14 DAY TRIAL // Every year, fitness publication Men’s Health runs a search for the Ultimate Guy, with the winner getting a year’s worth of product supply and the cover of the September issue. This year, the favorite to that title is Aydian Dowling.
He also happens to be transgender, so if he wins, he will become the first trans-man to land the cover and a full editorial inside the pages of the aforementioned issue. No wonder then that everybody’s been talking about him these past few weeks.
Aydian is also a fitness model, a YouTube personality and runs his own business
Right now, Aydian has 56,197 votes, almost 5 times more than the runner-up. The voting process ends in June, so upsets could still happen, but for the time being, he’s looking as the number one favorite for the title of America’s Ultimate Guy.
As per Men’s Health, this Guy is one “who possesses all of the qualities that make up today’s well rounded, active, health conscious and thoughtful guy, […] a guy who is fit and fearless; a doer who gives back and leads by example.”
Aydian seems to check all these boxes, so no wonder he’s getting so much support online.
As expected, this also brought him more media attention: just recently, he stopped by BuzzFeed and talked about his latest accomplishment, his work within the LGBT community, his business, his private life (and loving wife), and what it’s like to be a viral star.
Aydian wants to be a role model, raise awareness for the LGBT community
Aydian never expected that he would become a viral star, let alone that he would get this many votes for what he assumed would be just a successful attempt at raising awareness on LGBT issues, but not a success in terms of winning the prize.
Now that he’s one step closer to doing that, he wants to use the exposure he’s given to be like a role model for other trans-people who might be facing hardships in life, for one reason or another.
“I feel like me personally and the transgender community as a whole have the same feelings. It’s bringing visibility, its bringing awareness. I used to be one of those kids that was depressed and didn’t see anyone I could look up to,” he says. “[Getting on the cover] would mean there was this new generation saying, ‘Hey, I can have a happy life, I can be successful, I’m not as weird as I thought I was.’ You just want to feel community, a sense of respect, acknowledgment, to feel heard, to have a space at the table.”
So far, Aydian has been getting a lot of that, a lot of respect and support, and not just from the LGBT community either.
Of course, as always in these cases, there are 2 sides to the coin: voices are also heard from people who believe that even the possibility of having a trans-man on the cover of a men’s magazine is a clear sign of the end of the world coming.
Chances are it will happen whether they like it or not.
The @buzzfeed photoshoot is already up! Haha I had a lot of fun in the city and recreating these iconic shots was super fun!! Shout out to Sarah for an awesome interview too!! http://www.buzzfeed.com/skarlan/this-guy-might-be-the-first-trans-man-on-the-cover-of-mens-h#.lqxrvm5Go #ftm #transmale #femaletomale #trans #recreate #aydiandowling #buzzfeed A photo posted by Aydian Dowling (@alionsfear) on Apr 29, 2015 at 6:03pm PDT