand’ which includes positioning itself as a hub for medical tourism (Ooi, 2011). Moreover, its beach and cultural tourism is openly acknowledged (Boniface et al., 2016).

On a negative aspect, a controversial point is raised regarding sex tourism. Urry (2005) observed that such phenomenon is ‘metonymic of the place with the part, the service, standing for the whole’ (p. 22). In other words, the country is equated with being a place offering an opportunity for sexual indulgence. Montgomery (2018) even went further to argue that sex tourism in Thailand is associated with child prostitution. Nevertheless, that the country is a venue for steroid holiday among recreational bodybuilders, an issue also belonging to this aspect, has received insufficient scholarly attention. Therefore, this study aims to narrow this knowledge gap. For clarification purposes, steroid holiday in Thailand refers to a bodybuilder visiting the country in order to take ‘combinations of steroids every 48 to 72 hours for up to two months, until the user is bulked up enough to return to his home country’ (Heifetz, 2014).

Altogether, this study aims to narrow the research gaps by investigating the digital media’s discursive role in representing AAS use and Thailand as a venue in which Western recreational bodybuilders take their steroid holiday, inasmuch as it intends to answer the following research questions:

RQ1. How do the digital media discursively take a dim view of AAS use?

RQ2. How is Thailand represented in the digital media as a venue for AAS holiday?

Discursive strategies and ideological structures

The frameworks employed to answer the aforementioned research questions are discursive strategies and ideological structures. First, discursive strategies are one of the three fundamental principles of the discourse-historical approach (Reisigl and Wodak, 2016), while the others include content and linguistic means/realisations. Analysing the discursive strategies involves asking the following questions (pp. 32–33):

How are persons, objects, phenomena, events, processes and actions named and referred to linguistically? (nomination strategies)

What characteristics, qualities and features are attributed to social actors, objects, phenomena/events and processes? (predication strategies)

What arguments are employed in the discourse in question? (argumentation strategies)

From what perspective are these nominations, attributions and arguments expressed? (perspectivisation strategies)

Are the respective utterances articulated overtly, intensified or mitigated? (intensification or mitigation strategies)

Second, the ideological structures are one of the three key principles of a sociocognitive approach (Van Dijk, 2016) belonging to the discourse component. The others include the cognitive and the social component. An ideology refers to ‘shared, general and abstract mental representations that should be applicable to the many situations in which ideological group members may find themselves’ (Van Dijk, 2011: 389, italic in original). Note that within the concept of ideology lies the concept of ‘attitude’ which refers to ‘ideologically based belief clusters about specific social issues’ (Van Dijk, 2011: 389, italic in original). In this study, it can be specifically stated that the digital media’s attitude towards the specific issue of steroid use is investigated. Taken together, the ideological structures of discourse can be realised through the following instances: ‘polarisation, pronouns, identification, emphasis of positive self-descriptions and negative other-descriptions, activities norms and values and interests’ (Van Dijk, 2016: 73–74).

Regarding the first research question, the discursive strategies offer analytical lens on how the digital media portray the object in question (AAS) through those five strategies. Furthermore, since it is hypothesised that they adopt their critical stance against AAS use, polarisation must be in place. In other words, they are supposed to emphasise the good things of not using AAS while accentuating the bad things of using them.

Concerning the second research question, the object of analysis shifts from the AAS to Thailand. Despite this change, the five strategies can still be implemented to shed light on how the Western digital media represent the country in terms of being a venue for steroid holiday. Such representation can also reflect their identification as well as norms and values which they cherish regarding the anti-AAS issue.

Methodology

Subtirelu and Baker’s (2018) six steps of corpus-based discourse studies were followed with minor adaptations to suit the research questions.

Step 1: Research topic and questions

A number of research topics and questions were considered before carrying out Steps 2 and 3. After those two steps, they were refined to constitute the final questions as mentioned earlier.

