A new era in women’s bodybuilding has hit the stage as recently as this past weekend, as Christina Bruce, penis and all, stepped on stage at the Border States Championship. Christina’s physique, easily over shadowed the female competition as well as a good percentage of the male competitors.
Read this article by Lee Penman, and get all the hard, throbbing details and how Christina may be the best of both worlds in bodybuilding.
CHRISTINA FOXX… THE ULTIMATE SHAPESHIFTER!
Before you read this article, take a look at the pictures…What does the guy in the picture have in common with the woman?
The answer….they are the SAME person! Yes, Christina Foxx used to be a typical all American bodybuilding guy with a successful business, a marriage and a couple of kids. Then one day he made a decision that would change his life forever…..
But where did it all start and when did Christina finally come to terms with who she really was inside?
All will be revealed in this fascinating story in due course but first of all what are Christina’s thoughts on the whole transgender issue and 
handling the moment when it finally hits you that something is not ‘quite right’…
“I think there are some transgender people who just know…as soon as they can conceptualize that they are a person. From childhood they just remember that something was wrong that disgusted them or whatever about their bodies and there private parts. Then there are some people – who fall more towards the cross dressing type. I mean in my case I didn’t hate who I was as a person. I always loved who I was. I mean I may sound a little vain here but I have always loved who I am. I have always been very happy with myself and always been pushing to improve but there was always something that was ‘off’. It was like I was always searching for something…no matter what I did I wanted to be the best at it…and then it wasn’t enough…I had to go on and on!
My mom used to say that I was never content. I would always start something and go a thousand miles an hour and the moment I finished it I was bored and would move on to something else. There just wasn’t enough peace. That peace has only happened in the last year and a half when I decided to go in this direction. I mean I was on and off hormones for six, seven, maybe eight years where I would take them for a while and then I would panic and freak out…think it was wrong and that I was crazy. I struggled for years and years over this….”
So when did you decide to finally ‘go for it’?
“It was January of 2009, I had been dating this girl for a while and she just couldn’t take it anymore because I had gotten very serious about it. I had started taking the hormones and she was a ‘normal’ person she wasn’t involved in the transgender community at all and, although she understood, it still kinda freaked her out. So that summer the relationship ended and I decided that this was the time I should finally do this and I decided to push it forward.
“Since then I have to say I have been happier and more content. I mean everything (except finances) could not be better in my life. I mean as the guy next door, bodybuilder type I have to say I worked half as much as I do now and made three times the money. Now I have to bust my ass just to get by…but the main thing is that I am happy. Both my mom and my sister have said that I am like that 9 or 10 year old kid they used to know who was always happy and lit up the room and was always full of life.”
When it comes to relationships and friendships which gender do you have the strongest bond with?
“I have always loved women…I have never been attracted to men…I have always been with women. As for friends, I always had friends everywhere. I am a Pisces, I adapt to my environment. When I walk in a room I can adapt to that room very quickly. Getting back to relationships though, I have always dated girls and I have always had a girlfriend. Even in school although I would hang out with the guys I spend more time with the girls because I was always dating them….”
Now you were married for a long time…I am curious to know how taking on the role of husband and father felt for you?
“I have two children my son will be 13 this summer my daughter is 9. I started dating my ex wife when I was 18 and she was 16. We dated for 7 years and we were married for 13 years…so we were together for 20 years. Since I have always been attracted to women it didn’t bother me because I found my ex wife attractive and I liked having sex with her. Even now I don’t take on the typical feminine role… I am not the typical Male to Female who wants to be a stay at home mom or whatever…Hell no! (laughs). I mean I still open the door for everybody…even guys! I mean as long as you are being polite who cares who opens the door! I mean I am not playing that stupid Mickey Mouse voice routine. This is my voice, it is what it is…of course most of the time people will say ‘sir’ and then you will see them looking at me…and I just smile and laugh because it’s okay. I have a couple of friends who do the voice thing…they get that little Mickey Mouse thing going. I just say… honey you are never going to be a girl. We are who we are! I mean if that makes you feel good then do it but we are not real girls we are transitioning. Personally I am happy with who I am, I am proud of who I am…if they don’t like it that’s their choice. Why should we care what other people think….”
