More and more news outlets and popular websites have begun using the term “gender fluid” in articles that describe the term, that explore ideas central to the LBTQIA+ population or in stories about people who themselves have non-binary gender roles. People who are gender fluid can be found in all walks of life, including the bodybuilding world where power builder Siufung Law Wan-ling is blazing a bright new trail.
By day, Law is a teaching assistant at the University of Hong Kong. By night, Law has achieved professional qualifications in bodybuilding competitions. In the time between, Law fluctuates between gender roles. Born a woman, she identifies strongly with some characteristics of being female. In the meantime, however, she also frequently looks and dresses as a more masculine person.
Gender queer individuals face struggles in fitting in to both the LGBTQIA+ world as well as typical society. Others try to label them as transgender or transvestites. In Law’s case, she resists any such label as she has no desire to transition from female to male. Hence the term fluid: people who are non-binary, or who don’t identify with either male or female roles all of the time flow back and forth between the two labels or land somewhere in between.
For Law, bodybuilding has helped define her as a gender fluid individual. In her own words, “muscles are genderless.” She doesn’t need to adhere to one gender or the other to advance as an award-winning bodybuilder, but competitions still seek to put her in box. Competitions are binary and so Law is compelled to compete as a woman.
Fitting into the female box as a bodybuilding competitor has been a larger challenge than winning in the first place. Law’s physique more resembles a male competitor, part of her quest “to get bigger and bigger” in musculature. Judged as a woman, however, she’s been told by judges that her muscles are too large. In addition, she’s also had to wear makeup and bikinis on stage. She’s had less issue with that than expected, however, as fluidity allows her to still accept herself as a woman in addition to a more masculine personality and body type.
Law continues to work hard at bodybuilding during every moment she’s not in her primary role at the University of Hong Kong. Normal routines for competitors like Law include hours at the gym lifting progressively heavier weights, using approved sports nutrition supplements on a regular basis, and preparing for the next exhibition. Law uses this time as a way to learn more about herself as a gender fluid individual and to reach the next level of competition.