Identity Politics and Celebrity: Laverne Cox's Response to Chimamanda's Transphobic Comments

There was a lot of backlash to Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’sresponse to the question: “Are transwomen women?” To this she replied something along the lines of: “I believe trans women and trans women.” She continued to highlight the unique aspects of womanhood and how trans women still have experienced through the privileged male identity. The transphobia in her comments is unfortunately common amongst feminists who seem to not understand the womanhood should not be reduced to a body part, and that there are multiple ways to experience being a woman. I think this highlights two different things for me. The first is celebrity feminism versus feminist as celebrity. Celebrity feminism takes many forms, from Taylor Swift’s girl-power squad to Emma Watson’s white feminist he-for-she campaign, to Laverne Cox advocating for trans rights to use the restroom of choice and gender equality at large. Celebrities have a large platform and therefore have a tremendous amount of power with their words. Feminists as celebrities is more complex, since their work tends to be more theoretical and their focus tends to exclusively be on women’s rights. Chimamanda is a feminist author who has plenty of popular books, but she was launched into the mainstream consciousness after Beyonce sampled some of her work in her song, Flawless. With celebrity comes widespread scrutiny, and each word takes on more weight and power. Feminists obviously are not used to the celebrity experience, and I am assuming the social media reaction to Chimamananda was an overwhelming and unique experience. Another thing that comes to mind is Gloria Steinem’s comments on girls voting for Bernie just because that’s where the boys were. This also had a lot of backlash, but I think she meant this as more light-hearted, but since she represents the feminist position at large her platform as a celebrity is unique.

Trans celebrities and activists have responded to Chimamanda’s comments. Laverne Cox is an outspoken trans actress and activist and she responded by telling a story on her twitter. Essentially, she argued that she never experienced male privilege because she was always viewed as more feminine and a woman. Her gender identity has always been questioned, impacting any privilege she would have in certain contexts. Laverne summarized this by talking about her constantly contested gender identity: Patriarchy and cissexism punished my femininity and gender nonconformity. The irony of my life is prior to transition I was called a girl and after I am often called more a man.” Identity is inherently political, however certain celebrities come to represent much more than just their own identity. Laverne speaks on behalf of all trans women since she is one of few trans celebrities who have any platforms at all. This also applies to celebrities based on race and sexuality as well.

In general, I thought this incident highlighted the complexities of intersectionality at the stage of celebrity. I am glad Laverne spoke out because I believe Chimamanda’s comments were misguided and transphobic.