WASHINGTON — An Oregon man is proving that there are a lot of ways to become the Ultimate Guy.
Aydian Dowling, 27, of Eugene, is blowing away the competition in the race to become Men’s Health magazine’s annual Ultimate Guy cover model, and he’s transgender.
He tells Men’s Health that he was born female.
“I just wanted to act a certain way, but I was told that was not how girls act.”
He had a crush on a girl at age 13, came out as a lesbian at 16 and was dressing as a man by age 21. But then his girlfriend at the time asked him, “Have you ever wanted to be a boy?”
Dowling says he was scared of the notion: “I thought being a lesbian was hard enough.”
But sitting in his room one night, he noticed that the only thing feminine about his room was the color of the walls.
“I was sick of not living my life just because this is the one I was given. Becoming myself is what made me more confident.”
He began hormone replacement in 2009 and has had some surgery. He talks more about his anatomy on his YouTube channel. He has another channel, devoted to fitness videos for transsexual people.
The popular vote isn’t the only criterion for winning the Ultimate Guy contest, but the top vote-getter makes the finals. Dowling hopes that winning the contest “would tell people that no matter who you are, you can be the man you want to be.”
