Janet Mock Quote

When I was younger, I remember taking pride in people’s well-meaning remarks: You’re so lucky that no one would ever know! or You don’t even look like a guy! or Wow! You’re prettier than most ‘natural’ women! They were all backhanded compliments, acknowledging my beauty while also invalidating my identity as a woman. To this day, I’m told in subtle and obvious ways that I am not real, meaning that I am not, nor will I ever be, a cis woman; therefore, I am fake.These thoughts surrounding identity, gender, bodies, and how we view, judge, and objectify all women brings me to the subject of passing, a term based on an assumption that trans people are passing as something that we are not. It’s rooted in the idea that we are not really who we say we are, that we are holding a secret, that we are living false lives. Examples of people passing in media, whether through race ( and Nella Larsen’s novel ), class ( and the reality show ), or gender ( and ), are often portrayed as leading a life of tragic duplicity and as deceivers who will be punished harshly by society when their true identity is uncovered. This is no different for trans people who pass as their gender or, more accurately, are assumed to be cis or blend in as cis, as if that is the standard or norm. This pervasive thinking frames trans people as illegitimate and unnatural. If a trans woman who knows herself and operates in the world as a woman is seen, perceived, treated, and viewed as a woman, isn’t she just being herself? She isn’t  ; she is merely .