Redefining Realness: My Path to Womanhood, Identity, Love & So Much More

by Janet Mock

We fixed our attention on cartoons (Doug, The Ren & Stimpy Show, Rugrats), sitcoms (Clarissa Explains It All, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Family Matters), and late-night fare (from reruns of I Love Lucy

samesies

We were products of D.A.R.E. (Drug Abuse Resistance Education), programmed since we’d learned our ABCs and 123s to “Just Say No,” with graffiti on our school walls proclaiming, “Crack Is Wack!”

think it’s hard being any of us, and the only thing that makes it a bit easier is being okay with who you are. Some days are easier than others, but every day I am really happy to be me, and I think that helps a lot.”

“My mom was a terrible parent of small children but a great parent of young adults.”

James Baldwin describes identity as “the garment with which one covers the nakedness of the self.” The garment should be worn “loose,” he says, so we can always feel our nakedness: “This trust in one’s nakedness is all that gives one the power to change one’s robes.”