Isis King
Encyclopedia
Isis King is an American
fashion model and a fashion designer. She was a contestant on both the eleventh cycle
and the seventeenth cycle of the reality television show America's Next Top Model
. She was the first trans woman
to compete on the show, and became one of the most visible transgender
people on television.
. King was assigned male at birth but has stated that "mentally [and] everything else" she was "born female." She has stated that people might refer to her as "transgender" or "transsexual", but she prefers the phrase "born in the wrong body".
While in high school, King came out
as "gay
". However, she felt that it was still not the accurate label for her orientation.
In 2007, King appeared in an MSNBC
special titled Born in the Wrong Body, which documented the lives of transgender teens from across the United States. King began hormone replacement therapy
in the summer of 2007, as part of her transitioning
process. She hoped to have sex reassignment surgery as soon as possible.
. While in college her designs won her a 2005 award for Best Woman's Evening Wear.
King had been runway modeling
for seven years before participating in America's Next Top Model. Her experience included competing in the underground ball culture
scene. In a promotional interview for ANTM, King stated she was looking forward to runway as she had been "walking" for seven years. Her post-show runway credits include the Amore Fashion Show, Howard University Fashion Show, Colors Fall/Winter 2009–10 Line, Secret Society, and Images Fashion Show (for which she received an award).
She has also worked as a receptionist at a hair salon, and as a program assistant for a nonprofit organization.
of America's Next Top Model. As the shoot's theme would be the issue of homeless youth, real homeless women would be used as background models, recruited in conjunction with the Reciprocity Foundation, which works to move homeless and high-risk youth into careers in the "creativity economy".
King asked ANTM art director Jay Manuel
whether she could be accepted as a girl "born in the wrong body" if she were to audition as a contestant for the program. After the shoot, show host and producer Tyra Banks
had her staff search out King to encourage her to audition based on her performance in the photo shoot. King became one of fourteen finalists for the eleventh cycle
of the show. She placed tenth overall.
She participated in Cycle 17 of America's Next Top Model—also known as the "All-Stars Cycle"—along with 13 other returning contestants from past Top Model cycles. She was eliminated in the third week of the competition. Isis' Top Model All-Stars profile
, a fellow trans woman and top gender reassignment surgeon, who offered her an all-expenses-paid surgery. According to King's Facebook
page, the surgery was conducted on February 27, 2009. The results of the operation were revealed in her second appearance, in which new test shots taken after the surgery were revealed. Isis' transition to being anatomically female was deemed "complete." She also appeared on Larry King Live
on July 25, 2009. It has been announced that King will compete in the seventeenth overall and first 'All Star' cycle of America's Next Top Model, which aired on the September 14, 2011. She has currently been eliminated.
(September 2008), was in Seventeen
magazine (December 2008/January 2009), Out
magazine, Mallard International magazine, and the cover of the Spring 2010 Swerv magazine. King also did a variety of test shots that were used to promote her visit to The Tyra Banks Show
.
As of present time, King is not signed with any modeling agency
, though she works as a freelance fashion model.
, president of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. By competing on the show, King has brought national and prime time
attention to issues of gender transitioning and gender expression
. New York
magazine has called King the cause célèbre
of Cycle 11, comparing her transsexualism to previous contestant "issues" featured on the show such as Cycle 9 contestant Heather Kuzmich
's Asperger syndrome
. ANTM executive producer Ken Mok
stated that her casting was done in support of "redefin[ing] what beauty is," one of "Tyra's original missions" for the show.
Due to the intimate nature of the program, which films the contestants living together during the several weeks of the competition, GLAAD spokesman Damon Romine noted that "the show deals head on with the contestants confronting their own phobias. There's going to be support, and the reverse of that. It opens the door for the other girls and the viewers to get to know Isis and the transgender community." Some of King's fellow contestants revealed prejudices in speaking about how her gender transitioning would be poorly received in their own small communities or in the southern United States
. Contestants have referred to King perjoratively as a "he/she" and a "drag queen
". Facets of King's transitioning process have been portrayed in the show, such as her hormone injections and subsequent nausea.
New York magazine noted that King is one of few transgender models in history to rise to public prominence, comparing her to Teri Toye, former club kid Amanda Lepore
, and the gender-bending club promoter and model André J.
Simon Doonan
, creative director of Barneys New York
, told ABC News that the time may be right for a transgender supermodel: "Maybe it's time for a tranny to end up on the cover of Vogue
."
