Caitlyn Jenner covers the new issue of The Advocate and is it wrong to love this cover? While I’m not a Caitlyn fan-girl, I like the simplicity of this shot. As for the interview – which you can read here – I’ve noticed something interesting about Caitlyn’s interviews. I think she’s sitting at home in Malibu and reading the coverage and reactions to her public statements, and making adjustments as she goes along. It would be great if she had spent time educating herself on what language she was going to use before her transition, but the past year has been a learning experience for Caitlyn and for all of us too. So, I don’t fault her for being a bit self-obsessed, because it’s making her a more eloquent spokesperson for the issues she wants to discuss. Some highlights from her interview:
On the fears and mixed-emotions she had pre-transition: “All those things certainly go through your mind. But it’s natural. You’re going from such a strong image – male, athletic, superstar, Wheaties-box iconic kind of stuff – and leaving that to go to, quote, ‘to the weaker sex’” – Jenner makes air quotes – “certainly, I don’t see it that way. And although I really felt like I was doing the right thing, and I’m so happy that the response has been good, I was afraid I would really lose something in my life. But my main concern was really only my kids. I don’t want to do anything to embarrass them.”
On the criticism that she thinks being a woman is just about the exterior: “What does this whole thing mean to me? …There’s more to being a woman than hair and makeup. So recently, I’ve been trying to study up on it. My publicists’ assistant told me to read this book [How to Be a Woman by Caitlin Moran]. It’s actually very good and very funny. What I realized, when going through this book, is how my experience is so different than what a normal woman’s would be growing up – that’s obvious. The second chapter was about having your period. OK? I will never deal with that. So there is so much in life that I need to learn about who I am and be authentic with myself. But I never want to assume that this whole thing called womanhood, that I could ever experience all of that. I will be able to live authentically as female, but I’ve missed so much.”
What it means to be a celebrity woman: “Kimberly [Kardashian West] says, ‘If you do go out, you’ve got to rock it, baby!’ You cannot let [the paparazzi] get that picture. They’ll take a picture of you with no makeup on, lousy outfit – and they’ll use it forever. You’ll never get rid of it. Kim’s very good at that stuff. It does take a little bit more work if you do go out. You’ve got to at least look good, at least the best you can. But there’s more to life and womanhood than just that. And those are things I’m learning; I’m trying to read up on it. I’m trying to understand it because it’s all new to me.”
On learning about the issues facing the trans community: “You cannot believe the people that I have met. It’s in every walk of life, some hiding in the shadows, some not. This is a human condition. It’s not just here in the U.S. It is everywhere. To see [the problems] it’s just – it’s gut-wrenching. Suicide rates, murder rates. We’re up to 20 murders this year. The hatred. There’s just so much work to be done. I am certainly the exception to the rule. I am not the rule.”
Compare her words in this interview to what she said to Glamour just a few months ago, where she sounded so superficial and like the biggest thing about her transition was the exterior, the clothes, the hair, the makeup. Now she’s saying “There’s more to being a woman than hair and makeup.” But is that really how she feels? I don’t know. But the words are getting better.
Photos courtesy of The Advocate.
Vapid and superficial learns some important words and says them.
That’s all I got out of this.
Yuuuup. When I saw the headline all I could think was, “says the woman who thinks the most important thing about transitioning is not looking like a ‘man in a dress.'”
I’ll pass.
Indeed.
+1
Me too!!
Yeah, I don’t see anything redeeming in this interview. She’s saying what she thinks people want to hear. No one can say what someone’s experience as a woman should be, but methinks Caitlyn is too steeped in her white man privilege to actually “get” any of it.
Right. She knows there’s more to it, so she’s “reading up on it.” Thank you. The thing is, she can’t know what it really is to be a woman because she has never and will never be treated as a woman. I don’t mean that to be dismissive of her need to live as a woman. I think that is real, and I’m glad she’s fulfilling it. But she will never be told to pretend she’s dumber than she is or boys won’t like her. She will never have the longing for a child, or the frustration of being treated as an ornament rather than a person, or the anger at being overlooked for a promotion for which she was better qualified than the man who got it. Just as I will never know what it’s like to believe I’m a woman when everyone else sees me as a man. She has had her own difficult journey, but it’s no wonder that she focuses on the superficial aspects of being female. She doesn’t know anything else.