Step 2: Background research

Prior to entering the realm of the Western digital media, the researcher conducted background research with the Thai digital media. It was discovered that the issue of steroid holiday in Thailand was initially discussed in the online version of Bangkok Post, a national English newspaper (Heifetz, 2014).

Step 3: Corpus collection

Guided by the information from Step 2, the researcher began creating the corpus from the year of 2014 until 2019. A point of departure was keying in the search words (steroids and Thailand) on three popular search engines – Google, Yahoo and Bing (Murray et al., 2016) – and browsing through the entries. Within those portals, the first five pages were set as a cut-off point for data retrieval (Murray et al., 2016). Altogether, the purpose-built corpus consisted of 100 articles with a total number of 107,116 words. Their genres included news reports, magazine articles and newspaper editorials. All of them were published online within the period specified earlier. Subsequently, they were converted into a machine-readable format. Based on Baker (2017), AntConc was the corpus analysis software utilised in this study.

Step 4: Corpus-driven analysis – Keyword extraction

The keyword list is ‘useful in suggesting lexical items that could warrant further examination’ (Baker, 2008: 125). Keywords are ‘words that have a significantly higher frequency of occurrence in one corpus than in another comparison corpus’ (Subtirelu and Baker, 2018: 113). This triggered the need to have a reference corpus. An eligibility criterion for selecting such a corpus was that it contained general English.

Given the type of data in this study which concerns web-based content, the reference corpus used was the Leipzig Corpora Collection. Among an assortment of data in the corpus, this study selected the ‘web’ category which was the miscellaneous collection of text randomly taken from websites (Goldhahn et al., 2012). Furthermore, within that category, special attention was given to only the content from the websites in Western countries since the focus of this study is the text production from the Western media. Taken together, the reference corpus contained 2.1 million words.

After acquiring the reference corpus, the measures emphasised was keyness, which refers to ‘the degree to which a word is more common in one corpus than in a comparison or reference corpus’ (Subtirelu and Baker, 2018: 113).

Step 5: Qualitative analysis

The five discursive strategies and the ideological structures were used as the frameworks. The data from the corpus were classified according to those theoretical lens.

Step 6: Corpus-based analysis – Collocation analysis

The collocation list was consulted as part of the development of a practical guideline for the analysis. Worthy of note here is that Steps 4 and 6 have been particularly applied in the previous literature regarding discourse analysis (i.e. Dayrell, 2019; Salama, 2011).

Results and discussion

The keyword list

Based on the search words (steroid, steroids and Thailand), the system showed a similar pattern of results as displayed in Table 1. Due to the nature of the research which concerns discourse analysis, only content words were selected for investigation (Mautner, 2016). The statistical measure adopted was log-likelihood because it is a common method to verify whether the frequency of occurrences is merely coincidental (Anderson and Corbett, 2009; Jones and Waller, 2015) and is not sensitive to a widely differing corpora size (Rayson and Garside, 2000). For a more thorough analysis, the normed frequency is also displayed in the table apart from the raw frequency. Such figure was computed based on a conventional notion of frequency per 1000 words (Subtirelu and Baker, 2018). In addition, for comparison and contrast purposes, the raw and the normed frequency of the reference corpus is also displayed.

Table 1.

Top keywords in the purpose-built corpus in comparison with the reference corpus.

Keywords	Frequency	Frequency in Reference Corpus	Normed Frequency	Normed Frequency in Reference Corpus	Keyness
Steroid	782	91	7.30	0.84	8475.17
Steroids	443	127	4.13	1.18	4730.20
Anabolic	332	35	3.09	0.32	3679.16
Muscle	407	1119	3.79	10.44	3029.48
Bigorexia	219	0	2.04	0	2579.20
Men	559	7834	5.21	73.13	2518.33
Body	555	10,053	5.18	93.85	2236.73
Dysmorphia	179	0	1.67	0	2108.11
Gym	222	620	2.07	5.78	1646.55
Drugs	210	2298	1.96	21.45	1042.39

