What exactly makes someone a woman? That question, which might have once seemed simple, has become increasingly complex and controversial in recent years. As societal attitudes and scientific understandings of gender have evolved, traditional assumptions around womanhood are being challenged.
A new documentary titled “What Is A Woman” tackles this sticky issue head-on. The film, created by conservative political commentator Matt Walsh for the Daily Wire streaming service, features Walsh asking people of all political persuasions to define what the word “woman” means to them. The resulting range of answers highlights profound divisions not only between conservatives and progressives, but even among those on the ideological left when it comes to delineating womanhood.
Confusion Around Womanhood Definitions Reaches The Highest Levels
In one telling moment from the documentary, Walsh asks Supreme Court Justice nominee Ketanji Brown Jackson to define what makes someone a woman. Her response, that she is “not a biologist,” encapsulates the chronic inability even from public figures in positions of power to clearly articulate an answer.
As Walsh stated in a recent interview about his film:
“The fact that these apparently sane, intelligent people cannot answer that question is breathtaking and terrifying.”
Some argue this confusion is more willful than genuine. As interview subject Abigail Shrier, author of Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters, puts it:
“Any sane person knows what a woman is. And some people pretend not to know what a woman is because they’re beholden to an ideology.”
So where does this ideology around womanhood that Shrier references come from in the first place?
Tracing The Roots of Gender Ideology Back to 20th Century Academia
According to opponents featured in Walsh’s film, contemporary gender theory with its questioning of male/female binaries can be traced back to mid-20th century sexologists and psychoanalysts. These include John Money, pioneer of gender identity theory in the 1950s, who infamously argued that gender was malleable in children and raised one twin boy as a girl after a botched circumcision, with tragic results.
The work of these academics has infiltrated institutions of higher learning and now, filtered down to the general public, leading to what interviewee Colin Wright, an evolutionary biologist, calls “widespread confusion, dissatisfaction and fear” around gender.
Young women in particular find themselves afraid to openly state the belief that what makes a woman a woman is having the biology of an adult human female, according to observers like blog writer Libby Emmons. She suggests today’s youth have:
“No language to express that portion of their identity that rests in their femaleness. And that’s very inhibiting, and very scary.”
Dangerous Consequences in Women‘s Sports and eSports
One arena where the clash between gender ideology and biological reality takes on real-world impact is in sports divided up by traditional sex categories. Several segments of Walsh’s film spotlight trans-identified biological males who have entered—and dominated—women’s competitive athletics. This includes Rachel McKinnon, a philosophy professor and transgender athlete who broke masters track cycling world records after transitioning, and skateboarding champion Ricci Tres who transitioned from male to female at age 29 then began competing against girls as young as 12.
As political scientist Lee Jussim argues regarding the skateboarding example:
“People were afraid to just say it’s unfair, dangerous and insidious.”
Related stories have made headlines across women‘s sports from tennis to MMA to swimming, sparking uproar particularly around safety issues when female competitors face trans women who went through male puberty.
This problem extends into the world of eSports as well, which faces criticism about allowing transgender women with the reflexes and mental abilities of biological men to dominate women‘s professional gaming leagues. Just 2.5% of eSports competitors are female, and the skill gap shows in performance data – a 2016 study found that an amateur male League of Legends team ranked higher than the best all-women‘s team. Trans women retaining advantages from going through male puberty risk further discouraging real biological female gamers.
Female gamers have increasingly spoken out about unfairness they perceive around transgender eSports stars like Magic: The Gathering champion Autumn Burchett transitioning then rising toward the top of women‘s tournaments. As one female MTG competitor told her YouTube channel:
"I worked so hard to compete at events like this, only to keep losing to people who experienced male puberty. At this point, no biological females make it to the finals anymore. Is this what gender equality in gaming is supposed to look like?"
Toxicity And Discrimination Still Rampant For Both Female and Trans Gamers
Gaming toxicity aimed squarely at gender identity remains an ugly issue plaguing platforms like Twitch. Data shows nearly 81% of women and trans gamers regularly face harassment in competitive play:
Table 1: Harassment Rate Towards Women and Trans Gamers
| Identity | Have Experienced Harassment |
|---|---|
| Cis Women | 73% |
| Trans Women | 88% |
| Trans Men | 80% |
This manifests through vivid verbal abuse like slurs and death threats. Per an ADL study analyzing thousands of toxicity reports, transphobic speech accounted for 20% of online gaming hate incidents – 2nd only to racist harassment.
