Historians of the future may look back at 2023 as the pinnacle of trans women frenzy, a year of sensational events and controversies. The Bud Light boycott over Anheuser-Busch’s decision to feature trans “influencer” Dylan Mulvaney in their campaign is just a small fraction of this phenomenon. Major fashion brands such as Chanel, Versace, and Victoria’s Secret are now showcasing biological men dressed as glamorous women, and the trans model Leyna Bloom even graced the cover of Sports Illustrated.
In the realm of sports, biological men are replacing women at an astonishing rate. With transgender athletes winning national and international championships, biological females are often left in the dust. The impact of this shift extends to college scholarships and trophies, which are increasingly going to trans athletes like Lia Thomas, a mediocre male swimmer who began competing as a female.
The prison system is not immune to this trend, with thousands of inmates now identifying as women. Is America experiencing a mass psychosis, a contamination of the water supply, or simply a harmless fad? Perhaps this men-becoming-women phenomenon is the inevitable result of women’s increasing encroachment into traditionally male fields, a socioeconomic adaptation of Newton’s Third Law of Motion. As women replace men, men seek opportunities in fields once dominated by women.
The phrase “breaking the glass ceiling” encapsulates the celebrated entrance of women into male-dominated fields. We’ve seen female fighter pilots, astronauts, secretaries of State, NFL referees, and CEOs of major corporations. But what about the costs for men when the scales are tipped to favor women? In college sports, for example, the crusade for gender equality has resulted in the cancellation of men’s teams in the name of “fairness.”
This pattern extends to academic hiring, where women now dominate the presidencies of Ivy League universities and make up about 30% of college presidents. With women now outnumbering men in college enrollment and dominating fields such as medicine, the future seems to be female.
The private sector is no different, with 47 of Fortune 500 CEOs being women, and many leading traditionally “male” companies. As women now comprise 40% of those enrolled in business school, their numbers are bound to increase.
The rise of the transgender community is more than just a curiosity. Their prominence, along with aggressive political activism, might signal the beginning of a larger social shift in the definition of male and female. In some circles, traditional men are being reduced to mere “sperm producers.” This shift is especially pronounced among younger generations, with a fifth identifying as non-binary.
As increasing numbers of men embrace feminine identities and women strive to replace men in traditional masculine occupations, how will society be affected? The military, science, dangerous jobs, and competitive businesses may suffer from this blurring of gender lines. Nature has not made men and women interchangeable, and even armies of gender studies professors cannot overcome this reality.
The real danger lies in the loss of masculinity as a virtue. We may face a future where male high school graduates aspire to be Victoria’s Secret lingerie models while their female classmates dream of flying F-35s. This brave new world may not be all it’s cracked up to be.
