Within the current society we live in, we are restricted by a
various amount of appearance expectations. This is the general idea that
Roxanne Edwards is emphasizing through this interview. Society always holds us
to a bodily template that if we refuse to follow we are criticized. We even
also judge ourselves when we don't look or have attained the
"perfect" body that the media portrays. What gives anyone the right
to define the word perfect for everyone else? We are all unique in our on ways.
Therefore, this means that our meanings of "perfect" are also unique.
At what point can someone work out and reach the point where they put down the
weights and way this is where I want to be? This is what I always envisioned
myself to look like. In class, it have been stated on numerous occasions that
the bodies that we have are just entities. We are just vacating them until we
depart from the planet. In this article, Roxanne Edwards brings up the idea of
femininity and provides her personal definition. She states that
"femininity isn't what the media portrays in the ads, it's the way a
female chooses to express herself. This could consist of bodybuilding or
getting implants." She basically states that femininity is freedom and
shouldn't be anything what anyone else tells you. I have observed on numerous
occasions that the process of achieving the perfect body is similar to an
industrial factory. It has the same theoretical idea. It is all about
repetition and working on each individual section.
What intrigues me the most is when Roxanne
says that when she is in the bodybuilding competition there is some unfairness?
She stated that hypothetically speaking if she was competing against another
female who had a lighter complexion, the similar body type, same height/weight
but Roxanne had a slightly better body the judges would give the edge to the
female with the lighter complexion. The reason she says this occurs is because
the lighter female is more marketable. Society will accept the lighter female
because of her complexion. This is very unfair and many people would quit or
give up. However, Roxanne believes that quitting would be the easy thing to do.
She stated that she wants to stick around no matter how many times she fails
because of her complexion until she gives people no choice but to choose her.
This is an extremely positive mind set to have. The ambition that she has is at
a substantial level. The perception that people find perfect in terms of
appearance is media based and has a vast amount of ignorance. The word perfect
should be based on personal admiration not what society leads us to believe. In
class, we have watched and read a couple articles that pertain to this topic.
Almost all of them contain some type of media driven ideas. In Stuart Ewens “Hard
Bodies" the descriptions made about what occurs in the gym make me feel as
if working out is a lifeless act to engage in. Instead of working out because
you want to we work out because society give us not choice but to work out.
