Caitlyn Jenner has been named one of Glamour Magazine’s Women of the Year. I honestly don’t hate it. They didn’t give her the cover and Caitlyn is one of a group of women being honored for their spectacular year. Love her or hate her, Caitlyn really did have a huge, life-altering year and she fundamentally shifted the pop culture and political conversation around trans issues. Even if the only thing she did this year was the remarkable Diane Sawyer interview, that would have been enough. But she followed it up with I Am Cait, the extraordinarily messy docu-drama series on E!. I didn’t care much for IAC, but I still give her a little bit of credit for putting it all out there and even coming face-to-face with criticism for her own privileged position. IAC has been renewed for a second season, by the way, so more mess to come. Anyway, here are some highlights from Cait’s Glamour interview:
She was suicidal before her transition: “There I was, in this beautiful beach house, all by my little lonesome, right back where I started, dealing with the same issues I had when I was 10 years old,” she remembers. Her breaking point came when photographers showed up outside her doctor’s office, spying on what she’d hoped could be a private medical procedure to reduce the size of her Adam’s apple. That night she couldn’t stop thinking about a gun she kept in her home. “Go in there, no more pain,” she recalls saying to herself. But in the light of morning, she had a revelation. “I thought, ‘OK, you transition, big deal! You are still alive. You have to make your life interesting.’ ”
Why God put her on earth: “But I started thinking, Maybe this is why God put me on earth. This issue has been swept under the rug for so long. I need to tell this story on the highest level you can possibly do it. Not just for me but for this entire community.”
Her Vanity Fair cover: “More important than the Olympics by far.”
Becoming an advocate: “When you have a voice, and you have an opportunity at the world level to be able to speak, it has to be right…I don’t know anything about the horrors of this community. I literally know nothing.”
Acknowledging her privilege: “I’m the exception to the rule, not the rule, OK? I get that.”
Her future: “I am just excited about the future for the first time in a long, long time. And that is a nice feeling to have…. To be honest with you, if the worst thing in the world that happens to you is you are trans, you’ve got it made.”
Her words to live by: “Gamble, cheat, lie, and steal. Let me explain: Gamble for your best shot in life—dare to take risks. Cheat those who would have you be less than you are. Lie in the arms of those you love. And finally, steal every moment of happiness.”
What I consistently like about Caitlyn is that she’s open to being criticized, she’s in the process of being more aware of her privilege, and she’s more than willing to take the hit publicly if it means that some trans kid won’t have to take the hit. It was never going to be perfect and I feel like Caitlyn acknowledges that and she’s trying to grow in some ways, and she resists change and growth in other ways. That’s what makes her show messy – the push-pull of her narcissism, the way she makes everything about herself and how everyone in her life (including her children) have to validate her existence, but that it’s also a process of trying to simply be a better person.
Photos courtesy of Glamour, Fame/Flynet.
Oh Cait, honey, no. Just no on the leather leggings. North wears them better.
i heard she and Angelina share the same stylist.
maybe the stylist did the same as when Angelina walked with the Twins and Jane Pitt after the Leg Oscar?
same pussy bow blouse, leggings. only that AJ wears long boots, which is better than ankle boots that is “too short”
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2107524/Angelina-Jolie-takes-twins-Knox-Vivienne-shopping-trip-Beverly-Hills.html
Really? I actually like her outfit here. She has decent style IMO.
I think maybe with a less fussy blouse?
I think she has better personal style than anyone in her family except Kendall. It’s age appropriate, she’s doesn’t usually have her cleavage or butt in anyone’s face and her makeup is tastefully done for the most part. The hair needs work though.JMO
She’s in her sixties. Unless she’s also transtwentyfive, it’s a ridiculous get up that a cis woman would be crucified for.
@Kat-Just like Sophia Loren always gets crucified for wearing things like this:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f0/Sophia_Loren_in_London.jpg
Or like Jackie Collins got crucified for wearing this:
http://img2-2.timeinc.net/people/i/2015/news/150928/jackie-collins-04-800.jpg
Oh wait that’s actually never happened…
Sorry but I don’t see what is so pearl-clutching about this outfit. Some of you are making it seem like she’s wearing a Kelly Bundy dress and stripper heels.