Clearly, misogyny and discrimination still run rampant in gaming spaces regardless of one‘s precise gender identity. However toxic behavior has very real impacts: over half of marginalized gamers report mental health declines due to constant vitriol, and nearly one third state they play online games less frequently due to fear of verbal attacks.
While debates rage around womanhood definitions, female and trans gamers alike feel pressured to mask identity traits that could invite more harassment. Some hide voices in chat, or create avatars deliberately obscuring gender. Ultimately this represents a silencing effect, where existing as a visible woman in gaming prompts abuse.
Controversies Around Feminine Presentation of Female Characters
Gender representation in the content of video games itself also sparks heated debates tied to womanhood identity. Critics argue female protagonists with oversexualized bodies and personalities reinforce reductive stereotypes about femininity.
For example, while Lara Croft of Tomb Raider fame tops lists as an iconic example of "strong female characters" for her toughness and independence, her notoriously large bust size earned accusations of pandering to straight male audiences. This genre has been termed "spornosexual" – sporting stars visually objectified as porn stars.
Certain female gamers take issue with this tension around expressing feminine beauty versus commanding respect. Others claim unrealistic bodies ultimately don‘t matter, instead emphasizing female characters wielding genuine narrative influence rather than shallow symbols of progressivism.
Notably, conversations around feminine presentation extend to trans women characters too. For example, popular RPG series Cyberpunk 2077 won praise for allowing character customization including trans women avatars. However some critiqued the inability to give trans female characters feminine voices or more curvaceous bodies. This touches inherently on womanhood embodiment – the aesthetics and physical forms genuinely desired by those who identify as women gamers.
Debates also continue around diversity initiatives like gaming companies actively recruiting more female and trans developers to inject overlooked perspectives into character design and storytelling. In an industry long dominated behind the scenes by straight, cis white men, intentional inclusion efforts provoke their own criticism as going too far with identity representation. Once again, gaming proves microcosmic of the ever-shifting landscape around defining womanhood in 21st century mainstream culture.
Passionate Division Among Gamer Opinions Surrounding Trans Ideology
Given its massive and global reach, gaming culture acts as a real-time barometer around complex sociopolitical issues like gender identity. Behind anonymous usernames, gamers frequently voice forceful opinions tied to their own interpretations of gender norms.
Scan the comment sections of gaming YouTube videos covering trans athletes or gender theory, and you‘ll instantly locate diametrically opposed viewpoints. Some echo Walsh‘s assertions around biological essentialism, declaring trans women inherently retain unfair physical advantages.
Others call this perspective bigoted, arguing nobody would choose to be trans in a world still so openly hostile to transgender experiences. A third camp attempts to reconcile tensions by differentiating gender identification from biological sex. "Social categories differ from scientific ones," they contend.
According to a poll on the popular gaming forum Reddit asking "What is a woman?" votes split nearly evenly:
- 31% selected Adult Female Human
- 36% chose Anyone who identifies as Such
- 33% answered Other/There are Multiple Definitions
This microcosm of polarization amongst gamers surrounding transgender identities mirrors broader society‘s own profound ambivalence, confusion, and disagreement when it comes to demarcating womanhood. The gaming lens acts as but one arena upon which these much larger ideological battles continue playing out around defining gender in the 21st century West.
Factions Forming Around Womanhood Among Gaming Diversity Initiatives
As conversations swirl within video game fandoms about the essence of womanhood, distinct camps have emerged around gender diversity advocacy as well. These tend to separate along lines of biological sex representation versus expansive identity inclusion.
For example, organizations like Women in Gaming support real-world networking, award programs, and mentorship strictly for cisgender women working in video game companies. Their mission centers bringing more female developers into the industry to combat imbalances around who shapes gaming content.
Compare this to a group like GaymerX, which hosts gaming conferences explicitly welcoming those marginalized for sexual orientation or gender identity – with a heavy focus on transgender and non-binary gamers. Their events celebrate underrepresented identities through panels on topics like mixing queerness and gaming narratives or succeeding as an openly trans Twitch streamer.
