Rose McGowan, most recently in the news for her accusations against Harvey Weinstein, was promoting her memoir Brave in a Barnes & Noble in Manhattan this past Wednesday. However, what was supposed to be an evening to celebrate McGowan’s courage quickly took a sharp turn.
According to Cosmopolitan, a trans woman in the audience asked McGowan about a comment she had made on RuPaul’s “What’s the Tee?” podcast regarding trans women back in July. McGowan’s comments included phrases like “They assume because they felt like a woman on the inside… that’s not developing as a woman,” and “A lot of the stuff I hear trans complaining about… yeah, welcome to the world,” which understandably would upset the trans community.
The woman in the audience continued to call out McGowan. “Trans women are dying and you said that we, as trans women, are not like regular women. We get raped more often. We go through domestic violence more often,” the woman said.
McGowan repeatedly interrupted her, and the two were eventually screaming at each other. At one point, McGowan said, “My point was, we are the same. There’s an entire show called ID channel, a network, dedicated to women getting abused, murdered, sexualized, violated, and you’re part of that too, sister. It’s the same.”
McGowan’s comments overlook the violence specifically targeted at the trans community, who the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs reported are 1.8 times more likely to experience sexual violence.
McGowan continued to swear at the woman, who was eventually escorted out by security, and then encouraged onlookers to refer to this incident as “a breakdown.” She told the trans woman that she was only mad at McGowan “because I have a … vagina and I’m white or I’m black or I’m yellow or I’m purple,” seeming to insinuate that the woman was simply jealous of her privilege. The crowd, meanwhile, was chanting “We love you, Rose,” and stood behind her blunt remarks.
To me, the entire situation seemed very poorly handled. Here’s hoping that McGowan realizes the insensitivity of her words and begins to understands the specific marginalization that trans people face every day.