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WATCH: Rose McGowan rages after trans woman calls her out during book tour

7 years ago
by gaytourism
Written by gaytourism

Actress Rose McGowan was confronted for her transmisogyny by a trans woman during her book tour.

McGowan was one of the first women to accuse movie mogul Harvey Weinstein of sexual misconduct. She has since become an activist for survivors of sexual assault, even starring in a five-part documentary series about her role in the #MeToo movement.

What happened?

On 31 January, McGowan was promoting her memoir, Brave, at bookseller Barnes & Noble in Manhattan’s Union Square. While she was answering questions, a trans woman stood up to ask about the transmisogynist comments she made last year on RuPaul’s podcast, What’s The Tee.

‘I have a suggestion. Talk about what you said on RuPaul. Trans women are dying and you said that we, as trans women, are not like regular women. We get raped more often. We go through domestic violence more often. There was a trans woman killed here a few blocks [away]. I have been followed home –,’ the woman said, before being cut off by McGowan.

‘Hold on. So am I. We are the same. My point was, we are the same. There’s an entire show called ID channel, a network, dedicated to women getting abused, murdered, sexualized, violated, and you’re a part of that, too, sister. It’s the same,’ McGowan responded.

‘You do nothing for them. Trans women are in men’s prisons. And what have you done for them?’ the woman asked.

‘What have you done for women?’ McGowan shot back.

The dialogue soon turned into a shouting match, with McGowan continuing to yell at the woman even as she was escorted out by Barnes & Noble security. The woman chanted ‘white cis feminism,’ as she was led off.

‘Don’t label me, sister. Don’t put your labels on me. Don’t you f—ing do that. Do not put your labels on me,’ McGowan shouted into the microphone as the woman was leaving. ‘I don’t come from your planet. Leave me alone. I do not subscribe to your rules. I do not subscribe to your language. You will not put labels on me or anybody. Step the f— back. What I do for the f—ing world and you should be f—ing grateful. Shut the f— up. Get off my back. What have you done? I know what I’ve done, God dammit.’

The confused crowd attempted to comfort the actress, chanting supportive statements like ‘We love you, Rose.’

‘I’m not crying, I’m f—ing mad with the lies. I’m mad that you put s— on me because I have a f—ing vagina and I’m white or I’m black or I’m yellow or I’m purple. F— off. All of us want to say it. I just do,’ McGowan said.

‘And you can label this thing as a breakdown. That, motherf—ers, is a breakdown. Maybe not for me, but for you. I might have information you want. I might know s— that you don’t. So f—ing shut up. Please systemically. For once. In the world. You know what I’m talking about. Just tell the God damned truth. Stop boxing everybody into s—. I didn’t agree to your cis f—ing world. Ok? F— off,’ she continued.

‘Trans women are women and what I’ve been trying to say is that it’s the same. The stats are not that dissimilar. When you break it down, it is a much smaller population. There’s not a network here devoted to your f—ing death. There’s not advertisers advertising tampons with a camera lovingly going up a girl’s body as she’s being lovingly raped and strangled. Piss off. And until you can collect that f—ing check, back up. My name is Rose McGowan and I am obviously f—ing brave.’

Who was the woman?

The trans woman who confronted McGowan was identified as activist Andi Dier, who works as a political canvasser for the Working Families Party and the founder of Transgender Advocates for Revolution.

In an exclusive interview with them, Dier opened up about the incident.

‘This was planned,’ Dier said when asked if she intended to confront McGowan. ‘But only because I happened to be canvassing with Working Families Party in front of the same Barnes & Noble earlier that day. It felt like a sign. What she said has been gnawing at me for months. And I was really scared. I almost backed down. It is only my trauma and bipolar that lets me feel a level of emotion I cannot ignore. I knew the audience was going to turn against me, too.’

‘[Watching the audience turn against me] was triggering, to be honest,’ Dier recalls. ‘But two cis women of color followed me out, they hugged me and gave me validation as I cried. I showed them Sylvia Rivera’s speech, as they educated me on a police bombing in Philly during the civil rights movement — we bombed black people (the group MOVE) for wanting to get out. This is what my own privilege has blinded me to. An entire city — of people — was literally burned down by our government. But it is those women that give me hope that the revolution is not lost. Our liberation is linked.’

When asked about what McGowan said on RuPaul’s podcast that was upsetting, she said:

‘The fact that not only did she suggest that we don’t live life as a woman, experiencing what women go through. But there was hint that we deal with less shit. The only difference between Rose and I getting harassed on the street is that where her experience can end in sexual assault, mine has a likely chance to end in sexual assault followed by murder. This is especially true for trans women of color. I mean — fuck, I was almost shot in the Bronx for what started as a catcall.’

‘Cis people keep pretending trans women are a third gender or something,’ Dier stated, referring to McGowan’s offense at the term ‘cis.’

‘To be frank — that’s getting us killed. Trans issues are women’s issues. If we’re not fighting for trans women, we are not fighting for women.’

‘I literally did so much work to expose a local sexual predator,’ Dier says, explaining what she’s done for women. ‘Someone who raped one of my friends, preyed on someone young and tried pimping her out. I’ve risked my own safety for trans women and cis women alike.’

Additionally, Dier opened up about the Barnes & Noble security guards misgendering her as she was escorted out.

‘When security misgendered me I kind of wanted to die. It’s why I got so much louder. You are hearing my pain. That moment just validated why I was there. Especially because she said nothing to stop or correct them,’ she said.

‘But I spoke my mind to the cis men who escorted me outside. I’m banned from that Barnes & Noble for life. I told him I don’t want to participate in his capitalist bullshit system anyways.’

Dier also responded to McGowan’s racialized comment during her rant.

‘Anytime anyone makes a comment on race — anytime — and uses “purple” as an example: they are full of shit. She probably understands the issues of race as well as she does of gender. She must’ve been called out for some white bullshit in the past,’ Dier said.

‘My experience is different because I have been followed home. I have been sexually assaulted and raped. But I’ve also almost been murdered for getting a bite to eat,’ Dier said, discussing how her experience as a woman is different from McGowan’s.

‘Cis women get murdered, by their husbands and men they rejected. We go through the same shit, statistically more. AND we get murdered because we decided to slay the street in a tight dress.’

Aftermath

McGowan attacked Dier on Twitter, claiming she was a plant paid to harass her:

Backlash

Members and allies of the LGBTI community, specifically trans women, took to Twitter to express their disappointment and disgust at McGowan’s rant and the way Dier was treated.

Framing Dier as a predator

Some feminist websites —the ones run by Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminists (aka TERFs, those who don’t think trans women are women)—are labelling Dier as a sexual predator and misgendering her in defense of McGowan. LGBTI activists and allies on Twitter had a lot to say about that as well.

Anything else?

As of 2 February, McGowan canceled the remainder of her book tour.

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