Janet Mock
In honor of Trans Day of Visibility later this month, learn about writer, producer, director, and activist, Janet Mock!
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Janet Mock (born 1983) is a writer, television producer, and transgender rights activist. She transitioned during her freshman year of high school and then engaged in sex work to fund her transition. Many transgender women, especially those of color, turn to sex work for income due to stigma and discrimination. Mock said that she found a sense of sisterhood between herself and the other girls working in the same area, but also felt a sense of “deep sadness.” Growing up in Hawaii, Mock was asked if she was māhū, or outside of the gender binary, similar to her hula instructor.
During her first year at college, Mock travelled to Thailand for gender affirming surgery. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Fashion Merchandising in Hawaii before going on to get a Master of Arts in journalism in New York.
Mock came out publicly in 2011 in an article written by another journalist which used a title that she did not agree with and described her as living her childhood as a boy. She said that it was incorrect because she had always been a girl, she just had a body that was assumed to be male at birth.
In 2014, she wrote her first book, a memoir about her teenage years, Redefining Realness: My Path to Womanhood, Identity, Love & So Much More which made The New York Times bestseller list. In 2017, her second memoir, Surpassing Certainty was published.
Mock has also worked as a writer, producer, and director in several TV and film productions including The Trans List and Pose, and has signed a major deal with Netflix. She has been the first transgender woman of color in many of the positions she’s held.
“I believe that telling our stories, first to ourselves and then to one another and the world, is a revolutionary act”
What she says is perfect for Trangender Day of Visibility. By being fully themselves and by telling their stories, transgender people can change minds and hearts. In the current political and social atmosphere, it is also revolutionary in that it is standing up in the face of adversity to say “this is who I am, and I can not change that,” and choosing to live that truth.
This ideal is central to the mission of Trans Up Front. By centering the voices of transgender people in the discussion about transgender lives and rights, we engage in a revolutionary act. We tell the world our stories because it is easy to dehumanize and target people you don’t identify with.
Join us, Sunday March 30th at 1pm, at Federal Plaza in Chicago to demand that transgender people be seen, heard, and respected. Join us to demand our rights be honored and upheld.
Today’s protest endorsement announcements:
