Ada

From the interview:

'I have been swimming since the age of four. That's a lot easier with short hair, so I cut it off. As a child, I was a tomboy. Once, at the bakery, they took me for a boy. I thought that was funny, and it made me feel good. When I was ten, I started playing rugby. I was a natural. Later, I played for the Hong Kong youth team. Every Sunday morning I played rugby for three hours in the sun. I was covered in bruises and scars, and I gained quite a lot of muscle.

My father, who is very loving, didn't think that was right for a girl. The standard is that a girl's skin should be as white and smooth as a boiled egg. My mother always said, "You can do whatever you want", but still advised me to cover those muscular legs. In fact, in East Asia the ideal is for a woman's legs to be as thin as paper. That is considered elegant.

Young girls don't realize that boys and men find them attractive. Suddenly, you're prey: you enter a room, and something unpleasant happens. I was assaulted, and I had no idea how to protect myself from it. When I sought help afterwards, I was humiliated.

That experience, as well as all those negative remarks about my body, threw me off balance. I was never sweet and polite, and didn't care about looking nice. As a teenager, that became problematic at times because I just didn't fit in. Groups of girls were pretty scary to me. They could suddenly exclude someone for no reason. I was tough, which was unusual. Some lesbian girls liked me for that very reason.

I attended an excellent high school where study, obedience and politeness were essential. Fortunately, I loved sports; that's where I found friends. Unfortunately, I suffered sexual violence there too. My self-image got even worse. For me, being a tomboy was a way to say "no". I tried to hide my breasts and to not look feminine at all. I was angry at everything and everyone.'

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