Benjamin "Ben" Ryan Melzer (born Yvonne Melzer in 1987 in Recklinghausen ) is a German model , transgender activist and blogger . In April 2016, as a model, he became the first trans man to make the cover of lifestyle and fitness magazine Men's Health .
Melzer grew up in Marl . He was born with female sexual characteristics and was named Yvonne.
Even as a child, Melzer did not want to wear any clothes and always chose boy names when playing with children of the same age. According to reports and memories from his mother, he was discontented, unhappy and rebellious as a child. Melzer had his first doubts about his gender identity during puberty , when his breasts grew and his beard failed to grow. At the age of 18 he saw a report on television about Chaz Bono , Cher 's son , which made him aware of his transsexuality .
At the age of 23, Melzer decided to undergo gender reassignment measures . He initially began hormone therapy with testosterone . In the following two years, a total of eleven operations followed, eight of them on the abdomen. He had his breasts, ovaries and uterus removed; the last step was an artificial penis construction . In the meantime, Melzer's birth certificate has also been adjusted and the change in marital status completed; his civil name is Benjamin Ryan Melzer .
After the completed gender reassignment, Melzer devoted himself to building his male body with weight training , strength sports and fitness . In April 2016, Melzer was the cover model of Men's Health along with four other models . He became the first transgender man and first transgender male model to be featured on Men's Health cover. In May 2016, Melzer posed for a photo shoot on the Brooklyn Bridge for a New York modeling agency that specializes in transgender models . Numerous national newspapers (Bild , Tagesspiegel , Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung ), news magazines ( Der Spiegel , Focus ) and periodicals.
