Natty or not?
I give steroids the NYT trend treatment
I told you I was going to be annoying this week.
Those tanned treasure-map thighs belong to Steve Shobert, one of the bodybuilders I talked to for a feature about steroids I wrote in the New York Times this week. My editor Marie and I wanted a novel way into this trend story that has been written about a few times by different outlets, and we settled on a guy named Kenny Boulet aka Kenny KO, a fitness influencer with about a million followers in YouTube and half that on Instagram. Kenny rose to popularity with his “Natty or Not?” series, where he asks jacked people whether they’re on gear or not. A lot of people are honest and forthcoming, but Kenny’s profile has grown because he confronts people who are clearly juiced up to come clean about their chemical regimen.
“Natty or Not?” is a simple question that digs at a lot of modern struggles. Men struggle with body image just as much as women do, and steroids are an extreme way to counteract that body dysmorphia and perform masculinity in a very clear way. (There’s a great irony there, of course, in that many of the drugs these mega-macho guys are the same used in gender affirming healthcare. We did not get into that otherwise this would have been like 4x as long.)
Reporting and writing this story meant a lot to me as someone who has long struggled with their physical appearance. I was a fat kid that graduated into being a big adult, but my body has never felt quite — right, if that makes sense. Muscles were never defined enough, fat hung in places that felt ugly. I imagine a lot of the people I talked to in Las Vegas feel the same way, not to mention, like, everyone who has ever stared at Instagram too long.
Anyway, story should be out on newsstands this week or next. The pictures by Roger Kisby are spectacular!!!
Congrats! Question about the decision not to include the aside about gender affirming care: did you get the sense that there was perhaps a reluctance to get into that angle because of the outlet? NYT is sort of notorious for not being great about trans stuff. It be dope to see you pitch that angle as another feature maybe at another outlet tho! It’s an important discussion.
However, even as a slightly chubby kid, Teddy could swing a bat like no other, which earned him the sobriquet “Downtown Brown!” whenever he stepped up to the plate.