Great comment as usual, GNAT.
All the things for GNAT.
Add to that the precious example of living with the Kardashians and contributing to their culture/mindset. That really does not speak highly of her now or then, as a father.
Perfect, GNAT.
She needed her publicist to recommend that book to her. SMDH.
These people have no sense of introspection, no natural curiosity to understand or to investigate, no desire to see anything outside of their insular, sheltered bubble. Everything is cosmetic with these people–everything is on the surface.
Well said GNAT!
Well said GNAT. All the upvotes for this insightful comment.
+1
I’m sympathetic to what Caitlyn went through to get to this point, but that doesn’t mean I like her at all. Bruce Jenner was a shallow, egocentric individual, and it seems to me that Caitlyn Jenner is likewise. I suspect her PR team gave her a script to follow.
Wait. Is that a thing? Most of my partners found my brains and ambition to be one of the sexiest things about me. Perhaps it is a certain type of man that doesn’t find those qualities attractive in a woman.
I don’t care what HE says, I can’t stand him.
Count me in as well.
Spot on!
Yes, well said, GNAT.
Am I the only one who misses Bruce?
I just LOVED him…
I don’t know much of him from KUWTK since I don’t watch it, except for a few times I stumbled upon it and HAD to keep watching – you know, unable to turn away from a train wreck.
But – and I’m revealing my age – I had such a CRUSH on him as a kid.
He was so lovely and sweet.
I wanted him as my boyfriend 😉
Yep! It seems that she got with her publicist and read all the bad reports about her and memorized “the right things to say” to make herself look good and is just regurgitating them. I am not convinced. She sounded so fake and rehearsed. It’s pretty clear she’s reading the comment section here at CB ;). And as for Kim does she care about anything else other than looking good for the paparazzi??? Anything?
No to your questions about Kim. The real reason she is not out and about right now because she is afraid of that picture that will make her look bad.
Crumpet, that is just plain beautiful. BEE-OO-TEE-FUL! 👏
Yes, there is plastic…lots of plastic! Self entitled ass! Just go away Bruce! Yer a big POOP!
I can’t believe anything this family spews out.
seriously, Caitlyn comes off like a real bonehead.
Is she still planning to vote for the party that believes she shouldn’t be able to use the women’s bathroom and cis-gendered women shouldn’t have reproductive freedom? If so, I have no interest in anything she has to say.
YES! She needs to understand how her conservative political leanings are so opposite of what she preaches hence her being viewed as hypocritical. And as far as her being afraid to embarrass her children… B#$@! Please they do a great job embarrassing themselves constantly!
“There’s more to being a woman than hair and makeup.” – No shyt, Sherlock.
I have no quarrels with her but for cripe sakes, now she’s deigning to tell me what being a woman is all about. It’s nice you’re discovering it now honey, but some of us have known for years. And you’re having it minus menstruation, childbirth, condescension, boob jokes, pay inequity and menopause (or men-o-paws, as the case may be). Stop with the uber-sharing already.
Thank you Captain Obvious!
Deep thoughts from Caitlyn.
Sounds like her biggest concern in life is the paparazzi getting a bad shot of her. Just like every other woman out there.
Or just like a Kardashian.
Plus, she thinks Kim(berly) looks good every time she goes out? SMH or whatever the initials are.
Yeah, I had a chuckle at that sentence. I guess if looking as though you’re wearing a sausage casing makes you “look good,” Kim certainly owns that butcher shop.
“So recently, I’ve been trying to study up on it.”
It’s statements like this that honestly confuse the hell out of me when it comes to her. I don’t believe she’s doing this strictly for some reality show, but it’s bizarre how someone who claimed to feel this way for years and cross-dress in private never actually took the time to look into or research what it means to be a woman.
It’s all so new to him. “We’ll I’ve already had the surgery, guess I’ll go read up on women NOW” What?
I had the same thought. Shouldn’t she have read the book before the transition? If she reads something unpleasant in later chapters, it’s well past the time for buyer’s remorse.
That was my thought too! If her past experiences didn’t include this kind of thinking and researching, what was the decision based off of? I don’t have the experience, so I’m not saying this in a negative way, I just don’t understand.
Going by all her statements, she doesn’t seem to have truly thought about what it means to be a woman except for the dressing up part. And let’s face it, she’ spent the past 30yrs in the most superficial of environments where the dressing up part mattered more than anything else. Not just with the K Clan, but also her previous wife.
