Who’s Winning the Culture War?

American culture has been taken over by gender ideology over the last year – from drag shows advertising to children, to parents fighting to know what schools are teaching their children to corporations using trans rights activists in their product marketing, the United States is facing a massive culture war over what it means to be male and female. This culture war has divided the country, communities, and even families. The United States has dealt with gender issues in the past, such as ratifying the 19th Amendment and enacting Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972, and the current culture war seems to be echoing the same major questions of the past – should the government legislate cultural issues? 

During the 1st and 2nd waves of feminism, both movements had clear, identifiable legal goals they wanted to accomplish. For the 1st, it was winning the right to vote and for the 2nd, it was legally protecting women against discrimination. Enacting laws makes it easier to identify progress and successes in the culture wars. At some point, however, it becomes difficult to legislate cultural issues – there should be rules to punish rapists and sexual harassment in the workplace, but how do you end catcalling and sexist jokes? There should be rules to protect women from workplace discrimination, but is a quota system the answer to having a more equitable workplace instead of judging candidates on their merit? 

One of the main focuses of the current culture war, whether biological men can become women and if they should be allowed to share spaces with biological women, is facing the same questions but surprisingly hasn’t been taken up as a feminist issue, despite the parallels to prior feminist movements. Several states have tried to legislate the gender issue on both sides of the political aisle – Washington State passed a bill that prevents parents from intervening in their children’s medical care, allowing children to medically transition without their parent’s consent. On the other side, Tennessee banned medications and procedures to medically transition, as well as prohibiting “adult-oriented” entertainment, such as drag shows, from public property and limiting it to age-restricted venues. Solutions seem to be going from one extreme to another, with lawsuits and protests following each decision. 

The gender culture war could be the perfect issue for all feminists to rally behind – instead, women like JK Rowling and Posie Parker are being silenced and attacked for saying there should be protections for biological women.  Riley Gaines was attacked following her speech at San Francisco State University, simply for sharing her experience of swimming against trans athlete Lia Thomas last spring. And six University of Wyoming sorority members are suing their parent organization for allowing a trans woman to join. 

Every state legislature and Congress can and should use their power to enact legislation either supporting or fighting back against the gender culture war – one of the wonderful things about living in the United States is also the power to sue in court and protest legislative decisions. But the legislative and judicial process is intentionally slow, and whether you’re a parent in Washington State or Tennessee it’s much faster to fight the culture war without the government’s involvement. Rather than waiting on a ban on medical transitioning procedures, which may eventually happen, parents should be doing everything they can to help their children become more comfortable with what they biologically are and limiting their social media access. 

State legislatures and Congress can only go so far in solving these issues, and since there seems to be such a stark divide in the culture war, one political party can just as easily reverse the other’s decision once in power. It also means that in one state a parent can have full control over their child’s medical decision, but just a short distance over a state line they have no say, creating two different realities. 

This is where free speech and the free market need to come in, though it may be a more difficult strategy. Just like feminists have fought to eliminate sexist comments and jokes, those fighting against the trans movement need to exercise their First Amendment rights and speak up and speak out against blurring the distinction between men and women. People can also vote with their wallets – this tactic has alreadyw worked in response to Anheuser-Busch’s use of Dylan Mulvaney on their Bud Light cans and has the potential to continue to work in the future. Let’s not destroy what legal protections prior feminists have fought so hard for biological women, and instead fight to change American culture back to what it was, back to recognizing the unique and wonderful differences between men and women.