They say that with age comes wisdom, and the ability to really not care what others think about you, what you say, and what you do. As I prepare to stop being Deep Thought's answer to "the Ultimate Question of Life" and enter my 43rd year on this planet, I can say this is true. Even a decade ago, I would have been hyper-vigilant about what I said and did, worried what I said would hurt someone's feelings or — gasp — lead them to dislike me.
Now, I don't care.
And nowhere is that more revealed than in my frank discussions on trans issues. "Trans women" are men, and "trans men" are women. I will not pretend otherwise, and I will not be cowed into referring to myself and my fellow women as "egg producers" or "womb owners" or "birthing persons." Nor will I bow to the pronoun police and call a man in a dress "they/them" because it somehow affirms him.
My job is not to affirm anyone's delusions. Especially not the men who demand access to my safe spaces and shame me for saying no to them.
But I also realize, in the relative scheme of things, I'm a nobody. I'm a Midwest mom who writes for a living. I'm not an influencer or a celebrity; a gal with an Internet connection and an X account. Others who had far more to lose bravely stood up to the violent, threatening mobs of trans activists long before I got my byline.
One of them is British screenwriter and comedian Graham Linehan. Linehan lives in America and is actively working towards citizenship, in part because his home country has gone "round the bend," as they say, on issues of speech and "transgender rights." Linehan traveled to London in September, where his welcoming committee consisted of five armed police officers who arrested him for "hateful" social media posts. The ordeal was so stressful that Linehan ended up in the hospital with elevated blood pressure.
Despite that, Linehan rightly remained defiant, and the Crown Prosecution Service dropped charges against him in October. Linehan is still pursuing legal action against the police for this persecution. He also recently gave an interview to GB News about the transgender debate and a podcaster pointed out former friends of Linehan admitted the man had a point.
They just said he was "too blunt" about it.
Interesting interview with @Glinner on @GBNEWS a few minutes ago about the trans debate. It's interesting how the tide is turning in his favour.
— Ian O'Doherty (@OdohertyI64991) November 30, 2025
I've seen old friends who shunned him admit he has a point but that he was too blunt. Even that would was unthinkable a few years ago
If you were ever wondering if the pro-trans movement was essentially a political fashion trend, look no further than how the once-vocal supporters of "transgender community" are slowly walking back their rhetoric, pretending they really didn't mean all those things they said just a few short years ago when it was hip and acceptable to say "Yes, some women have penises, bigot!" with a straight face.
There's no better example of this than Emma Watson, who threw the woman responsible for her fame and acting career under the bus over the issue, only to say in more recent interviews that she still actually loves J.K. Rowling, and hopes to "keep loving people who [she] don't necessarily share the same opinion with." Rowling, for her part, wants none of it, and I don't blame her. At a time when trans activists were threatening to kill Rowling, burning her books, and trying to cancel the Harry Potter-based "Hogwarts: Legacy" video game, Watson was throwing fuel on the fire.
Rowling, too, chimed in on the notion that Linehan was "too blunt" in his views on transgender issues.
'He has a point, but he's too blunt.'
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) December 1, 2025
From the start, a key tactic of the gender identitarians has been linguistic prescription, and it's proved shockingly successful. Trans activists' shibboleths and euphemisms have been allowed to penetrate the upper echelons of our culture… https://t.co/DuV4iGkVrl
Here's some of what she wrote:
From the start, a key tactic of the gender identitarians has been linguistic prescription, and it's proved shockingly successful. Trans activists' shibboleths and euphemisms have been allowed to penetrate the upper echelons of our culture with devastating consequences to freedom of speech and belief. Huge swathes of liberal media, the arts, academia and publishing have thrown themselves with gusto into the defence of a quasi-religious belief causing provable real world harm, and in their arrogance they've been outraged when people they assumed were part of their In Group have refused to march meekly along in lock step.
Time and again, I've seen and heard well-educated people who consider themselves critical thinkers and bold truth-tellers squirm when put on the spot. 'Well, yes, maybe there's something in what you're saying, but it's hateful/provocative/rude not to use the approved language/pretend people can literally change sex/keep drawing attention to medical malpractice or opportunistic sexual predators. Why can't you be nice? Why won't you pretend? We thought you were one of us! Don't you realise we have sophisticated new words and phrases these days that obviate the necessity of thinking any of this through?'
It is precisely this "linguistic prescription" to which I objected from the outset. I don't like being told what to do, and will often do the exact opposite to be a contrarian.
There's also more to it than this. Earlier, I said it wasn't my job to affirm anyone's delusions, and I meant it, of course. But it's also my job to argue from and reaffirm reality. There are two genders, and no amount of puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, surgery, or makeup can turn a man into a woman. No "man" has ever given birth to a child, and they certainly can't breastfeed. Saying such things, bluntly and directly, is neither bigotry nor hatred. It's the truth.
I would argue that, massive amounts of mind-altering drugs aside, trying to contort reality to fit the trans ideology is what sets off the acts of violence we've seen in recent years, including the August mass shooting at the Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis. Because no matter how many euphemisms we come up with, no matter how many social and civil penalties tyrannical governments like the one in the U.K. try to impose on those of us who speak our minds, the fact remains: biological reality wins—every single time.
We are not "assigned" a sex at birth. It is encoded in our very DNA from the moment of conception. We cannot change our gender, no matter the lengths we go to. Caitlyn Jenner will always be a man, and Chaz Bono will always be a woman, even if they choose to live differently. They are within their rights to do so, and I am within mine to call a spade a spade.
The time to be blunt was yesterday, and the time to keep being blunt is now. Because if we think the Left is just going to give up on this issue, we're sorely mistaken. The moment they feel they have the political power to do so, it'll be back with a vengeance.