Norman Jean Roy – Laverne Cox for Allure Magazine (2015)

Honestly, I’m just kind of perpetually flustered by Ms. Cox. She is articulate, brave and as jaw-droppingly talented as she is beautiful. (She’s the only reason I still bother with OITNB—because seriously don’t even get me started on Jenji Kohan’s and her faux edgy, patronizing bullshit better-than-thou narcissistic tokenist bullshit.)

The response to this image of Cox has been predictable. Noah Berlatsky, at Playboy of all places, exposes radical feminist exclusionism in several responses.

And I don’t want to diminish the import of the image–because in a way it is revelatory. The problem I have with it is the implicit violence of the frame edge. It’s one thing to present Cox as sexy–I’d say it’s unavoidable, she’s positively sultry like always–it’s the symbolic rendering of her immobile by the amputation of her feet that doesn’t sit well with me.