Roxanne Edwards: A Real Woman

The first thing I looked at before listening to the video were the pictures of Roxanne. My first reaction was that I was shocked. I have seen woman body builders before but none like her. Her muscles were comparable to a male body builder it was truly extraordinary. My view of her and her photos certainly changed though while listening to the interview and I truly began to admire her.

 Roxanne, I felt was very educated about being fit and healthy. In the interview she stated that “she had less than 4% body fat” which shocked/impressed me because that is usually unheard of for a woman! When she talked about the vitamins and supplements she took, she seemed very educated because she knew what types worked for her and which ones didn't. If I had to say one criticism about her it would be when she was talking about the steroids. She discussed how they weren't a bad thing unless you look them a lot. But in reality they are harmful no matter what. I believe you shouldn't use them just to gain muscle. Overall though, I believe she had a healthy body image.

When I turned on the interview the first thing I heard was Just Fine by Mary J. Blige. Not only do I love this song but I thought that it had a special connection to her and her interview. In the song Just Fine the lyrics say, “Cause I won’t change my mind cause I’m just fine” which is a theme to Roxanne’s attitude.  In the interview, I was surprised to hear that she began body building at the age of thirty. Roxanne says, “What made me start working out is I wanted to look good naked”. That is relatable for any woman. You want to look great not only for yourself but for others and there is nothing wrong with that. When looking again at her photos, you began to disregard how big her muscles were, but how much she loved her body. She was not going to change the way she looked because society thought she didn't look good or when she could have gotten breast implants to look better in the body building world but she chose not to.

I loved how she talked about her idea of femininity. One quote she said was, “I know some very unique looking women, all across the spectrum, and when I say unique looking women I mean unique women period. Drag queens, transvestites, body builders, you name it, the whole gamut and they are quite elegant and just amazingly feminine without having to have not one breast amongst them.” This quote shows that society’s standards of femininity are wrong and that they should be based on the person. One of the other main ideas of her point is to be fearless and be who you want to be. I think this is such a strong message especially to girls and woman.

 Although some woman may not want to be like Roxanne, she is truly what every woman wants to be, which is happy and herself. She doesn't care what anyone thinks of her and I honestly love that! I think if more girls had a mindset like hers, a lot of woman wouldn't have the insecurities that most have.