Recently, Bill Maher took some fucking heat for this monologue because it turns out that liberals are less tolerant of opposing opinions than you would think.
While I don’t usually agree with Maher on much, I’ve got to hand it to him: this entire monologue was on point. And when someone puts their reputation on the line to speak truth to power and do something that, in our modern age, truly requires bravery, you have to stand by them despite differences in politics.
So, while I have been hesitant to write about this topic mostly out of fear of backlash or judgment, I would like to highlight some of Maher’s points that I feel should be emphasized:
“I’m happy for LGBT folks that we live in an age where they can live their authentic lives […] but someone needs to say it: not everything’s about you.”
The reality that, unfortunately, most people can’t seem to grasp is this: push back for kids transitioning is not an attack on trans adults’ existence. It is entirely feasible - both practically and logically - for people to wish LGBT adults all the happiness in the world while shielding children from getting caught up in various sexual movements and trends.
We distinguish between the mature and the immature - between adults and children - in our society for a reason. We recognize that children are extremely impressionable and parents have not only an obligation but a natural instinct to protect them from harm (this instinct, I’d argue, is being toyed with in a most disgusting way… more on that later).
Though I’ve already ranted about this at length, it bears repeating: what it seems like we’re doing lately is harming the most vulnerable of our society in order to spare a small percentage of adults feeling invalidated or personally attacked.
“Maybe the girl who hates girlie stuff just needs to learn that being female doesn’t mean you have to act like a Kardashian.”
I find the concept that just because someone’s daughter makes stereotypical “male” style choices or someone’s son makes stereotypical “female” style choices that this somehow incontrovertibly indicates a need to inject them with opposite-sex hormones to be both over-reactive and shallow.
I don’t know what y’all learned growing up, but I remember we weren’t supposed to judge people based on stereotypes. It was considered a dick move to call a long-haired dude a girl or a short-haired girl a dude. It seems like we’ve done a full 180 and now urge kids to be the opposite gender at the first sign that they don’t fit the fucking “norm.”
And, on a personal note, what really irritates me about all of this and why this particular quote from Maher’s monologue struck home for me is because I was a young girl once. I dealt with all the weirdness of growing up and feeling uncomfortable in my body. I dealt with the pure hatred I had for myself for not living up to the beauty standards that I felt were expected of me. I went through styles phases - and, honestly, at 27 still go through style phases and I’ve got the overfilled closet to prove it. Sometimes I feel comfortable in Toms, sometimes in Vans; band tees or blouses; leggings or sweatpants; skinny jeans or dresses:
Being a woman doesn’t mean you have to make every attempt to look like Kim K - just like being a woman doesn’t mean that your sole purpose in life is waiting hand and foot on your husband and making him fucking sandwiches.
I thought that if anyone knew this, it would be the left.
But here they are, proving me wrong once again.
“Kids are fluid about everything. If kids knew what they wanted at age 8, the world would be filled with cowboys and princesses.”
I just want to know when we started believing children wholeheartedly and acquiescing so fully to their whims.
Sure, kids are prone to making some truly profound and intelligent remarks, but it’s not always the case that they are wise beyond their years. This is especially true when it comes to life-changing, life-long decisions.
As far as I’m aware, we still collectively find it inappropriate for children to: get tattoos, consume drugs and alcohol, get a tongue or eyebrow piercing, or parade themselves around in revealing clothing. Hell, we don’t even let children choose what their daily meals consist of - yet, we’re supposed to find it appropriate to put them on fucking puberty blockers because they said so?
This is all a slippery slope. Think about it: if we normalize children choosing to change the entire hormonal makeup of their body, where does that end? Or, more accurately, where does that lead? Can children, therefore, consent to more things? Alcohol? Driving? Sex?
It’s not like I’m disavowing lifestyles that deviate from the “norm,” whatever the fuck that even is anymore (unless you’re a pedo, the yes, I am disavowing your lifestyle). I’m merely advocating that children be allowed to grow up, gain some experience and perspective, and find themselves before we allow them to make permanent changes to their bodies.
When I was 16, I asked my mom if I could get a tattoo of a symbol used frequently by one of my favorite bands on their album covers:
Rather than overreacting (which is kind of her go-to reaction… sorry, mom!), she actually made a conversation out of it. She asked what the symbol looked like, where I thought it should go on my body, my hopes for how it would turn out, etc.
Her response was something akin to the following: maybe you should wait until you’re at least 18 to get that specific tattoo because - who knows - this band you like a lot now could wind up making music you dislike in the future. And then what? You’ll have their logo tattooed permanently on you forever - unless you get it removed or covered up, which is expensive and painful. So maybe just wait. And, if you still like the band when you’re 18 and they still make music you like, then probably get it.
A meager five tattoos and eleven years later and the ADTR logo is still not tattooed on my body. It’s not because I dislike the band now (because I don’t and they’re still dropping absolute bangers). The most pertinent reason is because my mom was right. Sure, I’ve loved this band for well over half of my life, but tastes and preferences change. For example, I’ve been compulsively listening to Morgan Wallen and Tyler Childers on repeat for weeks now. I’ve hated country music for my whole life and now, barely one year into living in Southern Colorado and this is who I’m becoming… but I digress.
The point is that my mom did her job. She protected me from making a hasty decision that I’d be stuck with forever.
This would be the perfect segway into blaming the parents for all of this - and 99% of the time, that is my position - but I’m not entirely sure the blame can be placed solely on parents in this case.
Not every parent is wrapped up in politics or is even aware of the current leftist ideology that is infecting literally every facet of life. Politics are annoying and, quite frankly, mostly pointless. There’s much more important shit to worry about: past due bills, deaths and illnesses in the family, workplace stress - the list goes on.
I get it.
I just can’t shake the feeling that there’s something very sinister and fishy beneath all of this. There’s too many stories out there in which parents are dealing with fearmongering physicians, playing on a parent’s instinct to protect their children, that tout the vastly unfounded “alive trans kid or dead cis kid!” narrative for all of this to be undoubtedly kosher.
This might sound fucked up, but here’s the reality: it is in Big Pharma’s and the surgeons’ collective best interest to make money. So, whether you want to believe that children can, in fact, make these life-changing decisions or not, this over-reactive push to put kids through gender transition is an egregious attempt to:
normalize the sexualization of children
guarantee yet another person’s permanent dependence on pharma companies and
make those involved in the “gender affirmation” process filthy rich:
I said earlier on that I previously wanted to avoid writing about this topic because I’m afraid I’ll face some backlash or judgment. And I think that’s why a lot of people just go with the crowd nowadays: they’re fearful of not appearing “inclusive” or “tolerant” or whatever the current buzzwords are.
But we have got to draw the line somewhere - and I think drawing it at normalizing a child’s gender transition is a pretty good place.
To reiterate: I’m proud of Bill Maher for speaking up about this. I hope more of us can find it within us to do the same. And if you’re looking for some encouragement, here you go:
Bill Maher's Based Monologue