Movie Review – What is a Woman?

By Josh Klein

What is a Woman?

Seems like an easy enough question to answer, but these days, apparently, it’s a stumper! Conservative commentator, author, and part-time Virginian, Matt Walsh of The Daily Wire seeks to answer this seemingly innocuous question in a documentary released on June 1st.

It is no coincidence that the release coincided with the first day of “Pride Month.” Unfortunately, one needs to be a paying member of The Daily Wire to access the film, but, in my humble opinion, it is quite worth it.

You can access the film here: LINK

If you are teetering on the edge, deciding whether it is worth your time and money, hopefully this review will help you in your decision. Much can be written about this documentary, but the written word does not have the same effect as watching the film itself. Regardless of your position on the topic, I believe it is a film worth viewing.

In a nutshell, Matt Walsh and The Daily Wire have carefully crafted a thoughtful and humorous documentary that seeks to take the subject matter of transgenderism seriously but does not shy away from the absurdity of the worldview either.

What is a Woman – Film Review

What is a Woman? is a 90 minute documentary about the transgender movement, and its ideological framework and targeting of children.

What the Film Does Well – THE INTERVIEWS

Somehow, Matt Walsh, a well-known conservative[1] talk show host and author[2][3] was able to convince members of the far left in academia, the medical field, and the mental health sphere to sit down in an interview for a movie. This is a feat in and of itself.  One wonders, did these individuals really not know who Matt Walsh was and did he enter the interviews under false pretense?  The answer to the latter is likely yes, but then again, perhaps those he interviewed genuinely thought the logic and knowledge was on their side.

Regardless of how the interviews were accomplished the product was stunning.  The production was high quality, although, the first 5-10 minutes leave something to be desired (more on that later).

Walsh interviews a bevy of so-called “experts” in the field of gender sciences.  The film’s opening interview is with a woman named Gert Comfrey[4], a non-binary gender affirming therapist with a Master of Theological Studies from Vanderbilt university.  Gert, obviously a woman, claims during the interview that she cannot answer the question, “what is woman” because she’s, “not a woman.”

Gert’s interview was one of the least shocking in the film, however, one could say that it is shocking that someone can graduate from two “Christian universities” and come out with an aversion to God’s created order.

Walsh does a great job of letting those on the side of the LGBTQ+ agenda explain their own ideology and he presses them on the absurdities when the opportunity presents itself, but he does so calmly and with an apparent will to listen, though his frustration bubbles to the surface on occasion.

Interspersed between “expert” interviews are also “man on the street” interviews with normal, everyday people.  In one of the more eyebrow raising and hilarious moments of the film Walsh is interviewing a woman on the street that claims, rather vehemently, that gay men (especially) have no right to answer the question “what is a woman” because they are not women.  She insists that only those that identify as women can tell a person what a woman is.  Walsh presses the issue by asking her if she is a cat, she says no, and then he asks her if she can explain what a cat is even though she is not one.  Caught in her absurdity, rather than admit the flaws in her logic, she states that agreeing to the interview was a mistake and goes on her way. And then, almost as if Walsh could hear the retorts coming from the opposition, later in the film, he interviews a woman that believes she is a wolf.  It seems gender is now inter-species, so the question he asked initially was warranted. A brilliant move by director Justin Folk.

In three other interviews, with Dr. Marci Bowers[5], Dr. Michelle Forcier[6] and Dr. Patrick Grzanka[7] Walsh exposes the dangerous beliefs espoused in gender ideology with simple questions.  Two of these interviewees, Forcier and Grzanka, threaten to end interviews after questions become direct and difficult to respond to.  Grzanka, in particular, becomes flustered and quickly offended by the word truth. When Walsh presses the issue of “getting to the truth” Grzanka replies with:

“Yeah… well I’m really uncomfortable with that language of, like, getting to the truth.”

Walsh then asks why that makes him uncomfortable and he responds with this:

“It sounds, actually, deeply transphobic to me and if you keep probing, we’re going to stop the interview… You keep invoking the word truth which is condescending and rude.”

This is absolutely fascinating.

Good work @MattWalshBlog.
pic.twitter.com/1XGB3HKVvo

— An0maly (@LegendaryEnergy) June 6, 2022

Using the word “invoking” gives away the game.  This is a religion, and you must not invoke the wrong incantations lest you undo decades of his work.  I am only kidding… sort of.

Grzanka also says that “when someone tells you who they are you should believe them” early in the interview before admitting later in the interview that it is “well established that human beings can lie” and when Walsh says, “well not even lie, just be mistaken,” he agrees.  Which would logically cast doubt into whether or not one should actually believe a person when he/she tells you “who they are.”

