Laverne Cox received a standing ovation in Pick-Staiger following her talk.
During her talk, Cox stressed the importance of intersectional identities.
Much of Cox's talk was her personal narrative, from being bullied as a young person to the discrimination she faces to this day as a transgender woman.
Cox challenged attendees to go out and have difficult conversations by creating safe spaces in which discussions could be driven by love.
Laverne Cox, of "Orange is the New Black" fame, is an actress, producer and transgender advocate.
Laverne Cox walked onto the stage of Pick-Staiger to thundering applause Tuesday night.
In partnership with Rainbow Alliance and One Book, One Northwestern, A&O brought Cox, a prolific speaker on transgender and LGBTQ rights, to address the student body of Northwestern. Cox talked about growing up and not identifying with the body she was born in, and the bullying she faced because of it. She was born in Alabama, where in addition to being black and from a working class single mother, she did not conform to society’s expectations of her gender.
Known for her role as transgender inmate Sophia Burset on Netflix’s Orange Is the New Black, she has taken her unique visibility as a transwoman to advocate for empathy in a world so dominated by hate.
“Shame can’t survive in an environment of empathy,” said Cox. She encouraged those who wanted to help the transgender community to be open and willing to listen to them. Cox said she suffered from an immense amount of shame as a transgender youth in Mobile, Alabama. It wasn’t until she arrived in New York City that she was able to reconcile with her gender identity.
“It was the first time my gender identity was celebrated. I felt special,” Cox recalled. She had suffered from bullying her entire childhood, but it was a different story at the New York club scene. It was also there that she made friends with other transgender people who empowered her to accept herself.
That empowerment is very important, Cox said, especially considering that an unprecedented number of transgender people attempt suicide. She went on to recall a time in her life when her beloved grandmother had passed away and the shame that came with being transgender forced her to try to take her own life.
Cox advocated society create safe spaces of gender self-determination.
“As long as we have to prove our manhood or our womanhood," Cox said, "we are not living in a free world.”