Janet Mock Quotes

Powerful Janet Mock for Daily Growth

About Janet Mock

Janet Mock is an acclaimed author, television producer, and transgender rights activist who has made significant strides in advocating for transgender visibility and inclusion. Born on August 11, 1983, in Honolulu, Hawaii, to a working-class family of Filipino and African American descent, Mock grew up in a nurturing environment that instilled in her the values of resilience, empathy, and self-determination. After facing adversity as a young transgender girl in a society largely unfamiliar with transgender identities, Mock found solace in literature, particularly the works of Toni Morrison and Alice Walker, which ignited her passion for storytelling. She graduated from the University of Hawaii at Manoa with a degree in women's studies before moving to New York City to pursue a career in journalism. In 2011, Mock gained widespread recognition with the publication of her memoir, "Redefining Realness," which chronicled her journey as a trans woman and offered an intimate glimpse into the challenges faced by transgender individuals. The book was met with critical acclaim and became a New York Times bestseller. In 2017, Mock made her television debut as a producer on the critically-acclaimed FX series "Pose," which centers around the lives of transgender women of color in the late '80s and early '90s ballroom culture scene in New York City. As a trans woman of color herself, Mock's involvement in the show was instrumental in ensuring authentic portrayals of her community. Mock continues to be a powerful voice for transgender rights and representation, using her platform to challenge systemic discrimination and advocate for equality. She has been honored with numerous awards for her activism and contributions to literature, including being named one of Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2015. Her forthcoming works promise to further cement her status as a trailblazer and a beacon of hope for transgender individuals worldwide.

Interpretations of Popular Quotes

"Love is not a destination but a journey that we take together."

This quote by Janet Mock suggests that love isn't about reaching a fixed point or achieving a perfect state, but rather it's an ongoing process or journey shared between two people. It emphasizes the importance of cherishing the experiences and growth one undergoes while in a relationship, rather than solely focusing on an idealized end result. This perspective encourages appreciation for the day-to-day interactions, changes, and challenges that help build strong relationships over time.

"Everyone has a story. Make yours worth telling."

This quote by Janet Mock emphasizes the significance of each individual's life story. It encourages everyone to live their lives in such a way that their experiences, struggles, triumphs, and unique perspectives are meaningful and impactful, making their stories worth sharing with others. In essence, it calls us to strive for personal growth and make a positive difference in the world through our actions and the stories we create by living authentically.

"Fearlessness is not the absence of fear. Fearlessness is recognizing fear and moving forward anyway."

This quote emphasizes that being fearless does not mean having no fear; rather, it signifies acknowledging fear yet choosing to act despite it. It's a powerful reminder that courage often comes from facing our fears head-on and taking action in the face of uncertainty or apprehension. The ability to move forward when we are afraid demonstrates resilience, determination, and an unyielding spirit.

"Being transgender is not a choice, but it's also not an identity that should define us."

This quote by Janet Mock highlights two important aspects about being transgender: it isn't a choice, and it shouldn't be the defining aspect of one's identity. Transgender individuals don't choose their gender identity; rather, they are born into a body that may not align with their true gender. At the same time, being transgender doesn't limit or define who they can be as individuals in other aspects – they have diverse personalities, talents, and aspirations just like anyone else. This quote underscores the importance of recognizing and accepting the full humanity of transgender people beyond their gender identity.

"I am nobody's secret. I am my own person."

This quote by Janet Mock expresses a powerful statement about self-identity, autonomy, and individuality. It suggests that she will not be hidden or concealed as someone else's possession or private matter. Instead, she proudly affirms her own personhood, asserting her right to define herself on her own terms, free from the confines of secrecy or other people's expectations. This quote is a call for personal freedom and self-acceptance, urging everyone to embrace their individuality openly and fearlessly.

My personal style really started in my teens when I gained purchasing power to actually buy my own damn clothes. For so long, my parents dictated what I wore, which largely was their way of containing me within the gender binary.

- Janet Mock

Gender, Purchasing, Buy, My Own

We must have the audacity to turn up the frequency of our truths.

- Janet Mock

Turn, Must, Truths, Audacity

My parents split before my fifth birthday, and I moved with Mom and my three siblings to her native Oahu.

- Janet Mock

Birthday, Before, Moved, Native

Great conversations always spark in a genuine interest to recognize and know the other person's story and, therefore, recognizing and understanding and celebrating their humanity.

