Review: What Is a Woman?
Horrifying. Disturbing. Brilliant.
I have probably met and interviewed more transgender people, gender-critical feminists, detransitioners and people engaged in the “trans debate” than almost anyone. In preparation for these conversations, I’ve read extensively about the origins of gender ideology, the medical realities of transition and the ideological underpinnings of this emerging phenomenon.
And even so, watching What is a Woman?, a Daily Wire documentary by Matt Walsh, was shocking and informative.
Why? Because while I am well-acquainted with the arguments made by the different sides, it is the response his polite questioning brings out of doctors, college professors and even a sitting US congressman that is disturbing to say the least.
A medical professional responding to a question about whether a chicken that lays eggs is female by asking “Does a chicken cry?” may start out being the usual hilarious culture war content.
But as his inquiry continues, Walsh tumbles down a darker and darker rabbit hole. We discover that the same medical professional, a dean at Brown Medical School, refuses to acknowledge the effects of the experimental drugs she uses on children. Indeed, she bucks at them being described as “drugs” at all. The non-drug in question? Lupron, whose uses include chemical castration for pedophiles.
The wholesale refusal to engage with reality is replicated over and over in his conversations with therapists, politicians and college professors. Time and again, the people Walsh speaks with obfuscate in response to simple questions, threaten to walk off and actually end the interviews as in the case of Congressman Mark Takano.
Walsh also travels to Kenya where he attempts to convey the tenets of modern gender ideology to local tribesmen in scenes which have a distinct Borat-like quality, offering a measure of light relief in a documentary that, while beautifully shot and produced, becomes more and more disturbing as it goes on.
Predictably, some people don’t want you to watch the movie. As I tried to purchase access last night, the Daily Wire website came under coordinated denial of service attacks timed to disrupt the premiere. This is perhaps the saddest thing about What Is a Woman? – the very people who need to see it most are the least likely to watch it.
But you should.
For me, the scariest bit was that women (presumably) who nodded enthusiastically when Matt mentioned giving kids Lupron but then who refused to say it was a drug and even wanted to end the interview. To me that shows she knows it’s wrong!
Scant few want to discuss the reality of evil. M. Scott Peck’s “People of the Lie” is, perhaps, more compelling today than when first published in 1985. That such a question is asked “What is a woman?” which cannot be answered, meets the criteria Peck used to define the key characteristics of evil.