@thespiritwas / thespiritwas.tumblr.com
Barnard Center for Research On Women recently posted the video of the Janet Mock Salon last April. I had such a great time moderating this panel/roast/celebration/salon in honor of Janet Mock’s book. Check out the unmeasurable brilliance of my sibling Che Gossett, CeCe McDonald, Brittany Cooper, Mey Valdivia Rude and of course the one & only Janet Mock!
I’m thrilled to have written the introduction for this issue of In Solidarity put together by my brilliant co-worker Gabriel Foster.
In Solidarity is written for and by mostly incarcerated trans and gender non conforming people, so it was especially amazing to have CeCe come to our office to introduce this issue. It features essays and artwork by incarcerated members of the SRLP’s Prisoner Advisory Committee, writing by Janet Mock, a 1970 interview between Sylvia Rivera and a trans person incarcerated in Bellvue Hospital and more!
The last few weeks have been particularly exhilarating for those of us work on trans liberation and gender self determination. After I attended Janet Mock’s book release for Redefining Release I watched my friend’s work get the attention and platform it deserves while also witnessing her shut down Piers Morgan and give him some generous …
Some reflections on the recent increased visibility of movements for gender determination and trans liberation!
Sat down with Marc Lamont Hill at HuffPost Live today to discuss The Out List, which airs tonight 6/27 at 930pm EST, and why our movement needs to expand its lens.
janet repping for girls like us on both huffpo live and the out list! plz check this interview out because it is *amazing*
i followed janet’s interview on a short segment about identity markers, only mentioning it because two trans women of color on huffpo live in one day is probably some kind of record too!
"If you don't see yourself anywhere else online, come here."
I got some tumblr love from Thomas Page McBee of Buzzfeed today alongside some brilliant other tumblr blogs like @brooklynboihood and @thetestshot! check out the piece here!
Isis King snapped this photo of the Isis, Janet & me having a power kiki -the first step to girlslikeus taking over the world!
Janet Mock, SRLP10 Honoree! To read her full profile by Stephen Ira and support the SRLP10 click here!
HELP the Sylvia Rivera Law Project RAISE $15,000 BY NOVEMBER 8TH!
The SRLP 10 Indiegogo Campaignis a month-long fund-raising drive leading up to our 10th Anniversary Celebration on Thursday, November 8 @ 1199 SEIU, NYC. This is your opportunity to support the Sylvia Rivera Law Project's important work of increasing the political voice and visibility of low-income people and people of color who are transgender, intersex, or gender non-conforming
It’s rare that trans women are given the mic to speak about our experiences on our own terms, and it’s an even rarer occurrence when we women of color get to share space with one another and truth tell in a public space.
I’m proud of the nearly 10 minutes I shared with Isis King, who came into the media’s focus when she was recruited to compete on Cycle 11 of America’s Next Top Model in 2008. I’m proud to call Isis my dear sister and to be able to speak with her about our public lives.
For In The Life Media’s landmark 20th season, Isis and I discuss living visibly as trans women, our personal experiences in the media and our views on “tranny” and divisive trans terminology.
I’d like to use this space to clarify three things:
1. Isis mentioned Laverne Cox as one of the only examples she’s known of trans women like herself on television. I’d like to highlight the fact that other sisters are and have also represented on television: Carmen Carrera, Candis Cayne, Jamie Clayton, Nina Poon, Harmony Santana and Nong Ariyaphon Southiphong.
2. I made a statement about our responsibility to educate others about our experiences. I said, “You have to use your life as a teaching moment.” It’s a personal choice to do so, and it’s a responsibility that I take on, but it is NOT our job to educate people about us. I was reminded of this when I read Janani Balasubramanian’s essay “Brown Silence,” where she so eloquently writes: “Not everyone’s education needs to be our responsibility all the time…Our words and energy should also be conserved.”
3. I also said the dehumanization of trans women in the media “leads to trans women hurting themselves in a way that they feel they don’t deserve more.” Instead, I’d like to add that the systematic dehumanization of trans women through words, images and the lack thereof of words and images that represent the totality of our experiences actually is what contributes to others seeing us as less than human therefore justifying the violence, battery, criminalization and murders we face.
Finally, I hope conversations like these continue to happen, and that they happen with a wide array of women, because it’s only in hearing a plethora of our voices do we paint a more realistic portrait of womanhood.
both of these people are amazing & brilliant! really grateful to share community with Janet & Isis!
What a way to end solstice & enter summer! Schemed & plotted for gender liberation and then finally got to meet the amazing trans activist Janet Mock on the eve of Trans Day of Action!
this is an incredibly powerful piece coming with Janet Mock's amazing analysis on the violence trans women of color navigate every day. filled with resistance strategies, statistics and moving testimony. thank you for your billiance, Janet!
