Attitude meets the cover guy who’s making transgender history with Men’s Health
By Will Stroude
Bodybuilder and model Ben Melzer made history this month with the announcement that he’ll soon be first trans man to appear on the cover of a European men’s fitness magazine.
The 28-year-old is set to appear on the cover of Men’s Health Germany’s April Issue after entering the magazine’s recent cover boy contest, and follows in the footsteps of Aydian Dowling, who appeared on the publication’s US edition last year.
We featured Ben in our recent January issue, where the rising transgender role model told us his story in his own words, and posed for a hot new shoot alongside three other trans men. You can download at pocketmags.com/attitude or order a print copy from newsstand.co.uk/Attitude. Read Ben’s story below…
“I first realised something was wrong from a very young age. It was so weird because I was a girl and I liked girls, but I knew I was not a lesbian. I thought I was the only one in the world. I first realised I was trans at the age of 18, when I saw Cher’s son, Chaz Bono, on TV, who is also female-to-male transgender. I Googled it, and it scared me. Then, at the age of 23, I saw a German guy on the news telling everyone he was transgender, and that started the change. I had no more strength to live the way I was. I drove to my mother’s house to tell her. She cried and said, ‘I knew this. I was sure you would tell me if something was wrong. I wanted to give you time’. It was very emotional. My father was much colder, but I think he was just scared. My mother is my best friend, she’s come from Germany with me for this photo shoot. I let her choose my new name Benjamin, just like she named me at childbirth.
“I had to go through several months of therapy before I could get the first injections of testosterone. After that you need to wait another four months until you undergo surgery – the first of which is the top surgery. In my opinion it is the most important one for every trans guy. I hated my boobs. Sometimes I would think about cutting them off myself. When they removed them, it felt like freedom… until I looked in the mirror. You see all the guys in magazines and you want to look like them. My nipples were too low, and that made me sad. I started to work out like hell, all day every day, and every couple of months I would have another surgery. It was very long, hard and painful but I would definitely do it again, because the pain I felt before I started to transition far outweighed this one.
“I don’t tell people I am trans as soon as I meet them. Once I form a friendship then I’ll open the conversation. It’s hard for me to say ‘I’m a trans guy’ because I just feel like
a normal guy, and most people treat me like a man. I’m not like a lot of guys in Germany. I love fashion and sports; I am my own guy. I think most of Germany doesn’t know anything about transgender people, but it’s a tolerant, open place. I want to show everyone we are not freaks; we are normal guys. We didn’t choose this; we were born this way.”
To read our full six-page feature on these four inspirational men, grab the January issue of Attitude. You can download a digital version of the mag from pocketmags.com/attitude or order a print copy from newsstand.co.uk/Attitude.
More stories:
Madonna suffers another awkward wardrobe malfunction on stage
A lot more straight guys are into anal penetration than you might think