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Feminists Around the World: Munroe Bergdorf · Stuff Mom Never Told You

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Hey, this is Annie and Samantha and welcome your stephone
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  Speaker 1: never told you a prediction of iHeartRadio.
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: Yes, and welcome to another edition of Feminists around the World.
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  Speaker 2: And we are still in Pride month. Yay, Happy Pride
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  Speaker 2: to everyone. We hope you are still keeping safe and
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  Speaker 2: sane in the world of loopiness. I feel like there's
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  Speaker 2: so many ways to say that. And today we are
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  Speaker 2: celebrating the amazing works of queer folk all over the world,
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  Speaker 2: and we are specifically celebrating trans model, activist, writer and
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  Speaker 2: trailblazer Monroe Bergdorf. Woo.
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  Speaker 3: We feel this should be clapping. I don't know today.
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  Speaker 2: So Monroe Bergdorf grew up in Essexville. She was born
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  Speaker 2: to a Jamaican father and an English mother, who I
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  Speaker 2: believe were like middle lower class.
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  Speaker 3: I had a pretty normal life.
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  Speaker 2: She attended school at the Bishop's Stortford High School and
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  Speaker 2: was an elite athletic swimmer, winning a lot of competitions.
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  Speaker 2: And though she had a happy time in her primary school,
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  Speaker 2: she started feeling ostracized later when she fell out of
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  Speaker 2: place in high school. She told The Guardian quote, once
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  Speaker 2: gender roles were introduced and the girls and boys started dividing.
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  Speaker 2: I didn't really have a place because I was too
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  Speaker 2: girly for the boys and I wasn't a girl or
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  Speaker 2: seen as a girl, so I was ostracized and the
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  Speaker 2: ostracism never stopped until I left high school. She went
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  Speaker 2: on to explain that her own family had difficulty accepting
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  Speaker 2: her gender dysmorphia, which did not help her own struggles
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  Speaker 2: during her teen and young adult years. Policies like Section
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  Speaker 2: twenty eight in England were introduced, which bands schools from
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  Speaker 2: quote promoting queerness and homosexuality that in a nineteen ninety
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  Speaker 2: nine incident which highlighted the institutional racism within law enforcement
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  Speaker 2: in London, only made her insecurities and struggles worse, and
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  Speaker 2: it wasn't until she was able to leave to study
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  Speaker 2: at the University of Brighton that she was able to
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  Speaker 2: be her true self. She told The Guardian, I felt
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  Speaker 2: a belong to Brighton. I didn't go to university for
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  Speaker 2: reasons of academia. I went to start a different life.
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  Speaker 1: And though she started to transition and stepping and living
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  Speaker 1: into her new life, she still struggled as many trans
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  Speaker 1: women do, and her memoir Transitional, she talks of her
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  Speaker 1: experiences in her life, all the good and bad, including
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  Speaker 1: being assaulted by men. Here's a quote from that Guardian article.
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  Speaker 1: In the book, she describes a terrifying sexual assault by
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  Speaker 1: a man she met on a night out. When you
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  Speaker 1: look at someone and you know they want to kill you,
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  Speaker 1: and they don't see you as human enough to respect you.
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  Speaker 1: When you say no, you don't want to have sex
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  Speaker 1: with them and rape you anyway, that just kills a
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  Speaker 1: part of you.
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  Speaker 3: She chokes up.
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  Speaker 1: I don't know how I can and see that. I
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  Speaker 1: still struggle to think of that period because I lost
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  Speaker 1: all hope after that. I started hating myself a lot
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  Speaker 1: and entered abusive relationships because I didn't think I deserved
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  Speaker 1: any more. You went looking for them. I wasn't looking
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  Speaker 1: for them, but what I was attracted to wasn't healthy.
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  Speaker 1: I'd see people who would display controlling behavior as somebody
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  Speaker 1: who cared. I just wasn't in a good place. And
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  Speaker 1: the quote continues. She says her story is the story
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  Speaker 1: of so many trans women, dysfunctional relationships, abuse, seeking solace
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  Speaker 1: in drugs and alcohol, mental health collapsing. At one point,
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  Speaker 1: she was so worried that she called the police to
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  Speaker 1: protect her from herself.
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  Speaker 2: Since that time, she's become more active in the trans
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  Speaker 2: in a queer community, so much so that she was
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  Speaker 2: referred to as a cornerstone of London's trans scene in
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  Speaker 2: twenty fourteen. Her impact in the queer community and the
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  Speaker 2: modeling community soon led her to be hired by Laurel
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  Speaker 2: as the first transgender model for the UK campaign in
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  Speaker 2: twenty seventeen, but was soon dropped when Bardorf spoke out
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  Speaker 2: her frustrations after the Charlottesville Virginia Unite the Right rally,
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  Speaker 2: the white supremacist rally that actually left people injured. Her
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  Speaker 2: words were to the point and unapologetic, filled with anger
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  Speaker 2: and despair, as she told The Guardian, quote, well, would
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  Speaker 2: you expect people who were heavily traumatized by racism to
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  Speaker 2: be balanced and calm? The idea that people should speak
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  Speaker 2: about the trauma and oppression they have experienced in a
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  Speaker 2: way that is digestible for people who don't experience it.
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  Speaker 2: I mean, I was angry. We were watching one of
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  Speaker 2: the most violent displays of racism in history. It was horrendous.
