Janet Mock

Mock, a Definer of Realness “You make me feel like a natural woman,” words of Aretha Franklin, in Janet Mock’s memoir, Redefining Realness: My Path to Womanhood, Identity, Love, & So Much More, she discusses her growth into womanhood. Mock describes her childhood, how she dealt with social constructs and intersectionality, and demonstrates how she redefined what it means to be a real woman. Being a real woman is using your past, present, and future self to live the most enjoyable life one can live. It is being whatever and whoever you want to identify as; a woman, man, transgender, gay, lesbian or bisexual. Being the person that makes you the most comfortable and safe is key to a happy life. For Janet Mock and so many others, being transgender

Her childhood didn’t give her much of an option to be who she wanted to be. Mock states, “I often say that I always knew I was a girl since the age of three or four, a time when I began categorizing memories. No one, … gave me reason to believe I was anything other than my parents’ first born son” (Mock 16). Mock recognized at a very young age that she was not a typical boy and wasn’t going to be able to express what she was carrying in her mind and on her shoulders. Mock was just a confused girl trapped in a world that didn’t understand. Janet shows us that even in those times of confusion and stress, we can always find ourselves and be truly happy.

Mock demonstrates that at a young age that she understood what it means to be a woman in the workforce. She tells about a time in school where she was asked what she wanted to be when she grew up. She answered , a secretary, because she knew that being a secretary meant she would be aiding important men and only a woman aided men with their important items such as schedules and phone calls. “A secretary sits outside an important man’s office and takes care of things for him…” (Mock 38). Mock truly believes that her choice of career was her first expression of femininity. At a young age, she knew the social constructs of a woman in business meant being below a

For some, realness was getting home without being attacked, to others it was existing in the day light. Mock says, “Realness is a pathway to survival…”, for Mock this is something that was a hard truth and one that she didn’t feel she met. This must be extremely common for many people who are just trying to find themselves. Mock does a fantastic job of shedding light on the way it affected her and how even she didn’t feel “fish”, which is what transgender women consider to be a compliment towards one’s femininity, or ability to fit that of societies ideals of femininity. “To be called fish by these women meant that I was embodying the kind of femininity that could allow me access, safety, opportunity, and maybe happiness” (Mock 115). This is a huge compliment to Mock and one that allows her to feel accepted, which is a feeling we all