The keyword list corresponds to what has been expounded in the ‘Recreational bodybuilders’ section that AAS use is commonplace among men rather than women. Furthermore, the list exhibits a term denoting a mental disorder called bigorexia. It is technically known as muscle dysmorphia: a deep-seated belief, typically among men, that their physique looks minuscule while in fact it is very brawny. This is contextually related to what Pope et al. (2002) observed that a host of men with muscle dysmorphia resort to AAS as a means to attain a more advanced level of muscularity, with a misconception that such attainment can alleviate the physical anxiety.

The collocation list

The total number of steroid, steroids and Thailand collocates was 1313, 1699 and 169 respectively. The statistical measure used was mutual information (MI) because it provides extensive evidence of how commonly lexical items collocate with others (Anderson and Corbett, 2009) and is able to measure the strength of the relationship between the search terms and the co-textual elements. Nonetheless, due to space limitations, all entries cannot be displayed in the table nor incorporated in the analysis. Therefore, the selection of collocates, as displayed in Table 2, was guided by their tendency to answer the research questions.

Table 2.

Salient collocates of steroid, steroids and Thailand in the purpose-built corpus at a −5 to +5 span.

Term	Selected collocates	MI
Steroid	Snowballing	8.91
	Wholesale	7.91
	Vacations	7.91
	Unrecognized	7.91
	Unapproved	7.91
	Threatened	7.91
	Taboo	7.91
	Unlicensed	7.50
	Seized	7.43
	Aussies	7.33
Steroids	Pharmacology	8.09
	Varieties	7.68
	Weapon	7.09
	Volatile	7.09
	Useless	7.09
	Unethical	7.09
	Unbalanced	7.09
	Anabolic	6.70
	Illegally	6.68
	Overdose	6.51
Thailand	Prime	11.75
	Lures	11.75
	Hotspot	11.75
	Greece	11.75
	Vacation	10.75
	Turkey	9.75
	Bodybuilders	8.98
	Pattaya	8.58
	Customs	8.75
	Sydney	6.99

MI: mutual information.

At this juncture, the data from the two tables serve as a sensible starting point for the in-depth analysis to answer the two research questions.

RQ1. How do the digital media discursively take a dim view of AAS use?

The media take issue with AAS by means of adopting all of the five discursive strategies. Note that the analysis covers both steroid and its plural form.

Nomination strategies

The way AAS are referred to linguistically is largely negative. This corroborates Van Dijk (2016)’s ideological ingroup–outgroup polarisation. In this case, AAS are regarded as the ‘outgroup’ which the media negatively christen them as a problem (1), a crisis (2), a disease (3) something unnatural (4) and a risk (5). Worthy of note here is that the last item is depicted metaphorically by the lexical item ‘Russian roulette’ of which the connotative meaning is associated with risk:

(1) It’s largely because both the general public and professionals aren’t fully aware of the steroid problem. (Mel Magazine, 29 March 2017)

(2) Health professionals have been warned to prepare for a potential anabolic steroid health crisis as more young men use them to enhance their body image. (Sydney Morning Herald, 14 November 2017)

(3) Reporter Barry O’Kelly leaves no stones unturned, or kilos unburned, in this investigation into an epidemic of steroid use in Ireland. (The Irish Times, 13 December 2018)

(4) With too much of these testosterone-like chemicals running around their system, people are at the mercy of a whole host of nasty side effects. (ABC News, 29 September 2016)

(5) What makes someone play Russian roulette with a steroid-filled syringe? (The Guardian, 17 July 2019)