- Janet Mock

Always, Other, Recognizing, Conversations

I was obsessed with 'The Velvet Rope' for a year straight, letting Janet Jackson's confessional lyrics lull me to sleep and comfort me when I felt lost. I felt that the album was the vehicle onto which Janet finally expressed her full self.

- Janet Mock

Rope, Year, Vehicle, Lull

Movies have always been spaces of refuge for me. For a few harmonious hours, I could escape my reality of being a girl living on the margins.

- Janet Mock

Always, Been, Margins, Harmonious

Our differences are what make us great. Let us think about how we can extend this appreciation to people of color, undocumented immigrants, and other members of the community.

- Janet Mock

Color, Think, Other, Extend

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

- Janet Mock

Voice, Own, Center, Marginalized

Media gatekeepers - editors, publishers, film studios and the like - need to begin investing in talent behind the scenes, developing and resourcing marginalized voices to tell their own stories. At the end of the day, it's about the story and what will enable the audience to truly see, understand, and know the life and times of the subject.

- Janet Mock

Behind, Tell, Subject, Marginalized

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.

- Janet Mock

Dress, Doing, Big, Frivolous

Our culture often demeans and devalues the work, the pleasures, and the contributions of women and feminine people. This is, in part, why beauty culture is dismissed as unimportant and frivolous.

- Janet Mock

Work, Beauty, Feminine, Frivolous

As a visible and outspoken trans woman myself, I know that it's rare not to have your trans-ness lead the way for you in public spaces.

- Janet Mock

Myself, Woman, Visible, Outspoken

I would advise any 17-year-old to surround yourself with people who listen to you, nod when you speak, and smile when you enter spaces.

- Janet Mock

People, Nod, Any, Advise

On my road to self-discovery, only certain terms were available - I didn't use 'trans' or 'transgender' until junior high school, but I was living as trans much earlier.

- Janet Mock

Living, Use, Available, Junior

By the time I was a sophomore in high school, it had become routine for me to be sent home for wearing dresses. My mere presence in a skirt became an act of protest that would get me called out of class and into the vice principal's office.

- Janet Mock

Had, By The Time, Became, Sophomore

I came out, as not enough of our stories are told from our perspective. 'Marie Claire' was offering the chance to be a part of a women's magazine, which often celebrates ordinary women doing extraordinary things.

- Janet Mock

Doing, Part, Claire, Marie

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

- Janet Mock

Offers, Least, Our, Popular Culture

One musical that deeply influenced me - and continues to do so - is the 1997 ABC TV movie of Rodgers and Hammerstein's 'Cinderella,' starring Brandy, with Whitney Houston as the Fairy Godmother and Whoopi Goldberg as the prince's mom.

- Janet Mock

Movie, Influenced, TV, None

For me, as an activist and a storyteller, I'm very centered in ensuring that we show the complicatedness of the human experience that happens to be rooted in my community's trans experiences.

- Janet Mock

Centered, Very, Activist, Human Experience

Any woman's right to self-identify is a personal freedom I fight for, and those women who claim trans women are not women are perpetuators of gender-based oppression, and all feminists should be upset and moved to action against this.

- Janet Mock

Woman, Upset, Against, Personal Freedom

Women are so policed and devalued and dehumanized when it comes to the work they do.

- Janet Mock

Work, Women, Women Are, Devalued

Toughening up, performing masculinity, pretending to enjoy things I didn't enjoy all enabled me to dodge the gender policing of the adults around me. But the way I really was - the swished hips, the Double-Dutching, the hair flips - seemed to always prevail and attract Dad's disdain.

- Janet Mock

Gender, Pretending, Policing, Flips

When you hear anyone policing the bodies of trans women, misgendering and othering us, and violently exiling us from spaces, you should not dismiss it as a trans issue that trans women should speak out against. You should be engaged in the dialogue, discourse, and activism that challenges the very fibers of your movement.

- Janet Mock

Engaged, Very, Policing, Dismiss

I think about Ellen DeGeneres, seeing her every single day on a show. Her identity is there every day, but what leads the way is her talent and how much you like her.

- Janet Mock

Think, Like, I Think, Every Single Day

When I was a toddler, my father cut hair in the townhouse we had shared together in Long Beach, California, where Dad was stationed with the U.S. Navy. The buzz of clippers consistently hummed as he gave fades to his coworkers, my uncles, and my brother, but his clippers were never oiled and plugged in for my head.

