Orange Is The New Black' breakout star Ruby Rose defines what it means to be 'gender fluid
Australian model/actress Ruby Rose has become the breakout star of the recently released third season of Netflix's "Orange Is The New Black."
"Gender fluidity is not really feeling like you're at one end of the spectrum or the other. For the most part, I definitely don't identify as any gender. I'm not a guy; I don't really feel like a woman, but obviously I was born one. So, I'm somewhere in the middle, which - in my perfect imagination - is like having the best of both sexes."
She further explained: "I have a lot of characteristics that would normally be present in a guy and then less that would be present in a woman."
Graham Denholm/Getty Images"But then sometimes I'll put on a skirt - like today," Rose told Elle earlier this month.
Rose says that it's a choice she makes daily, "not having to succumb to whatever society - whether it's work or family or friends or whoever - makes you feel like you're supposed to be because of how you were born."
The "OITNB" actress says she especially identified with one particular scene this season:
There's a line in OITNB where Stella is making fun of Piper, saying like "Ugh. Women - can't live with them, can't live without them." Piper's like, "What? You don't consider yourself to be a woman?" Stella says, "I do, but that's only because my options are limited." It's a very small line, but what I really read from that is that she is a woman - obviously, she's in a female prison - but if she had it her way, she probably wouldn't be. But, what's her option? To transition to a guy and then be in a men's prison would be incredibly dangerous.
"The takeaway," she says, "is that only you know who you were born to be, and you need to be free to be that person."
Imeh Akpanudosen/Getty ImagesOn the heels of Caitlyn Jenner's Vanity Fair debut, Rose tells Elle, "I'm just proud to be alive during this massive shift in the world."
"Between 'Orange' with Laverne, the show 'Transparent,' and Caitlyn Jenner, obviously we're in the middle of something enormous - a transgender movement."
To read Rose's full interview with Elle, click here.