Peppermint on Identity, Politics, and Her Many Historic Firsts
Long before the bright lights of Broadway ever captured her silhouette, Peppermint was already spinning gold from grit — turning survival into performance and pain into strength.
Bursting into mainstream visibility as the first out trans woman to compete on RuPaul’s Drag Race, Peppermint didn't just perform — she made history.
But despite her acclaimed roles in beloved plays and shows including Head Over Heels and Survival of the Thickest, Peppermint’s presence has never been just about entertainment — it's an essential revolution wrapped in charisma, glitter, and power.
KP: When reading your story, I was so incredibly touched by your experience of being physically abused in high school for your queerness, and how this act of violence led you to understand and realize that you were truly loved.
I, myself, faced a lot of physical abuse from my peers growing up gay, but I never made any apologies for myself or denied who I was, nor did you. It brought me joy to see that such a harsh experience could have a beautiful silver lining.
How did you find the strength to always be unapologetically yourself?
PEPPERMINT: Well, I really do think that we are born who we are with our queerness — whatever that is — our sexuality, our gender identity. I believe that we're born with those things, even though obviously some people come into it later on or come out at different stages in their lives. And so I have to thank my family, of course, for just accepting that I was born with the queerness that I have.
I was so queer that it was unapologetic — it was extremely obvious. I was never one of those people that could hide or blend in easily. You know, the spotlight was always on me, and that probably has a lot to do with the fact that I'm also — I think — a born entertainer. I like to show off a lot, and I like to have the attention on myself sometimes.
But the gift that I also got at the same time was this sort of inherent self-confidence. And I don't know if I was literally born with it or if that's something that I was raised to grow into by my family, but from a very early age, I was extremely queer, extremely obvious, and extremely confident.
KP: That's a great combination, though, because so many people hide from it, right? Or they reject and deny it.
PEPPERMINT: Exactly! I've always had those things sort of go hand in hand. So even though I was an easy target for a lot of people — because I was so visible and easy to spot — I was also always very self-assured.
Now, of course, particularly speaking about that moment in high school — being beaten up — I was not happy during that moment. I don't know what would have gone through people's heads about me exactly, but I'm sure they knew, “Oh, this one is the queer one. This person's likely to be bullied.” Even people who I didn't really have a close connection with, people I've never actually even spoken to in school, were crowded around that office after I had gotten beaten up. I was feeling these vibes of love, if you will. And that just let me know that I had an impact on these people — even the ones that I had never met before.
KP: For sure. And I could imagine that it was so incredible to feel that. They weren't only your friends — it was a whole community of people who surrounded you during that time. It was very metaphoric. I thought it was such a beautiful story.
PEPPERMINT: Yeah, it was. It was incredible to feel that. Maybe to those people, they were just curious; I don't know. They might have just been looking to see who got beat up, but I could really feel a sort of reparative sense of love. And it was not even only restorative to whatever wounds I would have had from getting beaten up that day; it shaped me for the rest of my life. I can still feel it, if that makes sense.
KP: Yeah, it totally does.
You’ve broken barriers consistently across so many disciplines – you were the first openly trans woman to compete on RuPaul’s Drag Race as well as the first trans woman to have a principal role on Broadway, playing Pythio in Head Over Heels. What does it mean to you to shatter multiple ceilings? And is there anything you wish you knew earlier that would have helped you along the way?
PEPPERMINT: You know, a lot of the things that I've been connected to on a historic level are things that I never even thought that I would be able to do years before. I never really had a plan to do a lot of those things, although I did go to acting college, so I knew that doing something like Broadway was something that I would have liked to have done.
But that was quickly dashed in acting college when one of my acting teachers said that they don't really write roles for people like me. This was obviously years and years ago. They didn't say to give up, I mean, they were my acting college teacher — I would have just left school. [Laughs]. But they told me to just be prepared to become a waiter — which, to be fair, they said that to everybody in some way, shape, or form.
So I can't say that I knew it was in the cards that I would do something historic, but I guess it was for that very reason that I changed quickly. I started focusing more on doing drag and nightlife in college, even while I was still going to school for acting and musical theater during the day.
And ironically, that is, I believe, what allowed me to come more into drag and nightlife — being told that I wouldn't necessarily succeed in acting. It made me more of who I am — even more self-confident and more acquainted.
Of course, growing through college age into more of an adulthood also obviously had a lot to do with that as well. But, you know, I just became more myself through the years, and then eventually more into my transness.