While both organize around uplifting minority groups in gaming, their philosophies differ regarding the prominence of biological womanhood. The inherent tensions reflect ideological splits on the essence of female identity permeating through realms beyond gaming too.
And of course, heated gaming culture wars persist around diversity gaining a spotlight in video games at all. For instance, charges of "forced diversity" or "social justice pandering" ignite online firestorms whenever titles feature more women, people of color, openly LGBTQ characters, or perceived politically correct messaging.
Here too, furious arguments around gender identity inclusion act as a microcosm for broader societal battles – all playing out under the evolutionary pressures imposed by a multi-billion dollar gaming industry hesitantly adapting to expanding definitions of womanhood in 21st century mainstream culture.
The Nuances of Womanhood Through a Gaming Industry Lens
Stepping back from heated ideology, the anatomy of gaming workplaces themselves offers additional texture around quantifying womanhood representation. Unlike boxing rings or track fields where rigid bodily categories prove inescapable, gaming involves more nuance given its mix of physicality with creative output.
For instance, esports depends intensely on reaction time and mental processing optimized by hormones and genes (key points in Walsh‘s documentary regarding trans athlete dominance). Yet the production side of gaming encompasses writers, artists, community managers and more – creative roles less intrinsically tied to sex.
So while trans women maintain demonstrated advantages in gameplay arenas, they likely pose no imbalance creeping into broader gaming fields on the commercial side.
This gets borne out in employment data:
Table 2: Gender Ratios Among Top Gaming Companies
| Company | % Female Employees | % Male Employees |
|---|---|---|
| EA | 24% | 76% |
| Epic Games | 15% | 85% |
| Activision Blizzard | 22% | 78% |
| Riot Games | 16% | 84% |
Here the picture remains unambiguously lopsided toward male staffing dominance. Complex realities around womanhood help explain why – including barriers discouraging girls from gaming during young formative years, plus inhospitable company cultures and overt sexism causing talent bleed.
So gaming elucidates nuances around transfers of male physical advantage, though it equally showcases whybolstacles prevent womanly success in other dimensions like career pipelines.
Shared Female Experiences Still Central to Womanhood
Debates rage fiercely across political ideology, generational era, class status, race and more on determining what, in essence, defines womanhood today. But while elite gender theorists aim to explode the categories entirely, most women recognize an innate element at the core binding us in shared sisterhood.
Specifically, no definition of womanhood escapes grappling with uniquely female human experiences – the singular embodiment of housing, nurturing, birthing and sustaining new life. This biological capacity intertwines fundamentally with feminine psychic development and socialization processes to shape girlhood into maturity.
Political commentator Matt Walsh positions this innate reproductive ability cementing womanhood, asking in his film whether any coherent meaning survives if utterly severed from female material form. Supporters further argue shared female realities emerging from distinct reproductive organs forever distinguish macro womanly histories from those of men or trans women lacking this lifetime link from fetus to infant to adulthood filtered through a mother‘s body.
Detractors insist reducing women solely to wombs and fertility denies gender diversity by caging personal identity endeavors. They believe the only qualification for womanhood involves declaring oneself such – entirely separate from bodily attributes deemed insignificant compared to mental self-conception.
Of course, reasonable minds also posit that both nature and nurture intermingle, where anatomy offers potentialities but society and spirit interact to shape gender‘s ultimate expression. In this view, shared embodiment travels hand in hand with intangible bonds nurtured through feminine social grooming.
Ultimately perspectives on womanhood often distill down to locating feminine essence either:
- Emerging inherently from biological sex itself
- Manifesting fluidly through gender identity choice
- Developing as some combination of inherent plus constructed elements
This trilogy of views on womanhood plays out ubiquitously across domains like politics, medicine, education, media and more in 21st century culture. Gaming merely captures this debate through a unique interactive lens amplifying conversations around gender otherwise unfolding broadly worldwide.
And regardless of whether gamers personally favor conservative, progressive or middle paths on what fundamentally constitutes a woman, most agree gaming must persist cultivating more inclusion. Titles appealing to multiplicities of feminine identity attract talent, mitigate toxicity, inspire innovation and embolden the boldest visions around womanhood awaiting just over the horizon.