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
fashion model and a fashion designer. She was a contestant on both the eleventh cycle
America's Next Top Model, Cycle 11
America's Next Top Model, Cycle 11 is the eleventh cycle of the reality series America's Next Top Model created by supermodel and television personality Tyra Banks. This was the fifth season to be aired on The CW network...
and the seventeenth cycle of the reality television show America's Next Top Model
America's Next Top Model
America's Next Top Model is a reality television show in which a number of women compete for the title of America's Next Top Model and a chance to start their career in the modeling industry....
. She was the first trans woman
Trans woman
A trans woman is a male-to-female transsexual or transgender person and the term trans woman is preferred by some individuals over various medical terms. Other non-medical terms include t-girl, tg-girl and ts-girl...
to compete on the show, and became one of the most visible transgender
Transgender
Transgender is a general term applied to a variety of individuals, behaviors, and groups involving tendencies to vary from culturally conventional gender roles....
people on television.
Biography
King is originally from Prince Georges County, Maryland, and currently resides in New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. King was assigned male at birth but has stated that "mentally [and] everything else" she was "born female." She has stated that people might refer to her as "transgender" or "transsexual", but she prefers the phrase "born in the wrong body".
While in high school, King came out
Coming out
Coming out is a figure of speech for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people's disclosure of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity....
as "gay
Gay
Gay is a word that refers to a homosexual person, especially a homosexual male. For homosexual women the specific term is "lesbian"....
". However, she felt that it was still not the accurate label for her orientation.
In 2007, King appeared in an MSNBC
MSNBC
MSNBC is a cable news channel based in the United States available in the US, Germany , South Africa, the Middle East and Canada...
special titled Born in the Wrong Body, which documented the lives of transgender teens from across the United States. King began hormone replacement therapy
Hormone replacement therapy (male-to-female)
Hormone replacement therapy for transgender and transsexual people changes the balance of sex hormones in their bodies. Some intersex people also receive HRT, either starting in childhood to confirm the sex to which they were assigned, or later, if this assignment has proven to be incorrect...
in the summer of 2007, as part of her transitioning
Transitioning (transgender)
Transitioning is the process of changing one's gender presentation to accord with one's internal sense of one's gender - the idea of what it means to be a man or woman...
process. She hoped to have sex reassignment surgery as soon as possible.
Early career
King has an associate degree from the Art Institute of PhiladelphiaArt Institute of Philadelphia
The Art Institute of Philadelphia is a private, for-profit school of art. It is primarily located at 1622 Chestnut Street; however, it also utilizes several more buildings throughout the Center City district of Philadelphia...
. While in college her designs won her a 2005 award for Best Woman's Evening Wear.
King had been runway modeling
Runway (fashion)
Runway or catwalk describes a narrow, usually flat platform that runs into an auditorium, used by models to demonstrate clothing and accessories during a fashion show In fashion jargon, "what's on the catwalk" or similar phrasing can refer to whatever is new and popular in fashion.- Exclusive...
for seven years before participating in America's Next Top Model. Her experience included competing in the underground ball culture
Ball culture
Ball culture, the house system, the ballroom community and similar terms describe the underground LGBT subculture in the United States in which people "walk" for trophies and prizes at events known as balls. Those who walk often also dance and vogue while others compete in various genres of drag...
scene. In a promotional interview for ANTM, King stated she was looking forward to runway as she had been "walking" for seven years. Her post-show runway credits include the Amore Fashion Show, Howard University Fashion Show, Colors Fall/Winter 2009–10 Line, Secret Society, and Images Fashion Show (for which she received an award).
She has also worked as a receptionist at a hair salon, and as a program assistant for a nonprofit organization.
America's Next Top Model
King was living at the Ali Forney Transitional Living Program when she learned about an upcoming photo shoot for the tenth cycleAmerica's Next Top Model, Cycle 10
America's Next Top Model, Cycle 10 was the tenth cycle of America's Next Top Model and the fourth season to be aired on The CW network...
of America's Next Top Model. As the shoot's theme would be the issue of homeless youth, real homeless women would be used as background models, recruited in conjunction with the Reciprocity Foundation, which works to move homeless and high-risk youth into careers in the "creativity economy".
King asked ANTM art director Jay Manuel
Jay Manuel
Jay Manuel is a Canadian make-up artist, fashion photographer, and model. He is most recognizable as the director of photo shoots on the popular reality television show America's Next Top Model...
whether she could be accepted as a girl "born in the wrong body" if she were to audition as a contestant for the program. After the shoot, show host and producer Tyra Banks
Tyra Banks
Tyra Lynne Banks is an American model, media personality, actress, occasional singer, author and businesswoman. She first became famous as a model, but television appearances were her commercial breakthrough...
had her staff search out King to encourage her to audition based on her performance in the photo shoot. King became one of fourteen finalists for the eleventh cycle
America's Next Top Model, Cycle 11
America's Next Top Model, Cycle 11 is the eleventh cycle of the reality series America's Next Top Model created by supermodel and television personality Tyra Banks. This was the fifth season to be aired on The CW network...
of the show. She placed tenth overall.