“and she fundamentally shifted the pop culture and political conversation around trans issues.”
But did she really? I know awards keep being thrown at her but it’s hard for me to actually point to anything she’s done to actually address or change trans issues for others.
Yes I know she’s posed for things and given interviews but that has been done before and by people who have taken a greater activist role: Laverne Cox for example. So when we say she’s shifted pop culture how much of that is because of her actual contributions as a trans woman vs. as a member of the Kardashian family?
As for political issues trans kids are still being denied equal space and Texas is trying to paint a non-discrimination rule as some kind of invitation for men to come in women’s bathrooms and rape little girls. Haven’t heard a peep from Caitlyn about that.
Yeah, you’re asking all the right questions and I have my own thoughts on the answers.
This interview makes her sound like someone with delusions of self-grandeur.
I don’t think she’s trying to be a big activist, though, The mere fact that this big famous person transitioned brought the issue to the forefront in popular media. You certainly can’t deny that if it weren’t for Caitlyn, far fewer people would be talking about this right now. Laverne Cox is great, but she just lacks that level of fame Caitlyn has. And fame = media attention = people talking.
I think Caitlyn is just as vapid, shallow and narcissistic as the rest of the Kartrash/Jenner family.
And her obsession with wearing low cut tops and trying to be sexy is pathetic.
Agree. She is giving quotes that Bruce gave as a motivational speaker. Don’t care what she does or whom she does it with, but please……………..stop ending every sentence with Ok? She was born again, and needs to go back to school for diction. Happy 66th birthday Cait, better late than never to live your dream, I guess.
“And her obsession with wearing low cut tops and trying to be sexy is pathetic.”
Bingo!!!!! Here I have been female my whole life, and I missed the memo that being a woman is only about what you wear. She just makes it seem like being female is about the clothes and look, and that is very superficial.
noway: You have to remember that for the last 25 years she has been living with a family of women whose lives revolve around their appearance. Tighten it, lift it, remove it, add it, so on and so on……I watched a few episodes and even her new transgender friends worried on the confessionals that she was way too into her appearance and not with the process itself. I absolutely believe she thought she was meant to be a woman but am equally positive she has some major mental issues. Proof is in the pudding…have you seen Kylie lately. Sadness….
Nancy this is true, but last I saw she was grown and had a brain. She could have done something else, like not procreate for one. She’s the father of a few of those women and married one for 25 years. She’s in her 60’s too. Look, my other problem with Caitlyn, besides the superficial is she really does like to pass the buck. She could have changed her life at any time, she chose the kids the wife etc. then she blames Kris. Kris is vile, but I can’t imagine she wanted to stay married to a man who wanted to be a woman for 25 years. Caitlyn never explained to her, probably because Caitlyn herself didn’t understand it. Still don’t blame your former spouse for a lot of the issues. If Kris wasn’t so hated she would definitely be getting a bit more sympathy by the public.
She isn’t exactly the first 60 something woman showing cleavage and dress sexy.
Yup.
The only reason she’s anything is because she’s a Kardashian, and they know how to hustle for a maximum of media coverage.
This person KILLED SOMEONE and is being congratulated? Really??
Not to mention that she was against same-sex marriage!
Why is this person someone to be admired?
There are so many trans activists they could have rewarded, Laverne Cox as you mentioned, but no, Caitlyn gets more congratulations and admiration, adding to an already over-inflated ego.
It is really disgusting.
No. The only reason she is famous is because she won however many Olympic medals back in the day. Without those, her life would have been very different and would probably not have anchored her to the Kardashians which means she would never have that VF cover.
Exactly, Jax. Bruce Jenner’s winning the decathlon was HUGE at the time, and he used that gold-medal fame to try to make a career in Hollywood. He would never have met Kris Kardashian had he not won the gold medal, and the rest of the story flows from that.
Of course if he’d never been an Olympian, he might have led a quiet life and felt able to transition earlier.
I hope she’s happier as Caitlyn than he was as Bruce, but either way, her basic personality hasn’t changed, and she’s still an abject failure as a husband and father.
I haven’t followed her story anywhere else but here because I’m not AT ALL into anything reality TV. Actually, I actively avoid it.