Forcier, on the other hand, threatens to end the interview after Walsh asks about her prescribing Lupron as a puberty blocker (which she readily admits to) which is used to chemically castrate sex offenders.[8] She, like Grzanka, accuses Walsh of using disturbing language in his statements.  However, she never contradicts his claims. She too, seems offended by the “invoking” of truth.  One of the more odd exchanges of the movie highlights the lengths to which gender ideologues will go for supposed intellectual consistency.

This is why they don’t want you to see #WhatIsAWoman. It’s because of moments like this. Gender ideology is an insane, incoherent mess. pic.twitter.com/p5m2RIbKff

— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) June 2, 2022

Dr. Bowers is dealt similar blows, though she remains composed and aloof when she is brought face to face with the reality that gender-affirming surgery is similar to trans-abled affirming surgery.  However, she fails to see the similarity and dismisses the comparison outright.  Even calling those that deal with BIID[9] “kooky” while she simultaneously admits to cutting off the healthy breasts and mutilating the healthy genitals of a healthy 16-year-old girl under the guise of “Gender affirming surgery.”

In stark contrast to the gender ideologues, Walsh interviews quite a few on the other side of the debate. He does not change demeanor when interviewing the other side even though his position reflects their own. The two stars of those interviews are Dr. Miriam Grossman[10] a psychologist who provides a much-needed foundational discussion on the work of Alfred Kinsey[11] and John Money[12] in relation to gender ideology, and Scott Nugent[13], a biological woman that presents as a man, whose passion for the topic and knowledgeable understanding of the processes are eye opening. Visit TReVoices[14] website for a veritable goldmine of information and talking points against gender ideology arguments. Scott’s interviews in particular were a stunning repudiation of the gender-identity movement.  One could say that Scott alone tore down the house of cards that Money and Kinsey built.

"Every child that they convince is transgender and in need of medical transition, it generates $1.3 million to pharma." – Scott Newgent on the industry behind the trans movement.

Watch all of @MattWalshBlog's "What Is A Woman?" here: https://t.co/ZqeFl0ecFE pic.twitter.com/eTSjKPZ7XR

— Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) June 6, 2022

The addition of Jordan Peterson and Carl Trueman[15] to the documentary is the cherry on top of the interview section.  Watch for yourself and then explore more deeply what both of these men have had to say on the topic.  Trueman’s book The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self is an academic treatment of similar issues and the exploration of where they come from.

PRODUCTION

The production and direction of What is a Woman? is top notch.  The Daily Wire’s team was able to string together questions and generate an overall story arc from beginning to end that is coherent, gets to the point, and leaves one asking, “what can I do to fight this?” The film jumps between interviews, each segment used to set up the next.

They also do a great job at keeping the story moving and not allowing the gravitas of the subject matter to get too heavy for the audience.  There is enough humor to relieve some tension but enough harrowing details to create consternation. This had the quality of a high budget documentary and is, in my opinion, better than anything Michael Moore has ever done. And infinitely more honest.

A very underrated piece of the film, in my view, was the conversation around transgenders in athletics.  The audacity of one transgender activist to say that there is no real evidence of transgender women dominating women’s sports was palpable, and made more powerfully so with the juxtaposition of a film reel that featured transgender athletes easily defeating biological women in various events.  Almost as if to say, “Who are you going to believe?  This activist or your lying eyes?” Dr. Debra Soh, author of “The End of Gender” contradicts the activist’s point as well when she says, “in a few years there won’t be female sports anymore, there will be male and transgender sports.”

Anton Seim knocked the cinematography out of the park and made the movie visually stunning.

Finally, in a fitting conclusion, Matt Walsh’s seeming frustration with the inability to coherently answer his question leads into a final segment in which he goes on the offensive. No spoilers here.

CRITIQUES

The film opens with Walsh narrating as an introduction. At one point, Walsh stands at the edge of a lake and casts a fishing line into the water where he says:

“The truth is, I’m not very good at fishing.  But, what is truth?  Is there a truth?  Is this what progress looks like? Can my boys really become girls?”

This was supposedly the impetus to asking the question of a gender identity affirming therapist but seemed a bit over the top and cheesy.  Maybe that was the point but ultimately it did not seem to fit with where the rest of the film was taking the viewer.

Many will point to the traveling to Africa to “own the libs” as a positive, and the ploy definitely has merits in pointing out the logical and unscientific absurdities of the other side. It was also a way to “own the libs” in their own intersectional traps.  However, Walsh also chose a tribe known for their own mutilation of women in contravention of Kenyan law.  This form of Female Genital Mutilation is a rite of passage for girls to become women.  And while there has been a recent movement to eliminate the tribal tradition[16], it remains in practice still today.  This opens up a fair critique of Walsh’s film from the left, however, it could be a critique that he turns around for his own use.  If genital mutilation is abhorrent across cultures perhaps top and bottom surgery to “affirm” gender identity in the U.S. is equally abhorrent?

