Janet Mock

Janet Mock
Janet Mock in 2012
Born (1983-03-10) March 10, 1983
Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.
Residence New York City, New York, U.S.
Citizenship United States
Education
Occupation Writer, author
Known for Redefining Realness, transgender activism[1][2]

Janet Mock (born March 10, 1983)[3] is an American writer, TV host, and transgender rights activist. Her debut book, the memoir Redefining Realness, became a New York Times bestseller. She is a contributing editor for Marie Claire and a former staff editor of People magazine's website.[4][5][6][7]

Early life and education

Janet Mock was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, the second child in the family.[8][9][10] Her father, Charlie Mock III, is African-American, and her mother, Elizabeth (Barrett), is of half native Hawaiian descent and half European descent.[11] Mock lived for most of her youth in her native Hawaii, with a portion in Oakland, California and Dallas.[12] She began her transition from male to female as a freshman in high school, and funded her medical transition by earning money as a sex worker in her teens.[13] She played volleyball in high school, a sport she had bonded over with her childhood friend Wendi, who helped Janet express her femininity.[14] She chose her name Janet after Janet Jackson.[13][15] She was the first person in her family to go to college. She underwent sex reassignment surgery in Thailand at the age of 18 in the middle of her first year in college.[12] Mock earned a Bachelor of Arts in Fashion Merchandising from the University of Hawaii at Manoa in 2004 and a Master of Arts in Journalism from New York University in 2006.[16][17]

Career

After graduating from New York University, Mock started working at People magazine, where she was a staff editor for more than five years.[17] Her career in journalism shifted from editor to media advocate when she came out publicly as a trans woman in a 2011 Marie Claire article, written by Kierna Mayo in Mock's voice. Mock took issue with how the magazine represented her by stating that she was born and raised as a boy; she says she was always a girl.[18][19] Mock said, "I was born in what doctors proclaim is a boy's body. I had no choice in the assignment of my sex at birth.... My genital reconstructive surgery did not make me a girl. I was always a girl."[20] In 2014, while promoting her book Redefining Realness, she would reiterate that she did not choose the Marie Claire article title, and found it to have many problems.[14][21] The editor of that piece, Lea Goldman, would later tweet in support of Mock: "To be fair, I do recall @janetmock & @kiernamayo taking issue with our @marieclaire hed, "I Was Born a Boy." I went with it anyway. #regrets"[22] Despite the misgendering, Mock became a contributing editor at Marie Claire, where she has written articles about racial representation in film and television[23] as well as trans women's presence in the global beauty industry.[24][25]

She submitted a video about her experiences as a transgender woman to the "It Gets Better" project in 2011, and has written on a variety of topics for Marie Claire, Elle, The Advocate, Huffington Post and XoJane.[26][27][28]

In 2012, Atria Books, a division of Simon & Schuster, signed Mock to her first book deal for a memoir about her teenage years,[29] which was released as Redefining Realness: My Path to Womanhood, Identity, Love & So Much More in February 2014. It is the first book written by a trans person who transitioned as a young person. Redefining Realness made The New York Times bestseller list for hardcover nonfiction, and contains her personal memories often alongside statistics or social theory.[14][8] Mock writes her book is about her personal experience as a trans woman of color.[30] In the author's note she writes she is aware of her privilege in writing this book and telling her story.[30] Her story is not written with the intent of being representation for all trans women and trans women of color, it is one story out of many.[30] She states in the author's note, "There is no universal women's experience"[30] Feminist critic bell hooks referred to Janet's memoir as, "Courageous! This book is a life map for transformation" while Melissa Harris-Perry said, "Janet does what only great writers of autobiography accomplish—she tells a story of the self, which turns out to be a reflection of all humanity."

Shortly after signing her book deal, she left her position as an editor at People.com where she had worked for more than five years. Janet went on to host TakePart Live and her own culture show, So POPular!, on Shift. The weekly digital series takes a look at cultural issues and breaks down all of the things we pretend we're too smart to like. Mock has stated, in a Q&A with Tribune Business News, that her heroes and influences have been women writers such as Zora Neale Hurston, Maya Angelou, Alice Walker, and Toni Morrison.

