Rough Draft

Health is total content in one's life, Roxanne’s dedication and passion to bodybuilding provides her with happiness, which allows her to stop seeking approval from other as many do not support her lifestyle, while patrick Bateman’s search for perfection has left him a crazed maniac with fixated with impressing those around him.

Patrick Bateman uses his body as a tool to gain social status. He seeks out perfection in every sense of the word, including his physical appearance. (clip) Bateman has a long complicated morning routine which many would consider obesity and tedious. Bateman to the general public seems as a male adonis. He seems to have everything; the perfect body, hair, apartment, and job. But on the inside he is a disturbed individual with dark and sinister thought. His body helps him attract women intends torture, if he was attractive not well dressed and unfit he would not be able to get women to accompany to his apartment so easily.  

Since Patrick is not happy unless he is one upping someone whether it be comparing business cards to associates Paul Allen and Luis Carruthers, he choses women he could have control over and impress consistently. This would explain his choice in the high priced escort “Sabrina” and the corner street prostitute “Christie”. To prove his dominance and superiority he gives the women new names. Bateman and the two women engage in sexual activity and the screen then shows the women leaving you cans see both have scratches and are bleeding on their backs and Sabrina has a bloody nose, both women rush out the door as Bateman pays them in cash. It is inferred that Bateman mutilated them with a coat hanger. His money, good looks and attire allowed the women to feel more at ease and at the beginning the women felt almost lucky as they were in luxurious apartment, and were even treated to wine.

Even though Christie was treated so terribly she agrees to meet with him again as he promises “it won't be anything like last time”, which in twisted pun is true as this time he intends to kill.

Roxanne Edwards body completely challenges the notion of health. Health for women would be considered being slightly muscular, or being thin. Many women strive to be lean tall amazonian like hence Victoria's secret models or some may opt for a curvier body such as the kardashians. Kim kardashian has made her mark on pop culture due to her sex tape and her large buttocks. Her impact can be scene as 11,505 buttock augmentations were completed in 2015 according to The american society of plastic surgeons. Very few women aim to be less than 10% body fat such as Roxanne Edwards. Many would consider her body to be abnormal and/or grotesque. In Fact many women are reluctant to try weight lifting as they feel it would make them too muscular or bulky.  Women are conjectured to believe they should be Dainty, smaller than men not equal and especially not bigger.            

Roxane realizes she is nowhere near “typical” or average woman so she seeks out femininity from alternative sources such as drag queens and transvestites. “...quite elegant and just amazingly feminine without having to have not one breast amongst the”, Roxanne strives to redefine beauty as she is not concerned about a woman's figure, hair or makeup but instead her confidence and the the way in which she carries herself. She can see past superficial.  Roxanne at no points mentions that even though she does not meet the beauty standard, that she wants to change and neither does she complain. SHe herself says her best tool to fight is to stay herself and keep competing, which shows her content.

Roxanne Edwards

I thought this interview was very interesting as I had never seen or read an interview by a female bodybuilder, I also thought Roxanne Edwards is very insightful. Edwards has somewhat of a healthy body Image, as she is indifferent to the fact she is not the typical standard of beauty. In fact she rebels against normative ideals of femininity, especially against the idea the breasts are vital to women's femininity, as she has none.  She feels that she will help redefine beauty as she claims she is “displaying her strength on outside”.  As a woman in bodybuilding your femininity is being questioned as it is not the typical body for a women while having developed, large muscles is more desired and acceptable for men as they symbolize the strength men are suppose possess. She also empowers women as she tries to voice her opinion of women acting for themselves will help them feel less insecure, she is also very encouraging of women being themselves and follow their passions and not what is expected of them.

Edwards feels that she is combating prejudice towards her skin color by still competing, not withdrawing .I can relate to Edwards' struggle with prejudice towards race as I feel straighter hair is more “marketable” and more accepted. Eurocentric standards continually dominate the global beauty economy, Edwards has seen how this could affect others interpretation of her, she is indifferent and continues to perform. She also exhibits signs of a negative body image as she takes steroids to improve her performance and so she can appear more “hard”. While she admits steroids can have negative effects, she also feels that she is not taking large enough amounts to see these effects. Roxanne already has a body that defies the odds but she still feels the need to look better or “harder”.

I found the the photo of Edward’s leg to be the most shocking photo as I could truly understand the meaning of peeled.There are so many pronounced veins, and you can see all the defenition of her leg. If I saw this photo without listening to the interview I would probably think it was a male leg, not a female leg. Edwards  interacts with her body differently than I do with mine. She is consistent with her workouts while I am much more scattered. She also puts more thought into the vitamins as she only takes liquid forms while I would buy the cheapest or one a friends recommend. I liked how Edwards doesn't fall into trends such as having voluptuous curves or even getting breast implants to please those judging her in competitions. She truly lives by her own rules, does not conform and tries to spread her message that women can be feminine in many different ways.

In class we talked about the assembly line and ideas of perfection. Roxanne definitely has “Skin with biography” every muscle and vein that protrudes is only a testament to her hard work and determination. Edwards can be compared to the assembly line as every muscle in her body has a purpose like every station on an assembly line. She also maintains her fitness by exercising regularly, which matches the constituency of an assembly line.