Janet Mock, the absolutely incredible writer, trans activist and all-around inspiration to humans everywhere, has been named a contributing editor at Marie Claire. Yes!
Yesterday, the magazine officially announced that she had been hired to much fanfare; poignantly, it's in the pages of Marie Claire that Mock first told her story of growing up transgender in a beautiful, moving piece that was published three years ago. Since then, she's accomplished a staggering amount — she's written a New York Times-bestselling memoir, sat on a panel with bell hooks, and bravely spoken out about transphobia in the media (hurting baby-man Piers Morgan's feelings in the process :( ).
In a statement to Media Bistro, Marie Claire Editor-in-Chief Anne Fulenwider said, "Janet is an incredibly smart and articulate writer. Her ideas about identity, youth culture, and society's changing norms about beauty illuminate the ever-evolving definition of the modern woman. I look forward to adding her unique point of view to our pages."
Mock herself addressed the issues she'll be covering in an interview with Poynter: "I'll also give my perspective on beauty, and pop culture, and politics, and not just be thrown into a corner as the trans correspondent," she said. Fulenwider affirmed this sentiment: "I'm certainly not discounting her transgender identity; I think that's really important and that's what makes it so topical right now and what's given it a lot of attention, but at the center of this is the story of a woman finding herself, and those are the stories that really resonate with young women."
The significance of Mock's hiring cannot be overstated. In her words: "To have a magazine say 'No, we know that girls and women come from various walks of life, and you're just on one path, but that doesn't negate from the experience of what a woman is or who a woman is... I find that to be revolutionary."
I CAN'T WAIT TO READ HER STUFF.
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