Janet Mock

There's power in naming yourself, in proclaiming to the world that this is who you are. Wielding this power is often a difficult step for many transgender people because it's also a very visible one.

When marginalized people gain voice and center their own experiences, things begin changing. And we see this in all kinds of grassroots movements.

Popular culture is most powerful when it offers us a vision of how our society should look - or at least reproduces our reality.

Because trans people are marked as artificial, unnatural, and illegitimate, our bodies and identities are often open to public dissection. Plainly, cisgender folks often take it as their duty to investigate our lives to see if we're real.

I learned to hide aspects of my personality. Playing with girls was fine, for example, but playing with their Barbies was something I could do only behind closed doors.

We are all part of a larger collective looking to create a more beautiful and just world.

I was a mixed black girl existing in a westernized Hawaiian culture where petite Asian women were ideal, in a white culture where black women were furthest from the standard of beauty, in an American culture where trans women of color were invisible.

We cannot and should not be reduced to just one sliver of ourselves, as it skews the truth of our lived experiences.

I know how messy things can get when adults overstep their boundaries and insert themselves - their politics, their fears, their prejudices, their ignorance - into the lives of young people.

I hope being honest about my experiences and contextualizing them empowers young women to step into their truths, tell their own stories, and live visibly.