- Janet Mock

Navy, Cut, Shared, Toddler

There's nothing more mundane than sitting across from a celebrity in a sterile gray conference room. But when the star sitting across from you is Taraji Penda Henson, you are being treated to a master class in the art of the hustle.

- Janet Mock

Celebrity, Conference, Sterile

I wrote 'Redefining Realness' because not enough of our stories are being told, and I believe we need stories that reflect us so we don't feel so isolated in our apparent 'difference.'

- Janet Mock

Need, Stories, Redefining, Apparent

When I was younger, I wish I would have been told more often that I was right and nothing was wrong with me, that I was deserving of everything this world has to offer, and that my visions for my future were worthy of pursuit.

- Janet Mock

Worthy, Pursuit, Been, Visions

When I feel that burden of representation in public spaces, it helps to recognize that it's a duty - a job, really. As with any job that you want to do well, you have to ensure that first and foremost you are energized and in the right head space to take on that task.

- Janet Mock

Space, Feel, Representation, Spaces

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.

- Janet Mock

Difficult, Visible, Very, Naming

The Internet has introduced me to some of my closest friends.

- Janet Mock

Me, Some, Introduced, Closest

Hawaii was so integral to my journey. I was just there at the right time.

- Janet Mock

Journey, Hawaii, Integral, Right Time

It was through my hashtag #girlslikeus where I connected with other trans women on Twitter and Tumblr. We had challenging conversations, courageous personal revelations, and shared insights and experiences, and just had fun. The hashtag tethered me to many women in my community in impactful, lasting ways.

- Janet Mock

Through, Other, Shared, Tumblr

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.

- Janet Mock

Young, Young Women, Stories, Empowers

I was six years old when 'The Little Mermaid' was released in 1989 and was immediately struck by the fiery-maned, melodic-voiced, tail-swinging mermaid protagonist. She spoke to me on levels deeper than her father's oceanic kingdom.

- Janet Mock

Father, Spoke, Immediately, Struck

When I was 12, my brother and I moved back to Honolulu to live with our mother. Hawaii felt like another universe, and reflecting on it, I am struck by how much more open and accepting it was.

- Janet Mock

Another, Moved, Honolulu, Struck

I know intimately the struggle of trying to live your life and be yourself while feeling the pressure of an entire community on your shoulders.

- Janet Mock

Feeling, Shoulders, Your, Struggle

Once, when I was 5 years old, a little girl who lived next door to my grandmother dared me to put on a muumuu and run across a nearby parking lot. So I did. I threw it on, hiked it up in one hand, and ran like hell. It felt amazing to be in a dress. But suddenly my grandmother appeared, a look of horror on her face.

- Janet Mock

Door, Parking, Next, Dared

A staple in my makeup bag is Black Opal's True Color Skin Perfecting Stick Foundation, which offers a range of colors with many undertones.

- Janet Mock

Makeup, Which, Offers, Perfecting

I walk in the world as a woman because I am a woman, and people should take me as that. I'm not passing as anything that I'm not. I'm just being myself.

- Janet Mock

Myself, Woman, Being, Passing

We must resist the pressures of others to soundbite our complicated, nuanced experiences.

- Janet Mock

Complicated, Must, Resist, Pressures

For so much of my life, I lived feeling as if, if I spoke, if I said something, I would lose everything. I would be pushed out. No one will want me. No one will love me. No one would want to be friends with me. It took me decades to get to a space of saying, 'This is my truth. This is who I am, and I don't care if you like me or you don't like me.'

- Janet Mock

Love, My Life, Spoke, Decades

In the evening, I use a cleansing oil - coconut oil also works - to remove makeup.

- Janet Mock

Makeup, Oil, Works, Coconut

I don't feel as if I'm typecast - like any writer, the difficulty is that one facet of my identity becomes louder, obscuring the fact that I'm also a woman, a writer, a lover of pop culture and other things.

- Janet Mock

Woman, Fact, Other, Typecast

When I was a high school freshman in Honolulu, I would sit with my girlfriends on the bleachers of the school amphitheater every morning. We'd meet in the same spot and chat for an hour before homeroom began.

- Janet Mock

Before, Began, Honolulu, Girlfriends

I was in the seventh grade when I first began to identify as trans and express my gender identity as a girl. My social transition began with growing my hair and wearing clothes and makeup that made me feel like Destiny's Fourth Child.