I always knew that I had this womanly thing about myself, for lack of a better word. I knew that I was trans, but I think it took the sort of self-confidence that I gained from doing drag in public and being a performer and working in New York City nightlife, which is a hustle, to really embrace it within myself. It took all of that to make me who I am today.
And I think that this confidence is really what would have been, I would imagine, the most attractive to any casting director or even any boss that would hire somebody. They would probably prefer the adult version of me today, or even in the past few years, over the more nervous and slightly less self-acquainted version of myself that I was when I was just coming out of high school at 18, 19, or 20.
For instance, my very first time on Broadway — well, the first and the last time I've done it so far — it was great that I was able to play a role that was associated with drag. They wanted a drag entertainer that was trans. It was great to be able to do that, because I already had so many of the tools. Even though I had not yet been on Broadway, I felt that I could do it because they're looking for somebody like me. So it was great and much easier for me than probably having to do some other type of role that I had never really been considered for before.
I had the chance to really work through that in college because they basically gave me all of the two or three drag roles that had ever been on Broadway. When you're in acting college, you obviously do different roles and rehearse different things, and so the roles that they gave me to perform were all the obviously queer things. I mean, I'm glad that they did; I never got the macho man roles or whatever. And I'm so glad that they didn't do that, because I would have been ill-equipped, even with my own life experience. [Laughs].
But it spoke to me because I realized that I got hired to do this thing that I'm already good at doing. And I was way better at doing that after having lived a bit and gotten some life experience.
But then once I got there, I realized that they were saying that I was the first out trans woman to ever originate a principal role in a Broadway musical, which is a mouthful. But why? It's because there haven't been roles. There haven't been people writing these things historically for Broadway. Even in film and television, the roles are a lot more limited.
And, so for that, my teacher was not lying. They were telling the truth. So that leads me to the other piece of all of this — it tells me how much further we still have to go and how much more work there really is to do.
Even today, for every Broadway show that comes out, I'd say that 0% of them have a trans character.
KP: Yeah. It may even be less than 0%! [Laughs].
PEPPERMINT: Yeah, I think that could be true too.
KP: And to speak to why more of those roles might not be written, we’re facing unprecedented moments of reckoning in this country right now regarding the rolling back of rights for many minority groups, but particularly those for trans individuals.
Unfortunately – I find myself asking this question very frequently these days – but I think it’s so important, and everyone has their own way of doing what works best for them… How do you stay focused and energized enough to fight in a climate that is so incredibly disheartening and exhausting? How are ways that we can all work together to still fight for equal rights and for common the good?
PEPPERMINT: Okay, so three things.
One, you know, I think 10 years ago it was easy. I certainly remember hearing people saying, “Oh, keep politics out of it,” whatever they were talking about. I think it was a lot easier for people back in the day to keep politics separate from entertainment. And I think because of the way that the world has changed — including social media — it's all kind of blending together, you know? And I don’t mean just politics.
I certainly remember even back 10 or 20 years ago, people would tell artists to shut up. The Dixie Chicks — when they were complaining about and protesting the US government because of the unjust war in Iraq — were told to shut up and sing. Famously, that was their movie.
But beyond that, it does expand past politics. I remember when Jennifer Lopez was getting into acting, and people were like, “Oh my god, like, are we sure we want her in acting?” Some people weren't even confident about her singing! [Laughs].
KP: [Laughs]. That’s true…
PEPPERMINT: People's lanes were just much more defined back in the day. People wanted each other to stay in their lanes, but these days, that's a lot less prevalent. Of course, there are still people that say that, but we have gotten so much better about it over time.
So it's a lot easier to see and experience — especially with social media, as I said — someone talking about politics, or to find out about people's political leanings.
You know, back in the day, we didn't know whether actors were Republican or Democrat. Now people are like, “Oh shoot, they support this, they support that.” And I do believe that it’s a bit of a double-edged sword.
But anyway, it's so much more prevalent in our lives these days.
But certainly, especially the current administration, they’re a little bit more bold and a little bit more… I'd say extreme, for lack of a better word, with a lot of the things that are happening politically. So it's harder to avoid. And so for that reason, it's important for people to take care of themselves. Without sounding like a cliché or some kind of platitude, it is really important for people to indulge in their own version of self-care, beyond just, you know, turning off the algorithm so that they don't get stressed. Yes, people should do that too, but I really do think that people need to be focused on their health — their physical health, their mental health, and their emotional health — to withstand all of the news and bad headlines that come out.
