To seal the deal, Anheuser-Busch sent Mulvaney a Bud Light beer can emblazoned with her visage to celebrate her viral “Year of Girlhood,” in which she described her experiences after identifying as a woman. As the expression goes, oh, boy. Mulvaney did her part and vamped with her personal beer can on Instagram, whereupon, suffice to say, things did not go according to plan.
Outrage ensued, with absurdity nipping at its heels. Sad to say, I missed Mulvaney’s year of girlhood, which I’m pretty sure was nothing like my own. As a kid, I did wish for a bow and arrows instead of a Chatty Kathy, but no one thought to suggest that I might really want to be a boy. Was I mocking boyhood when I snatched my brother’s baseball bat to terrorize the water moccasins sunning around the cypress knees lining our lake?
No. But according to Megyn Kelly — who has lambasted Mulvaney’s girl-content on TikTok and Instagram — Mulvaney and other trans women are mocking woman- and girlhood. Mulvaney is 26 but dresses like a little girl as she explores the female kingdom. I’ll hand it to Kelly, who during her Fox News days told us not only that Santa Claus is White but also that trans-women will never be women.
The point for most people is, you be you — but leave me out of it. That goes for my children, too. Most people are too afraid to say it, but not Kelly. An influencer herself, she is probably considered a “transphobe” by people in the LGBTQ+ community. Is she? I don’t know and don’t care, but let’s try to be rational for a second.
To be phobic is to have an irrational fear of or an aversion to something. As used today, phobic connotes animosity or hatred as well, which might or might not be the case. What is true is that changing one’s sex through chemical or surgical alteration is alien to most people, many of whom hold no animosity toward anyone. Even so, they might question the direction their culture is taking and its effect on children. Mulvaney’s audience, by the way, skews younger than the legal drinking age.
Here’s what I’m phobic about — the manipulation of innocents through sophisticated targeting, and the political exploitation of issues that are intentionally misleading, unconstructive or hurtful.
In trying to be trans-friendly by tapping Mulvaney, Bud Light might as well have labeled their cans, “Vote Republican.” And now Republicans aren’t about to let the controversy cool down. No sooner was Mulvaney posing with her personal Bud than a boycott materialized, costing the company billions. In June, sales were down 28 percent. Joining the fray, LGBTQ+ activists protested Mulvaney’s treatment by the company, which tossed her aside like an empty beer can.
You can’t have a good war without violence. Enter Kid Rock, who made a video of himself (of course) hefting his handy AR-15 and emptying a clip into four cases of Bud Light. To make his point clear, he dropped a couple of F-bombs on Anheuser-Busch and Bud Light. Then things got worse.
Anheuser-Busch tried to undo the damage by pandering to another group: the heterosexual, beer-guzzling men who once were its best customers. A fresh batch of ads and products left no stereotype unturned. New designs for beer cans included a limited-edition veterans Bud Light and a sports-hunting camouflage Bud Light. A TV ad created for the July Fourth holiday, attempting to parody the 1974 film “Blazing Saddles,” featured NFL star Travis Kelce and a bunch of guys popping their Bud Lights to the accompaniment of grunts.
Get it? Men. Beer. Grunting. Of course, men tend to be pander-averse. The boycott stands.
At least we have the U.S. Senate for adult edification. I’m kidding. What I meant to say is Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) want an investigation into Anheuser Busch’s partnership with Mulvaney to find out whether the beer company violated laws against marketing beer to children. Make up your mind: Are you worried about kids becoming transgender or drinking beer?
In a time of culturally encouraged identity confusion and gender fluidity, Anheuser-Busch tried to exploit a real-time identity crisis playing out in the form of a 26-year-old personality on TikTok. Shame on them. This to me is the real story.
After Bud Light abandoned her, Mulvaney fled to Peru where, she reports, she has found nice people, shaman ceremonies “worth 10 years of therapy” and happiness. Maybe when she returns, Mulvaney can share the most valuable lesson of her adventure: That happiness is found within oneself, not in the number of one’s followers or “friends.”