When Caitlyn Jenner made it to the cover of Vanity Fair this week, the internet nearly collapsed from the coverage. Her cover was a breakthrough, but advocates noted that her story isn’t representative of everyone in the trans community. So a group of transgender Tumblr users, who don’t have Jenner’s level of wealth and access, came up with a brilliant idea: they would make their own Vanity Fair covers, but instead of Caitlyn’s face, substitute their own.
While many in the media applauded Jenner’s breakthrough, some trans advocates and individuals raised serious questions about representation. Laverne Cox celebrated Jenner’s work, then encouraged people to remember that “many trans folks don’t want to embody” normative beauty standards, and others simply don’t have the money. Crystal Frasier, one of the Tumblr users behind the project, told ABC News:
“None of us really see images trans women of color, trans people who don’t fit classic definition of beautiful or poor trans women who don't have enough to get surgery or treatment to look and feel the way they'd like to … I thought, if we can’t get magazine covers, we can make them ourselves."
Organized under the hashtag #MyVanityFairCover, the results are absolutely coverworthy. Check out images from the Tumblr below and on the website.