While taping So POPular!, she continued to work with MSNBC as a guest host for the Melissa Harris-Perry show, host of the Global Citizen Festival, and covered the White House Correspondence Dinner's red carpet for Shift. She is also a special correspondent for Entertainment Tonight.

In April 2015, Oprah Winfrey invited Janet to be a guest on Super Soul Sunday for a segment titled, "Becoming Your Most Authentic Self" where she discussed "proudly and unapologetically" claiming her identities. In September 2015, Janet was invited back to join Winfrey's Super Soul Sessions where Mock discussed, "Embracing The Otherness." In 2016, Mock was named to Oprah's SuperSoul 100 list of visionaries and influential leaders.[31]

In addition to Super Soul Sunday, Mock has appeared on Real Time with Bill Maher, Melissa Harris-Perry, The Colbert Report, and The Nightly Show.[32][33][2][34][35] She is featured in an LGBT documentary, The OUT List, which screened on HBO on June 27, 2013.[36] She is also featured in a 2011 documentary called Dressed.

In 2012, she started a Twitter hashtag to empower transgender women, called #GirlsLikeUs, which received attention from several queer-media sites.[37][38][39][40] Also in 2012, she gave the Lavender Commencement keynote speech honoring LGBT students at the University of Southern California and delivered the commencement address for Pitzer College in 2015. She also served as co-chair, nominee and presenter at the 2012 GLAAD Media Awards.[16]

In June 2013, Mock joined the board of directors of the Arcus Foundation, a charitable foundation focused on great ape conservation and LGBT rights.[41]

In 2014, following the conviction of activist (and transgender woman of color) Monica Jones,[42] Mock joined a campaign against a Phoenix law which allows police to arrest anyone suspected of "manifesting prostitution", which targets transgender women of color. Mock tweeted, "Speak against the profiling of #TWOC [trans woman of color], like Monica Jones. Tweet #StandWithMonica + follow @SWOPPhx [Sex Workers Outreach Project – Phoenix Chapter] now!"[42]

Also in 2014, Mock was featured on the fifth anniversary cover of C☆NDY magazine along with 13 other transgender women – Laverne Cox, Carmen Carrera, Geena Rocero, Isis King, Gisele Alicea, Leyna Ramous, Dina Marie, Nina Poon, Juliana Huxtable, Niki M'nray, Pêche Di, Carmen Xtravaganza and Yasmine Petty.[43]

Her book publisher, Atria (an imprint of Simon & Schuster), announced in March 2016 that Mock is working her second memoir with them.[44] Surpassing Certainty, her second memoir, was promised to "pick up where Redefining Realness left off – chronicling 'the journey of finding her way, her voice, and her purpose in her 20s through a series of first experiences.'"

Mock wrote the cover story for The Advocate's March 2016 feature on DeRay Mckesson, titled "Why DeRay Mckesson Matters"[45] as well as Marie Claire′s November 2016 feature on Nicki Minaj, titled "Nicki Minaj Is Here To Slay."[46]

On December 5, 2016, "The Trans List" aired on HBO.[47] The film was produced by Mock along with director Timothy Greenfield-Sanders. Mock also interviewed the cast, which features eleven prominent transgender figures: Laverne Cox, Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, Buck Angel, Kylar Broadus, Caroline Cossey, Shane Ortega, Alok Vaid-Menon, Nicole Maines, Bamby Salcedo, Amos Mac and Caitlyn Jenner.

In 2016, Mock wrote the forward for On Christopher Street: Transgender Stories, a book of photos and stories by famed photographer, Mark Seliger.

In 2017, Surpassing Certainty, Mock's second memoir, was published.[48] The book's title is an allusion to Audre Lorde, who wrote, "And at last you'll know with surpassing certainty that only one thing is more frightening than speaking your truth. And that is not speaking."[49]

The television show Pose premiered on June 3, 2018, on FX. Janet Mock is a writer, director, and producer on the show, and is the first trans woman of colour hired as a writer for a TV series in history.[50] It follows the lives of five trans women in the New York ballroom scene in 1987. Pose "looks at the juxtaposition of several segments of life and society in New York: the rise of the luxury Trump-era universe, the downtown social and literary scene, and the ball culture world."[51] The series has been congratulated for casting actual trans women in trans roles and for accurately depicting a unique queer subculture. In 2018 Mock directed the episode of Pose titled "Love Is the Message", thus making her the first transgender woman of color to write and direct any television episode.[52]

