FTM Magazine

FM Magazine is a magazine 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.

History

FTM Magazine was first funded in November of 2013. Jason Robert Ballard is the CEO, who ran the company independently for the first three years. The website was then launched in January of 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. The last issue to date was the Summer 2017 issue. 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.

https://ftmmagazine.com/contactus/

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: Transgenger, At War And Love	Logan Ireland
Winter 2017		Laith Ashley
Spring 2017		Tiq Milan
Summer 2017		Malcols Rene Ribot

Articles/About

The founder and CEO of FTM Magazine is Jason Robert Ballard. Jason published an autobiographical article on The New York Times website. the article 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.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/projects/storywall/transgender-today/stories/jason-robert-ballard

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.

File:Ftm mag 2.jpg

Left: Aydian Dowling Right: Adam Levine

http://www.advocate.com/politics/transgender/2014/06/23/look-will-magazine-become-gq-trans-men

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.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2966253/Transgender-activist-entrepreneur-raises-awareness-recreation-iconic-naked-photo-Adam-Levine-goes-viral.html

Social Media

FTM Magazine has all of the major social media pages:

Notable Personnel

Writers

Jason Robert Ballard - CEO of FTM Magazine

Leo Reichstetter

Maxwell Hunter

Chris Rhodes - Founder of Flavnt, trans clothing line

Dash Hudson

Aidan Faiella

Malcolm R Ribot

Guest Writers - Many of the articles published in FTM Magazine are written by guest writers. These writers are able to submit their writing, which is then edited and published. The idea is for FTM Magazine to be shared by people within the FTM community.