How did your wife and family respond when you announced that you were officially going to go for gender reassignment?
“Well I was already divorced when they found out. What happened was that my wife and I had separated and I had been moved out for about three months and she was trying to figure out why I left. So she started searching through everything she could dig up and she found some old pictures from years ago when I was cross dressing. This was back in 2006 and I was still struggling with things and wasn’t sure which direction I was going to take. So this was when she found out about it and at this point we were already separated and headed for a divorce. I mean she didn’t like it but at this point it didn’t matter because it was done. At that time I told her that I wasn’t going to do this anymore because I didn’t think I would.
“ Then probably around 2008 I really came to terms with my situation and thought it was time to really figure it out. I told the girlfriend I was dating at the time about it (It was Halloween in New Orleans and I was out dressed as a girl). Now she was open to the idea of me cross dressing but she didn’t like it when I started taking hormones. Then my ex wife found out about it when I was starting to transition and the kids found out about it over this past summer when I had the facial surgery and the implants.
“ I have to say my kids were great about the whole thing. That’s the thing with the younger generation, they don’t care…they could give a shit if you are gay, straight, bisexual, black…they are like as long as we are all having fun here why do I care! They are not uptight. I told them I would never embarrass them and that they were the only people I would ever make exceptions for, everyone else I have told this is who I am, I would like to still have you in my life but if you don’t like it or don’t understand it…then I understand and I wish you well. This is not a discussion about what I am doing, this is a discussion about what it is, and I would love to have you in my life and I will take as much time as you need to talk about it but I am not stopping it or changing it.”
You also had to leave a highly successful career in the building industry behind when you made this change in your life…
“Yes back in April I had to quit the corporate world because I was in the building products industry and they are definitely homophobic and don’t think they even knew what the hell transgender meant. I mean I kind of understand…when you are in sales you are representing a company and that’s the way it is. I don’t like it but it is what it is. So I had a really great twenty year career in sales and now I am kind of starting back at ground zero again. But we have to make sacrifices for everything. I had all the things that you would typically associate with being successful, but I wasn’t happy…and now I am happy. Also I have met so many wonderful people this past year…people that I would never have met otherwise and who have become some of the best friends I have ever had. The thing is when you are honest with yourself about who you are people can relate to that and are drawn to that.”
Turning to the bodybuilding world, there are some people (I have to admit that I include myself here) who may find it ‘odd’ that you chose to become involved in bodybuilding as a man. I mean I would have thought the muscular masculine physique would have been the last thing you wanted…
“I have had this discussion a lot and I mean the look that I am attracted to in other people is the look that I am trying to go for also. I love athletic women who work out. It doesn’t have to be the real big bodybuilding women but the fitness competitors and fitness models. I like the girls that take care of themselves, that eat well and work out. I mean you don’t have to body build and be massive…just get to the gym. I have always been the health and fitness type. I like to go to the gym. I like the way it makes me look and the way it makes me feel. It’s definitely a lot easier to be 6’ 4” and 180lbs when you work out and keep in shape so you have definition and you have a slimmer waist. I mean sure I am always going to be a little bigger than your average girl but I don’t care what society thinks I am doing this for me. It’s a look that I like…I have been working out since I was 15 years old. I feel like crap if I miss two days in a row. My body is addicted to it.”
Did you ever compete as a bodybuilder?
“I did enter a couple of shows way back in the 90’s…just local shows in Georgia and Alabama. This was around the time I was graduating from college and I moved to Texas for my first job. Then it just got to the stage that I still worked out, but I didn’t have the time it takes or the dedication to compete. I mean when you compete it consumes your life and at that time I had to focus on my career. So I never did compete again once I had moved to Texas.”
So when did you officially decide to make the change and what surgery have you had so far?
“In June 2009 I finally decided I was going to push this thing and go along with it and see what happened. So in the summer of 2009 I started hormones and in December of 2009 I had a little bit of facial work done…the brow shaved down and had implants put in…That’s it….I have not had the bottom surgery…I like it and most of the girls that I date like it too!”