Honors and awards

In November 2012, the Sylvia Rivera Law Project gave Mock their Sylvia Rivera Activist Award.[53]

Mock was included in the Trans 100, the first annual list recognizing 100 transgender advocates in the United States, and gave the keynote speech at the launch event on March 29, 2013, in Chicago.[54][55][56]

On November 14, 2013, Mock was honored as a member of the OUT100, Out Magazine's 100 "most compelling people of the year" and introduced Laverne Cox as the recipient of the Reader's Choice Award at the event. She was also named one of GOOD Magazine's GOOD 100 for "Building An Online Army to Defend #GirlsLikeUs."[57]

Mock was included in the video accompanying the Google Doodle for International Women's Day 2014.[58]

In April 2014, GLSEN presented Mock with the Inspiration Award at the GLSEN Respect Awards[59] and in October, the Feminist Press honored her activism at the Women & Power Gala.[60]

In 2014, Mock also was included as part of The Advocate's annual "40 Under 40" list, as well as their list of 50 Most Influential LGBT People in Media.[61][62] That same year, Mock was also included in the annual Root 100; this list honors "standout black leaders, innovators and culture shapers" aged 45 and younger,[63] and Planned Parenthood presented the Maggie Award for Media Excellence in "Social Media Campaign" to Mock for her work in creating a powerful and safe space for trans voices online and beyond through her #RedefiningRealness Tumblr page.[64]

In 2015, Time magazine named her one of "the 30 Most Influential People on the Internet" and one of "12 New Faces of Black Leadership"[65][66] and Fast Company included Mock as one of 2015's "Most Creative People in Business."

In February 2015, the American Library Association honored Redefining Realness with the Stonewall Book Award.[67] Later that year, Mock's book was nominated as a Lambda Literary Award finalist in the category of transgender non-fiction[68] and The Women's Way awarded Mock with their Book Prize.

In June 2015, Mock received the inaugural José Esteban Muñoz award from CLAGS: The Center for LGBTQ Studies - an award that is given to an individual who promotes Queer Studies in their work or activism.[69]

Along with Tiq Milan and Candis Cayne, Mock accepted an award in honor of Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera's lives and work at the 2016 LOGO Trailblazer Honors. She referred to Marsha and Sylvia as "[her] fairy godmothers because they created the blueprint for our liberation."[70]

Personal life

Mock lives in New York City. She is married to photographer Aaron Tredwell.

Controversies

In February 2014, Mock joined Piers Morgan Live on CNN, for a face-to-face interview.[71] After the show aired, the interview resulted in a Twitter feud between the Piers Morgan Live team and Mock. She accused them of "sensationalizing her life"[72] by focusing on her personal and physical life instead of her new book, Redefining Realness. Mock told BuzzFeed that Morgan did not "really want to talk about trans issues, he wants to sensationalize my life and not really talk about the work that I do and what the purpose of me writing this book was about."[72] Morgan was on the other end of large criticism from the LGBTQ community, resulting in Mock's second invitation onto the show.[73] Morgan attempted to understand the root of the criticism as Mock explained the problem with the way trans bodies and their lives are represented in mainstream media.[74]

To address the controversy, Mock appeared on The Colbert Report on February 18, 2014, where the host skewered Morgan and gave Mock space to speak about her book, advocacy and the need to listen to trans people when they declare who they are.[34] In an interview with Fusion's Alicia Menendez, Mock and Menendez "flipped the script" and used the Morgan interview as a teaching lesson by putting Mock on the questioning end of the interview to flip the conversation around gender.[75] Mock as the interviewer asked Menendez to prove her gender with questions like "do you have a vagina" to prove that she is cisgender, interrogating the ways in which trans people are questioned by the media.[76]

In March 2016, Mock canceled a speech at Brown University after students protested the invitation by Hillel, an organization with explicitly pro-Zionist views.[77][78]

