In light of Women’s History Month, star of the Netflix series “Orange is the New Black,” Laverne Cox, will visit Mississippi State University and present her platform “Ain’t I a Woman: My Journey to Womanhood” at 6 p.m. on Thursday in the Foster Ballroom of the Colvard Student Union. 
The month of March became “Women’s History Month” in 1987 after Congress was petitioned by the National Women’s History Project, according to the Library of Congress women’s history month website. United States presidents such as Bill Clinton, George Bush and Barack Obama have given multiple proclamations designating the month of March as Women’s History Month.
Raised in Mobile, Ala., Cox pursued her acting career in New York City and graduated from Marymount Manhattan College. The transgender advocate portrays character Sophia Burset, a transgender woman who ends up in prison for credit card fraud, within the Netflix series “Orange is the New Black.” Cox is also known for speaking and writing about transgender rights and affairs for venues such as The Huffington Post.
Kimberly Kelly, director of gender studies, said faculty decided Cox was the best candidate to bring to MSU due to the uniqueness of Cox’s character on the Netflix series along with Cox’s platform “Ain’t I a Woman: My Journey to Womanhood” and the appeal to the LGBTQ community’s rights.
“I’m excited for Cox’s visit. A lot of people tend to focus on what being ‘gay’ is, and many don’t even think about the transgendered community,” Kelly said. “I’m very active on behalf of gay rights, so this is something that I know needs to be discussed, and I’m sure Cox will do an excellent job.”
Emily Ryalls, professor of communication and board member for Cox’s visit, said Cox’s actress status boosts the chance that individuals will come to see her, people who probably would not normally come to see transgender activist.
“The issue that she has been running into, and maybe she’ll talk about this, is for the first time the way the news media is kind of interested in interviewing transgendered people, which is fantastic, but inevitably the questions that she keeps getting asked are about her genitalia,” Ryalls said. “And so she’s really figured out these beautiful ways to really side step those questions and kind of shame the journalist, who should know better at this point and to boil it down to that. The other thing I think that is fantastic about Laverne Cox is that she was born in Alabama, so she has a real sort of understanding of what it’s like to be different — to be black and transgendered in the South, which means she brings a different perspective and an important perspective.”
According to Ryalls, an important sentiment to note is that the American Psychological Association has now changed the mental diagnosis of being transgender from “gender identity disorder,” meaning an illness, to “gender dysphoria,” meaning being uncomfortable in one’s body.
“I think that what we’re hoping to see now in terms of the transgendered community is just a lot more acceptance, that this is normal and natural and not some deviant sort of behavior and not some weird choice that people are making,” Ryalls said. “I hope that students who come to listen to Cox’s presentation will leave feeling differently than they did when they came in, and hopefully, they will take away something positive.”
Christine Williams, public administration graduate student, said she is particularly interested in discovering how MSU receives Cox and her platform, being that past media interview interrogations Cox participated in seemed to lack true understanding and sensitivity of her life and the mental and emotional trials she has endured.
“I’m hoping she will give insight on how things are on the set of ‘Orange is the New Black,’” Williams said. “I want to know if she has been well received by directors and others on set, and I want to know first-hand how she feels the media receives her. I also want to know if she feels she has a lot in common with her character on the show.”
The complex character portrayed by Cox in “Orange is the New Black” embodies a uniqueness that draws a specific interest in her character, according to Williams.
“I’ve enjoyed seeing how her character started as a fireman and was able to show how he could not find any happiness in that life, even though he had a great wife and child,” Williams said. “Her character being in control of a beauty salon within the prison on the show also depicts how she can take each individual’s inner beauty and can bring it out on the show.”
Williams said she is anxious to see what message Cox will bring to MSU that will motivate and help students in any way.
“Hopefully anyone who isn’t affiliated or involved with the LGTBQ community will still be able to take away something from what she has to say and even walk away a better person,” Williams said.