Earlier in the week, former People magazine editor and trans woman rights activist Janet Mock sat down onPiers Morgan Liveto discuss her new book,Redefining Realness.The interview as a whole and Mocks exchanges with Piers Morgan seemed fine, but what she didnt know at the time was that underneath her name during the interview, were the words: Was a boy until age 18. Once the interview ended, those behind Morgans show actually took to Twitter to ask, How would you feel if you found out the woman you are dating was formerly a man? @JanetMock shares her experience now. #RedefiningRealness and from there on, Mock was too through. As a trans woman, while Mock might have biologically been born a boy, she never felt like one and as a child onward, she didnt live like one either (she says by age six she knew her true identity was as a woman). Because of this, such messages about her that were spread on social media and on TV with the she was born a man, baby! tone to make it seem like she was a guest on Jerry Springer were incredibly offensive to Mock. She took to Twitter to blast Morgans show for what she called sensationalizing her story:
Mock also spoke with BuzzFeed and said about the interview, Hes trying to do info-tainment. He doesnt really want to talk about trans issues, he wants to sensationalize my life and not really talk about the work that I do and what the purpose of me writing this book was about. Because of this, some of her Twitter followers and fellow transgender individuals lashed out at Morgan and he was pretty pissed about it (read from the bottom of the Tweets up):
So the two tried to hash it out again on Wednesday evening, and in the second interview, things did get tense at times (again, Morgan, who says hes a major supporter of the LGBTQ community felt like she tried to paint him as transphobic), but Mock kept calm, trying to educate Morgan about why his comments were offensive:
I was born a baby, who was assigned male at birth. I didnt identify or live my life as a boy. As soon as I had enough agency in my life to grow up, I became who I am. And this did not start at 18 when I went to Thailand to have surgery. It started when I was six years old and my parents saw me for who I was and allowed me to live my lifeI want this to be a learning and teaching moment for all of us because theres a lot of misunderstanding.
Check out their often heated exchange in full below and let us know what you think about all this. Do you think Morgans show sensationalized Mocks story to get ratings? Or do you think Mocks response was unfair as Morgan would say?