Predication strategies

Unlike the first strategy which deliberately targets AAS per se, this strategy points out their predominant features. The similarity between both strategies, however, lies in the fact that such characterisation is also conducted on a negative basis. It is divided into the characterisation by adjectives and verbs. The former is further subdivided into portraying AAS as something illegal (6) and worrying (7). The latter is further classified as AAS being a trickster (8), something that causes difficulty (9) and something illegal (10). Note that the meaning of (6) and (10) is practically identical. Nonetheless, (6) seems to convey that AAS are a taboo subject for the public in general, whereas (10) suggests that they are unlawful within a specific context (professional sport in this case):

(6) Illicit steroid use was very underground, no one would mention it. (ABC News, 10 March 2014)

(7) The snowballing steroid phenomenon is gathering speed. (Men’s Health, 2 August 2017)

(8) Anabolic steroids fool the brain’s pituitary gland into thinking the testes are going into overdrive. So the glands react by shutting down the production of two hormones – called FSH and LH – which are the key hormones that drive the production of sperm. (BBC, 28 May 2019)

(9) If you’re struggling with steroids or thinking about taking them yourself, advice is available from DrugInfo: 1800 85 85 84. (ABC News, 17 March 2017)

(10) Anabolic steroids are banned by all major sports bodies including the Olympics, NFL, FIFA and the NBA. (RNZ, 15 December 2016)

Argumentation strategies

The media advance two major arguments. First, it is the claim regarding AAS side effects which cover the physical (11)–(12), mental (13)–(14), personal (15) and professional (16) aspects. Note that the first two domains can be depicted on a concrete (11) and (13), and abstract (12) and (14) basis. By ‘concrete’ it means the media explicitly state the name of the symptom or illness. Such statement is absent in the abstract depiction.

Second, it is the claim with regard to AAS being associated with other social problems. They include a narcissistic society (17), patriarchy in which heteronormativity become the established norm and men who deviate from it become marginalised (18), HIV prevalence (19) and street violence (20):

(11) Steroid use has long been associated with central hypertrophy of the heart and valve issues. (National Council on Strength and Fitness, 12 April 2016)

(12) Likewise, hospital statistics show a rise in the number of patients with steroid poisoning – 2,660 people in 2008, up from 1606 in 2003. (Men’s Health, 2 August 2017)

(13) In the sad case of Mark Egan, told by his widow, Sarita, the family man became dependent on steroids in search of a better physique for his wedding day. He died a different character, by suicide, following a torment of psychotic and paranoid episodes. (The Irish Times, 13 December 2018)

(14) This pursuit of perfection (steroid use) in the form of muscle mass can have a profound effect on mental health. (ITV News, 9 November 2017)

(15) Steroids dramatically heighten your libido. I (the man interviewed by the newspaper) cheated on all of my girlfriends and did not have a stable relationship in this period. Steroid abuse must have killed off more than ten relationships. (The Sun, 24 November 2015)

(16) REALITY star Spencer Matthews was booted out of the I’m A Celebrity jungle after confessing to a secret steroid addiction. (The Sun, 24 November 2015, capitalisation in original)

(17) We live in an appearance-obsessed society where the latest medical technology is widely acceptable solely to improve personal self-image. Everyone wants to look better naked. Every guy wants a killer set of abs, as do more and more women. In a society such as ours that is increasingly driven by vanity is it really so surprising that drugs that can help add muscle and shed some fat have become so popular? (HuffPost, 23 September 2015)

(18) Another study by the American Academy of Paediatrics looked at teenagers who identified as gay or bisexual. They were five times more likely to be on anabolic steroids than straight teens. These statistics shouldn’t surprise us. They are a response to an amplification of hypermasculinity and patriarchy in our society. Men who sleep with men grow up not being validated in their manhood. This is evident in how artists Chris Brown and 50 Cent still use ‘gay’ as an insult to demean someone for being less of a man. Queer men want to compensate for their perceived deficiency in manhood as a result of homophobia. (City Press, 26 January 2016)

(19) Also, in the UK there is evidence of HIV among steroid users, with an HIV prevalence of 1.5% in men who inject steroids. (The Conversation, 23 June 2016)

