In the interview Roxanne said, “The world is set up to tell
you what you can’t do, who you can’t be, and what you can’t look like.
Your job on this planet is to tell them who you are, why you’re here, and what you’re
capable
of doing.” I chose this quote because I believe that this quote
not only reflects her mentality, but her physical body as well. Body builders
in general step out of the “body norm” or “body standards” that society sets
for the average person. Like I mentioned in class, what people find “acceptable”
IS the average, not the extreme. And in our society, body building has always
been acknowledged but never encouraged for the typical person. What’s even more
interesting is the fact that despite all the criticism that body builders such
as Roxanne have to endure, she still maintains a level of confidence far beyond
that of an average person. This is clear when the interviewer suggests she is
superhuman and she says, “In terms of superhuman,
not so much. I’m just a more open version of human.” When she mentions ‘open version’,
she is referring to the fact that she likes to show off her body for the world to
see all the effort that she has put in to looking the way she does. Although Roxanne’s attitude may be true for
some, it is pretty rare for someone to openly admit to wanting or better yet,
expecting compliments from others. What I found especially interesting during
this interview was when Roxanne pointed out the expectations of femininity in
body building. Basically she was referring to the fact that more often than
not, women body builders have to deal with keeping up the image of a muscular
body builder while also maintaining their femininity. Roxanne emphasized that because
breasts are made of fat, body building women tend to lose that aspect of their ‘femininity’
because it ends up turning into muscle.
I would have expected judges or other people in the body building
industry to not care about that since it is understandable. However, those same
women are criticized and deemed as less feminine then the women who get breast
implants. It highlights the fact that body building women have these two wars
they need to fight. One battle against society in maintaining their muscular
physique despite what is deemed an appropriate shape for a women, and the other
is a battle within the body building industry to be able to keep that same
muscular physique, while unrealistically being expected to still keep certain body
parts ‘feminine’. Roxanne describes it as “the price that comes
with looking strong”. Lastly, another interesting topic that was mentioned in
the interview was discrimination based on skin color. I never expected racism
to come up in the topic of body building, but it also goes to show how deeply racism
is entrenched in our society today. In almost every single industry, you can
find remnants of racism, prejudice, or flat out discrimination. I was a little
surprised because the last thing I would have imagined was that in this
specific industry skin color would be a determinant in choosing the best
representative of a body. But then again, I’m not that surprised either,
considering the fact that since the founding of America, nationality and skin
color have always played a role in the opportunities that someone was presented
with. The only doubtful thing I had
about the interview was when Roxanne said she started lifting at 3 years old.
Sorry to say, but I do not believe that one bit. I also feel like her memory
doesn’t actually go that far back and even if it did, I could believe her doing
some sort of physical activity at that age, but weight lifting, not so much. Also
in regards to her pictures, I can see how many would probably feel her body was
a little overwhelming for lack of a better word. And even I personally would not
choose her lifestyle, but one thing that I admire a lot is that despite what
anyone has to say including myself, she is doing what makes her happy, and that’s
all that matters.
