“What is a Woman?” — Answered By A Trans Person
On June 1st, 2022, Matt Walsh’s documentary “What is a Woman?” released. The film, starring Matt Walsh, an alt-right ideologue who is a popular commentator for the Daily Wire, sets out on a seemingly simple mission — to find out what a “woman” is.
This question is framed as a rhetorical question to incite either a lack of an answer or a wishy-washy nonsensical answer to rhetorically make the idea of a marriage between the concepts of gender and sex seem to make more sense. This is done by interviewing a group of people who Matt Walsh tries to incite an answer out of as to what they think a woman is. Often, people refused to answer, gave a confusing, circular answer. In doing so, the film attempts to make the concept of a gender-sex dichotomy seem absurd. However, it absolutely is not. Here’s why.
In reality, this is a remarkably simple question to answer from a trans-positive perspective: the term “woman” doesn’t mean anything. It is simply a word we use to describe how one thinks is appropriate to describe a feeling. For the same reason that we don’t have the words to describe what it is like to feel happy, we don’t have words to describe what it is like to feel like a woman.
One may argue in response to this that there is no point in the term, and that it makes transitioning pointless if physical appearance has no bearing on being a woman. I have certainly received this response while answering this question after it became immensely popular following the film’s release. Simply, there is no obligation for a given trans person to transition. A trans person may or may not feel dysphoria. However, for those that wish to medically transition, it is simply the case that it makes them feel more comfortable for reasons beyond what may make sense. That is fine, and we lack reason to prevent them, or a means of stopping this desire. It is only good that we let those capable of making these decisions do so.
While we do observe brain signals in trans women that differ from cisgender men, or brain signals in trans men that differ from cisgender women, this does not explain what a woman or man is. For example, while happiness usually can be proven by whether or not the brain’s serotonin and dopamine receptors are firing, this does not explain what it is like to be happy. Neither do brain signals, it only proves that gender identity exists as a brain state.
One particularly laughable incident is when Matt Walsh asked a professor of Gender Studies, Dr. Patrick Grzanka this question, and when they answered, the film cuts out a large portion of their answer. What results is a seemingly boring clip where he is answering, before it cuts to another part of his answer, making it seem like he is answering for a long time. This makes him seem silly, answering a question that to the film’s target audience, would seem remarkably simple. This is an example of the film’s disingenuous rhetoric, and a reason to not take it as an argument against a divorce of the concepts of gender and sex. In reality, this provides no credence to Matt Walsh’s idea, and it is purely rhetoric. It is shameful that this got into the film and that it is taken seriously by right wingers as a case against trans people.
Sex and gender remain divorced, no matter how hard right wing ideologues such as Matt Walsh want this to change. What it is like to be a woman simply has no way of describing it, in the same way that there is no way of describing what it is like to be happy in a way that conveys what the experience is.