Perspectivisation strategies

Reisigl and Wodak (2016) proposed that this strategy concerns ideological perspectives such as neoliberal and capitalist–consumerist. This study expands their scope of analysis by suggesting that the media adopt two main positions. First, they are an advocate for health professionals (20) and authorities (21) disapproving of AAS. It is argued that such disapproval corresponds to the media’s position. Second, they provide their own perspective as a debunker. This is conducted by initially presenting differing viewpoints and subsequently disproving them. Such viewpoints touch on the issues of side effects (22), law (23), insecurity (24) and trivialisation and normalisation of AAS (25). Note that the domains of side effects and law here are different from those of the previous strategies in that, as mentioned earlier, the media does not voice their opinion immediately. Instead, they choose to present what they perceive as a misconception first before correcting it later. Furthermore, in (25), after presenting the individual’s viewpoint, the media enunciates that AAS are regarded as illegal substances:

(20) Steroid use becomes an even bigger problem when the drive to get jacked escalates to dangerous proportions, Dr Hackett says. (ABC News, 29 September 2016)

(21) The recent huge spike in reported steroid use (up by a whopping 645% between 2010 to 2013 alone, and growing according to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) is indicative of a worrying trend. (Get the Gloss, 7 November 2015)

(22) Many believe that they can avoid unwanted side effects of steroid abuse by taking them in various ways (such as combining steroids, stopping and restarting use, and/or slowly increasing their dose). However, steroids affect not only one’s muscles but also the brain and can trigger extreme paranoia, irritability, delusions, or impaired judgment. (Turning Point, 27 February 2017)

(23) Average Joe’s desire for physical perfection means steroid use has become almost mainstream affairs despite still being completely illegal without a prescription. (ABC News, 29 September 2016)

(24) If you’re insecure with your body now, you’ll be MORE insecure with how you look after steroids. Don’t try to put a physical band-aid on a psychological issue. (Mind Pump Media, 9 January 2018, capitalisation in original)

(25) These days I (Brian) find myself still pursuing my academic studies, hoping to one day be a researcher in a related field. My steroid use is a minor component of my life – it does not define me, nor does it hinder my ability to interact with others. I simply keep my personal use private, except for friends and family who I trust with the full story. Perhaps one day I will be completely open with my use, though existing drug laws and social attitudes currently make a poor decision. Until then, I will simply continue my life, enjoying training, work, study and paying bills – just like everyone else.

Note: *Brian’s name was changed. SBS does not endorse the use of illegal drugs. (SBS, 15 January 2019)

Mitigation and intensification strategies

The media simultaneously employ both mitigation and intensification strategies by virtue of comparison. This is drawn between AAS and other drugs (26), between advantages and disadvantages (27) and between life and death (28). In (26), statistical evidence is produced to intensify the being rampant of AAS, while other drugs are implicitly mitigated. In (27), the advantage is mitigated by only one example, whereas the disadvantages are intensified by three examples. In (28), the benefits of AAS (e.g. increasing muscle size to become ‘gorilla-like’ and offering the user a chance to win a competition) are mitigated by subsequent tragic incidents of the death which seemed quite untimely (at the age of 35) and violent (kidney failure requiring a surgery):

(26) Arrests for steroids rose 41.6% in 2013-2014. The longer-term trend is even more concerning. Between 2009 and 2014, arrests for steroids across Australia increased by 198%, far in excess of any other drug category. (The Conversation, 21 May 2015)

(27) These drugs [steroids] can boost muscle growth but there is a long list of side-effects. This includes hair loss, testicle shrinkage and increased risk of heart and liver problems. (BBC, 21 September 2015)

(28) Blatch shows me a photograph of himself as a solid, steroid-free 16-year-old, posing beside a gorilla-like Luke Wood, a six-time winner of the Australian Bodybuilding Championships. ‘He is dead now’, he says of the man they once called ‘Big Luke’, who died at the age of 35 in 2011, after undergoing kidney transplant surgery. (Sydney Morning Herald, 25 May 2019)

RQ2. How is Thailand represented in the digital media as a venue for AAS holiday?

