The other night, male model Andrej Pejic chatted with The Cut about the whole Dossier Journal censorship situation, and although he agrees it’s silly, he sees how booksellers could be confused about his gender, seeing as how he was just named the 98th sexiest woman in the world by FHM.
I am not sure how I hadn’t heard about this before, but I was intrigued since, you know, he’s a man, and has made it perfectly clear in interviews that although he enjoys being androgynous, he has no plans to become a woman. When I headed over to FHM‘s website and clicked on Andrej’s page, his article had mysteriously disappeared.
I wasn’t going to let that fly, so after a lot of digging, I found a screenshot of his original bio, which I think you should read for yourself:
Um, what? I find the parts about him being “a thing” and an “it” particularly disgusting, don’t you? I know that FHM is supposed to be this machismo magazine all about tits and testosterone, but that is no reason to be flat out cruel to someone who is different. The author not only says he needs a “sick bucket” when thinking of Andrej as a Victoria’s Secret model, he calls out transgender model Lea T. (who actually is becoming a woman) for being “troubling” as well.
I sincerely hope that the publication took Andrej’s article down because it was ashamed.
Photo: Emily Abay for J’Aton Couture
Several fans of Andrej Pejic, including me, complained about this on their social medias. I also tweeted directly at the editor of this particular FHM project (@JonMoody61) asking for his response to accusations of transphobia and prejudice. I did the same with the FHM Twitter as well. Not a day later the page had been removed without comment. I didn’t get a reply from Jon Moody or FHM about my complaint, though I don’t expect I was the only one to complain directly to them. It’s absolutely digusting. If you’re not going to celebrate the fact that Andrej is a very beautiful feminine man when listing him in something like this, then it begs the question of what the purpose of including him is other than to give them a platform for their blatant prejudice and transphobia, particularly given the comments about Lea T. /still annoyed
FHM has a history of giving a current pretty boy of the moment a spot on their sexiest or unsexiest women lists. A couple years ago the German FHM put singer Bill Kaulitz at number 30 on their unsexiest woman list, which they also credited to their readers writing in and voting for, like they did with this list. It’s good that the guys manage to twist the negative intentions into a positive, but it’d be nice if people would call out FHM for their actions.
This is really disappointing and sad.
That’s an absaloutely disgusting article, and I’m so glad it’s gone! Go you for hunting it down and making sure everyone knows how narrow minded and horrible they are. (Wishing I wasn’t such a prude and knew decent insults right now, this bunch deserve it!)
Also that photograph is so beautiful! How could you possibly think he is sick in any way, shape, or form?
goog looking
very very sexy ledy
that article is revolting. i’m glad they took it down.
http://www.thefashionablefoodie.com
Im not condoning that FHM article one bit – its down right vile – but part of me can’t help but think, when is a woman’s domain going to be just that. I love Andrej, and his barrier breaking, but this doesn’t really serve women any kind of empowerment…. If anything it’s in part saying that a flat chested boy looks better in women’s clothes then actual women… Men have too much power in fashion as it is. Can we keep something just for women?
The last half of the 2nd paragraph and the last paragraph are definitely insulting him, but unless I’m missing something, they didn’t actually call him a “thing,” just the “next big thing.” That’s a really common phrase. However, not defending them at all, just pointing the phrase out.
I also agree with Caitlin. I’m all for everyone being what they want to be, but is this a sign to rethink the female fashion model starvation trend, if the ideal fashion model figure is now actually a man’s figure?
No arguing he is beautiful, though!
FHM should be ashamed of themselves. WOW. This is blatant and outright phobia and very disrespectful and sad that this sort of behaviour still exists in our fairly evolved and progressive world.
-fggofstyle
http://www.fggofstyle.com
there’s now a brief and rather weak apology from FHM on their website; the link at the end of the 2nd paragraph in the article above, originally to the earlier FHM entry, currently links to the apology