For decades now, sympathetic portrayals of trans people in the media have usually made use of the same phrase: “a man trapped in a woman’s body” (or vice versa).
Though it may help some cis people start to understand the basic concept of trans-ness, it’s not always very accurate. In a blog post on the subject, Janet Mock explains why she doesn’t identify with the body-as-cage narrative:
Why don’t I like it? Because it places me in the role of victim, and to those who take mainstream media depictions as truth I’m seen as a human to be pitied because I’m someone who needs to be saved, rather than a self-determined woman with agency and choice and the ability to define who I am…