The results are presented according to each type of strategy. In this case, only four are pursued by the media: nomination, predication, perspectivisation and, mitigation and intensification strategies.

Nomination strategies

They concern how Thailand is represented as a venue for AAS linguistically. To be specific, the media employ the discursive construction of actions with regard to Thailand in three ways. First, the country is depicted as a place where steroids are not expensive and easily obtainable. This is realised through the use of a simile (1), statistical comparison (2) and noun phrases (3)–(4). Note that in the last two examples, Thailand is not explicitly represented as the doer of the material verbs lure and add. Nonetheless, it can be construed that, in (3), Thailand entices bodybuilders because it is a place where AAS are easy to acquire and, in (4), Thailand stimulates young Australian bodybuilders’ interest because AAS there are cheap:

(1) A lot of bodybuilders go to Thailand, take steroids because they’re as cheap and available as candy, and then get deep-vein thrombosis on the flight back. (Sydney Morning Herald, 24 May 2019)

(2) According to the Australia Crime Commission, the price in Australia for a single 10 millilitre vial of testosterone was up to $230. In Thailand it’s about $51. (Gold Coast Bulletin, 7 March 2014)

(3) The ease of acquiring performance-enhancing drugs, such as steroids and anabolic steroids, as well as their low cost in Thailand lures thousands of bodybuilders annually to the tourist destination of Pattaya. (Agencia EFE, 11 February 2016)

(4) CHEAP steroids and hormone supplements are adding to the attraction of Thailand as a destination for young Australians hoping to boost their bulk and self-image. (Gold Coast Bulletin, 7 March 2014, capitalisation in original)

Unlike the first case where Thailand is represented on its own account, the second instance shows Thailand being among a string of countries where steroids are easily obtainable (5). Note that IPEDs stand for Image and Performance Enhancement Drugs which refers to AAS and other substances perceived as beneficial in bodybuilding such as human growth hormone (HGH) and insulin (Van Hout and Kean, 2015):

(5) There is no shortage of IPEDs in south Wales. Some users buy them on the Internet from countries such as Turkey, Greece and Thailand, where they can be bought across the counter. (The Guardian, 21 January 2018)

Third, Thailand is portrayed as a remarkable place for steroids (6)–(7). By ‘remarkable’, it carries neither positive nor negative connotation in the text itself. Rather, it depends on what Van Dijk (2016) termed as the ‘mental models’ of readers who consume the text. Such representation is realised through the use of adjectives and nouns. For certain recipients, these lexical items may sound positive if they are recreational bodybuilders aspiring to find an opportunity to ‘bulk up’ fast. For other readers who are not, they may sound negative:

(6) Thailand is a prime market for steroid vacations. (News.com.au, 22 July 2014)

(7) Thailand hotspot for young Aussies to take steroid holidays (Gold Coast Bulletin, 7 March 2014, Headline)

Predication strategies

They involve how the features of Thailand are portrayed. In this study, the country is discursively characterised negatively with regard to being a place where there are corrupt dealers (8) and lax regulations (9). In (8), the strategy is carried out implicitly by not placing Thailand as a subject but merely a prepositional adjunct. In fact, the statement presupposes that the ‘online sellers’ are based in Thailand. Moreover, they are dishonest because they ‘fooled’ Australians. In (9), the text enunciates that regulations in Thailand are not strictly observed. Health professionals like ‘chemists’ violate the law, something that they are ‘not supposed to’ do:

(8) CUSTOMS officials are warning Australians not to be fooled by online sellers after thousands of steroids from Thailand were seized at a mail centre in Sydney. (News.com.au, 18 March 2014, capitalisation in original)