But it’s also like, honey, I want to be healthy! I’ve had some health issues — minor things, nothing majorly serious — but stuff that could have evolved recently. I want to take care of my health, because I need to be physically fit to run the fuck out of here! So taking care of our health and self-care is so important.
But at the same time, knowing when to tap back in is important, too. We need to be aware because we can't just be aloof anymore. We have to be in the know about what's going on, to understand what's going on, and to witness what's happening to other groups that are not necessarily like us. We need to see how they're being treated — like, for instance, immigrants, right — and then figure out how we would feel if that were to be applied to us, because if it's not applied to your group now, it will be, right?
KP: Absolutely.
“For me, fighting for basic human rights is akin to fighting for the right to breathe. I am going to fight for it until I can't breathe anymore. So here I am.”
PEPPERMINT: So figuring out how to do all those things at the same time, I think, is incredibly important.
And then the third piece is that as a member of one of those groups, it's encouraging to look back on our history — even though they're trying to erase so much about it. I am so inspired by the ancestors, if you will, the historical figures who did some great things in history — people in the trans community, women fighting back, and black folks fighting back. That's really empowering to me.
For me, fighting for basic human rights is akin to fighting for the right to breathe. I am going to fight for it until I can't breathe anymore. So here I am.
KP: Absolutely. And I think you made a great point earlier about how everything these days has become so political, but this is how I see it… Everything today has become political because we're making things political that should never be political!
People having basic rights to healthcare should not be political. People being able to live safely should never be political. People being able to love who they wish should never be political. People being able to look how they want should never be political. These are social issues, which should never be political. Politics to me is the fucking economy — decisions that we make about war and all of these other things that should never even happen anyway, right?
With how this administration wants to roll back everyone’s rights if you aren’t a white cisgender straight man… That is not political. None of this should even be up for debate. The right-wingers want to label all of this as “politics” to weaponize the groups at hand. It’s a cheap play, but we’re smarter than that. We will not fall prey to it.
Today, I don't think that you can help but be political if you care even just a little bit about other people.
But make no mistake — none of this is politics. These are human rights. And human rights should never be political.
PEPPERMINT: Absolutely right.
KP: You have infectious confidence that shines through not just yourself but also your performing. How has your relationship with self-love evolved over time? Is there anything in particular that helped you along your journey?
PEPPERMINT: I'd say the personal confidence that I have comes from possibly growing up in the family that I did. That's obviously the luck of the draw, but they instilled in me a sense of self-awareness and self-confidence that I am still so grateful for today.
And maybe that has a lot to do with the fact that my grandmother herself was also an activist during the civil rights era. She would tell me stories, and I would learn things. She never told me what to do, but I was always asking about the boycotts that she was involved in or the marches that she led. I think that instilled a lot of confidence in me.
And when it comes to my professional life or career or whatever it is, I never really planned to be a drag entertainer — it didn't even occur to me that you could get paid to do drag. When we were growing up — especially when I was growing up — people would always ask if you wanted to be a doctor, a police officer, a fireman, or a lawyer. None of the stuff that I’m doing was ever on my bingo card.
When I was eight, my mom worked at a college, and they had college lecturers come in — speakers from all walks of life. And they had the father from the hit TV show, Good Times— his name is John Amos. He came in to speak to the acting college, and my mom didn't have a babysitter, so she sent me to go listen to him while she was working in the other department. So I sat in the back, and I listened to John Amos talk. The only thing that I can remember him saying — and it made a real impact on me — was when he was taking questions from the audience and one of the students asked some kind of question about life preparation or something like that. John asked them, I guess for context, what they did for a living. And the student answered back, “Well, I'm a professional actor.” And John corrected him and said, “Well, actually, you know, you're not a professional actor if you’re not an actor for a living.” And that's so obvious now and probably the legitimate definition of something, but for me, it just blew my mind back then for some reason.
So years later, while I was in acting college and had just graduated, I went and I was a secretary. I was trying all of these jobs, and I was getting fired from this job, quitting that job, I didn't like that other job... I was feeling very unfulfilled. And then, as I said earlier, I dove into nightlife and doing drag, and all of a sudden I had one night a week, then two nights a week, then I was doing shows three, four, or five nights a week. Then eventually I was working seven nights a week! And that's just because of capitalism. I was being exploited and lowly paid.
