Janet Mock is a prominent figure in a controversial, yet well-known group in American society: the trans* community. This community in particular faces discrimination because they break a certain rule within American society: people’s gender performance should match their apparent biological sex (Ferree and Wade 72). However, this community continues to rise above the prejudice in order to appear as they truly are. In her book Redefining Realness: My Path to Womanhood, Identity, Love, & So Much More, Mock details her own personal journey of transcending the gender roles forced upon her as a child; while society tried to label her as a feminine boy, Mock states that she was a “transgender child who grew up to be a woman”; she was never a boy (Mock). In her memoir, she addresses the intersecting elements that made her into the person she is today: trans, low-class, black, and Native Hawaiian. This intersectionality placed her within the lower levels of privilege while simultaneously alienating her; essentially, she was cast as the “Other.” Her journey consists of gender policing and discrimination; nevertheless, she persisted in order to take the necessary steps to “align her body with her soul” (Mock). This paper explores Janet Mock’s compelling memoir and deep roots in intersectionality; by drawing on Ferree and Wade’s concept of gender, this intersectionality will display the complexities of Simone de Beauvoir’s notion of the “Other.”
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