Books

References

  1. ↑ "My womanhood is valid': transgender activist Janet Mock calls for change", Telegraph, January 1, 2017.
  2. 1 2 "Trans activist: 'Not enough of our stories are being told'". MSNBC. February 1, 2014. Retrieved February 6, 2014.
  3. ↑ "How Janet Mock Began Living Authentically at Age 15", SuperSoul Sunday.
  4. ↑ Mock, Janet (May 18, 2011). "I Was Born a Boy". Marie Claire. Retrieved January 1, 2014.
  5. ↑ Klinger, Lauren (July 22, 2014). "Janet Mock won't 'be thrown into a corner as the trans correspondent' at Marie Claire". Poynter. Retrieved February 25, 2016.
  6. ↑ Angyal, Chloe (April 13, 2015). "Janet Mock's Brilliant Cultural Insurgency". The American Prospect. Retrieved February 25, 2016.
  7. ↑ "Best Sellers". The New York Times. February 23, 2014. Retrieved February 25, 2016.
  8. 1 2 Zak, Dan (February 13, 2014). "Trans advocate Janet Mock dreams bigger after 'Redefining Realness'". Washington Post.
  9. ↑ Viera, Ben (May 2011). "'I Was Born a Boy': What's Religion Got to Do With It?". Clutch.
  10. ↑ Ruth Manuel-Logan, "He Put A Ring On It: Transgender Rights Activist Janet Mock Gets Engaged!",
  11. ↑ Stated on Finding Your Roots, October 24, 2017.
  12. 1 2 Mock, Janet (May 18, 2011). "Woman Discusses Her Gender Reassignment – Transsexual Woman Janet Mock". Marie Claire. Retrieved February 6, 2014.
  13. 1 2 Pires, Claire. "Janet Mock Opens Up About Her Experiences As A Trans Sex Worker at Age 16". Buzzfeed.com. Retrieved February 6, 2014.
  14. 1 2 3 Mock, Janet (2014). Redefining Realness: My Path to Womanhood, Identity, Love & So Much More. Atria Books. p. 10. ISBN 978-1476709123.
  15. ↑ "The Latest, Greatest Face of the Trans Movement: 5 Amazing Janet Mock Facts | Healthy Living – Yahoo Shine". Shine.yahoo.com. January 30, 2014. Retrieved February 6, 2014.
  16. 1 2 "About Janet Mock". Janetmock.com. Retrieved March 3, 2013.
  17. 1 2 Wilson, Janday (February 26, 2014). "SO WHAT DO YOU DO, JANET MOCK, WRITER, TRANSGENDER ADVOCATE AND AUTHOR?". Mediabistro. Retrieved October 15, 2014.
  18. ↑ Mayo, Kierna (May 18, 2011). "I Was Born a Boy". Marie Claire. Retrieved March 3, 2013.
  19. ↑ "How Society Shames Men Dating Trans Women & How This Affects Our Lives". Janet Mock. I am a trans woman. My sisters are trans women. We are not secrets. We are not shameful. We are worthy of respect, desire, and love. As there are many kinds of women, there are many kinds of men, and many men desire many kinds of women, trans women are among these women. And let's be clear: Trans women are women.
  20. ↑ "'More Than A Pretty Face': Sharing My Journey To Womanhood". Janet Mock. Retrieved July 2, 2018. I was born in what doctor's proclaim is a boy's body. I had no choice in the assignment of my sex at birth. I take issue with the two instances in the piece: The first instance proclaims, "Until she was 18, Janet was a boy," and then it goes on to say, "I even found other boys like me there…" My genital reconstructive surgery did not make me a girl. I was always a girl.
  21. ↑ Kurtz, Jason. "Author Janet Mock returns to 'Piers Morgan Live' for a second interview". Piers Morgan. Retrieved February 6, 2014 – via CNN.com Blogs.
  22. ↑ Goldman, Lea [@lea] (February 8, 2014). "To be fair, I do recall @janetmock & @kiernamayo taking issue with our @marieclaire hed, "I Was Born a Boy." I went with it anyway. #regrets" (Tweet). Retrieved March 3, 2016 – via Twitter.
