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Muscle Mania and the Cult of Masculinity
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Muscle Mania and the Cult of Masculinity

50 MIN · EN · STATUS: [ STREAMING ]
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Young men chasing an impossible physique drive this DW investigation into anabolic steroid use, once confined to elite athletes and now common among teenagers with bodybuilding ambitions. The filmmaker turns the camera on his own body and insecurities first, then follows that vulnerability into gyms, online forums, and supplement markets where performance-enhancing drugs are traded like protein powder. Interviews with young users, coaches, and medical experts lay out the physical toll, from liver damage to hormonal collapse, alongside the psychological grip of body dysmorphia and social media comparison. The film treats this as a field study rather than a lecture, tracing how a global muscle-building industry standardizes an unattainable ideal and normalizes the drugs needed to chase it. It does not sensationalize the steroid trade so much as sit with the young men caught inside it, showing why they keep going even after they've seen the damage. The result is a portrait of a public health problem hiding in plain sight, dressed up as fitness culture.