I have to ask you one question from my own experience and that is how did you adjust at the gym to your new gender in terms of changing rooms and just getting people to understand and accept the ‘new’ you?
“As far as the gym goes…normally because of my job as a fitness trainer I go there in gym clothes so I don’t have to change… But my gym has a male bathroom a female bathroom and a good sized family bathroom and I usually use that. This gym has been very good to me and I have never had one bad experience…a lot of people have been very positive to me and said nice things. So in other words if they have been so good to me why should I go out of my way to make a point by using the women’s room and say… well I have to go in there and you can’t do anything about it…there’s no reason. And that’s what I want to push in the transgender community also…it’s a case of if we want acceptance and to get people to accept us for who we are, in a way we have to be a little more accepting too and understand that they may not understand it. I mean if they are not being mean to us and really trying to understand then sometimes we need to be a little more patient…and in my case why do I need to go into either the male or female bathrooms when there is something else I can do….”
And what about any of the guys you used to train with…how have they reacted?
“This bodybuilder guy in the gym who I used to squat with was actually the first person to come up to me in the gym and say ‘look what’s going on?’…and I said what are you talking about? So he goes…’dude, you’ve lost all this weight and it looks like you’ve got boobs….so what is going on?’
So I told him everything and he’s been really cool about it. He still comes up and treats me just like he always did…he taps me on the shoulder as he is going by and says ‘hey what’s going on?’ and we’ll talk…I mean this guy is very comfortable and confident so he doesn’t care.”
Another thing I am sure you get asked about a lot is the fact that although you transitioned from male to female you are in a relationship with a female. Now some people would find that hard to grasp and assume that after the gender change you would date men?
“I do see that and I get that question almost every day from somebody. The thing is that society in general still thinks of sex gender and sexual orientation as the same when they are really distinct and separate identities and this is what I tell people…Sex is between your legs, gender is between your ears- it is how you perceive yourself – and then you have sexual orientation and that is who you are attracted to so if you are attracted to the opposite sex you are heterosexual and if you are attracted to the same sex you are homosexual and if you are attracted to both sexes you would be bisexual. So sex is between the legs, gender is between the ears and sexual orientation is between the sheets!
“I mean but even with that being said, where does that put me? My sex is more male because I still haven’t done the bottom surgery…but I am thinking about it. My gender is female and my sexual orientation is that I like females so does that make me a lesbian? But then I have to go…what difference does it make what I am attracted to?”
Finally I believe you have set yourself some lofty goals for the years ahead, including running for congress. Care to tell us more?
“My goal in the next eighteen months is that I will be running for congress and I would consider it a huge success if I can get on the ballot and make a good showing and help build a brand and a campaign fund. My chances may be really slim in terms of doing well in 2012 but it will set up 2014 for me to really try and win a place on congress. My goal is to get elected to congress.
Also I have been contacted to do a reality show but I don’t want it to be a goofy ‘Jersey Shore’ type of thing that people laugh at. In addition I want to develop my business Discover Health and Fitness so I will have something to sustain myself and also, getting back to congress, I really want to use my position to show that it doesn’t matter if you are transgender, if you are gay, if you are a minority…don’t stop being who you are because of society. Go out and do what you want to do because nothing should stop you from doing what you want to do…you are the only one who is stopping you if you are not doing what you want to do. It doesn’t matter if you are an ex bodybuilder who wants to become a girl… why should that stop my life and prevent me from accomplishing everything I want to accomplish. Whether you are a kid who wants to change gender or own the local store or gym …as long as you are not hurting someone nothing should stop you. Personally I am not going to stop, why should I stop? Just because other people are uncomfortable with it? Well that’s their problem…”
Expect to hear much more from Christina in the month to come…meanwhile she can be contacted directly at:
chris@discoverhealthandfitness.com
http://lgbtweekly.com/2011/04/14/be-proud-be-bold-be-yourself/
http://www.discoverhealthandfitness.com/?page_id=857
Lee Penman