Rihanna’s stance on hiring trans models is super refreshing

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Although Rihanna seems like the chillest person alive, you don’t get to her status of near perfection without putting a lot of thought behind what you do.

Case in point: her viewpoint on working with transgender people.

A fan recently pointed out on Instagram that Rihanna did not appear to have cast any openly trans models in her most recent campaign. He suggested (lol pretty ballsy no?) that she include some transgender people in her next campaign.

Instead of getting annoyed, Rihanna calmly explained to him that yes, she does work with transgender people — she just doesn’t choose to exploit their gender status to gain woke cred.

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Here’s what Rih wrote to the fan:

I’ve had the pleasure of working with many gifted trans women throughout the years, but I don’t go around doing trans castings! 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! I don’t think it’s fair that a trans woman, or man, be used as a convenient marketing tool! 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!

Rihanna raises a really good point.

Trans visibility is crucial, especially when transgender people’s rights are under siege thanks to the Trump administration. But there are so many brands and media outlets that tokenize transgender people and treat them as others when they should really be treated like humans, nothing more and nothing less. Rihanna has clearly thought this through and decided she’d rather treat transgender colleagues the same way she treats her cisgender colleagues: like normal people.

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The fan’s tweet is below.

Gimme More POP

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