Indya Moore slams the fashion industry for exploiting Black trans people
When taking steps to increase diversity and equality in the workspace, hiring token employees is not the answer. While the fashion industry is far more diverse now than a few decades ago, tokenism is ongoing issue. In an interview with British Vogue, Indya Moore called out brands that only recruit certain people to make themselves look more diverse.
“Fashion exists to benefit from anything that happens globally, which leads to counterfeit inclusion,” Indya stated, adding, “brands exploit Black trans people by hiring them as a tokenistic gesture and not paying them properly.”
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The star, who made headlines for their role in the Emmy-winning series Pose, said they’ve been in situations where they’ve received no pay while the brands benefitted from having Indya in the shots.
“Fashion needs to push back against socially prescribed ideas around beauty,” they explained. “It must normalize and humanize trans people who don’t look cis and challenge the notions in a system that can make people feel small.”
Indya is not the only star who has called out the fashion industry for their use of transgender people as ‘convenient marketing tools.” Back in 2018, Rihanna took to Twitter to hit out on brands that use trans people as token stars.
“I don’t think it’s fair that a trans woman, or man, be used as a convenient marketing tool!” she wrote, adding, “too often do I see companies doing this to trans and black women alike! There’s always just that one spot in the campaign for the token ‘we look mad diverse’ girl/guy! It’s sad!”
While the singer has worked with several trans woman for her Fenty Beauty campaigns, the Barbados-native explained that her castings are free from gender identity. “I’ve had the pleasure of working with many gifted trans women throughout the years, but I don’t go around doing trans castings!” RiRi said. “Just like I don’t do straight non-trans women castings! I respect all women, and whether they’re trans or not is none of my business! It’s personal and some trans women are more comfortable being open about it than others so I have to respect that as a woman myself!”