But, it seems to me that she’s done us a service by doubling down on binaries – the obvious, in terms of gender identity, and the other binary – being a trans woman doesn’t make you either a saint (for the nice people to hold up) or public enemy number 1 (for the bigots to hold up). She’s out there being noticed for being a good example in some ways and a terrible one in others. Like the rest of us who are less noticed. Human.
I think the issue is that she’s being held out as a hero, and the word hero means a person whose actions are exemplary in some way, who shows great character. The mere fact that she decided to transition doesn’t suddenly give her character. I think that it was tremendously hard to transition as a person in the public eye, but she also choose to have a very public life well after Olympic fame, and her character is just as questionable as before in my mind. Her complete absence of thought about her kids is mind-boggling.
She wasn’t the first, I understand that. The public knew faintly of chaZ bono, and me, totally into celeb culture, didn’t know who Laverne cox was until I watched OITNB a few months ago.
“Bruce” was an American idol, that women wanted and men wanted to be. He was celebrated and a household name. And then a household name to a generation too young to remember the Olympics via KUWTK. EVERYONE knew who he was. So when he transitioned, it made everyone kind of stop and think. Caitlyn could have been the town star athlete, the dad down the street, the guy you golfed with. And because of this, she changed the way many thought about transgendered issues.
Her exposure was just so much greater than others, therefore made a bigger impact. She is no more important than any other person out there, just made the biggest waves.
I agree! This was an eye opener for a lot of people that someone who was a poster child for stereotypical masculinity (an Olympic athlete on a Wheaties Box) was also trans. Not talking about her personal details but the fact that she was this idea for many people & also trans is huge. You can be an athlete & trans……I think it changed a lot of people minds on what every trans person looks like. Not every trans person is effeminate & not every trans person is gay. For better or worse I think Caitlyn has shed light on these stereotypes & how they don’t always fit.
You know I think others who struggled before her really paved the way for Caitlin to receive her metaphorical crown. I can really see where people in the trans community feel that she just came out and (unintentionally on her part) took the crown and all the accolades. Not that she is to blame for that herself, it was just the feeling of the times (I refuse to use that word that begins with a ‘z’!) and the fame that Bruce Jenner already had that came together in a perfect storm.
Exactly.
It seems like all the other celebrity trans women who actually came out when it was dangerous or harmful to their career to do so are forgotten in the quest to heap praise on Caitlyn. It is disappointing.
I know I made a vow not to comment on anything Kardashian-related, but this is the exception to the rule, okay? I get that. 😉
Anyway, I just have to say she tugged at my heart strings here. That pain was real for her, and you can tell. She’s just one of hundreds of people feeling like the only way is out, and she’s lucky that she was able to see the light of day and hold on a little longer. There are so, so many for whom the light never breaks through, and I’m tearing up just thinking about it. Even though he wasn’t transgender, for some reason this brings Robin Williams to mind. It’s still hard for me to think about how much pain he must have been in, and you can tell Caitlyn was once in that place too. I feel for her, I’m glad she’s found peace, and I appreciate her for being so open with her struggle. Keep on keepin’, Cait.
Ugh. “To be honest with you, if the worst thing in the world that happens to you is you are trans, you’ve got it made.” yeah, if you are Caitlyn Jenner. How about if you are young and poor and can’t afford to transition. Or if you’re taunted to death regarding your decision to transition. She says she understands that she still needs to learn about her community, yet she continuously speaks about it without thinking.
Yeah, that quote made me jump too. It’s somewhat easy for someone with fame and money to say such a thing; even if she was shunned from everyone she knew, she’d still have enough to go by. But that is not the reality of most transgenders, far from it! Assaults, aggressions, rejection, poverty are things that are too often the reality of trans and I don’t think that anyone who goes through that think they’ve made it.
I live in a country where most of the cost of the transition is paid by the public healthcare (and I’m very happy my taxes are used for that), and yet, I can see how much being a trans remains a struggle. I’ve seen a friend’s relative waiting for her parents to die before transitioning (they were religious bigots who would have certainly kicked her out of their lives), and the methadone clinic I used to work at had many trans patients because transitioning and living as a trans can be freacking hard! (I used to talk a lot with my patients, heard many heartbreaking stories) And it comes with lots of other things, you never “just” transition.
