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Reader advisory: The following article contains graphic descriptions of surgical and chemical genital mutilation. 

(LifeSiteNews) — Matt Walsh’s new documentary What is a Woman? is a work of simple genius. Walsh has boiled down a debate LGBT activists wish to portray as hopelessly complicated to a single, central question—and it is one that, as it turns out, trans activists cannot or will not answer.

The most shocking aspect of this film is how many advocates of gender theory were willing to sit down with him, considering how well-known his position on these issues is—and it is mindboggling that, despite knowing what Walsh would ask, none of the interviewees could answer the question: What is a woman? 

As a result, this documentary is actually ground-breaking. The film features a gender studies professor saying that searching for “the truth” is “deeply transphobic.” An abortionist who does a sideline in selling sex-change drugs to kids attempted to feebly defend her work but came off looking simultaneously delusional and dangerous. And on a visit to Kenya, Walsh reduced Masai tribespeople to gales of laughter by asking them if a man could become a woman and if they’d ever heard of a “non-binary” person. This film is tremendously effective, which is why critics aren’t even bothering to attack it—they prefer to cover it with a veil of silence. 

One of the most chilling conversations was with Dr. Marci Bowers, a male doctor who underwent a sex change and now identifies as female. Bowers has done over 2,250 male-to-female vaginoplasties and 3,900 sex change surgeries in total. Walsh didn’t choose some obscure kook to interview—Bowers is considered, according to his own website, to be a “pioneer in the field of Gender Affirmation Surgery.”  

During the interview, Walsh asked Bowers about the youngest patient he’s operated on. “The youngest patient I’ve done vaginoplasty on is 16,” Bowers told him. When asked if he was concerned that the patients might not be old enough “to make permanent life-altering decisions,” Bowers dismissed the question. “Absolutely not,” he replied.  

The surgeries Bowers performs are very serious. As The Daily Wire described it:

“In a vaginoplasty, the surgeon uses skin from the penis and scrotum to attempt to create an inner and outer labia of the vagina, makes a new opening for the urethra so the patient can urinate, and uses tissue from the patient’s foreskin to make an opening of the faux vagina.”

This, keep in mind, was done to a 16-year-old who can now never reverse his decision and must live with it for the rest of his life. He is now trapped in the body Bowers has given him—a body that will inevitably be permanently medicalized to maintain its new appearance and faux functions. 

Even if teens stop short of sex change surgery—vaginoplasty, castration, and mastectomies—even taking puberty blockers is incredibly dangerous. As Abigail Shrier notes in her book Irreversible Damage, puberty blockers have an impact on brain development, reduce the density of bones, and stunt growth. They risk barring the user from reaching peak IQ, inhibit sexual function, thicken the blood, raise risk of heart attack by up to five times, create a higher risk of diabetes, blood clots, and cancer, and can result in vaginal atrophy. 

Puberty blockers also transform the natural development of the genitals. After taking testosterone for awhile, young girls may see their clitoris grow to the size of a baby carrot. After a few months, girls grow body hair and beards, their voice will lower, and they’ll get acne and sometimes male-pattern baldness. The nose will generally round, the jaw will square, and muscles will become pronounced. Sex becomes painful, if not impossible. Some of the changes are permanent: even if girls stop taking testosterone, the body and facial hair will probably stay, as will the enlarged clitoris. 

All of these concerns were dismissed by those Walsh interviewed. According to the abortionist moonlighting as a sex change facilitator, all of these treatments are totally reversible. She’s lying, and I suspect she knows it. Walsh has done us all a favor by recording their publicly-stated views and putting them on the small screen. I hope it makes a difference.  

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Jonathon Van Maren is a public speaker, writer, and pro-life activist. His commentary has been translated into more than eight languages and published widely online as well as print newspapers such as the Jewish Independent, the National Post, the Hamilton Spectator and others. He has received an award for combating anti-Semitism in print from the Jewish organization B’nai Brith. His commentary has been featured on CTV Primetime, Global News, EWTN, and the CBC as well as dozens of radio stations and news outlets in Canada and the United States.

He speaks on a wide variety of cultural topics across North America at universities, high schools, churches, and other functions. Some of these topics include abortion, pornography, the Sexual Revolution, and euthanasia. Jonathon holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree in history from Simon Fraser University, and is the communications director for the Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform.

Jonathon’s first book, The Culture War, was released in 2016.

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