But, you know, for the first time, I was doing what I wanted to do for a living and making a living in New York City. I was only 20 or 21 years old and I had a job as a professional entertainer — I didn't have to work as a waiter. And it was then that I felt like I had made it… I achieved it. There's nothing more that I needed to do.
And even though I obviously did have other things that I wanted to do, I felt so content and so happy with my career and my life at that point. Or maybe I should say that I was happy with the way that my career connected to my life and to who I am, because obviously as a performer, I am the product — I don't clock in and out; I'm just in it all the time. So I really had felt like I'd made it.
And I think that really sort of influenced how I perform and the fact that when I do shows now — whether I'm doing a drag performance or I'm acting, which usually is specifically looking for a character like myself — I am able to pour one hundred percent of that self-confident version of me that came up through the years into all of those things.
KP: I think that’s great. You deserve every bit of it.
You’re returning for season two of Survival of the Thickest, a role that people absolutely adored you in. What has been the greatest part of working on the show? What can we expect from this season?
PEPPERMINT: Oh my gosh. I mean, I expect more laughs, of course. And expect more heartbreak. All of the main characters in the show, their lives change drastically, mostly for the better. But I won't qualify it or quantify it. Their lives just change in immense ways that are really impactful and — just like we were talking about — allow them to become closer to who they really are and maybe who they were meant to be, who knows.
There are some really beautiful moments where some of the major characters come into their queerness and figure out what that means for them. There are people getting into relationships — the types of romantic relationships that they never had access to before.
There are characters who are able to allow their life — kind of also what we were talking about before — to really speak to their craft and their profession. The authenticity that was lacking in their work suddenly explodes all over their career because they are able to become more inspired and more informed as people.
I'm being so vague, but everybody has moments like this in the show, including my character, and I just think it's beautiful.
KP: Me too. Yeah, don’t give it away! [Laughs].
You recently competed on The Traitors and were the first competitor to be voted off by the group. You’ve spoken openly about wanting to take that opportunity in order to represent the trans community — which, of course, I wholeheartedly understand — but I can’t help but feel frustrated by the lack of time allocated for your own representation on the show.
We can break down barriers and infiltrate all we want as members of a community, but without the opportunity to be seen, to be normalized, and to be understood, how much progress can we ultimately make?
I don’t really have a question here, but I think it’s such an important talking point should you have any commentary to add regarding your personal experience, or on how much work it actually takes to be normalized, seen, heard, and not viewed as some taboo anomaly by the majority?
PEPPERMINT: I think what trans people and queer people are fighting for these days is the same thing that other minority groups and people in marginalized communities fight for in terms of representation, and that's authenticity through representation.
Representation is needed everywhere in the workplace, and in politics — not only in actual elected politicians, but also in the business of politics and in the work that they do. And then obviously in entertainment — film and television, things like that.
And so what we're really fighting for is the ability to authentically be seen, because we know that we are being talked about. They're going to make laws about us. They're going to write roles and stories about us. They'll even have characters that kind of pseudo-represent what we're supposed to be or who we are.
But if they're not getting it right — because they don't actually have access to or seek out a connection with our community and our stories, our authentic stories — then their stories are going to come off as ill-informed, which they always do.
You know, The Crying Game is a classic film, I would say, and very well known. It was up for six Academy Awards and was probably the pinnacle of trans representation for its time, but it's incredibly problematic. Like, you can't even find it these days. So it shows that it's so important to have authenticity in your representation.
If you're in the business of storytelling, for instance, making movies, all you're doing is talking about the human condition — talking about people. That's what we do. We tell stories about ourselves. That's what helps us remain entertained — not just to identify with those things, but then also to keep a record of what it's like to be human, and you can't really talk about what it's like to be human across the board. You can't have a complete story of what it's like to be a human without including all types of humans.
That's obvious to some people, but strikingly, it's not so obvious to others — especially the people that are making a lot of these decisions. So when they are going through and striking out the list of banned words by our administration — and when it comes to consideration of federal funding for programs, and words like “women” and “black” are on that list — it's like, are you really trying to set it up so that the only people that will ever be recognized are white men?
KP: I mean, yeah, they are.
PEPPERMINT: But how does anyone believe that’s what the human race is?
KP: Well, anyone else is a DEI hire, right? So…
PEPPERMINT: [Laughs]. Exactly, exactly.
KP: Part and parcel with that, there are so many assumptions made about us simply based on who we are. Is there anything that you’ve ever felt misunderstood about? What’s something that would surprise people about you?
