Mock Trials

BOOK COVER COURTESY OF ATRIA BOOKS.

The writer, television host, and trans activist Janet Mock has emerged as one of the most influential women in media today. In her wonderful new memoir, Surpassing Certainty (Atria Books), a follow-up to her bestselling debut, Redefining Realness, Mock writes about the confusing, turbulent, rewarding years that were her 20s. Here, a micro-excerpt about desire and dating from Surpassing Certainty: 

“Though I grew more comfortable in my body and with my looks, I hadn’t grown comfortable navigating spaces of desire. I had no experience—boys in class never flirted with me, none of my male peers hit on me. So I didn’t know what to do when attractive 18-to-24-year-old cisgender, heterosexual men began to stop me on the street and tell me I was pretty. I didn’t know the correct protocol—or even if any existed—when they flattered me with sweet talk and pleaded for my phone number and a date.”