#MyVanityFairCover Highlights Diversity of Transgender Community on Tumblr
We're "a melting pot of individuals who deserve to have a voice," one user said.
— -- After Caitlyn Jenner's debut on Vanity Fair's cover, transgender people from all over the globe are creating and sharing their own Vanity Fair covers on Tumblr and other social platforms, using the hashtag #MyVanityFairCover, to highlight the diversity of the trans community.
The "world only seems to embrace us if we're wealthy enough or lucky enough to adhere to white, cisnormative beauty standards," Crystal Fraiser, the woman who started the hashtag, wrote on Tumblr.
(Cisnormativity is a term used to describe the assumption that a normal person's gender identity is the same as their sex assigned at birth. For a breakdown of definitions, check out our explainer here)
"None of us really see images trans women of color, trans people who don’t fit classic definition of beautiful or poor trans women who don't have enough to get surgery or treatment to look and feel the way they'd like to," Fraiser, 35, told ABC News today. "So I thought, if we can’t get magazine covers, we can make them ourselves."
Frasier uploaded a magazine cover template to her Tumblr this on Wednesday and encouraged other trans people to "show the world the myriad faces of the trans community."
These are their faces and stories:
"Call Me Aaron"
"I think 'MyVanityFairCover' is a really cool trend to showcase a variety of trans experiences beyond those of the very white, very wealthy, and very lucky," Aaron wrote on Tumblr. "So, uh, here’s me! he/him/his pronouns, no hormones or surgery, 20 years old, surviving."
"Call Me Ahsante Sankofa"
"My Name Is Ahsante Sankofa (They/Them/Their||It/Its), and I am Black, Queer, Poly, and Agender/Genderless/Non-Bianary!" Sankofa wrote on their Tumblr. "I go to school in Ashland,Or where I’m getting my Interdisciplinary Degree in Psychology and Sociology! It’s been a long journey to get to where I am but I praise the Ancestors for shepherding me here. Now I can live my life as PrinceessKing/QueenPrince/QueenGod/GoddessKing."
"Call Me Alex"
"Because there’s more than one face of trans, because we are a melting pot of individuals who deserve to have a voice," Alex wrote on Tumblr.
"Call Me Nadia"
"Most trans women don’t have millions of dollars and instant access to doctors, hormones and surgeries like Caitlyn Jenner has," Nadia wrote on Tumblr. "And not all of us can or even want to adhere to western cisnormative beauty standards. This doesn’t make us any less beautiful, or any less valid as women. So here’s MY Vanity Fair cover!"
"Call Me Faye Marie"
"I am so happy to witness this and now jump on and be a part of it," Faye Marie wrote on Tumblr. "It is amazing that all these trans women took what could possibly [an] uncomfortable situation and make the conversation about us, where I know it belongs. Jenner, do ya thing, have your day, meanwhile the rest of us struggling to get our daily needs met and dysphoria dealt with will continue the conversation."
"Call Me Kota"
"I know I’m not as masculine as I am," he wrote on Tumblr, "but that shouldn’t make me any less of a guy."
"Call Me Jenn"
Jenn is calling for a focus "on more varied stories of transition," she wrote on Tumblr.
"Call Me Miranda"
"I'm a 32 year old white transgender lesbian from Brisbane, Australia," Miranda wrote on Tumblr, "and I am here as part of the #MyVanityFairCover hashtag which aims to highlight trans women from different backgrounds around the world."
"Call Me James"
Visibility "isn’t always a good thing for us," he wrote on Tumblr, "but I think when we make our selves visible by our own autonomy we can control how the light is shed on ourselves and that’s when being visible is good. I'm a trans boy, so he/him pronouns thank you!"
"Call Me Sera"
"This is it," Sera wrote on Tumblr. "This is me. Being myself. I’m not brave, I’m nobody’s hero, but I’m here. I’ll never be pretty, and that’s okay. Well, it’s usually okay. Because I get to be who I am, and that’s worth more."