However, reading the above interview and also bearing in mind conclusions drawn, i’m strongly reminded of the athlete that Bruce was….goal oriented, read any criticisms, make adjustments as necessary in order to win whilst also showing that you are willing and able to improve because that imprints on future judges, AND tweens when they treat mummy’s closet and make up as a giant fantasy make up box and can’t wait to grow up….except growing up in their view is all about superficial, make up and clothes and such. The rest of teenhood and early womanhood soon disabuses them of such superficial considerations, so we have Caitlyn as a sort of tween, yet who has lived a full life as a top athlete and the two things may help or hinder her.
Thanks Eternal Side-Eye
That’s what I’ve been saying. She felt this way pretty much all of her life but she never once did any kind of research on it. She seemed ignorant to her wants and needs.
A young man (20) at my place of business deepest desire is to become a woman/transgender and he could school Caitlyn on this in one session. He knows a lot because he’s been researching it, talking to his therapist and so on. He has also started taking hormones (though I don’t ask him where he’s getting his funds from).
*coughhercough*
Genuinely, my bad.
I immediately thought the same thing! You’ve made the public announcement, had the plastic surgery, etc, and NOW you want to read up on what you got yourself into??? Girl bye.
Caitlyn has to study up on how to be a woman? I thought Bruce spent his life feeling and identifying as a woman? I don’t get it.
You hit the nail on the head.
Bruce identified with certain aspects of being a woman.
As Caitlyn she is learning what it really means.
Gender issues would be a lot simpler without so many labels on what makes a man and what makes a woman.
Keeping away your daughter from Tyga and plastic surgery for example.
Sounds like her publicist got ahold of her to do damage control. Sorry but this family is about as sincere as nothing.
Agree.
And shes too stupid to hide this fact. She very casually tells us that her new insight came from a book sent to her by her publicists office.
Caitlyn as Bruce was once enamored with the “glamour” of being a woman, so no, i don’t think that has changed. I do think she enjoys and craves this glam squad thing that all the Kardashian/Jenner girls do. Bruce was not a deep person, so we can’t expect Caitlyn to be either. She’s vapid and concerned with appearances.
Actually, you can even be a woman without using makeup or worrying about your hair. Mindblowing, right?
She’s just as much as an attention whore as the rest of the Kardashian/Jenner clan.
She also failed to properly parent her daughters. She is no role model
This comes across as so…weird. Granted, a lot of trans people go through what some people call “the teenage phase” when they first transition, which is basically a period where they overindulge in “stereotypical” things normally reserved for the intended gender. That’s normal. But they get past it. Caitlyn seems like she isn’t. She hasn’t transitioned so much to “a woman” – since women are multi-faceted, interesting, dynamic creatures – so much as she’s transitioned into a stereotype of a woman. It’s like Bruce read a bunch of ladymags and basically created a composite based upon what the mags told him a woman is (I use Bruce in the past tense, just to be clear). I’m not saying that’s what it is, but that’s what I feels like.
What a clown
The last person she should be taking advice from is Kim Kardashian….
I disagree with so much of the negativity directed towards Cait. So she’s reading up on what it’s like to be a woman post transition, so what? I took a class on female sexuality that blew my mind on college, and I had already spent 20+ years ‘being a woman.’ There is nothing wrong with trying to get an understanding of history, language, and cultures that may have influence on your identity. Is it wrong for a Christian to read about the holocaust? Are only Latinas allowed to study the rich history of gender dynamics in Latin America?
Maybe she sounds more rehearsed now than she did a year ago, and you want to doubt her for that. If she stayed in her ignorance would she garner any more positivity from you guys? Doubt it. It sucks that she needs this validation, but before you jump on the bandwagon, look in a mirror.
Yes!
I think you’re very kind. To me, the lack of sincerity is blinding. I feel that she reads up in an effort to impress, not because she has discovered unplumbed depths to her psyche.
TLDR, I find her trite and insincere.
