Schoolgirls using 'Roids

[jrun]

http://www.cnn.com/2005/HEALTH/04/25/girls.steroids.ap/index.html

And I thought it couldn't get any worse than a punter...

[xcrider]

People want results with no or little effort. Gambling, cosmetic surgery, steroids. I don't like it when I hear athletes or famous people say they are not a role model. They are whether they choose to be or not. I hate to think what the consequences are for a 9 year old girl using steroids for looks. Emotionally and physically. The other day I saw where people get implants to make their calf? muscles look bigger or more toned. GO OUT AND RUN! Hopefully no one on this site has those.

[Zat0pek]

Why is anyone surprised by this?

[TJPatriot]

Why is anyone surprised by this?

Some of us still have hope.

[jrun]

Why is anyone surprised by this?

This is why:

(posted by 'Pego' on T&FN board):

Could somebody answer a few questions for me?
1. 9-10 year olds are going for "that toned, model looks"?
2. How would 9-10 year olds get the steroids?
3. If not, what sort of adults would assist (support) this practice?


I'm not surprised in the least about teenagers using them for sports after pro athletes showed the world what can be done when using. People are lazy and people cheat...even young people. But, prepubescent girls? Since the 90s?

A lot of children must call Jose Canseco 'Daddy.'

[Zat0pek]

Let me ask the question again: Why is anyone surprised by this?

Seriously.

Look around at the culture we have created for kids.

The highest values, as reflected by our culture, are physical appearance and fame/celebrity. My six year old daughter told me a couple of weeks ago that she didn't want to wear a pair of stretch pants because "they make me look fat." Where the hell she got that from is totally beyond me.

As a culture, our kids have much less of anything of substance in their lives beyond the values I mentioned. We continue to spiral down the cultural toilet of selfishness and self-centeredness, slowly but inexorably drifting away from the traditional anchors kids had in family and community. Appearance and superficiality have become our stock in trade. Impulse control and delaying gratification have vanished from the cultural landscape.

I'll ask again.

Why is anyone surprised by this?

[CTsnapple]

Because I can't conceive how a 9-10 year old girl would acquire these drugs.

And more on a naive end, I can't see how anyone would sell or give these drugs to a 9-10 year old. I don't see how parents could see this as acceptable or what kind of person would give these substances to a 9-10 year old(with or without parental permission).

That's what is surprising, to me at least.

[Zat0pek]

Because I can't conceive how a 9-10 year old girl would acquire these drugs.

And more on a naive end, I can't see how anyone would sell or give these drugs to a 9-10 year old. I don't see how parents could see this as acceptable or what kind of person would give these substances to a 9-10 year old(with or without parental permission).

Older sibling that plays sport and uses. They self-dose, or the sibling helps.

Contacts at school, or any other way young kids get ahold of illegal drugs.

Complicit parents (I wouldn't be surprised by this at all given some of the things I see in some parents).

[exjersey1]

Let me ask the question again: Why is anyone surprised by this?

Seriously.

Look around at the culture we have created for kids.

The highest values, as reflected by our culture, are physical appearance and fame/celebrity. My six year old daughter told me a couple of weeks ago that she didn't want to wear a pair of stretch pants because "they make me look fat." Where the hell she got that from is totally beyond me.

As a culture, our kids have much less of anything of substance in their lives beyond the values I mentioned. We continue to spiral down the cultural toilet of selfishness and self-centeredness, slowly but inexorably drifting away from the traditional anchors kids had in family and community. Appearance and superficiality have become our stock in trade. Impulse control and delaying gratification have vanished from the cultural landscape.

I'll ask again.

Why is anyone surprised by this?


Complete agreement from me on this.

Cosmetic surgery. Cosmetic drugs. We just seem in general to be a short-attention-span society.

[mzungu]

wait, before we talk about whether we're surprised or should be, why don't we, in the midst of a minor version of the drug hysteria of the 1980s, which saw dozens of false hysterical claims go unrefuted by the media, ask to what extent 9 year old girls are actually using steroids. The article never once gives a statistic showing that lots of 9 year old girls are using them. The only statistic in the article is the following:
"Overall, up to about 5 percent of high school girls and 7 percent of middle-school girls admit trying anabolic steroids at least once, with use of rising steadily since 1991, various government and university studies have shown."

First of all, we would have to ask why we should take the 5% of hs girls and 7% of middle-school girls seriously, when obviously kids are more likely to HAVE tried and to BEGIN trying drugs when they are older. That is, there should be fewer at the middle school level.

Second, we know that anabolic steroids are rightly prescribed for various medical conditions, and so we must exclude from the 5% of hs girls the likely majority of those who have been prescribed them legitimately for real problems. Then, what is the percentage using them for non-legitimate non-medical conditions?

Third, the studies are based on self-reporting, which is somewhat unreliable because some kids will lie and some will not even know what steroids are.

Fourth, if 5% of hs girls (14-18--probably most of them toward the upper range) use steroids, what is the real number for nine year olds? probably way under 1%, and that's probably including legitimate prescriptions for medical use. I'm just not going to believe the hype on this one without any data at all.
I agree about the body image thing, but feminists have talked about that one for forty years--my nephew, when he was 5, was already saying he didn't want to eat too much because he'd get fat, and it turned out that he got this from his friend who was 7, and whose mom is obsessed with her weight.

[xcrider]

First of all, we would have to ask why we should take the 5% of hs girls and 7% of middle-school girls seriously, when obviously kids are more likely to HAVE tried and to BEGIN trying drugs when they are older. That is, there should be fewer at the middle school level.

Second, we know that anabolic steroids are rightly prescribed for various medical conditions, and so we must exclude from the 5% of hs girls the likely majority of those who have been prescribed them legitimately for real problems. Then, what is the percentage using them for non-legitimate non-medical conditions?

Third, the studies are based on self-reporting, which is somewhat unreliable because some kids will lie and some will not even know what steroids are.

Fourth, if 5% of hs girls (14-18--probably most of them toward the upper range) use steroids, what is the real number for nine year olds? probably way under 1%, and that's probably including legitimate prescriptions for medical use. I'm just not going to believe the hype on this one without any data at all.
I agree about the body image thing, but feminists have talked about that one for forty years--my nephew, when he was 5, was already saying he didn't want to eat too much because he'd get fat, and it turned out that he got this from his friend who was 7, and whose mom is obsessed with her weight.

Sure, but that just emphasizes, that you need to be careful what you say around your kids AND that 3rd grade is not too early to start talking about these kinds of things with your kids. Middle school here has 8-10 pregnant girls(grades 5-8, 11-13ages). That may be a small percentage, but one 9 yr old misusing steroids is sad in my opinion. --And it will only grow, it always does.

[100% Ozone Safe]

I look around my high school and i know that i am one of few who don't: drink/smoke pot/snort coke/do heroine(no joke)/smoke cigs/take 'roids/take extacy. I'm not suprised at all by this article, seriously my mind actually says "Why is this news?? This is just like something saying: 'Breaking News: People pirate music... its bad' "