She participated in Cycle 17 of America's Next Top Model—also known as the "All-Stars Cycle"—along with 13 other returning contestants from past Top Model cycles. She was eliminated in the third week of the competition. Isis' Top Model All-Stars profile
After ANTM
King has appeared on The Tyra Banks Show twice. In her first appearance she discussed her life story further, along with fellow contestant Clark Gilmer. Banks surprised King by introducing her to Marci BowersMarci Bowers
Marci L. Bowers is an American gynecologist who operated a surgical practice in Trinidad, Colorado. She has moved her practice to California in December 2010. Bowers is viewed as an innovator in the field of transgender surgery, as well as a pioneer, being the first transsexual woman to be...
, a fellow trans woman and top gender reassignment surgeon, who offered her an all-expenses-paid surgery. According to King's Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
page, the surgery was conducted on February 27, 2009. The results of the operation were revealed in her second appearance, in which new test shots taken after the surgery were revealed. Isis' transition to being anatomically female was deemed "complete." She also appeared on Larry King Live
Larry King Live
Larry King Live is an American talk show hosted by Larry King on CNN from 1985 to 2010. It was CNN's most watched and longest-running program, with over one million viewers nightly....
on July 25, 2009. It has been announced that King will compete in the seventeenth overall and first 'All Star' cycle of America's Next Top Model, which aired on the September 14, 2011. She has currently been eliminated.
Print work
King appeared in Us WeeklyUs Weekly
Us Weekly is a celebrity gossip magazine, founded in 1977 by The New York Times Company, who sold it in 1980. It was acquired by Wenner Media in 1986. The publication covers topics ranging from celebrity relationships to the latest trends in fashion, beauty, and entertainment...
(September 2008), was in Seventeen
Seventeen (magazine)
Seventeen is an American magazine for teenagers. It was first published in September 1944 by Walter Annenberg's Triangle Publications. News Corporation bought Triangle in 1988, and sold Seventeen to K-III Communications in 1991. Primedia sold the magazine to Hearst in 2003. It is still in the...
magazine (December 2008/January 2009), Out
Out (magazine)
Out is a popular gay and lesbian fashion, entertainment, and lifestyle magazine, with the highest circulation of any gay monthly publication in the United States. It carries itself in a similar editorial manner to Details, Esquire, and GQ. Out was published by PlanetOut Inc...
magazine, Mallard International magazine, and the cover of the Spring 2010 Swerv magazine. King also did a variety of test shots that were used to promote her visit to The Tyra Banks Show
The Tyra Banks Show
The Tyra Banks Show, also known as and shortened to Tyra or The Tyra Show, is an American talk show hosted by Tyra Banks. The last new episode aired on Friday, May 28, 2010.-2005-2009: Syndication:...
.
As of present time, King is not signed with any modeling agency
Modeling agency
A modeling agency is a company that represents fashion models, to work for the fashion industry. These agencies earn their income via commission, usually from the deal they make with the model and or the head agency....
, though she works as a freelance fashion model.
Cultural impact
King is one of a small but growing number of transgender people and characters in film and television, and her inclusion on ANTM has been called an "unprecedented opportunity" by Neil GiulianoNeil Giuliano
Neil G. Giuliano is an educator, activist, philanthropy advisor, leadership coach, and speaker. A former mayor and president of a national advocacy organization, he has been involved with community service and public affairs his entire career. Giuliano is the former four-term mayor of Tempe,...
, president of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. By competing on the show, King has brought national and prime time
Prime time
Prime time or primetime is the block of broadcast programming during the middle of the evening for television programing.The term prime time is often defined in terms of a fixed time period—for example, from 19:00 to 22:00 or 20:00 to 23:00 Prime time or primetime is the block of broadcast...
attention to issues of gender transitioning and gender expression
Gender identity
A gender identity is the way in which an individual self-identifies with a gender category, for example, as being either a man or a woman, or in some cases being neither, which can be distinct from biological sex. Basic gender identity is usually formed by age three and is extremely difficult to...