Narcissists aren’t going through the process of being a better person. They are manipulating everyone in their orbit to attain their goals and validate their world view “I am special”. God put Jenner on this earth for a higher purpose? Yeah that’s narcissism 101. Don’t misplace your sympathy for the trans community by putting it on this selfish tone deaf idiot.
That’s pretty harsh, but I certainly don’t disagree.
Spot on. She is a narcissist, and despite what people might want to ascribe as positive traits to her, her focus will always be on herself. One doesn’t have to look far in her case for plenty of examples.
I think this is also a scary competitive athlete thing–her personality is not that different from Lance Armstrong’s, based on what I’ve read about him in various books: years of total or semi-secrecy with loved ones, thinking you’re the most important person in your world (not your kids/spouse), mocking your opponents (that ex-Soviet opponent Caitlyn called “fat” in the Sawyer interview; I think she views Kris Jenner as a fashion/magazine cover rival now, too), dropping people when they’re no longer useful to you, cloaking your attention-seeking in charitable activism as cover, etc.
So, of course, Caitlyn is running around being pap’d in leather pants while Khloe–once, supposedly her closest step-child–is at the hospital with a seriously ill ex-husband and Caitlyn hasn’t slowed down one bit. She’s “done” with that part of her life and so Khloe means very little to her now. This is how some people (not all athletes, of course) become when winning is all that really matters to them.
How can you kill someone in vehicular manslaughter and still be considered for a woman of the year award?
Because she wasn’t at fault?
From what I’ve heard, she was. But then maybe I heard wrong.
She wasn’t charged by law for her role in the accident. The family of the victim is filing a civil suit the last I heard.
I heard she was and just wasn’t charged so yeah she is an “exception” as she is rich, famous and now can add getting away with killing someone.
Gee, she says she wanted to kill herself when her surgery was made public but now she is ok with all this media hoopla, magazine covers, pap walks? Yeah sure. I don’t buy it. AT ALL.
I bet in 2-5 years she will transition back to a man and have more interviews, mag covers and another reality show.
Thank goodness you’ve never made a mistake. There was an investigation. She wasn’t drinking, talking on the phone, texting or speeding. It was an accident. Why are you so determined to believe someone had to do something wrong? Does it make you feel that random things can’t happen to you? Because I have bad news. They can and they will, no matter how many times you blame people for something they couldn’t help.
Umm, yeah I’ve made mistakes but no one’s died from any of them. Also, you assumed a lot of things about me from one simple question, why are you so upset that I don’t think she deserves an award not so long after what happened?
Obviously you really like Cait, I don’t. From what I know of her, she’s a crappy person that abandoned her kids and is rather stuck on themselves.
It might have been an accident, but that doesn’t negate fault. She’s the party that is directly responsible for the death of another human. The sheriff’s report was definitive that it was Caitlyn’s SUV hitting the car in the front of her that caused the chain reaction that caused the death. That’s fairly established fact at this point.
Now, this is just me, but if I were the direct cause of another person’s demise – even IF it was an accident and I knew, intellectually, that I was not “at fault” in the legal sense – that would weight on me. Caitlyn apparently did not have such issues. She was spotted driving around town what, a few days later, even on her cell phone. I think that is what people took issue with – it seemed like it gave her almost no pause in the least. Even if you’re not at fault, killing somebody is a major thing. An acquaintance of a friend of mine was involved in an accident where a small child darted in front of her car, was hit and not killed, but severely injured. She had no legal fault there, but she still could not drive for months after due to the gravity of the situation. Caitlyn gave the impression of being extremely carefree about it, and that, I think, was what turned people off.
And also, I should add, saying “she was not speeding” is slightly disingenuous in this case. The sheriff’s report noted that while she was not speeding in the sense that she was under the posted speed limit, she was “speeding” in the sense that she was traveling at an unsafe speed for hauling, which she was doing at the time. So let’s be clear about that.
@Sam: Thanks for breaking it down.
You people are unbelievable. If I were evil, I would wish that this happened to you and see how quick your mean spirited, judgmental, ugly little spirits blamed someone else. Because God knows, you’re so perfect. As it is, I just hope you learn a little compassion and love before you die. I wouldn’t have your lack of heart for anything in the world. Let’s be clear about that.
