Casey Legler Is A Female Activist In Men’s Clothing

"I'm queer, I am 6'2", I have this weird funky history about me that involves being an Olympic athlete," Casey Legler says as she introduces herself. "My body is proportioned to a biologically male body, and so I was trained to swim like the boys." Legler's story is remarkable, and it doesn't end with swimming. The French former athlete appeared on Australian Broadcasting Corporation News this week to tell that story in her own words, beginning toward the end of her swimming career. One of the reasons she left the sport of swimming, she shares, is that after she came out as queer, she was "invited" to leave the women's changing room and change in the handicapped restroom instead. Later, at 35 years old, Legler accepted a photographer friend's offer to try modeling — male modeling. "I was put in men's clothes because I fit in men's clothes," she explains simply. "The only thing that's particularly unique is that I'm biologically a woman." Now 37, Legler is not only the world's first "female male model" — she's signed to Ford — but she's also an artist in her own right and a vocal supporter of non-normative gender identities and expressions. "If the image of me out there in the world makes it easier for one more kid to think that there's some fucking space for them," she states, "then that's the business I'm into." View the video above for Legler's powerful message.