excessive bodies rough draft

“Health” is in the eye of the beholder.  It cannot be specifically defined because of its’ extensive multiplicity of comprisal.  In my opinion, excessive bodies do challenge the notion of “health” because the human anatomy is physically not supposed to look like some of those in which we’ve touched upon in class.  If you exercise to a certain extent in a natural way, that is one thing, but I personally disagree with steroid use and bodybuilding because it is simply an unhealthy tangent of today’s society.  These unnatural drugs and the breakdown of muscle on purpose would appall those of an earlier time where they were so fit only because they were forced to hunt down their own food in order to survive.

Roxanne Edwards both uses steroids and body builds but does not feel she retains the ideal body just yet.  In her interview with S. Adrian Massey, she talks about this idea of being “peeled”, a level in which she has not achieved but is working towards.  Some, including myself, would even consider her current physique of “shredded” as being excessive but again, this level of “health” is quintessential to her.  “You can be displayed elegantly, all your power, all your dignity, all your strength, all your grace, all your spirit, all your risks, everything you’ve ever done shows up on your physique” (Massey, interview).  I strongly disagree with her words in this statement because it is all too vague.  From looking at the photos that accompanied this interview, I do not see her body as elegant or graceful by definition.  On the opposite hand, the fact that I am clearly not a bodybuilder does not mean that I personally lack all of these qualities at a first glance.

Although they have their similarities, Roxanne Edwards is much different than Heather Cassils.  I’m not so much going to focus on the statement Cassils is making about being transgender, but the message she is putting out to the body building community and to the rest of the world.  This initially started with a photography project in collaboration with Robin Black but it was also stated “I did this work to explore the social expectations of what a "woman's" body could be pushed to” (Cassils).  In this circumstance, I would like to specifically focus on her steroid use.  The example I’d like to emphasize is from the short film “A traditional sculpture (video)”, in the scene where H. Cassils is laying on the ground and it seems as if there is an endless profusion of pills falling into her mouth.  This is so significant because she clearly states “I minimized the risk of taking steroids. I got blood tests before and after and I took half of the lowest dose recommended” (Cassils).  Even so, the amount of pills dropped into her mouth truly emphasizes the impact steroids will implement on the human body.  She was not able to get nearly as big as Roxi was yet when speaking of others reactions in and outside of the gym, she declared “This anger was one of the true indicators of success for me. I had achieved a confusing body that ruptured expectation” (Cassils).  She had reached her ideal body yet to people including Roxi, this was not good enough; to those including me, she was way too big! Thus it is proven, the notion of “health” and what a body should look like has absolutely no standards.  It veritably depends on who you ask.

On a last point, again focusing on the bodybuilding aspect that I believe to be unhealthy, Kathy Acker in her article titled “Against Ordinary Language: The Language of the Body” provides factual evidence which when closely looked at deems the act of bodybuilding “unhealthy”.  “I want to break muscle so that it can grow back larger, but I do not want to destroy muscle so that growth is prevented” (Acker, 22).  “Destroy” is a very explicit term in this context.  In this single sentence, it is implied that by bodybuilding, your body is worked to its extreme and even by slightly overworking the intended muscle group, you are putting your body at great risk of very serious damage.  What could possibly be “healthy” about this?  “I want to shock by body into growth; I do not want to hurt it. Therefore, in bodybuilding, failure is always connected to counting” (Acker, 23).  How does one know their limits when on this artificial drug?  With this enhancement, you are in a state of unknowing. “It became difficult to sense my limits: what was too much weight? The muscles could handle it, but what about the stabilizing joints and tendons?” (Cassils).  As Heather Cassils had only been taking a half-dose of the steroids and had these concerns, Kathy Ackers’ potential risk was through the roof.

People were not meant to use steroids and muscles are not meant to be broken down and rebuilt in order to be “healthier”.  If anything, I believe all three of these women primarily try to make themselves bigger, not for the aspect of “health” but in order to look good, according to them. I honestly do not believe any of them to be healthy but that is simply my opinion.  These bodies are too excessive.  To be healthy is to exercise and to be fit to an extent without any artificial use of drugs or excessive time spent at the gym.  The notion contains balance.