In fairness yes an insurance company will always put blame on one or the other for a car wreck. Hate to sound harsh, but it is purely business purposes for liability. Now the police may or may not ticket or charge with a crime it depends on the accident. I don’t know why but she wasn’t charged. If the police felt she was speeding because she should have been driving below the speed limit while towing they could have ticketed her for that or dangerous driving which I don’t believe they did.
Now technically she did not commit manslaughter of any kind as this is a legal term implying a crime which she wasn’t charged. A car accident can kill people and the reality is sometimes people make mistakes driving that kill people. I’m not sure the accident inherently makes her a bad person. As far as her feelings of remorse, we don’t know whether it upset her greatly or not only what we see of her in the media. I think it is possible it was so upsetting that she felt it would be better for the victims family to not say anything, or cynically her lawyers told her not to who knows.
I found these comments a bit harsh too, and I am not a Caitlyn fan. The awards bother me, because she really hasn’t done anything with the transgender message to receive it yet. As she has spent the last decade pimping the Kardashians, the thought that she is using this for more publicity for her just seems highly plausible. If they had waited a while to see her speak out and advocate, maybe I would have thought otherwise.
@GoodNamesAllTaken: So I have an “ugly little spirit” and lack a heart all because I don’t think she deserves this award?
Okay, sure.
GNAT- I agree with you on all counts.
@jinni
No, because you are blaming and hating a person for something that was an accident. Like she doesn’t feel bad enough already. She will have to live with this the rest of her life. It was a tragedy. But accidents happen, and I’ve never seen such meanness. As for her driving too fast for conditions, how was she supposed to know how fast she could drive? She was going the speed limit. I don’t even like her particularly and couldn’t care less about an some meaningless award, but having an accident does not undo every good thing you’ve ever done or make you a bad person.
@noway
I don’t think the insurance company can say it was her fault if she wasn’t found to be at fault by the police, and she wasn’t, except for driving too fast for conditions. But as I said, how do you even enforce that? I might think I don’t need to slow down in the rain, while you might think you need to slow down 10 mph and another person might pull off the road. And you’re right, we have no way of knowing whether she feels bad or not. I would image she does feel terrible.
Exactly @Sam.
She hasn’t talked about it much, and if I had been the cause of someone’s death, even if it wasn’t legally my “fault,” I don’t think I would be able to focus on myself very much for a long time. It would be a cycle of sadness and introspection for a long, long time.
The appearance of indifference from her has been the part that disturbed me.
I believe in God, but I don’t understand people who think “that’s why God put me on earth.” Because if you believe that, you believe God had a reason to put Hitler on earth. I think we each have to do our best to reach our potential and help others as much as we can. But I don’t think God decides He”ll put a famous athlete who is transsexual on earth to teach others about the experience. Or He might have picked someone who was less of a narcissist.
That’s a curious idea, and different people have different ideas about it. One could argue that Hitler was placed on Earth with a purpose that perhaps he got turned from at some point in his life. I have no clue. I think Caitlyn wants to believe that she has some greater purpose. However, I’d take that more seriously if she was more of an activist type. One of the biggest things that would help trans people today would be the passage of ENDA, which would codify federal employment protections for trans people. But I don’t think I’ve heard her say anything about that, which is a shame. She could really do more.
Wow I thought it was Cindy C. Same plastic surgeon perhaps…? 🙂 The leather leggings look great on Cait, she sure has the legs to pull them off!
Sam i just love your comment really, i agree with you 100%
“More important than the Olympics by far.”
I remember when Bruce Jenner won the Olympic gold medal….feeling so proud to be an American…it was a big BIG deal. And now it seems he’s blowing it off as no big deal, certainly not as important as being on the cover of a magazine no one I know reads anymore. It makes me sad.
I find that her thinking that transitioning was more important than Bruce’s Olympic achievements or being a decent parent says a lot about her headspace. So self-involved. Imagine how her kids feel about being of so little importance to their dad. That she has no regrets for how bad of a parent she was/is is really sad. How Kylie turned out is a direct result of his narcissistic personality. I doubt he sees this though.