  23. ↑ "Living Color". Marie Claire. December 1, 2014. Retrieved March 3, 2016.
  24. ↑ "Janet Mock: Trans Women *Are* Real Women". Marie Claire. April 23, 2015. Retrieved March 3, 2016.
  25. ↑ "Janet Mock Clarifies New Role at Marie Claire, Won't Be 'Trans Correspondent'". COLORLINES. Retrieved February 7, 2015.
  26. ↑ "It Gets Better Transgender – Janet Mock". It Gets Better Project. April 9, 2011. Retrieved March 3, 2013.
  27. ↑ "I'm a Trans Woman, but Please Stop Asking Me About My Genitalia". ELLE. January 9, 2014. Retrieved February 25, 2016.
  28. ↑ "Janet Mock: Trans Women *Are* Real Women". Marie Claire. April 23, 2015. Retrieved February 25, 2016.
  29. ↑ "Book Deals: Week of May 28, 2012". PublishersWeekly.com. Retrieved March 3, 2016.
  30. 1 2 3 4 Mock, Janet (2014). Redefining Realness: My Path to Womanhood, Identity, Love & So Much More. Simon & Schuster, Inc. pp. xii. ISBN 9781476709130.
  31. ↑ "Meet the SuperSoul100: The World's Biggest Trailblazers in One Room". O Magazine. August 1, 2016. Retrieved July 5, 2018.
  32. ↑ "Janet Mock on Embracing Who She Is". Oprah.com. Retrieved March 3, 2016.
  33. ↑ "Redefining Realness with Janet Mock". Real Time with Bill Maher Blog. February 10, 2015. Retrieved March 3, 2016.
  34. 1 2 "Transgender Awareness – Janet Mock". Comedy Central. February 18, 2014. Retrieved March 3, 2016.
  35. ↑ "Panel – Marriage Equality and Beyond". Comedy Central. June 29, 2015. Retrieved March 3, 2016.
  36. ↑ "HBO Miami Red-Carpet Premiere of THE OUT LIST". Reuters. Retrieved August 30, 2013.
  37. ↑ Why I Started #GirlsLikeUs JanetMock.com. Retrieved September 18, 2013.
  38. ↑ Heffernan, Dani (March 21, 2013). "A Year Later, #girlslikeus Have Much More To Say". GLAAD. Retrieved February 7, 2015.
  39. ↑ "Janet Mock Talks Transgender Sisterhood, Visibility and #GirlsLikeUs". COLORLINES. Retrieved February 7, 2015.
  40. ↑ "Mighty Real: Janet Mock". Metro Weekly. Retrieved February 7, 2015.
  41. ↑ "Janet Mock Joins Arcus Foundation Board of Directors". Arcus Foundation. June 4, 2013. Retrieved August 30, 2013.
  42. 1 2 Chhibber, Ashley (August 6, 2014). "US: Laverne Cox joins #StandWithMonica campaign against Phoenix 'walking while trans' law". PinkNews. Retrieved February 7, 2015.
  43. ↑ "Laverne Cox, Carmen Carrera, Among 14 Trans Stars On "Candy" Magazine Cover". NewNowNext.
  44. ↑ "Book Deals: Week of March 28, 2016". Retrieved June 30, 2016.
  45. ↑ "Janet Mock on Why DeRay Mckesson Matters". The Advocate. February 25, 2016. Retrieved June 30, 2016.
  46. ↑ "Nicki Minaj Is Here to Slay". Marie Claire. October 11, 2016. Retrieved November 10, 2016.
  47. ↑ Maines, Nicole. "11 Transgender Americans Share Their Stories In HBO's 'The Trans List'". NPR.org. Retrieved January 10, 2017.
  48. ↑ Valentine, Claire (12 June 2017). "Janet Mock On Telling Her Trans Story". Paper Magazine. Retrieved 13 June 2017.
  49. ↑ Friedlander, Emilie (June 8, 2017). "Janet Mock Knows Trans Activism Is Not Her Only Legacy". Vice. Retrieved 13 June 2017.
  50. ↑ "'Pose' writer/director Janet Mock leans into her deepest fears". New York Post. June 21, 2018. Retrieved June 27, 2018.
  51. ↑ Desk, TV News. "New Ryan Murphy Musical Dance Series POSE Gets Full Season Order". BroadwayWorld.com. Retrieved June 27, 2018.
  52. ↑ Gemmill, Allie (July 9, 2018). "Janet Mock Wrote and Directed an Episode of "Pose" and Made TV History". Teen Vogue. Retrieved July 16, 2018.
