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Upfront<br />
Street Talk<br />
Siufung Law was born female, is socially<br />
male but competes in women’s bodybuilding<br />
internationally. The champion bodybuilder and<br />
University of Hong Kong teaching assistant tells<br />
Stephanie Tsui about confronting prejudice and<br />
pushing society to see bodies as just bodies.<br />
Blowing Water<br />
吹 水 (chui sui), v. Cantonese slang. To chat, bullshit.<br />
Photo: Gray Wong / flickr.com/graywong<br />
HK Magazine: You’re socially male but you<br />
compete as a female bodybuilder. Why?<br />
Siufung Law: A few years ago I identified<br />
as a trans man, but I now describe myself<br />
as “genderqueer” because I’ve come to<br />
believe that gender identity is fluid. The<br />
term has a very broad definition—in short,<br />
it’s about challenging gender assumptions<br />
and stereotypes. According to traditional<br />
transgender theories, the “self” is fixed,<br />
and you arrive at the conclusion that your<br />
gender identity differs from the one you were<br />
assigned at birth. I believe that the “self” is<br />
ever-changing. [In everyday life] I use the male<br />
bathroom and people refer to me as a “he.”<br />
But in the bodybuilding world I’m a “she,”<br />
because my legal documents still say<br />
I’m female.<br />
HK: What made you want to become<br />
a bodybuilder?<br />
SL: To me, bodybuilding is an experiment<br />
as well as a sport. I wanted to find ways<br />
other than surgery to achieve my ideal body,<br />
because I’m a perfectionist and wouldn’t<br />
want to feel disappointed if surgery didn’t<br />
go the way I expected. Bodybuilding<br />
culture is fascinating partly because it’s very<br />
contradictory: It subscribes to the gender<br />
binary and gender assumptions, yet it’s also<br />
where you find the world’s most muscular<br />
women. In Hong Kong, certain other divisions<br />
of female bodybuilding are favored over the<br />
“physique” and “bodybuilding” divisions,<br />
so there are very few local competition<br />
opportunities for people like me because<br />
we’re considered too “ugly” or “manly” for<br />
the market. Many people assume that women<br />
who use steroids or anabolic drugs become<br />
men—which is completely untrue. When will<br />
we start seeing bodies as bodies and not as<br />
“female” or “male” bodies? Some people<br />
criticize athletes for taking steroids because it’s<br />
“unnatural,” but what does “natural” mean?<br />
Why would you consider working out natural<br />
and using steroids unnatural? They’re both<br />
forms of body modification.<br />
HongKabulary<br />
HK: What challenges have you faced<br />
as a genderqueer individual?<br />
SL: During a summer exchange program four<br />
years ago, I hung out as a guy with a group of<br />
guys, but was constantly afraid of them finding<br />
out I was actually a trans man. I was never<br />
completely myself, which was a shame because<br />
they were good guys. A lot of trans people are so<br />
focused on transitioning that they don’t prepare<br />
themselves for what comes after—how to<br />
associate with members of their chosen gender,<br />
or address questions about their identities...<br />
HK: How do you deal with prejudice?<br />
SL: I’m now freeing myself from past identities<br />
and burdens. I used to be angry with the people<br />
who discriminated against me. To be consistent<br />
with my bodybuilding identity, I’ve been using<br />
the female changing room at the gym. That’s<br />
caused a lot of misunderstandings. I’ve had<br />
someone open the shower curtain on me to<br />
see what sort of genitals I had. One time, a<br />
woman asked why I was in the female changing<br />
room. When I showed her I was wearing a bra,<br />
she said my breasts weren’t female breasts. I<br />
used to argue with people like that, but part of<br />
liberating myself is becoming better at dealing<br />
with negativity. Nowadays I try to be patient and<br />
educate people who don’t understand.<br />
HK: Does your family support your identity?<br />
SL: I never came out to my parents as<br />
transgender or genderqueer, but I like keeping<br />
things somewhat ambiguous—it’s how we get<br />
along best. My dad used to get defensive when<br />
people addressed me by male pronouns. But<br />
he’s changed. One time, a salesperson asked if<br />
I was his son, and dad just said, “Take a guess!”<br />
When people compliment me on my size, dad<br />
tells them I’m a competitive bodybuilder. My<br />
mom used to say my muscles looked ugly, but<br />
now she’ll ask me when my next competition<br />
is so she can watch. Sometimes mom still<br />
emphasizes that I’m her daughter, but she<br />
knows I’m a different kind of daughter.<br />
Siufung Law was crowned Women’s Physique<br />
Champion at the 2015 NABBA International<br />
Universe Bodybuilding Championships. Follow<br />
him on Instagram @siufung_law.<br />
jam2<br />
sing3<br />
飲 勝<br />
“DRINK WIN”<br />
“Cheers!” In Chinese sing is a homophone<br />
for “saint,” which was a euphemism for “alcohol”<br />
during prohibition in ancient China. The Putonghua<br />
phrase ganbei ( 乾 杯 ), “drink your cup dry,” is<br />
avoided because “dry” has connotations of poverty.<br />
Supermarket Sweep (suːpərmɑːkɛt swiːp), n.<br />
Having to visit five different markets just to cook a single<br />
fancy meal.<br />
“Wow, this roast chicken is great!”<br />
“Thanks! I got the chicken from ParknShop, the potatoes from the wet<br />
market, the Brussels sprouts from Market Place by Jasons, the chicken<br />
stock from Wellcome and the redcurrant jelly from City’Super. It was<br />
a real supermarket sweep.”<br />
HK MAGAZINE FRIDAY, MAY 20, 2016 7
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