Normally, I skip most transgender-related videos on YouTube. Far too often they are click-driven, poorly informed, or outright hostile—a hot, steamy pile of 💩 that adds more noise than insight. After nearly thirty years of running a transgender support and information site, I have very little patience for content that recycles the same tired talking points without depth, context, or lived understanding.
This time, I took a chance.
The video referenced in this post is from
Monte Mader, titled
Why anti-trans is anti-woman. Her channel description is simple and tells you exactly what kind of work she does:
The girl who bothered to read the Bible.
Deconstruction. Accurate history. Political review.
Stay eternally curious.It stood out immediately—not because it was inflammatory, but because it was thoughtful, grounded, and unafraid to name the real issue beneath the rhetoric. What she articulates is something many people sense but struggle to clearly express: that so-called "anti-trans" legislation is not narrowly targeted, accidental, or isolated. It is part of a broader effort to police gender, enforce obedience, and reassert patriarchal control.
Allyship is not performative agreement or quiet sympathy expressed only when it is socially convenient. It is not conditional support that evaporates the moment a group becomes politically inconvenient. Real allyship means recognizing when an attack on one group is a test run for broader harm—and refusing to be divided by fear, misinformation, or deliberate manipulation.
Trans women are not outsiders to women's struggles. They are women who have knowingly given up male privilege, safety, and social acceptance to live truthfully—often at extraordinary personal risk. That is not casual. It is not opportunistic. It is not theoretical. It is a deeply rooted, costly, and courageous choice.
The same forces attacking trans women today are the forces that have always sought to control women's bodies, labor, autonomy, and place in society. When the state is empowered to define what a "real" woman looks like, all women lose—especially those who do not conform to narrow, male-approved roles.
The video below addresses these realities directly and powerfully. I strongly recommend watching it in full. What follows is the transcript, formatted for clarity and accessibility, for those who prefer or need to read—but the video itself is worth your time.
I recommend watching the video first if you're able; the transcript is included below for accessibility and reference.
Why anti-trans is anti-womanBy: Monte Mader
TranscriptI got this comment on a video I did about the bill that almost passed in the Senate that would have allowed for physical genital inspections of teen female athletes. I talked about how anti-trans laws are really anti-women laws, because they are about policing the expression of gender, which disproportionately impacts women.
Please don't harass this person. I looked at her profile, and I believe this comment was made in good faith. I'm going to point out the issues with it, but more importantly, it leads us into a really important and valuable conversation.
The first thing I want to point out, especially as a female athlete, is that women's sports have never been women-controlled spaces. Historically, coaches, scouts, athletic directors, team doctors, and even the people who decide how much airtime the WNBA gets have been men. All of the positions of power within women's sports have historically been held by men, which is why it still makes headlines when a woman is hired as a head coach.
Women are the athletes, but the positions of power have not belonged to us.
The second thing is that there is no way around the fact that this comment is transphobic. I don't think it was intended that way, but the implication is that trans women are not real women. That forces us to ask the question: what makes a woman?
It is completely reasonable, in our current political climate, for women to be afraid of losing rights—losing autonomy, freedom, access, and equality. Women are not explicitly protected in the Constitution. Our rights vary state to state. That fear is rational.
But trans women are not the threat.
Right-wing, conservative, and fundamentalist groups will say that a woman is defined by giving birth. We know that isn't true. Many women cannot give birth, or are past menopause. They are not less women because of that. Periods don't define us either.
Is our body part of womanhood? Of course. Is the way we express gender part of it? Absolutely. But by far the greatest determinant of what makes a woman is our shared experience.
We remember being sexualized as children. The catcalls. The grooming. Being told to cover up because a man might be around. We know what it's like to be sexually harassed in and outside of the workplace. We know what it's like to walk into a room and be immediately discredited because we're women. We know what it's like to work twice as hard for promotions and still get passed over by men with fewer credentials.
We know what it's like to be paid less. To have doctors dismiss our pain as hysteria. We know domestic violence—some of us have lived it, some of us have helped others escape it, some of us have lost friends to it. We know what it's like to live in a world that is not built for us, where we are treated as a niche subgroup instead of half the population.
We know the impossible standards placed on us—be perfectly fit, flawless, productive, nurturing, employed full-time, managing the household, raising children, doing everything without breaking down, and always smiling.
We have seen women create life both inside and outside the womb. We have seen women lift up communities and overcome obstacles. In the last fifty years, when women were given even a semblance of financial equality, we skyrocketed. We took over higher education. We climbed professional ladders.
That is part of what this patriarchal extinction burst is about.
White women know what it's like to work twice as hard. Black women work four times as hard—and they still outpace everyone in higher education.
Now imagine being born a biological male—especially a white biological male—in a world built for you. From sidewalks to public transportation to car safety to medicine, the world is designed around you. You earn more with the same credentials.
Now imagine choosing to give that up.
To risk your family, your community, your church, your physical safety. To endure a grueling physical and emotional process. To permanently sacrifice the advantages you were born with.
Nobody loves volleyball enough to do that. Nobody wants access to women's bathrooms badly enough to do that.
The only reason someone would give all of that up is because, at their core, they know they are a woman.
This isn't putting on a skirt and taking advantage when it suits you. This is giving up privilege permanently—often facing even higher rates of physical and sexual violence than cisgender women.
That is powerful.
Trans women may be among our greatest allies because they saw what womanhood truly is and chose it anyway.
The real threat is patriarchy.
The attack on trans women is intentional. It is the pathway to attacking all women. Fundamentalism believes your role, purpose, and value are determined by your genitalia at birth. Consent is irrelevant. Obedience is everything.
Trans identity threatens this entire system because it exposes its fragility.
When trans women are targeted, any woman who does not conform—women who are tall, muscular, Black, assertive, or non-feminine—will be targeted next. We are already seeing it.
Any woman at risk means all of us are at risk.
I truly believe we are entering the age of women—but only if we stand together. Immediately. Consistently. Without exception.
If this perspective resonates with you, I strongly encourage you to watch the full video Why anti-trans is anti-woman by Monte Mader rather than relying solely on excerpts or text. Her delivery, emotional clarity, and lived understanding add depth that words alone cannot fully convey.
If you want to support her work, subscribing to her channel and liking the video are simple but meaningful ways to ensure voices like this continue to reach wider audiences—especially right now.
