Activist and author Janet Mock took on the role of interviewer in a segment on Fusian TV’s ‘AM Tonight’, to illustrate how invasive many of the questions she gets asked as a transwoman can be.
Mock recently called out CNN presenter Piers Morgan for ‘sensationalizing her life’ when he referred to her as a “former man” during their interview, and after the interview asked his followers on Twitter “How would you feel if you found out the woman you are dating was formerly a man?”.
Model Carmen Carrera was asked about her genitals by television host Katie Couric, and responded by saying she felt uncomfortable answering such questions. Actress Laverne Cox came under a similar line of questioning on the same program, and told Couric that she felt cisgender peoples’ preoccupation with trans* peoples’ genitalia objectifies trans* women and distracts people from more pressing issues in the trans* community.
In her interview with ‘AM Tonight’s Alicia Menendez, Mock illustrated how invasive and objectifying intimate questions about her gender and body can be when she asked Menendez a number of similar questions about her own gender identity.
“You’re beautiful – what’s so amazing about you is that if I were to look at you, I would never have not known that you weren’t trans.” she said.
“So who was the first person you told you were cis to?
“Do you have a vagina? When was the moment you felt your breasts budding? Do you use tampons?
“When you were going through puberty, did you feel trapped by the changes your body was going through? Did you feel like a girl?”
After Mock finished her questions, she and Menendez discussed how uncomfortable the experience was.
“That was so awful! Menendez said.
“We wrote a lot of these questions and I didn’t realise how awful and invasive some of them would feel, and how I would feel now.
“When you have the questions turned on you, I understand how much more intimate those questions feel.”