. New York
New York (magazine)
New York is a weekly magazine principally concerned with the life, culture, politics, and style of New York City. Founded by Milton Glaser and Clay Felker in 1968 as a competitor to The New Yorker, it was brasher and less polite than that magazine, and established itself as a cradle of New...
magazine has called King the cause célèbre
Cause célèbre
A is an issue or incident arousing widespread controversy, outside campaigning and heated public debate. The term is particularly used in connection with celebrated legal cases. It is a French phrase in common English use...
of Cycle 11, comparing her transsexualism to previous contestant "issues" featured on the show such as Cycle 9 contestant Heather Kuzmich
Heather Kuzmich
Heather Kuzmich is an American fashion model. She lives in Chicago, Illinois, where she is studying video game design. She is best known for being a contestant of America's Next Top Model, Cycle 9, in which she was the fourth runner-up of the show...
's Asperger syndrome
Asperger syndrome
Asperger's syndrome that is characterized by significant difficulties in social interaction, alongside restricted and repetitive patterns of behavior and interests. It differs from other autism spectrum disorders by its relative preservation of linguistic and cognitive development...
. ANTM executive producer Ken Mok
Ken Mok
Ken Mok is a television producer, and also the founder and president of 10x10 Entertainment, a production company which produces television, film and alternative media...
stated that her casting was done in support of "redefin[ing] what beauty is," one of "Tyra's original missions" for the show.
Due to the intimate nature of the program, which films the contestants living together during the several weeks of the competition, GLAAD spokesman Damon Romine noted that "the show deals head on with the contestants confronting their own phobias. There's going to be support, and the reverse of that. It opens the door for the other girls and the viewers to get to know Isis and the transgender community." Some of King's fellow contestants revealed prejudices in speaking about how her gender transitioning would be poorly received in their own small communities or in the southern United States
Southern United States
The Southern United States—commonly referred to as the American South, Dixie, or simply the South—constitutes a large distinctive area in the southeastern and south-central United States...
. Contestants have referred to King perjoratively as a "he/she" and a "drag queen
Drag queen
A drag queen is a man who dresses, and usually acts, like a caricature woman often for the purpose of entertaining. There are many kinds of drag artists and they vary greatly, from professionals who have starred in films to people who just try it once. Drag queens also vary by class and culture and...
". Facets of King's transitioning process have been portrayed in the show, such as her hormone injections and subsequent nausea.
New York magazine noted that King is one of few transgender models in history to rise to public prominence, comparing her to Teri Toye, former club kid Amanda Lepore
Amanda Lepore
Amanda Lepore is an American model, nightclub hostess, fashion icon, performance artist, and transgender icon. She has appeared in advertising for numerous companies, including M.A.C. cosmetics, Mego Jeans, The Blonds, Swatch, CAMP Cosmetics, and Heatherette, which has used her likeness on...
, and the gender-bending club promoter and model André J.
Andre J.
Andre J. is an American party promoter who is a presence in the New York City fashion scene. He is known for his distinctive, gender-bending personal style and has been featured in photo spreads in French Vogue and V magazine.-Biography:...
Simon Doonan
Simon Doonan
Simon Doonan is the Creative Ambassador-at-Large of the New York City-based clothing store, Barneys.-Biography:Doonan hails from the English town of Reading. He got his first retail job as a summer job working at Heelas, a department store in Reading that belonged to the John Lewis Partnership...
, creative director of Barneys New York
Barneys New York
Barneys New York is a chain of luxury department stores headquartered in New York City. The chain owns large stores in New York City, Beverly Hills, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Dallas, Las Vegas, and Scottsdale, and smaller stores in other locations across the United States.Brands sold include...
, told ABC News that the time may be right for a transgender supermodel: "Maybe it's time for a tranny to end up on the cover of Vogue
Vogue (magazine)
Vogue is a fashion and lifestyle magazine that is published monthly in 18 national and one regional edition by Condé Nast.-History:In 1892 Arthur Turnure founded Vogue as a weekly publication in the United States. When he died in 1909, Condé Montrose Nast picked up the magazine and slowly began...
."
See also
- List of transgender characters in film and television
- List of transgender people
- List of transgender-related topics
- List of transgender-rights organizations
- TransphobiaTransphobiaTransphobia is a range of negative attitudes and feelings towards transsexualism and transsexual or transgender people, based on the expression of their internal gender...
- CisgenderCisgenderCisgender is an adjective used in the context of gender issues and counselling to refer to a class of gender identities formed by a match between an individual's gender identity and the behavior or role considered appropriate for one's sex.Kristen Schilt and Laurel Westbrook defined "cisgender"...
- Gender identity disorderGender identity disorderGender identity disorder is the formal diagnosis used by psychologists and physicians to describe persons who experience significant gender dysphoria . It describes the symptoms related to transsexualism, as well as less severe manifestations of gender dysphoria...
- Transgenderism (social movement)
External links
- Profile page on America's Next Top Model
- Isis' Interview with Adam Benjamin Irby on AdamIrby.com
- http://www.formspring.me/IsisKing