(9) We went undercover in Thailand and visited chemists to get the drugs over the counter. They’re not supposed to – it’s actually illegal to sell them for aesthetic purposes, but it’s not enforced. You go in and there’s a massive book they give you with pages and pages of drugs and you can get whatever you want. (News.com.au, 22 July 2014)

Perspectivisation strategies

They refer to the position of the text producer with regard to Thailand. The media depicts Thailand as a place in which the Western standards are defied. In (10), the text presupposes that AAS are unauthorised in a Western country like Australia, but they are claimed to be legal in Thailand. Such explicit comparison reflects the Western norm and value, which are broken in this eastern country:

(10) Nathan’s idea of a dream holiday is heading to Phuket on a body improvement holiday, where he can take growth hormones and steroids illegal in Australia, but legal in Thailand, and spend time with the local women. (News.com.au, 1 February 2016)

Mitigation and intensification strategies

Like what has been explicated in the first research question, comparison is also used in this category. In this case, Thailand is compared with a Western country. At this juncture, the meaning may sound similar to that of (10). Nonetheless, the difference lies in the use of linguistic features. Here, the AAS price in Thailand is intensified by virtue of a fortifying adverb ridiculously as well as a quantifying adverb tenfold:

(11) The prices of these drugs in Thailand are ‘ridiculously cheap’ compared to those that can be found in ‘black market’ in Australia, where the price could multiply tenfold, according to the bodybuilder. (Agencia EFE, 11 February 2016)

Conclusion

Adopting the method of corpus-assisted discourse analysis, this study aims to examine two issues: how the digital media discursively contest AAS use and how Thailand is represented as a venue for steroid holiday. In the first case, five discursive strategies are employed. First, the nomination strategies are implemented by virtue of negative nouns. Second, the predication strategies characterise AAS negatively through the use of adjectives and verbs. Third, the argumentation strategies attempt to substantiate two claims: that AAS have side effects to the physical, mental, personal and professional life of users and that AAS are interrelated with other social problems including narcissism, heteronormativity, HIV and street violence. Fourth, the perspectivisation strategies highlight the media’s disapproving positions on AAS. They include the media advocating for health professionals and authorities and presenting what they perceive as misconceptions before dispelling them later. Finally, the mitigation and intensification strategies are manifested through comparison; the omnipresence of AAS is intensified when compared with other drugs and the dire consequences of AAS use are intensified while what some recreational bodybuilders regard as AAS benefits are mitigated.

In the second case, four discursive strategies are implemented. First, the nomination strategies are pursued in three aspects: Thailand as a place in which AAS are cheap and easily available, a place among the countries in which AAS are easily available and a remarkable place for AAS. Second, the predication strategies characterise Thailand negatively in respect of corrupt dealers and lax regulations. Third, the perspectivisation strategies manifest themselves when the media assume the position of Westerners pronouncing on Thailand as a place in which the Western standards are defied. Finally, the mitigation and intensification strategies are realised though fortifying and quantifying adverbs.

Recommendations for further research

In the argumentation strategies of the first research question, the theme regarding AAS in connection with other social problems emerges. Since it is primarily associated with marginalisation, inequality and power relations, it is beyond the scope of this study to generate an in-depth discussion. Therefore, such theme suggests avenues for critical discourse studies (CDS) scholars to pursue a thorough investigation.

Besides, the corpora used in this study are largely the Western media. To reveal a more comprehensive picture, future research may be conducted with the corpora retrieved from the eastern media, especially the countries portrayed by the West in the nomination strategies of the second research question. Seeing the similar issues in a different perspective is academically captivating.

Footnotes

Declaration of conflicting interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Author biography

Nattawaj Kijratanakoson is an English Lecturer at Chulalongkorn University Language Institute (CULI) in Bangkok, Thailand. From the interdisciplinary background in political science, marketing, language and communication, his research interests include discourse analysis in business contexts, social media discourse and critical discourse analysis of masculinity ideologies.

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