PEPPERMINT: I think that people are surprised to find out how much of a technophile I am — how much I love tech. I mean, I'm not going to get into it professionally... I'm not trying to become some engineer, but I really love tech.
And it's the advancement of technology — especially for productivity’s sake — that I’m into. You know, I don't want to get my brain plugged into some machine and then become some part of the matrix, but honey, I was the girl doing talk-to-text, like, 15 years ago. [Laughs].
KP: [Laughs]. Oh, were you? A real trailblazer! Okay! You were way ahead of the curve.
PEPPERMINT: Oh, yeah. Anyway, so people might be surprised to find out.
I don't think that they'd be so surprised these days to find out that I'm a horror movie buff, which doesn't necessarily go with the vibe that I think people pick up from me. [Laughs].
“Just being a woman is a threat to the patriarchy.”
KP: Oh, yes! I saw that in your bio. What's your favorite horror movie? Or a few! I’m okay with a few, too.
PEPPERMINT: I do have some favorites that I enjoy. I think my top two that that I've seen so far — and they've been my top two for a while — but there have been some challengers coming up to the list lately, if I’m being honest. But my top two are The Conjuring… I think that was a game-changer. It certainly was genre-defining in the early 2010s when it first came out. And it was so successful as a horror movie, especially considering the fact that it wasn't gory — they didn't show much. But the tension was just, oh my God, it was just fraught with tension. And so The Conjuring, an excellent film. Then Hereditary, which I think is one of the best horror films ever. I have only seen it once, and I will never see it again. I will never watch that fucking movie ever again. [Laughs]. But that means it scared the shit out of me, which means that it was a good horror movie!
KP: I hear that all the time about it, but I've never seen it.
PEPPERMINT: I never want to see it again. I will never see it again. It made me question my own existence. I don't want it.
KP: Okay, fair enough!
PEPPERMINT: And then my favorite genre of horror movie is zombie films. My favorite zombie movie is the original Return of the Living Dead, even though they're doing some remakes now, which I'm not happy about. But George Romero, fantastic. Love him and his zombie classics.
KP: I love horror too, but I love 70s and 80s B horror, you know? Like shit that nobody ever wants to watch because it’s so bad. [Laughs]. That's my brand of horror. I really love the classics, too! My favorite is Halloween. My girlfriend's always like, “That's not even scary!” And I'm like, “But it's nostalgic!”
PEPPERMINT: It is. It's definitely a horror movie. It's definitely in the horror genre. Maybe it's not scary, but you know, it's fun. And I love that. I love the 70s and 80s aesthetic for a lot of films, and I think the 70s and 80s aesthetic sits the best on horror.
KP: I totally agree.
PEPPERMINT: You know, like a rom-com? Okay, a 70s or 80s rom-com? Okay, there are some good ones for sure, but I think that’s the golden age of horror.
KP: I agree with you completely. The 90s and early 00s were the golden age of rom-coms for sure. I’ve seen them all! No one ever thinks that about me either. [Laughs].
I also want to congratulate you on becoming the ACLU’s first-ever Artist Ambassador for Trans Justice. What are ways in which we can all take concrete steps to ensure the safety and the visibility of trans individuals, particularly artists?
PEPPERMINT: I think by engaging with them. There are so many times when I’m like, “Oh, did you hear about this new law?” Not that everybody has to be up on every single thing that happens, but staying up to date by following trans artists and creators and people, advocates for sure, to find out what they're going through, what they're talking about, what's happening to them, what they need, what they want, what's going on… That’s all very helpful.
Because it's shocking… You know, I mean, like right now, for instance, the SAVE Act, which is being proposed and looks like it's going to pass… I don't understand how this is going to pass; I'm so baffled, but this is a proposal that would, in short, limit or restrict voters who have ever changed their name legally. And that certainly impacts a lot of women who have been married and maybe some men, anyone who's ever been married, which is obviously a lot of women, who should be a protected group. But also, obviously, many trans people have legally changed our names, too. So when the SAVE Act was first being talked about two months ago, I was trying to sound the alarm. I made videos about it, and whether it's the algorithm or the lack of interest of people, they got like zero play. People were not interested in it. I just can't believe more people are not talking about this.
KP: Right. Absolutely. And if you posted it on Meta platforms, that’s a whole other thing that's going on right now. And I find that, too. I mean, even on Instagram, I'll post things; I post the stupidest stuff, and it will get the most likes or the most engagement, and then you post things that really matter, and somehow no one sees it, so… I wonder why… [Laughs].
