This morning I was scrolling through my phone checking out the recent gossip that I could possibly report on when I skimmed past a pic of what I thought was a nude Beyoncé. I obviously went back, and when I did I realized it was not Beyoncé, but the transgendered queen of my heart, Laverne Cox.
Allure magazine has been doing a nude issue for years now featuring some beautiful female celebrities posing for stunning nude photos, but this is the first time they’ve featured a transgendered female celebrity. Which, heads up, is huge.
Like any woman, Laverne was all like “No thanks” when she was first asked to pose nude, because, let’s be real, society can be cruel as fuck when it comes to women’s bodies and putting yourself out there on such a public platform is pretty nerve wrecking. I was born a skinny white girl and even I’d be like “BUT PEOPLE MIGHT JUDGE MY PEAR SHAPE!” (fu society), so to be a transgendered woman of color I’m not surprised that Laverne was initially like “nah, I don’t need to put myself through that judgement.”
However, she eventually (and obviously) changed her mind because she realized how fucking important it would be as a transgendered woman of color to do this. She says:
I’m a black transgender woman. I felt this could be really powerful for the communities that I represent. Black women are not often told that we’re beautiful unless we align with certain standards. Trans women certainly are not told we’re beautiful. Seeing a black transgender woman embracing and loving everything about herself might be inspiring to some other folks. There’s beauty in the things we think are imperfect. That sounds very cliché, but it’s true.
Let’s be real, magazines are whiter than a Gwyneth Paltrow garden party, and to see a non-white woman on a magazine cover being presented as beautiful is rarer than a Kim Kardashian pictorial that doesn’t feature a bare ass shot. So, as a black woman alone posing nude and looking fierce and being depicted as beautiful is HUGE and incredibly important to young black women everywhere. And a trans woman being depicted as beautiful in a non-LGBTQ women’s magazine? Kid yourself. This is might be a first.
I feel like with this stunning picture, Laverne Cox is single-handedly giving society and their stereotypical views of beauty the finger and she is KILLING it!