Is What Is a Woman? woke?
What Is a Woman? (2022)
Movie
Released: January 1, 2022
Wokeness Score
0/10
Not woke
No political or woke messaging whatsoever. Focuses entirely on story, characters, fun, or escapism.
Key Summary Points
- Rejects gender ideology by affirming woman as adult human female based on biology.
- Exposes harms of child transitions, detransitioner regrets, and erasure of women's rights.
- Mocks progressive activists' inability to define woman, highlighting ideological absurdity.
Wokeness Analysis
What Is a Woman? (2022) stands as a direct counterpunch to the progressive onslaught of gender ideology that has permeated society, media, and institutions. Directed by Justin Folk and fronted by conservative commentator Matt Walsh, this documentary methodically dismantles the core tenets of transgender activism through unfiltered interviews with proponents, experts, and everyday people. Walsh's central question—what is a woman?—exposes the circular reasoning, evasion, and outright absurdity of modern gender theory, revealing it as an ideological house of cards built on denial of biological reality. Far from promoting diversity, inclusion, or representation of marginalized groups, the film highlights the harms of puberty blockers, surgeries on minors, and the erasure of women's spaces and sports by biological males. It features detransitioners sharing regrets, visits to a Masai tribe affirming innate sex differences, and consultations with psychologist Jordan Peterson, all underscoring traditional views of sex as binary and immutable. Critics from left-leaning outlets label it transphobic propaganda, but this backlash only affirms its effectiveness in challenging woke orthodoxy. There is zero progressive messaging here; instead, it prioritizes truth, child protection, and common sense over indoctrination. The film's deadpan humor, sharp editing, and calm confrontations make it engaging escapism for those exhausted by forced gender fluidity, focusing purely on exposing folly without any ideological pandering to the left. Released by The Daily Wire on the eve of Pride Month, it embodies resistance to the cultural mandate shoving subjective identities down society's throat, resonating deeply with audiences fed up with the agenda.
Plot
In What Is a Woman?, conservative commentator Matt Walsh embarks on a global quest to answer the titular question amid rising transgender activism. He interviews gender studies professors, pediatricians, surgeons, politicians, and activists who promote fluidity of gender, often eliciting evasive or circular responses that fail to define a woman beyond feelings or social constructs. Walsh contrasts this with straightforward answers from his wife, a Masai tribesman in Kenya, and detransitioner Scott Newgent, who regrets double mastectomy and hormones. The film critiques puberty blockers and surgeries on minors as experimental and abusive, spotlights injustices like transgender athletes in women's sports, and features psychologist Jordan Peterson affirming sex differences. Through street interviews at women's marches and tense exchanges—like with a professor shutting down over 'truth'—it reveals inconsistencies in gender ideology. Culminating in a defense of biological reality, the documentary argues the transgender movement constitutes a cult endangering children and women, blending humor, outrage, and evidence to provoke thought.