Janet Mock Quotes

I believe that telling our stories, first to ourselves and then to one another and the world, is a revolutionary act. It is an act that can be met with hostility, exclusion, and violence. It can also lead to love, understanding, transcendence, and community. I hope that my being real with you will help empower you to step into who you are and encourage you to share yourself with those around you.

Janet Mock

Real, Believe, Empowering

Janet Mock (2014). “Redefining Realness: My Path to Womanhood, Identity, Love & So Much More”, p.18, Simon and Schuster

107 Copy quote
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 amongst these women. And let’s be clear: Trans women are women.

Janet Mock

Men, Secret, Desire

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What keeps me going is that quest for just being able to be present and be myself. Not for people, but for me.

Janet Mock

People, Quests, Able

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Self-definition and self-determination is about the many varied decisions that we make to compose and journey toward ourselves, about the audacity and strength to proclaim, create, and evolve into who we know ourselves to be. It’s okay if your personal definition is in a constant state of flux as you navigate the world.

Janet Mock

Determination, Journey, Self

Janet Mock (2014). “Redefining Realness: My Path to Womanhood, Identity, Love & So Much More”, p.172, Simon and Schuster

84 Copy quote
Be stingy with your time and spend it in spaces that fill you up.

Janet Mock

Space, Mock, Stingy

59 Copy quote
This pervasive idea that trans women deserve violence needs to be abolished. It’s a socially sanctioned practice of blaming the victim. We must begin blaming our culture, which stigmatizes, demeans, and strips trans women of their humanity.

Janet Mock

Practice, Ideas, Humanity

Janet Mock (2014). “Redefining Realness: My Path to Womanhood, Identity, Love & So Much More”, p.161, Simon and Schuster

78 Copy quote
We have to organize. We have to build up coalitions across all of these people who are considered "the other." If we all banded together and built coalitions that were truly intersectional, we would be in power. I believe in the power of the people.

Janet Mock

Believe, People, Together

Source: www.elle.com

26 Copy quote
Femininity in general is seen as frivolous. People often say feminine people are doing “the most”, meaning that to don a dress, heels, lipstick, and big hair is artifice, fake, and a distraction. But I knew even as a teenager that my femininity was more than just adornments; they were extensions of me, enabling me to express myself and my identity. My body, my clothes, and my makeup are on purpose, just as I am on purpose.

Janet Mock

Inspiring, Teenager, Makeup

Janet Mock (2014). “Redefining Realness: My Path to Womanhood, Identity, Love & So Much More”, p.147, Simon and Schuster

62 Copy quote
We have different experiences, but trans women have experiences that do parallel with the whole fabric of what womanhood is. Embracing trans women, listening to their stories, enriches what womanhood is. It expands it and makes it even better.

Janet Mock

Inspiring, Different Experiences, Thought Provoking

53 Copy quote
According to the media, trans women were subject to pain and punch lines. Instead of proclaiming that I was not a plot device to be laughed at, I spent my younger years internalizing and fighting those stereotypes.

Janet Mock

Pain, Fighting, Years

Janet Mock (2014). “Redefining Realness: My Path to Womanhood, Identity, Love & So Much More”, p.15, Simon and Schuster

49 Copy quote
My hope is that feminist, racial justice, reproductive rights and LGBT movements build a coalition that centers on the lives of women who lead intersectional lives and too often fall in between the cracks of these narrow mission statements.

Janet Mock

Fall, Rights, Justice

41 Copy quote
Our visibility shouldn’t be subject to such extreme circumstances.

Janet Mock

Visibility, Circumstances, Extremes

"Our visibility shouldn’t be subject to such extreme circumstances" by Janet Mock, janetmock.com. February 16, 2015.

30 Copy quote
It is not a woman’s duty to disclose that she’s trans to every person she meets. This is not safe for a myriad of reasons. We must shift the burden of coming out from trans women, and accusing them of hiding or lying, and focus on why it is unsafe for women to be trans.

Janet Mock

Lying, Focus, Safe

Janet Mock (2014). “Redefining Realness: My Path to Womanhood, Identity, Love & So Much More”, p.257, Simon and Schuster

24 Copy quote
Trans women of color dangerously fall in between the cracks of racial justice, feminist and LGbt movements.

Janet Mock

Fall, Color, Justice

"A Note on Visibility in the Wake of 6 Trans Women’s Murders in 2015". janetmock.com. February 16, 2015.

19 Copy quote
Becoming is the action that births our womanhood, rather than passive act of being born (an act none of us has a choice in). This short, powerful statement assured me that I have the freedom, in spite of and because of my birth, body, race, gender expectations, and economic resources, to define myself for myself and for others.

Janet Mock

Powerful, Race, Expectations

29 Copy quote
My most prized possession was my lanyard of Lip Smackers I tore it out of the confines of the paper package, which read “all the flavor of being a girl.”.. In the car, I draped the black lanyard around my neck with a single green plastic balm dangling. I proudly dangled my girlhood in all its fruitiness. It cost only $2.99.

Janet Mock

Girl, Car, Black

24 Copy quote
My first book was about grappling with my identity and transitioning medically and socially as a young person. At that point, it hadn't been told yet. There wasn't a trans memoir that was written from the perspective of a young person that transitioned.

Janet Mock

Book, Perspective, Identity

Source: www.cosmopolitan.com

8 Copy quote
Your disrespect for me is apparent. You never respected me when I think about it and you never liked me. But I’m the parent and you’re the child and it is not your job to love me the way I love you. My love for you is unconditional and no matter what you decide in your life I will love you. Doesn’t mean I have to like it, but I will always love you. Love, Dad

Janet Mock

Jobs, Dad, Children

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Anytime that we - and when I say "we," I mean feminine people, trans feminine folk, women - do anything that is centered on our own pleasure or desire, it's seen as frivolous. But learning how to love your own body and finding pleasure in something that has brought you pain [in the past] is so important. I think that it's probably a greater struggle for trans folk, because we struggle more with our bodies.

Janet Mock

Pain, Struggle, Love You

Source: www.elle.com

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We have to take care of our people. That's our work now. And it's going to be a lot harder than it would have been if Clinton was in the White House. But we have to do it anyway. We have to work for it! And it's not going to be easy. But guess what? It never was easy.

Janet Mock

People, House, Care

Source: www.elle.com

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No matter how discouraged I get from the people who are being appointed in this next administration, how discouraged I feel to know that I will no longer have folks who look like me and share in my vision, I am encouraged by what I think that this particular time period and this particular election season will inspire in the next generation and the current generation of freedom fighters.

Janet Mock

Thinking, People, Inspire

Source: www.elle.com

7 Copy quote
Desire, and the ways in which men perform their masculinity and feel as if they can take up space and say anything about your body, have always been a dangerous space for me.

Janet Mock

Men, Say Anything, Desire

Source: www.cosmopolitan.com

6 Copy quote
He's trying to do info-tainment. He doesn't 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.

Janet Mock

Book, Writing, Pride

9 Copy quote

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Born: March 9, 1984
Occupation: Writer
Cite this Page: Citation

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