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  Speaker 2: Of course I was angry. I think I had the
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  Speaker 2: right to be, and the reactions to it were not
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  Speaker 2: only damaging but emotionally traumatizing, and she keeps going on
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  Speaker 2: in the interview, saying, when you see the level of
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  Speaker 2: hatred directed at you, it makes you fearful for your life.
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  Speaker 2: I was scared to go under the water when I
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  Speaker 2: was in the bath because I was convinced someone would
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  Speaker 2: hold me under. Things go through your head that you
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  Speaker 2: would never think of if you hadn't gone through that.
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  Speaker 2: People said they knew where I lived, that they were
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  Speaker 2: going to attack me with acid, that they would get
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  Speaker 2: me when I least expected it.
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  Speaker 1: It was endless, but she I did get some vindication,
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  Speaker 1: as Loreel not only re hired Burgdorf but publicly apologized
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  Speaker 1: for their handling of the previous incident. The president of
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  Speaker 1: Loreel Paris released a statement saying I had an honest,
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  Speaker 1: transparent and vulnerable conversation with Monroe Bergdorf. We listened to
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  Speaker 1: each other and shared our feelings and perspectives on the
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  Speaker 1: situation with open hearts and minds. It was a powerful
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  Speaker 1: moment of human connection. Here is what I heard from her.
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  Speaker 1: Three years ago. Monroe felt silenced by a brand Royal
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  Speaker 1: Paris that had the power to amplify her voice. While
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  Speaker 1: we both agreed today that negative labels should not be
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  Speaker 1: used to define all individuals in any group. I understand
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  Speaker 1: much better the pain and trauma that were behind Monroe's
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  Speaker 1: words back then and the urgency she felt to speak
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  Speaker 1: in defense of the black community against systemic racism. I
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  Speaker 1: regret the lack of dialogue and support of the company
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  Speaker 1: showed Monroe around the time of termination. We should have
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  Speaker 1: also done more to create a conversation for change, as
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  Speaker 1: we are now doing. We support Monroe's fight against systemic racism,
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  Speaker 1: and as a company, we are committed to work to
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  Speaker 1: dismantle such systems.
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  Speaker 2: And though she did struggle with the negativity and backlash
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  Speaker 2: at the time she was going through the controversy, she
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  Speaker 2: still continued to push in her fight for the rights
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  Speaker 2: for the trans community at the time, as more attacks
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  Speaker 2: on trans women seem to be happening, Bergdorf has been
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  Speaker 2: right there to keep fighting, and she's not surprised by
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  Speaker 2: the continued pushback and weaponizing of the trans community. She
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  Speaker 2: told The Guardian this, whenever there are gains made for
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  Speaker 2: marginalized communities, there's always a pushback. Just before black people
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  Speaker 2: gained civil rights, there was a war. There's definitely a
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  Speaker 2: war on trans people. It's not a civil war, but
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  Speaker 2: it is a war within the media. It's a war
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  Speaker 2: on trans people, and we are fighting literally for our lives.
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  Speaker 2: And she goes on in another article written by GQ,
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  Speaker 2: when we see progress from a marginalized community at speed,
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  Speaker 2: there will be pushback with hashtag B two and times
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  Speaker 2: up the ongoing conversations surrounding misogyny. There are people who
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  Speaker 2: felt disenfranchised by that because they don't know who they
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  Speaker 2: are without it. You give them a platform and they
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  Speaker 2: find other people who don't know who they are, and
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  Speaker 2: you end up with Andrew Tate. It's exactly the same
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  Speaker 2: with the chance conversation. There's a lot of people who'd
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  Speaker 2: rather chastise other people without asking themselves who they are.
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  Speaker 3: A lot of it is projection.
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  Speaker 1: And she has used her memoir as a beacon of
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  Speaker 1: hope for those who may be having a hard time
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  Speaker 1: with all the negativity and hate that are aimed at
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  Speaker 1: the trans community. She says about her book, she hopes
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  Speaker 1: that it will quote change the trajectory of young trans
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  Speaker 1: folk hating themselves and feeling alone. It feels good to
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  Speaker 1: have taken a fair amount of pain and confusion and
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  Speaker 1: sadness and turned it into something that I hope will
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  Speaker 1: empower them. It'll be here when I'm dead and gone.
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  Speaker 1: And Bergdorff's hard work has been recognized. She has been
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  Speaker 1: awarded the Gay Times Honor for British Community Trail Baser
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  Speaker 1: for the fifth annual Gay Times Honor celebration in London
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  Speaker 1: in twenty twenty one, featured as one of the cover
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  Speaker 1: stars for the Honors edition of Gay Time Times magazine,
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  Speaker 1: named change Maker of the Year in twenty eighteen by
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  Speaker 1: Cosmopolitan UK, and was the first transgender person to be
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  Speaker 1: featured on the cover of the magazine, which was for
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  Speaker 1: the fiftieth anniversary issue.
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  Speaker 2: Right, and obviously, as we said, she has a memoir
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  Speaker 2: that was released this year. I'm sure it's going to
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  Speaker 2: be amazing. We should probably put that on our list
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  Speaker 2: as well. And yeah, we just want to celebrate the
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  Speaker 2: amazing work she does and continues to do, and congratulate
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  Speaker 2: her on her amazing accomplishments.
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  Speaker 3: And we're there with her in the fight.
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  Speaker 1: Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yeah, I'm sure We'll
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  Speaker 1: be checking back in on this. I love how many
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• 9:18
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• 9:22
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• 9:25
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