It’s not about not “being allowed” to read or do anything else. It’s about treating womanhood/femaleness as a trivial thing because you have enough privilege to do so. Being a woman is hard. Being a cis woman is hard and comes with its own set of challenges. Being a trans woman is hard, generally speaking. But Caitlyn has enough privilege to insulate her from all that. When you get up and say stuff like the hardest part of being a woman is deciding what to wear, you are insulting women (cis and trans alike). You’re suggesting that the legitimate issues that face woman today aren’t that bad, or that serious. And yes, that is insulting. And being trans does not give her pass to say this stuff. Plenty of trans women manage to do it without being insulting. She has no excuse for this.
The impression I get from Caitlyn is that this, for her, is a hobby or performance more than her authentic self. The trans women I have encountered in my life don’t fixate on materials things because they are just so happy to be able to live free from the dysphoria that was plaguing them before. They know how hard their lives are going to be but are still willing to do it because the alternative is worse for them. I don’t get that impression from Caitlyn. She seems far more like this is some kind of vanity thing that she’s cultivating. I’m not saying that’s right, but that’s the impression I get of her. For most trans people, it is a life-saving thing to get to transition, and Caitlyn, when she talks, reduces it to such a vain thing. That’s my issue with her. She does trans people no favors.
“There is nothing wrong with trying to get an understanding of history, language, and cultures that may have influence on your identity. Is it wrong for a Christian to read about the holocaust? Are only Latinas allowed to study the rich history of gender dynamics in Latin America?”
A Christian reading about the Holocaust is just what it is, reading and learning about a tragedy. What Caitlyn is doing now is something she should have done a long time ago if this was her desire from early on. If I’m a Christian but my desire was to join the Jewish Faith I would be studying, researching and learning about the culture long before I transition to that religion. I’m not going to make that transition because the timing was right yet I don’t know one thing about The Jewish Faith. This isn’t what Kaitlin did. She made the jump without knowing much if anything about being a transgender. That’s why she doesn’t seem genuine to most. I could understand if she said after her transition she was continuing to learn but she pretty much admitted that she knew nothing about transgender.
If it were you and all your life you felt you were a man trapped in a woman’s body and you knew that there was an opportunity to do something about it or you not going to study before you take the test? Like Giddy say, you are very kind.
Exactly! It’s like wanting to be Jewish because you like all the presents at Hanukkah, becoming a Jew, and then realizing that there is a WHOLE lot more to it than that. She’s supposedly wanted to be a woman for decades but never did any research, read any books, take any classes about women ever? Sounds like she just likes the dressing up part and nothing else.
Just asking, but isn’t that one of the reasons why that somebody who is transgendering (male or female) are suppose to live their life as the sex in which they are transgendering to and not just in private but out in the world? Also isn’t that the reason they are suppose to be in therapy?
LOL. These comments are hilarious. Everyone is like “NOPE”.
Oh well, something nice: at least she’s trying? It’s probably been decades since she cracked a book…
A K read a book?!!! wonders will never cease!! 🙂
Lol
I’m scratching my head now trying to think of what books define us as women. I mean, How to be a Woman is funny and all, but it’s a slight embellishment of moran’s columns…not Naomi Wolf or Audre Lorde or anything, no examination of intersectionality, poverty in women, etc.
I liked that Moran wrote about her choice to have an abortion, but I wonder if Caitlyn reading it even considered all the things that went unsaid for a lot of women in that situation – of the fear of telling your partner and what they would say; considering your options and the shame you might feel for an abortion or having the child.
and the expectation that it’s all YOUR fault for being unprepared, but not a man’s…
AHH Caitlyn frustrates me on so many levels
Yes, Caitlyn, there is oh so much more! Like stilettos! And boots! And earrings! And yeast infections! And mammograms! And monthly bloating! And pay disparity! Welcome!
Don’t even get me started on menopause. and Peri-menopause. Hot flashes. Mood swings.
Night sweats! Bone loss! Pregnancy scares!
And those wonderful days when your period arrived a week early and you’re wearing light-colored pants!
Ugh.
Why does it tale Caitlyn Jenner to tell us or the world what it takes do be the woman? Who is the target audience?
There are billions of women in the world, living and being women.
Sick of Caitlyn Jenner. You’d think she was the first transitioning person ever. The way the media has jumped on this to distract the public from the important issues is sickening.
Well, she IS the first transgender person to get this much media coverage and her transition is easily the most mediatic in history.
She Kept Up With The Kardasians and succeeded in her desire to exceed them.
She’s just been coached on what to say. She thinks the public wants to hear this new perspective because she knew there was backlash with her previous comments.
