By Anna Williams
Almost exactly a year after setting off the Bud Light boycott, Dylan Mulvaney has once again found a way to put himself in the spotlight—and to stir up another controversy—by making a music video for his song “Days of Girlhood.” I took one for the team and watched the video from start to finish (even pausing and rewinding at times to get the details right), so you don’t have to. You’re welcome. Unfortunately, it was much worse than I had even imagined. Here are some of the key takeaways.
Dylan Mulvaney is NOT a Woman; Just an Actor
No matter what Dylan Mulvaney does, he will never be a woman. He can put on as much makeup as his little heart desires, wear all the frilly dresses, and use candy-scented perfumes, but he will always be a man. He cannot change the way that God made him because you can’t change your DNA or chromosomes. In fact, a scene in the video portrays him dancing by a pool, and his very movements give him away—he moves like a man, very “boxy” and “stiff” with no sway or fluidity in his hips.
And to be honest, I think he knows all this. As an actor, this is probably his most controversial role yet, but it is giving him the greatest amount of fame he’s yet achieved, so he’s sticking with it. Indeed, the manner in which he overdramatizes his every action in portraying femininity and “girlhood” seems like an overcompensation, an attempt to “really get into character.”
Portrayal Of Femininity
I have yet to see Dylan Mulvaney portray his supposed femininity with any grace or dignity. In fact, his whole schtick is that he’s an unhinged, whorish, hot mess. And according to Mulvaney, that’s exactly what femininity is. As he makes clear in his song, girlhood consists of pill-popping or chronic prescription drug use (the video features a shot of a cabinet jam-packed with prescription pill bottles), though it’s unclear exactly what the intended uses of the meds are. He also paints an image of women having to engage in “retail therapy” because we’re unable to manage our emotions.
A few lyrics give a particularly clear picture of Mulvaney’s worldly, Hollywood-esque image of womanhood. Let’s break them down.
“On Thursday had a walk of shame, didn’t even know his name.”
So, that would indicate that casual sex is a part of “girlhood.” How flattering.
“Weekends are for kissing friends, Friday nights I’ll overspend, Saturday we flirt for drinks, playing wingmen to our twi**s.”
Here, we see overindulgence portrayed as typically female behavior, along with sexualizing ourselves to get something out of men.
To top it all off, the song and video feature recurring themes of a reliance on alcohol and having breakdowns in the bath.
It’s incredibly disheartening to see Mulvaney portray femininity in such a distorted way.
Why Dylan Mulvaney Avoids “Womanhood”
Not only in this video but throughout Mulvaney’s Days of Girlhood TikToks, which have documented the days since he “became a woman,” he has referred exclusively to “girlhood” rather than “womanhood.” This is coupled with his brightly colored outfits featuring lots of frills and bows. The whole thing reeks of a fetish, in which this man enjoys fantasizing about being a girl, specifically, not a woman.
Were There Any REAL Women in the Video?
Speculation has cropped up as to whether any of the women in the video were actual women. After researching the cast members listed in the end credits, it appears that, out of the 15 cast members listed, there was one male playing a male role, seven women playing female roles (mainly backup dancers), and five men pretending to be women. In total, three-fifths of the main female roles were played by men.
As a woman, I am ashamed of the real women who partook in this video, supporting such a perverted depiction of what it means to be a woman. The caricaturisation of femininity running rampant in our culture is appalling. I am tired of being painted as a bimbo, medication and alcohol-dependent, self-seeking, frilly thing simply because of my sex. Women deserve to be authentically depicted in the true depth and beauty of our femininity.