Transgender woman wins breast augmentation contest

AMP Radio’s controversial “Breast Summer Ever” contest took an interesting turn today. The winner of the competition, who was voted for by the public, was Avery. She was born male but is transitioning to female. What may be most surprising is that Avery won by a landslide – 76% of the votes – in conservative ol’ Calgary.

Although I've never liked the contest, I think it’s interesting that Avery won. Her win has shown me two things:

First, the younger generation of Calgarians (those most likely to be AMP Radio listeners and voters) are an open minded bunch. This gives me hope that our awesome-but-conservative city can be a more welcoming place for those whose gender or sexuality is anything other than straight.

Second, I believe that voters saw through the ridiculousness of many aspects of this contest. Most of the other contestants didn’t have a compelling reason to deserve a $10,000 boob job. Many of them wanted new breasts for reasons the public just wouldn't sympathize with. Avery’s case was one of the few that caught my attention, and I was pleased to see that the public chose someone whose life could be meaningfully changed by breast augmentation.

No matter the outcome, I still find the contest a distasteful marketing ploy. The program manager basically admitted in a FFWD article that he was doing it for publicity, and now that a transgender person has won, the station will receive even more attention. Although a transgender person won the contest, that doesn’t change the fact that it was a stupid, sleazy contest that promoted body dissatisfaction and normalized plastic surgery. None the less, it was an interesting contest with the ending I secretly hoped for but never expected to happen.

Congratulations, Avery. I hope your new boobs help you complete your journey to womanhood.

UPDATE - I was asked by the Calgary Herald to comment on this story... here is the article!