FTM Magazine
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FTM Magazine is a company based in Rochester, NY that specifically represents FTM (female to male) trans men. It is a medium for trans masculine people to read other people’s stories and encourages people to share their own. The content on the official website is sorted into: News, Culture, Community, and Transitional. Popular topics include fashion, fitness, community stories, interviews, tips, and reviews. The company advertises through inter-community, and allied businesses rather than banner, or pop-up ads. The company acquires steady funding through T-shirt sales from their clothing line, and cover prices.
History
FTM Magazine was first funded in November 2013. Jason Robert Ballard is the CEO, who ran the company independently for the first three years. The website was then launched in January 2014. The magazine released a photo of model Aydian Dowling recreating the famous Adam Levine photo which was featured in the Cosmopolitan (UK) for testicular and prostate cancer awareness. As a result of this photo's popularity, the magazine launched their clothing line: This Is What Trans Looks Like. Due to some backlash for being a binary exclusive company, the Fall 2017 issue was postponed. It has been reopened with a team as a media platform. The company is looking to reach a larger audience. There are tentative plans to create sub-domains of the magazine in different languages for countries outside of the US.
Issues
| Date | Theme | Cover |
|---|---|---|
| Spring of 2014 | The Founding Issue | Jason Robert Ballard |
| Summer 2014 | Giovanni Carlo | |
| Fall 2014 | The YouTube Issue | Skylar Kergil |
| Winter 2015 | Bodybuilding | Shawn Stinson |
| Spring 2015 | Viral Photo | Aydian Dowling |
| Summer 2016 | Web Series | Seven King, Emmett Jack Lundberg, and Jake Graf |
| Fall 2016 | Documentary: Transgender, At War And Love | Logan Ireland |
| Winter 2016 | Laith Ashley | |
| Spring 2017 | Tiq Milan | |
| Summer 2017 | Malcolm Rene Ribot |
Articles
The founder and CEO of FTM Magazine is Jason Robert Ballard. Jason published an autobiographical article on The New York Times website. He wrote about his personal experiences as an FTM trans man himself. He said his inspiration for the magazine stemmed from the support he received from his own family and friends. He also acknowledged the fact that there is a long way to go as far as visibility and normalization of trans people in the eyes of the public and the media.[1]
On June 23, 2014, an article written by Mitch Kellaway entitled ‘LOOK: Will This Magazine Become the GQ of Trans Men?’ was published on the Advocate website. The article talks about CEO Jason Robert Ballard’s vision for the magazine. In the interview, Jason said that he noticed that the initial idea came while he was reading GQ, hence the title of the article.[2]
An article on the Daily Mail website, published on February 23, 2015 by Oliver O’Connell. The article was entitled ‘Transgender model recreates Adam Levine's nude photo to break the stigma of what a female-to-male body can look like’ and covered the most famous piece that FTM Magazine has produced to date. In the April 2015 issue, the magazine featured a picture that went viral. FTM transgender model, Aydian Dowling, recreated the famous nude picture of Adam Levine.[3]
Notable Personnel
Writers
Jason Robert Ballard - CEO of FTM Magazine
Vice President
Chris Rhodes - Founder of Flavnt, trans clothing line
Malcolm R Ribot - FTM Traveler
Maxwell Hunter
Dash Hudson
Leo Reichstetter
Gabriel Coppersan
Guest Writers - Many of the articles published in FTM Magazine are written by guest writers. There are open submissions for guest writers to submit their writing, which is then edited and published.
Editors
Kate White
Sponsors
The Self Made Men
References
- ^ The New York Times (2016-12-18). "Transgender Lives: Your Stories: Jason Robert Ballard". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2016-12-22.
- ^ "LOOK: Will This Magazine Become the GQ of Trans Men?". 2014-06-23. Retrieved 2016-12-22.
- ^ "Transgender model raises awareness recreating iconic Adam Levine pose". Mail Online. Retrieved 2016-12-22.