HE/HIM
5 men.
5 photoshoots.
5 stories.
"What does it mean to be a man?"
“To me, 'being a man' or to perform masculinity, is exuding ideals of power, positionality, and overwhelmingly aggressive, loud, and sometimes violent behavior… as a Male, being viewed in society as masculine is reputed as a gift, while being viewed as feminine is a curse. Being a man means listening to yourself and being who you are on the inside, despite what others and the society around you think."
"Being a member of the LGBTQ+ during highschool gets you a lot of backlash, and you’re going to receive it, so give out positivity and see you’ll get mainly positivity back."
"I always felt as if I was a little different than the rest of the boys during elementary school. But I knew to just keep moving despite of the certain looks I’ve gotten and the criticism of my own family at some points. My Christian family never really understood anything about the LGBTQ community.
“As a transgender male, the values of my gender identity are significantly more important to me than someone who was born with male anatomy. A common affirmation amongst transgender people, one that I wholeheartedly believe, is that we are self-made humans.
"I was extremely held back from doing so because growing up, I would always hear that boys were not allowed to wear makeup and they had to be masculine and a “ladies man” but my response to that is hell no.