“Feeling comfortable in your own skin is a never-ending journey and at times can feel like a battle - a battle I know all too well. As a young queer boy, society’s heteronormative ideals of masculinity always felt unattainable to me. It was the club that I wasn’t on the list for…And, even though I’ve grown into my self-confidence, the coming of age anxieties most gay men felt in school or at the gym lingered way beyond their welcome. Rediscovering and reclaiming my relationship with exercise has been such a liberating feeling and I know a younger me would be so proud of it.The male physique and masculinity are still grotesquely fetishized within the community and we can all do more like a collective to diminish those divides. But it’s important to remember we all have our own body confidence journeys and what’s truly important is how we feel within ourselves!” - Joel Mingott, Model