  53. ↑ "Janet Mock Receives Sylvia Rivera Activist Award". Elixher. November 12, 2012. Retrieved March 3, 2016.
  54. ↑ "About". The Trans 100. Retrieved February 7, 2015.
  55. ↑ Nichols, James (February 5, 2014). "'Trans 100' And 'Trans* H4CK' Events To Be Held in Chicago". The Huffington Post. Retrieved February 7, 2015.
  56. ↑ Jones, Saeed. "100 Amazing Trans Americans You Should Know". BuzzFeed. Retrieved February 7, 2015.
  57. ↑ "GOOD 100: Meet Janet Mock, Building an Online Army to Defend #GirlsLikeUs". GOOD Magazine. June 4, 2013. Retrieved March 4, 2016.
  58. ↑ Molloy, Parker Marie (March 7, 2014). "Google's International Women's Day Doodle Includes Trans Women". The Advocate.
  59. ↑ "GLSEN to Honor Janet Mock, AT&T at Respect Awards – New York". GLSEN. Retrieved March 4, 2016.
  60. ↑ "The 2014 Women & Power Gala was a huge success!". The Feminist Press. Retrieved March 4, 2016.
  61. ↑ Molloy, Parker Marie. "40 Under 40: Janet Mock Is Our Best Ambassador to the Media". Advocate.com. Retrieved February 7, 2015.
  62. ↑ "The 50 Most Influential LGBT People in Media". The Advocate. September 16, 2014.
  63. ↑ Juro, Rebecca (September 11, 2014). "Root 100 Recognizes African-American LGBT Luminaries". Advocate.com. Retrieved February 7, 2015.
  64. ↑ Ashton, Jennifer (June 8, 2014). "Janet Mock Among Planned Parenthood's 2014 Maggie Award Winners for Media Excellence". Cosmopolitan. Retrieved April 11, 2015. (Registration required (help)).
  65. ↑ TIME Staff (March 5, 2015). "These Are The 30 Most Influential People on the Internet". TIME.com. Retrieved February 25, 2016.
  66. ↑ TIME Staff. "Meet 12 New Faces of Black Leadership". TIME.com. Retrieved February 25, 2016.
  67. ↑ "2015 Stonewall Book Awards announced | News and Press Center". www.ala.org. Retrieved March 4, 2016.
  68. ↑ "The 27th Annual Lambda Literary Award Finalists". Lambda Literary. Retrieved March 4, 2016.
  69. ↑ "A Conversation with Janet Mock – CLAGS: Center for LGBTQ Studies". Clags.org. Retrieved July 16, 2018.
  70. ↑ "Trailblazer Honors: Janet Mock, Candis Cayne and Tiq Accept The Award |- Play List of Video Clips – 2016 Trailblazer Honors". Logo TV. Retrieved June 30, 2016.
  71. ↑ "Author Janet Mock joins Piers Morgan". YouTube. February 5, 2014. Retrieved February 7, 2015.
  72. 1 2 Geidner, Chris (February 5, 2014). "Transgender Advocate Janet Mock: Piers Morgan "Sensationalized" My Story". BuzzFeed. Retrieved February 7, 2015.
  73. ↑ Nichols, James (February 6, 2014). "Janet Mock Rejoins Piers Morgan Following Controversial Interview". The Huffington Post. Retrieved February 7, 2015.
  74. ↑ "Janet Mock rejoins Piers Morgan". YouTube. February 5, 2014. Retrieved February 7, 2015.
  75. ↑ Alicia Menendez
  76. ↑ Frazier, Ran Aubrey (April 29, 2014). "WATCH: Janet Mock Flips the Script on Cisgender Host". Advocate.com. Retrieved February 7, 2015.
  77. ↑ Soave, Robby (March 18, 2016). "Brown U. Students Protest Black Transgender Speaker Because Jewish Group Invited Her". Reason. Retrieved March 19, 2016.
  78. ↑ Palestine, Brown Students for Justice in (March 21, 2016). "SJP: Petitioning against Hillel is not anti-Semitic". Brown Daily Herald. Retrieved May 3, 2016.
  79. ↑ King, Nia; Glennon-Zukoff, Jessica; Mikalson, Terra (January 1, 2014). Queer and Trans Artists of Color: stories of some of our lives. ISBN 1492215643.
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