WASHINGTON, DC: The President of the United States looks uncomfortable. He has a grin plastered across his elderly visage as he peers across the set at Dylan Mulvaney, a TikTok star and former actor who starred in Book of Mormon. Mulvaney’s hair is long, ironed down to his shoulders; his makeup is heavy, and he wears a pantsuit, crème on top, blue on the bottom, with a large pastel rose bow around his neck — “the trans flag colors!” he has explained before the shoot. He beams ear-to-ear, hard enough that the smile seems carved into his face, as he gazes down the most powerful man in the world.
Mulvaney is a TikTok icon because he decided in March 2022 to announce that he was becoming a woman — and to document his attempt to become a woman in a series he dubbed “Days of Girlhood.” Day 1 featured Mulvaney explaining that he had cried three times, had told someone he was fine when he wasn’t, and had ordered clothes that had cost too much money — all hallmarks of being a girl, apparently. When a man claims that women are emotional or that they spend too much money – when he engages in ugly stereotypes – this is considered sexist. When that man dons makeup and a blouse and says he’s a woman, that makes him an authoritative source.
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