PEPPERMINT: Oh, Meta… [Laughs].
KP: Oh, Meta! Was there ever a moment that you experienced self-doubt, either in your professional or personal journey? How did you overcome any self-limiting beliefs?
PEPPERMINT: I think the most self-doubt I have felt — and do continue to feel — is probably related to my profession. I know that I talk about being an actor and an entertainer a lot, but it's inseparable from who I am, how I feel about myself, and what I look like. Everything that I am as a person goes into me as an actor and as a performer, so both of those things are constantly up for scrutiny. My body, the way that my voice sounds, how tall I am, what my skin color is, whether I'm trans or not, how I move physically throughout the world, what I do — all of that is connected to who I am as an actor.
That is what's under scrutiny when I'm auditioning for a role, or even after I've gotten it! I don't question those things personally, but I question whether or not those things will be seen as a hindrance or whether they'll aid me. I also question whether the audience will easily accept those things and be able to identify with me because, as a black trans person or a black queer person, a lot of people don't have that experience. So will they understand what I'm doing? Or will they be like, “What the hell was that?”
Those are the occasional moments where I need to take a break, need to take a beat, and sort of recalibrate what I'm doing — I remember that they brought me here to do this. I did a concert with a bunch of other folks called Black Broadway or something like that, which had black Broadway entertainers singing songs, obviously. I was invited to be a part of that. I was there with some of the greats, like Norm Lewis and Stephanie Mills, who originated Dorothy in The Wiz on Broadway in the 70s. And I'm standing next to her thinking, “Oh my god, what the fuck am I doing here?” Not that it was imposter syndrome… Well, maybe it was. I think a lot of actors face that, but I was really wondering if they were going to just be looking at me like, “Oh, what is this drag queen doing here?” You know? I had to remind myself that I was on Broadway — I had a history-making moment on Broadway. A lot of people come up to me and say that they were impacted by that, and that it resonated with them. I deserve to be here. I was invited, so I belong here.
KP: One hundred percent. You most certainly did deserve to be there, and I’m so happy that you got to experience that.
And for our last question, what do you feel makes a provocative woman?
PEPPERMINT: I don't know, because what I would have said even a year ago is very different than what I would say today, simply based on how the world is going. I fear that being a provocative woman just means wanting to have a job and vote, you know?
Historic moments or barriers being broken by women is definitely inspiring, and so I think of what it takes to get there because of all of the barriers and roadblocks and prejudices that many women face — that women face in general. The fact that women push through all of that to reach these milestones and break glass ceilings on every floor… That is incredibly inspiring. It must mean that they're being talked about as if they are provocative in some way, shape, or form. And so those are the things that I look to.
And also the women who have the audacity to be themselves, to speak truth to power, and to challenge a lot of these systems — women who recognize that these systems are harmful to both women and humanity in general. Because, you know, if it's harmful and a setback to one group of people, then it's going to be a harmful setback to humanity itself in some way, shape, or form.
So I know that was a long answer to your question, but I guess today — because I want people to pay attention to the SAVE Act — I think a woman who dares to vote is a provocative woman. As trite as that sounds, we need all women to vote, and we need women to be able to vote. And I'm really afraid that it hangs in the balance.
KP: I think you bring up a great point. So in regard to the origin of this question that we always ask, I used to run a media outlet called The Provocateur, which merged with another company of mine to form Noir as it is today. And so I've been asking this question as the final question in our conversations for years now, and I think you bring up an interesting point. It's something that I hadn't really even thought of until you said it, but it almost seems as if the answer to this question is getting more and more basic as time is going on. I remember when we first started asking it, and the answers were much more literal, like, “Oh, a woman who takes her clothes off,” but really, it's just now come down to a woman who is, you know?
PEPPERMINT: Yeah, yeah. Oh my god. Wow, I just got chills because that's the truth. I mean, we're hearing conversations about what a woman is, and a lot of these conversations are not in good faith and carry a ton of anti-trans sentiments. But beyond that, I can see them attempting to redefine what a woman is entirely, turning back time. And now, even within the past few months, we're seeing women's access to reproductive healthcare clearly being challenged — it’s being rolled back as we speak! And so you're right, just being a woman is provocative, you know? Just being a woman is a threat to the patriarchy.
So yes, a woman who dares to be a woman — a woman that is, is definitely a provocative woman.
