Laverne Cox's 'Orange Is The New Black'

TRANSGENDER REPRESENTATION IN MAINSTREAM MEDIA

Laverne Cox is a prominent actress and advocate for trans rights, most recently gaining attention for her role in the Netflix original show “Orange is the New Black”. Cox plays a transgender prisoner named Sofie, who throughout the course of the show faces bigotry and cissexism from her peers as well as the prison staff. The role gained attention for being one of the first prominent trans characters to be played by a trans actress in a way that accurately demonstrates the difficulties trans individuals face. Though recent years have seen an increase in trans awareness, there is still a distinct disconnect in the communicative cultures between trans and cis speakers when it comes to the subject

In one interview Katie Couric sat down with Cox and transgender model Carmen Carrera to discuss their experiences as high-profile transgender women. However, Couric seemed “…mostly interested in talking to both women about their genitalia, in order to ‘educate’ others who may not be ‘familiar with transgenders’” (McDonough 2014). This demonstrates a distinct lack of the sociolinguistic competence necessary to determine what questions are or are not appropriate in a social setting. No cis woman would be expected to answer questions about their genitalia in a televised interview, yet these inappropriate questions are ones trans women face far too often. The fascination with investigating whether or not they fit with the mainstream media’s view of what a woman is—one who’s gender identity and genitalia both match—results in a complete disregard for what would otherwise be a very clearly taboo topic. Additionally, her use of “transgenders” as a noun shows a clear lack of understanding in even the most basic rhetoric used in describing trans individuals, emphasizing once again the linguistic divide between cis gendered woman and trans gendered