(LifeSiteNews) — Actor Dylan Mulvaney celebrated his “365 days of girlhood” last week with an event that featured a video of Daily Wire hosts denouncing his attempts to caricature women. Instead of attacking the hosts directly, Mulvaney acted as though he was above it all – singing “It doesn’t hurt” and saying that his response would come in a future video celebrating “trans joy.”
It’s unclear what exactly that means, but Mulvaney’s videos indicate a “trans joy” based on purported milestones like getting facial feminization surgery, wearing hoop earrings, or pretending to be Eloise, a fictional little girl who lived in New York’s Plaza Hotel. In other words, they are heavily based on cultural and external representations of “girlhood” that are superficial when compared with the deeper, universal realities of being a woman and, more importantly, a human being.
But while some “trans” people continue ranting at Gov. Ron DeSantis, it’s likely that other gender-confused influencers will follow Mulvaney’s path as reality-betraying legislative and policy wins make them feel less threatened by the truth. They are, as former First Lady Michelle Obama put it, trying to “go high” when others allegedly “go low.” The intended result appears to be a public relations victory in which opponents of transgender ideology seem to be losing their minds while the trans influencers are simply “living their lives.”
A similar tactic can be seen with the cast of Schitt’s Creek, which noted in its bonus episode that the show itself wasn’t trying to be preachy about one of the main characters’ same-sex romance. “I think when someone who has opposing beliefs sits down in front of their TV and watches, we’re not teaching them a lesson, we’re showing them what life could be like,” said Daniel Levy, the showrunner and star who “marries” a man on the series.
As a comedy, Schitt’s Creek primarily addresses the more mundane aspects of life and presents bigger philosophical questions through absurdities and difficulties that subsequently arise. It uses familiar aspects of romance (e.g. Noah Reid’s Patrick character serenading Levy’s David) in a way that probably strikes a chord with viewers of different backgrounds. In doing so, it subverts those backgrounds and their belief systems by creating a powerful, emotional resonance – albeit within wildly incongruent contexts.
This is how shows like Schitt’s Creek go about normalizing behavior and lifestyles that plainly aren’t normal. It’s the age-old trick of embracing a universal (e.g. romance) while applying it in a way that contradicts the assumptions of that universal. See, David and Patrick (the same-sex attracted characters) bicker just like you and your opposite sex spouse. Like you, they have cutesy, make-up moments as well as all the “feels” that come with that.
Levy seems like a smart guy, but his willingness to depict a town without homophobia seems less like artistic genius and more like a natural progression for an entertainment agenda that has benefited from years of productions like Will and Grace. Even before the earlier sitcom, however, the U.S. had started to emphasize libido and abstract self-realization over biological reality – something U.S. bishops recently addressed in their guidance for “transgender” health care.
Mulvaney’s normalization of “trans joy” may have been bolstered by, for example, gender-confused actor Laverne Cox making the cover of Time Magazine. But as I’ve noted before, gender ideology’s contradictions are too readily apparent to maintain a stable base of support. “Detransitioners” have also indicated that the contradictions of such a lifestyle create substantial hurdles to happiness.
Mulvaney didn’t provide a definition of “trans joy,” but his TikTok channel reveals its limitations – both metaphysical and logical. There’s something deeply sad about a man who dresses as a woman while justifying his cross-dressing with a song about everyone having “bulges” in their pants. But what’s perhaps even sadder is that those clothes, accessories, and unnatural hormone treatments are where “trans” people find their joy. Similarly, same-sex couples – both on the right and the left – seem caught up in the modern, middle-class notion of what it means to be a human being. They want, for example, the type of wedding and home environment that opposite-sex couples have while discarding the spiritual and natural realities that underlie them.
But what happens when same-sex couples obtain all the material aspects (single-family home, two kids, etc.) of a spiritually whole and natural family? What happens when Mulvaney reaches the limits of his superficial vision for girlhood?
All of this is profoundly depressing, not just for a culture that allegedly prizes individuality but also for human beings who are called to experience unique and beautiful lives through an intimate connection to their Creator. During his event, Mulvaney said that he was struggling to maintain a relationship with God during this “transition.” I, of course, can’t speak to the inner workings of his soul, but his statement shouldn’t be a surprise. His own projections of God are interfering with the kind of intimacy that unlocks dazzling prospects for creatures so limited by the trappings of our modern “Matrix.”
One of Mulvaney’s allies ironically accused Daily Wire hosts of trying to keep “trans” individuals within the “matrix,” as if identifying as with your biological sex were an artificial construction of oppressive forces. This seems fitting as the creators of the Matrix movies are brothers who now identify as women. Reality, though, is in some ways as plain as it seems. We are defined, at least in part, by our biology, and the contemporary desire to betray that reality points to a metaphysical vacuum rather than productive inspiration.
In reflecting on Mulvaney, I’m reminded of self-described “transgender being” Camille Paglia’s critique of Marxism. “Marxism, of which post-structuralism is a derivative, has no metaphysics,” she says. “It sees nothing bigger than society, which constitutes only a tiny portion of the universe. Marxism does not perceive nature, nor can it grasp the profound and enduring themes of major literature, including time and fate.”
Few have been willing to offer a spiritual or metaphysical alternative to Christianity that affirms either homosexual acts or “transgenderism.” That could be changing, however, as claims like “trans people are sacred” or “divine” have begun to enter public discussion.
Instead of filling that hole with more modern distortions or a pagan spirituality, individuals who identify as “LGBT” should embrace human nature and all the discomfort they experience while reflecting on both its binaries and its depth. We cannot become a different sex, and as disappointing as that may seem to some, Our Creator offers us a vision for life that is so much more enriching. Through relationship with Jesus Christ, we not only escape the limitations of our modern “matrix” but witness the redemption from it in both ourselves and others.