- Janet Mock

Destiny, Makeup, Gender, Transition

It's great to engage with the mainstream media to get messages out, but the most empowering tool is to create records of our lives, and our own images, which are not filtered through judgements, biases, or misunderstandings.

- Janet Mock

Own, Through, Records, Judgements

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.

- Janet Mock

Behind, Could, Learned, Closed Doors

I was born outraged. I was born without, knowing my people were not counted, not included, not centered. I struggled through low-resourced schools, communities, and housing projects.

- Janet Mock

Through, Centered, Projects, Communities

We need space to discuss unspoken, uncomfortable dark truths.

- Janet Mock

Dark, Need, Truths, Discuss

Like many teens, I struggled with my body and looks, but my despair was amplified by the expectations of cisnormativity and the gender binary as well as the impossibly high beauty standards that I, and my female peers, measured myself against.

- Janet Mock

Beauty, Gender, Measured, Despair

One of the most difficult parts of 'The Trans List' was coming up with a list of 11 people. For me, what was important was to ensure that we were as diverse as possible across a lot of different intersections.

- Janet Mock

Possible, Difficult, Ensure, Diverse

Throughout elementary and middle school, I was used to hearing other words: Smart. Studious. Well-spoken. Well-read. They became pillars of my self-confidence, enabling me to build myself up on what I contributed rather than what I looked like.

- Janet Mock

Other, Pillars, Became, Middle School

Throughout the day, I like to spritz my face with a rose water for extra moisture.

- Janet Mock

Face, Like, Throughout, Extra

As someone who wasn't heavily supported or resourced as a young person when I was going through the hardest times of my life, I'm used to operating outside of systems. The trans movement has always been that way.

- Janet Mock

My Life, Through, Been, Operating

The transgender community has always been a part of Hawaiian society, where people who don't conform to the binary system of man/woman, masculine/feminine are accepted or, at minimum, tolerated.

- Janet Mock

Always, Been, Tolerated, Conform

I want - no, I need - to see images of black girls and femmes twerking, slaying and primping, just as much as I need to see Symone Sanders bopping her head and Representative Maxine Waters reclaiming her time.

- Janet Mock

Need, Waters, Images, Just As Much

'Pretty' is most often synonymous with being thin, white, able-bodied, and cis, and the closer you are to those ideals, the more often you will be labeled pretty - and benefit from that prettiness.

- Janet Mock

Will, Pretty, Ideals, Synonymous

What helps me when someone puts me down or aims to offend me is to not take what they say personally. I try my best to not internalize their comments.

- Janet Mock

Say, Comments, Aims, Offend

I just am trans. That's just the way it is. I knew this as a child. But I was told that because I expressed femininity in a boy's body, I needed to be silent about it. To be ashamed. That led to isolation, which then made it easier for me to be prey to a predator in my own home.

- Janet Mock

Own, Prey, Needed, Expressed

Being trans, I've grown up with the understanding that most women are born girls, yet some are born boys. And most men are born boys, yet some are born girls. And if you're ready for this, some people are born girls or boys and choose to identify outside our society's binary system, making them genderqueer.

- Janet Mock

Choose, Some, Our, Women Are

We are all inundated with images that present a limited scope of what is considered beautiful. For American women, the closer she is to whiteness/paleness, cisness, thinness, and femininity, the more she is considered beautiful.

- Janet Mock

Limited, Images, Considered, Femininity

I was a mixed black girl existing in a westernized Hawaiian culture where petite Asian women were the 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.

- Janet Mock

Beauty, Standard, Ideal, Furthest

Reproductive rights are about body and medical autonomy: our collective and deeply personal right to choose what we want to do to/with our bodies. Trans people and feminists should be building natural alliances here.

- Janet Mock

Medical, Natural, Here, Feminists

I take the time to show up for people in my field who are often not seen and heard in the same capacity as I am. Applauding other women and queer writers of color enables me to recognize and showcase the abundance of talent and work being created.

- Janet Mock

Color, Other, Queer, Enables

If I'm watching 'The Real Housewives of Atlanta,' there's a part of that that's just escapism. I'm not watching it with a political lens, but there is a part of me that certain things trigger and pull up, where I'm like, 'Oh, that was really problematic.'

