"Roxanne Edwards is Superhuman"

Roxanne Edwards, being a female black bodybuilder, knows it's tougher than being white or being male, but she does not give up, "it would be like giving them too much power". She kind of reacts in the way of 'sticking it to them', "I would like to be around long enough to stick it to them", wanting to state that she can be just as good or better than anyone else. The first reaction I had to seeing the pictures was that she looked intimidating. She may have what is believed as a healthy body image, but I think it is seen more as "fit". She is very toned and muscular and I would have to say that if she ever walked up to me, I would be really scared, because, again, she looks really strong and intimidating and could knock me out in one punch. We discussed the perfect body of men and women and she kind of fits the criteria we came up with for men, but like she said, "[you do] yourself, and this is how I choose to express my femininity". She interacts with her body much differently than I do with mine. She has used steroids that make her harder, and she takes a lot of vitamins and takes a lot of fluids and stuff that help with her body, taking electrolytes like PowerAde and such. The only form of exercise I do is run on a treadmill, if I even do that that often. She started bodybuilding at about the age of 30, and that is kind of admirable because I barely have the motivation to exercise now, but to be able to get yourself to do it at that age, and it really just "depends on where your mind is at". In a way, I feel like she does kind of attempt to resist the ideals of a female because she loses her breasts and she says "you do not [just] lose body fat, you choose to lose it". She has done nude modeling before and so she is very comfortable with her body, showing and displaying it. There are many critics, and to her, they either love her all that she does or hates her because they wish they could do what she does. She accepts other peoples' way of expressing their femininity and she wishes that they would just respect her's. I do not understand why anyone would judge her, I mean body building and getting her body to where it is, takes a lot of time and work and she chose to do that with her body, and it is her body, not anyone else's. I think it is really impressive, actually, because body building is a step by step process. She does this for herself but she also strives to be an example, "because I use bodybuilding, not to define me, but to help me get things to show women that they can be defined any way they feel like being defined.