Dr Mair Underwood
Senior Lecturer
School of Social Science
+61 7 336 52963
Researcher biography
Mair Underwood is an anthropologist in the School of Social Science who specialises in bodies. In particular she explores how body modifications (such as tattoo or bodybuilding) are used to create, reflect and disrupt social boundaries such as those of gender and class. She is especially interested in the social lives of image and performance enhancing drugs: how they acquire meaning through social interactions and how they alter social interactions.
She also has an interest in assessment practice and has conducted research into assessment techniques that promote student engagement and academic integrity and compiled them into a searchable database called the UQ Assessment Ideas Factory
Mair is passionate about community engagement and engages with the community through her YouTube profile and podcasts such as this one with VPA Australia https://www.vpa.com.au/podcast
Mair Underwood coordinates two courses:
SOSC2190 Human Bodies, Culture and Society
SOCY1060 Gender, Sexuality and Society: An Introduction
Publications
Book Chapters
Underwood, Mair (2023). Taking ‘the god of all steroids’ and ‘making a pact with the devil’: online bodybuilding communities and the negotiation of trenbolone risk. Doping in sport and fitness. (pp. 111-136) edited by April Henning and Jesper Andreasson. Bingley, United Kingdom: Emerald Publishing Limited. doi: 10.1108/s1476-285420220000016007
Underwood, Mair (2018). 'We're all gonna make it brah': homosocial relations, vulnerability and intimacy in an online bodybuilding community. Digital intimate publics and social media. (pp. 161-176) edited by Amy Shields Dobson, Brady Robards and Nicholas Carah. Cham, Switzerland: Springer Nature. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-97607-5_10
Underwood, Mair (2015). Some thoughts on tattoo and art. A permanent mark: the impact of tattoo culture on contemporary art. (pp. 22-31) Townsville, QLD, Australia: Gallery Services, Townsville City Council.
Journal Articles
Underwood, Mair and Sellberg, Karin (2024). ‘Project Monster’: Exploring Projects of Monstrification in Bodybuilding Communities. Body & Society. doi: 10.1177/1357034x241293037
Underwood, Mair (2024). From ‘bro, do you even lift?’ to ‘bro, do you even science?’: How the relationship between science and broscience can inform the development of allied image and performance enhancing drug harm reduction. Performance Enhancement & Health 100291, 100291. doi: 10.1016/j.peh.2024.100291
Himawan, Karel Karsten, Bambling, Matthew, Underwood, Mair and Edirippulige, Sisira (2023). In the absence of marriage: social and religious-based relationships as alternatives to marriage for never-married adults in Indonesia. Journal of Spirituality in Mental Health, 26 (4), 396-420. doi: 10.1080/19349637.2023.2253443
Underwood, Mair (2022). Anabolics coaching: A necessary evil?. Performance Enhancement and Health, 10 (3) 100233, 1-3. doi: 10.1016/j.peh.2022.100233
Underwood, Mair and Olivardia, Roberto (2022). 'The day you start lifting is the day you become forever small': Bodybuilders explain muscle dysmorphia. Health, 27 (6) ARTN 13634593221093494, 1-21. doi: 10.1177/13634593221093494
Hope, Vivian D., Underwood, Mair, Mulrooney, Kyle, Mazanov, Jason, van de Ven, Katinka and McVeigh, Jim (2021). Human enhancement drugs: emerging issues and responses. International Journal of Drug Policy, 95 103459, 103459. doi: 10.1016/j.drugpo.2021.103459
Dunn, Matthew, Mulrooney, Kyle J. D., Forlini, Cynthia, van de Ven, Katinka and Underwood, Mair (2021). The pharmaceuticalisation of ‘healthy’ ageing: testosterone enhancement for longevity. International Journal of Drug Policy, 95 103159, 103159. doi: 10.1016/j.drugpo.2021.103159
Himawan, Karel Karsten, Underwood, Mair, Bambling, Matthew and Edirippulige, Sisira (2021). Being single when marriage is the norm: Internet use and the well-being of never-married adults in Indonesia. Current Psychology, 41 (12), 1-12. doi: 10.1007/s12144-021-01367-6
Underwood, Mair, van de Ven, Katinka and Dunn, Matthew (2020). Testing the boundaries: self-medicated testosterone replacement and why it is practised. International Journal of Drug Policy, 95 103087, 103087. doi: 10.1016/j.drugpo.2020.103087
Underwood, Mair (2019). The unintended consequences of emphasising blood-borne virus in research on, and services for, people who inject image and performance enhancing drugs: a commentary based on enhanced bodybuilder perspectives. International Journal of Drug Policy, 67, 19-23. doi: 10.1016/j.drugpo.2018.11.005
