Laverne Cox, the star of Orange Is the New Black, explained how straight men hid their attraction to transgender women in her new music video.
In the provocative, surreal video for the brand-new song “Gretchen: A TripHopera Pt. 2,” the performer and advocate subverts the magical 18th-century tale of Faust and Gretchen.
Faust is truly Fausto, and in my version, she is the seductress, Cox exclusively reveals to PinkNews. Gretchen is tormented by her desire for him, and Fausto is truly Fausto.
The actor plays Gretchen and performs a chest dance for the naked hunk who is playing Fausto. The “sexy moment” was inspired by Lil Nas X’s “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” video, in which he dances on Satan. Cox hopes it “sparks some talk” about straight men hiding their sex with transgender people.
“It’s a great way to consider the ways that many straight-identified men are drawn to transgender women, frequently through sex work or through porn,” she says.
“Far too frequently, in my opinion, those people are tormented by that desire. Trans people have been kept a secret, and by 2024, we should be well over that. However, we’re not.”
According to the 2023 Year in Review report from Pornhub, men over the age of 55 are 58% more likely than younger pornographic viewers to be interested in trans content.
According to past research, people who watch trans porn also reside in Republican-controlled states in the US, many of which are attempting to pass anti-trans legislation.
According to Cox, “there’s something fascinating about the states that have the most laws banning gender-affirming care for transgender individuals and [which] have the most laws banning transgender people; those states, mostly males, are searching for trans porn more than any other states,”…
They “try to ban the existence of transgender people while trying to find physical pleasure in our bodies at the same time.” That is something that needs to be discussed more.
Making fresh music like her experimental musical thump has “been a great pleasure” and “gets her through” the seemingly limitless right-wing rhetoric surrounding the transgender community’s right to exist.
In the brand-new audio picture “Gretchen: A TripHopera Pt. 2,” she continues, however, that the Republicans’ end goal is to completely eliminate trans people by conversations about whether trans kids should be able to access gender-affirming care or whether trans people should be allowed to engage in sports.
“It’s never been about kids,” he said. “It has never been about sports.” She claims that the discourse about trans children, trans people, and sports was a Trojan horse so that Republicans can essentially begin to outlaw trans people from existing in public life.
“We need to ban trans ideology from public life, and that is the goal of all these laws,” said American commentator Michael Knowles a year ago.
According to the Trans Legislation Tracker, 85 anti-trans bills were passed throughout the US last season.
“At the end of the day, it’s actually not your business if you don’t have a trans child,” Cox asserts vehemently. “I think the state shouldn’t be involved in the healthcare decisions of what people put into their bodies, whether they’re children or adults,” as I do with reproductive rights.
The Promising Young Woman actress claims that she was forced “for a minute” to get her testosterone on the dark market despite being able to get her first estrogen shot from a physician in the 1990s.
She says, “There were many trans people in my generation who had to access transgender healthcare through the dark market. You want to find your bloodwork, you want to be able to have access to a doctor, and you want to do it the right way, but that’s not perfect.
“All the Republicans are doing right now, and everyone who wants to outlaw gender-affirming treatment, is driving transgender people to the dark market because we will continue to have access to the care we need,” she said. “We always have, and we just want to do it safely.”
The ongoing trans-rights conversations will only get worse as the 2024 presidential poll draws near.
Cox believes it’s crucial for trans people to concentrate on what brings them joy, as she has done with her music, which she claims to have “full control artistically.”
She urges, “Don’t let anyone take your joy away.” “We’ll survive these difficult times if we lean into the things that bring us joy and love.”
“Gretchen: A TripHopera Pt. 2” is currently available on streaming platforms.