- Janet Mock

Political, Part, Housewives, Lens

I get invited to a lot of college campuses, and administrators think it's going to be a lecture on 'trans-ness' or whatever. But when young people get there, their questions are about just life.

- Janet Mock

College, Think, Going, Lecture

I knew very early on that I was not pretty. No one ever called me pretty. It was not the go-to adjective people used to describe me.

- Janet Mock

Pretty, Knew, Very, Early

I think a lot of people are very interested in why other people are trans or why people are gay.

- Janet Mock

Think, Very, Lot, Gay

Trans folk, especially of color, should not be obligated to help cis folk play catch-up on our experiences. The effort can detract from our work to protect and liberate ourselves.

- Janet Mock

Work, Color, Play, Protect

I grew up at a time in Hawaii where there were trans women around, so there were visible role models for me. At the same time, as a low-income trans girl of color, there were so many things that I didn't have access to. I didn't have access to a great education. I didn't have access to affordable healthcare.

- Janet Mock

Education, Access, Role, Low-Income

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.

- Janet Mock

Politics, Prejudices, Lives, Insert

If anyone can be said to embody the American Dream, it's Kim Kardashian West.

- Janet Mock

Dream, West, Anyone, Embody

Curiosity is vital to the growth of our society.

- Janet Mock

Growth, Curiosity, Society, Vital

I don't chase beauty trends.

- Janet Mock

Beauty, Chase, Trends

It is the world's limitations and the myths that we internalize about ourselves that pushes us to diminish our power and ignore it.

- Janet Mock

Ignore, World, About, Limitations

I just love to glow, glow glow, so with my skincare and makeup routine, I gravitate to products that help me achieve that sun-kissed, dewy look.

- Janet Mock

Love, Makeup, Gravitate, Glow

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.

- Janet Mock

Bodies, Investigate, Our, Folks

As an activist who uses storytelling to combat stigma, I have always been adamant that we tell our own stories.

- Janet Mock

Always, Activist, Stigma, Uses

In seventh grade, I met my best friend Wendi, who is a trans woman.

- Janet Mock

Woman, Grade, Seventh, Met

Stern and critical, my father couldn't accept how feminine and dainty I was in comparison to my rough-and-tumble brother.

- Janet Mock

Father, Comparison, Critical, Stern

If we want to enlighten people or give them new thoughts and ideas, we have to be willing to do the work of educating them.

- Janet Mock

Thoughts, New, Give, Educating

My body, my clothes, and my makeup are on purpose, just as I am on purpose.

- Janet Mock

I Am, Purpose, Makeup, Clothes

I often feel failed by feminism.

- Janet Mock

Feel, Often, Failed, Feminism

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

- Janet Mock

We Cannot, Ourselves, Our, Reduced

For many, hair is just hair. It's something you grow, shape, adapt, adorn, and cut. But my hair has always been so much more than what's on my head. It's a marker of how free I felt in my body, how comfortable I was with myself, and how much agency I had to control my body and express myself with it.

- Janet Mock

Been, Cut, Had, Adapt

I want to create the content I didn't have while growing up.

- Janet Mock

Growing, Create, Want, Growing Up

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

- Janet Mock

Beautiful, World, Larger, Collective

I spent my life navigating systems built upon me - a black child in America - not making it out.

- Janet Mock

My Life, Making, Built, Systems

I don't have to explain anything to trans women. Trans women know exactly what's going on.

- Janet Mock

Know, Explain, Going, Exactly

To say that I loved school would be an understatement. It was my oasis, my sanctuary.

- Janet Mock

Loved, Sanctuary, Oasis, Understatement

There's a burden of responsibility for me to show up correct - in my head, if I don't do it right, then I'll get shut out, and then other trans women of color will be shut out.

- Janet Mock

Other, Shut, Correct, Burden

I still have a YA-genre-series type of a book in me that I really want to tell.

- Janet Mock

Book, Want, Still, Type

I'm an island girl, so I love super bronzy skin!

- Janet Mock

Love, Island, I Love, Super

I think millennials are the most woke generation because they understand that differences are just in the fabric of who we are.

- Janet Mock

Generation, Think, I Think, Fabric

We exist in a culture where trans people are constantly delegitimized.

- Janet Mock

Culture, Where, Constantly, Exist

We are multiplicities, and none of us live single-identity lives.

- Janet Mock

Live, Us, Lives, None

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