Underwood, Mair and Olson, Rebecca (2018). ‘Manly tears exploded from my eyes, lets feel together brahs’: Emotion and masculinity within an online body building community. Journal of Sociology, 55 (1), 144078331876661-107. doi: 10.1177/1440783318766610
Underwood, Mair (2017). Exploring the social lives of image and performance enhancing drugs: an online ethnography of the Zyzz fandom of recreational bodybuilders. International Journal of Drug Policy, 39, 78-85. doi: 10.1016/j.drugpo.2016.08.012
Varea, Valeria and Underwood, Mair (2016). "You are just an idiot for not doing any physical activity right now': Pre-service Health and Physical Education teachers' constructions of fatness. European Physical Education Review, 22 (4), 465-478. doi: 10.1177/1356336X15617446
Smith, Naomi, Wickes, Rebecca and Underwood, Mair (2015). Managing a marginalised identity in pro-anorexia and fat acceptance cybercommunities. Journal of Sociology, 51 (4), 950-967. doi: 10.1177/1440783313486220
Underwood, Mair (2014). What reassurances do the community need regarding life extension? evidence from studies of community attitudes and an analysis of film portrayals. Rejuvenation Research, 17 (2), 105-115. doi: 10.1089/rej.2013.1479
Underwood, Mair (2013). Body as choice or body as compulsion: an experiental perspective on body-self relations and the boundary between normal and pathological. Health Sociology Review, 22 (4), 377-388. doi: 10.5172/hesr.2013.22.4.377
Warburton, Jeni, Everingham, Jo-Anne, Cuthill, Michael, Bartlett, Helen and Underwood, Mair (2011). More than just a talkfest: The process of developing collaborations in ageing across two different community types. Urban Policy and Research, 29 (2), 183-200. doi: 10.1080/08111146.2011.562146
Underwood, Mair, Satterthwait, Leonn D. and Bartlett, Helen P. (2010). Reflexivity and minimization of the impact of age-cohort differences between researcher and research participants. Qualitative Health Research, 20 (11), 1585-1595. doi: 10.1177/1049732310371102
Bartlett, Helen and Underwood, Mair (2009). Life extension technology: implications for public policy and regulation. Health Sociology Review, 18 (4), 423-433. doi: 10.5172/hesr.2009.18.4.423
Underwood, Mair, Bartlett, Helen P. and Hall, Wayne D. (2009). Professional and personal attitudes of researchers in ageing towards life extension. Biogerontology, 10 (1), 73-81. doi: 10.1007/s10522-008-9149-3
Underwood, M, Bartlett, HP, Partridge, B, Lucke, J and Hall, WD (2009). Community perceptions on the significant extension of life: An exploratory study among urban adults in Brisbane, Australia. SOCIAL SCIENCE & MEDICINE, 68 (3), 496-503. doi: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2008.11.002
Partridge, Brad, Hall, Wayne, Lucke, Jayne, Underwood, Mair and Bartlett, Helen (2009). Mapping community concerns about radical extensions of human life expectancy. The American Journal of Bioethics, 9 (12), W4-W5. doi: 10.1080/15265160903316446
Partridge, Brad, Underwood, Mair, Lucke, Jayne, Bartlett, Helen and Hall, Wayne (2009). Ethical concerns in the community about technologies to extend human life span. The American Journal of Bioethics, 9 (12), 68-76. doi: 10.1080/15265160903318368
Bartlett, H., Underwood, M. and Peach, L. (2007). Building capacity in ageing research: Implications from a survey of emerging researchers in Australia. Australasian Journal On Ageing, 26 (4), 187-193. doi: 10.1111/j.1741-6612.2007.00262.x
Conference Papers
Slade. Christine and Underwood, Mair (2021). Designing Assessment to Meet Identity Verification (IVAH) requirements. Teaching and Learning Week 2021, The University of Queensland, QLD Australia, 2 November 2021.
Underwood, M., Bartlett, H. P. and Hall, W. D. (2007). Community attitudes to the regulation of life extension. The 3rd International Conference on Healthy Ageing and Longevity, Melbourne, Australia, 13-15 October 2006. New York, United States: Wiley-Blackwell. doi: 10.1196/annals.1396.033
Underwood, Mair (2005). Younger people researching older people. AAG Conference 2005: 38th National Conference of the Australian Association of Gerontology, Surfers Paradise, QLD, Australia, 9-11 November 2005. Richmond, VIC, Australia: Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Asia. doi: 10.1111/j.1741-6612.2005.00130.x
Seminar Paper
Rimer, Jonah and Underwood, Mair (2019). An introduction to digital ethnography. Digital Methods Seminar Series. Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, The University of Queensland.
Thesis
Underwood, Mair (2005). Living in bodies, living as bodies : the relationship between body and self at different ages. PhD Thesis, School of Social Science, The University of Queensland. doi: 10.14264/107299