Victoria Felkar
HEALTH RESEARCHER
University of British Columbia, Canada
researcher, consultant, women & steroids, female athlete health
Victoria Felkar is a Ph.D. Candidate at the University of British Columbia. She is an interdisciplinary researcher working across the fields of kinesiology, medicine, critical studies and the humanities, with a particular interest in the use of synthetic reproductive steroid hormones by women in sport and physical culture. Funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) in Canada, Victoria’s doctoral project explores the strategic use of synthetic steroid hormones to pharmaceutically manipulate female athlete reproduction and menstruation throughout the 20th century and into the present. Her work considers the influence of this practice for understanding of women’s health and performance in sport, and its potential intersection with regulatory control and concern over sex, drugs and menstruation in sport. Victoria’s research pursuits also include the multi-disciplinary study of anabolic androgenic steroid use by women in sport and physical culture, female athlete health and menstruation, and critical histories of women’s bodybuilding and strength training in the female athlete population. Outside of academia, Victoria is an internationally renowned educator within the fitness, bodybuilding and strength sector. As a practitioner, author, and speaker, she has consulted with a wide-range of individuals and organizations, lectured at events worldwide, and is a frequent commentator and contributor for various media outlets. Alongside her professional and academic pursuits, Victoria is a lifelong recreational strength athlete.