There is also a critique coming from the left concerning what some call “Child Pornography” in the film.  During a portion in which Walsh is addressing the societal and social media trendiness of gender identity the film shows multiple videos of topless young women having revealed their “top surgeries” for the world to see on Instagram and TikTok.  However, the very fact that Instagram and TikTok allow these videos to even exist at all is the point of the section.  If anyone should be on the hook for child pornography because of these videos it is them. I would say, in fairness, that blurring out certain aspects might have held off this critique, but maybe not.  Walsh has, before, on his podcast blurred out faces and body parts of children so as not to subject them to public scrutiny.  Perhaps the same could have been done here?

One small area that is lacking as well, is a foray into how gender ideology has started to seep even into the Church. Perhaps it would have been too much for one film but I would have liked to see a theological component to the movie as well, as there are deep spiritual undertones to the ideology that is being foisted upon our culture.  In fact, demon and demonself  were used as preferred pronouns in one clip shown in the film. Walsh is an unabashed Catholic, and I feel like he maybe missed an opportunity here to shed light on the demonic forces among us and in our churches.[17]

Finally, the fact that this movie lies behind a paywall is somewhat of an inconvenience.  The lack of ability to individually purchase the film apart from becoming a Daily Wire member feels like an interesting and myopic choice.  I do not regret paying for a membership and seeing the film but many who might need to see it but are on the center left might not see it due to needing to become a member of The Daily Wire to obtain viewing permissions.  I do not believe The Daily Wire should ever release this sort of content for free but opening up viewing options from multiple angles would have increased the credibility of the film itself in my opinion.

Final Assessment

What is a Woman? is necessary viewing across the political spectrum.  It is thought provoking, logical and bent towards the truth (even if truth can feel condescending and rude to some).  Matt Walsh plays his part impeccably and the visuals are on par with any other big budget documentary. Maybe better.

My wife even commented once, “how does he keep a straight face” after Walsh told a congressman men that “There are people that kind of, have really bought into the rumor that only men have penises. How do we account for that and how do you respond to that?” With complete sincerity.

Those on the gender ideological side of the aisle seem to rest in tautologies to define the word woman (A woman is anyone who identifies as a woman – a circular definition) without the ability to define the term woman itself. I will not spoil the ending of the film, but, suffice it to say that the way the word woman is finally defined at the end is both logical and humorous.

A month long subscription to The Daily Wire is more than worth the watch in my view.

I give it a 4.5 out of 5 stars.

Footnotes

[1] https://www.dailywire.com/show/the-matt-walsh-show

[2] https://www.amazon.com/Johnny-Walrus-Matt-Walsh/dp/1956007059/ref=sr_1_1?

[3] https://www.amazon.com/Church-Cowards-Wake-Up-Complacent-Christians/dp/B081VPW7PM/ref=sr_1_1?

[4] https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/therapists/gert-comfrey-nashville-tn/443327

[5] https://marcibowers.com/

[6] https://vivo.brown.edu/display/mforcier#

[7] https://psychology.utk.edu/faculty/grzanka.php

[8] https://askdrbrown.org/library/how-dare-we-support-chemical-castration-children

[9] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19132621/ (Body Integrity Identity Disorder)

[10] https://www.miriamgrossmanmd.com/

[11] https://www.britannica.com/biography/Alfred-Charles-Kinsey

[12] https://kinseyinstitute.org/about/profiles/john-money.php

[13] https://twitter.com/trevoices?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

[14] https://www.trevoices.org/

[15] Trueman, Carl R., and Rod Dreher. The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self: Cultural Amnesia, Expressive Individualism, and the Road to Sexual Revolution. Crossway, 2020.

[16] https://plan-international.org/kenya/case-studies/the-maasai-elder-advocating-to-end-female-genital-mutilation/

[17] https://www.npr.org/2021/09/11/1036371531/evangelical-lutheran-church-first-transgender-bishop-megan-rohrer

Recommended resources related to the topic:

Woman to Woman: Preparing Yourself to Mentor (Book) by Edna Ellison & Tricia Scribner

Five Questions No One Ever Asks About Gay Rights (DVD Set), (Mp4 Download), and (Mp3 Set) by Dr. Frank Turek

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Josh Klein is a Pastor from Omaha, Nebraska with over a decade of ministry experience. He graduated with an MDiv from Sioux Falls Seminary and spends his spare time reading and engaging with current and past theological and cultural issues. He has been married for 12 years to Sharalee Klein and they have three young children.

Original blog post: https://bit.ly/3R9plW9