I still think Caitlyn has done more good than bad and it actually makes me happy that, being a transgendered person, so much people hate on her for being stupid and superficial instead of her choice of transitioning. Transgendered people are rarely allowed to be judged on anything other than that.
thanks for this comment.
I don’t have an issue with how she has gone about her transition publicly. I think the excitement over the hair and makeup is natural, because it’s fun. Now that it’s been awhile, she’s settling into it and into the more ‘real’ aspects of womanhood. While she hasn’t had the same painful experiences of regular people trying to transition when they haven’t had her level of privilege , the fact is that nobody could have brought about the publicity that she has simply because of who Bruce was. Heck, if Bruce Jenner could live with this secret and want to transition, then it could happen to anybody. Laverne Cox has done amazing work, but I don’t think she could ever have brought the issue so forward because she wasn’t a man that we all knew for years before making the change. Bruce was a shock to the system. I think what I appreciate the most is that while he wasn’t going about it in a way that was the most intellectual and understanding of transgender issues, he went about it in a way that most of us could understand – starting on the superficial and moving into the more psychological and educational once we had a chance to absorb it a little and see the difference. If he started out trying to educate us, perhaps we would have tuned out.
Cailtyn is not a good person, and neither was Bruce.
I wish she’d just go live a private life, but noooooo – because Kardashian.
I love her so I’m going to skip the comments which, even here, are usually full of insults.
What I do want to say is that I hope that now she’s starting to focus on more important issues than appearance, she gives more attention to his daughter, the one dating the predator.
Your family needs you Cait.
Saying “his” daughter is insulting to HER isn’t it?
There is more to being a parent as well Caitlyn ! You don’t just brush them aside when they turn 18!
Caitlyn quit fatherhood long before Kylie turned 18. Kylie has appeared drowsy and over medicated for years now. She began looking like a 30 something with bad plastic surgery while she was still a minor. She started with the plastic surgery with then Bruce’s blessing before 18, and Tyga the pedo was being his vile self around Kylie and the whole Klan years before her 18th birthday. As Bruce in the past and now as Caitlin, she has been a shitty, self involved parent. It’s so sad to think of how Caitlin (and PMK…can’t forget about her) failed both Kendall and especially Kylie.
Face + palm = Gee! Ya think, Jenner?!
I’m a trans women, i did my sex resseignment surgery 10 year ago and now i’m 30. I don’t believe a thing that come out from her mouth, actually i don’t consider her neither a woman. From that “men in a dress” comment i lost all the respect i had for her. Yeah, it’s so easy being rich and privileged and pay for all your surgeries in 3 months, being on the cover of the magazines and cosidered the voice of the transgender community just for the fact that u’re a rich famous men and father of the kardashians that suddenly decide to change sex. Yeah, so easy right? Most of us are struggling and suffering everyday, we don’t have a job, we’re not rich neither famous, we can’t afford the suergeries we need in order to look like a real woman. Most of us are forced to be sex workers ‘coz the people don’t want to hire a “freak”. So no, i don’t have respect for this shallow, egomaniac excuse for a transgender. Because she is the ACTUAL men in a dress.
I’m sorry for my bad grammar!!! I’m italian!
If I could like your comment a thousand times, I would!
Based on what Ive seen Kimberly wearing, I find it hard to believe she never leaves the house in a terrible outfit.
I’m telling you this is such a fake marketing ploy to make more $$$$$$. He hasn’t even had a sex change yet or ever will. It’s all smoke and mirrors. It doesn’t matter because I doubt Jenner can ride this out for too long. Or hell, maybe they all will. This is the United States of Idiocracy. Ok, off my soap box.
Caitlin, please, have a seat. Have all the seats. Just stop talking.
She grew up as a successful white male therefore never suffered any misogyny, never made less money, was objectified etc. She’s superficial and out of touch with reality. The fact that she doesn’t want to look like a “man in a skirt” throws so much shade on those transwomen who haven’t had the chance to undergo surgery and money to pamper themselves. Also, she raised several daughters and was married to a smart entrepreneur woman but she seems to be getting all her “info on how to be a woman” from all her recent acquaintances. Was she not paying attention while she was surrounded by women her whole life? Well, she does sound self-absorbed most of the time, so a true Kardashian woman in that sense.