How is being publicly herself, for the first time ever, and provoking conversation about trans issues, sad? That’s what the Vanity Fair cover was.
Jenner’s Olympic victory was an incredible achievement, but in hindsight it was a single-minded pursuit of the ultimate validation of masculinity. It was a big deal but is very different from trans awareness, and significantly different from finally being comfortable in her own skin.
STHU, Caitlyn….. Your 15 minutes is over.
STHU Caitlyn and hide your humongous man hands.
My only comment to this is that if this happened after a year of her out there, championing for the transgender community, then I could see it. Chaz Bono transgendered and did not receive any awards for it but then he didn’t get all the publicity Caitlyn is getting.
Just so people know its not a year yet. She came out and confirmed it late April. She certainly wasn’t championing anything for a year.
Shame on Glamour for making this decision- it must be money based and not a true statement of honoring women/ a woman. Caitlyn/transgender agenda aside, I want to see a woman who has overcome barriers to show the VALUE of being a woman and our contribution to the world. Caitlyn’s story is about becoming a woman AND IT ISN’T THE SAME THING.
I don’t object to a trans woman winning. But there are far better ones. Janet Mock, Julia Serrano, etc. Those are just a few of the trans women who have devoted themselves to trying to make things better for ALL trans people. Right now, in Congress, there is a fight going on over ENDA – which is a bill that would finally grant federal protections against discrimination based upon sexual orientation and/or gender identity. ENDA would fundamentally make life easier and better for trans people if it passed (even the current version, which contains many exceptions would be better than what they have now, which is nothing). What has Caitlyn Jenner said about ENDA? Jack. Nothing. Zip.
I’m not going to tell Caitlyn Jenner she has a duty to speak for all trans people, because she doesn’t. But how can you say you want to try to make things better and then not talk about the largest things that could be done to actually help trans people? Most trans people, right now, need real laws and protections that will allow them to work and live without fear. And ENDA is the best shot they have of getting that. I wish Glamour has chosen to honor a more effective trans advocate.
Caitlyn Jenner isn’t revolutionary because she is trans. She is still someone who abandoned their kids, is a famewhore, killed someone, etc. She has done nothing to deserve an award. If I get plastic surgery and breast implants can I be woman of the year as well?!
I know I’m snarky but want to say that it sounds like she’s memorized the correct sound bites for this interview.
As for Woman of the Year, I don’t agree. Getting viral hits on your webpage does not an “of the year” make.
She’s not relevant anymore. Let’s move on.
Like her or not, and I have a sneaking admiration for her, living her truth. I am not sure I would have the courage if I was wired that way, she and Laverne and Chaz too, are helping to change the conversation about being transgender. They are shifting it into the mainstream where hopefully it will become a normal way to live one’s life, regardless of the gender one was born with. It will be interesting to see how Ange and Brad manage the possibility that Shiloh is transgender. She has identified as male since she was very small. The current thinking by psychologists is that even very small children know who they were meant to be, and early treatment to ease the transition is very effective. I only reference them because they seem to have a philosophy of approaching life changing challenges armed with the best of information, and open hearts. If this is the case with Shiloh, and I would certainly not attest that it is, if it isn’t, at the very least it will open up the topic even more so that it can become an easily discussed, and socially accepted alternative to binary gender identities. That can only be a good thing in my view.
Bruce didn’t get enough attention; so he morphs into Cait – still starved for attention. You’re an old man playing at being a woman. Shut up. Nobody cares. You just did an interview where you claim to NOT feel like a woman anymore. SMH
Calling Caitlyn Jenner Woman of the Year is a slap in the face to every other woman that could have won that award. She is just as bad as the Kardashian trash, that’s why she is in our faces and news feeds. She is a joke to the Trans community. How can anyone take her seriously. My boyfriend is transgender, and guess what, not millions of people know about it. For me and my boyfriend and plenty of our friends in the LGBT community friends, see this as a publicity stunt. She is an insult and an embarrassment.
She is by far the most classy and attractive if the klan. They are all puffed out blow up dolls with no brains
But what does Woman of the Year mean for this particular magazine? How does she compare with the other women on their list? Maybe people are hung up on the term “woman of the year” and giving it a broader meaning that it just doesn’t have in this context.