On Monday, South Carolina Congresswoman Nancy Mace posted her college graduation photo. In the picture, a beaming 22-year-old Mace is decked out in uniform, the first woman to graduate from the Corps of Cadets military program at The Citadel.
Mace captioned the photo, “I didn’t fight like hell to become the first woman to graduate from The Citadel just for some man in a miniskirt to take away that achievement. Protecting women’s accomplishments isn’t a political talking point for me—it’s personal.”
Instead of congratulating the congresswoman, numerous conservative influencers chose to mock and falsely accuse her.
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Sean Davis, CEO of the Federalist, replied, “A key part of your personal identity is having invaded a male-only institution, and yet you’re surprised at the desire of someone to invade female-only spaces? You’re exactly right that delusional men cosplaying as women have no business whatsoever in women’s bathrooms, but I find the lack of self-awareness and understanding of downstream effects of pretending to erase sex differences to be absolutely wild.”
Will Tanner, co-founder of The American Tribune, wrote, “It was the breaking down of ‘gender barriers’ in the first place that allowed the trans insanity … If you want to end the ‘man in a miniskirt’ issue, you have to roll back everything that led to this point.”
Matt Walsh of The Daily Wire quipped, “The girlboss feminism routine isn’t just cringy. It also directly undermines our argument. The Citadel was a male-only space forced by law to admit females in the name of diversity and inclusion. That is the exact argument trans-identifying males use to invade female spaces. Nancy Mace was literally a beneficiary of a DEI program. It’s a ridiculous and tone deaf thing to brag about in this moment.”
Of course, the argument of trans men who want to enter women’s bathrooms is that they literally are women. Mace never claimed to be a man. In addition, when Mace attended, The Citadel was accepting female students. By these men’s logic, any woman who attends a previously all-male college or university is invading men’s space.
Congresswoman Mace did not invade a male-only institution nor do anything to force The Citadel to include females. Despite the accusations by Walsh and others, Mace attended a co-ed school. She was simply the first woman to graduate from the Corps of Cadets, a military program at The Citadel.
Mace’s degree is in business administration. She went on to earn her master’s degree in journalism and mass communication at the University of Georgia. She did not serve in the military. She did not invade a male-only space. She did not take the place of a man who might otherwise have participated in the program.
So, why are Walsh, Tanner, Davis, and others falsely accusing the Congresswoman in this way? What do they mean when they say they want to, “roll back everything that led to this point.” If “this point” is Mace being proud that she graduated from The Citadel, and if we were to “roll back everything” that led to it, women wouldn’t be allowed to attend most colleges in the United States.
Up until the 1970s, most colleges and universities were male-only. While there were a few female-only colleges, household names like Princeton, Harvard, Brown, Johns Hopkins, Yale, and Duke, did not accept female students. Walsh presumably knows this because he concluded, “We rightly lament the death of female-only spaces. But male only spaces died long before, thanks in part to the efforts of Nancy Mace.”
Presumably, the “male only spaces” that “died long before” are the majority of American colleges. Walsh then doubled down, saying, “Please name one specific way that the military and related institutions have been improved by the forced inclusion of women?”
But Nancy Mace did not force the Corps of Cadets program to include her. It was co-ed when she applied. She also never enlisted in the military. Making matters worse, Walsh is either unaware or does not care that over 3 million women have faithfully served and sacrificed for our country, not because they’re angsty feminists, but because they’re American patriots.
Harriet Tubman was a Union spy during the Civil War; over 21,000 women served in the Army Nurse Corps during WWI; female codebreakers helped crack Nazi ciphers during WWII; and over 24,000 women served during Operation Desert Storm. This is but a fraction of the sacrifices and achievements women have accomplished for the military and their country.
This instinct to accuse women of “invading male spaces” for going to college, or for enlisting in the military (even when they didn’t), seems to be part of a larger pattern of sexism. We saw another manifestation of it when Benny Johnson promoted self-proclaimed misogynist, Andrew Tate, on his show.
For his part, Walsh has publicly discussed reading the works of Christian Nationalist pastor Doug Wilson. In one post, Walsh refers to an article Wilson wrote as having, “Actually changed my perspective on a few things. Very insightful commentary.”
Known for his controversial stances on topics such as slavery, gender roles, and theology, Wilson commands heavy influence among right-leaning Christian men.
He has promoted the idea that we should repeal the 19th Amendment, claiming that by allowing women the right to vote, “we were, in fact, taking it away from families.”
Despite residing in Moscow, Idaho, Wilson is no small-town yokel. He owns his own book publishing company, pastors a church, influences a vast online audience, and has been featured on The Daily Wire and The Tucker Carlson Show.
If Wilson is an influence among major conservative influencers such as Matt Walsh, we can expect to see more and more antagonism toward females in conservative spaces. It will not matter that women like Nancy Mace are on their side. It will not matter that she is fighting for conservative values. It will not even matter that she’s supported by President Trump. The root of their antagonism is their disdain for her gender. It has nothing to do with her ideas, accomplishments, or beliefs. It has nothing to do with logic, historical facts, or even politics. It’s misogyny, pure and simple.
We can know this for certain when we consider the irrationality of their argument. A woman attending a previously all-male college is not remotely the same as a mentally unstable fetishist in drag trying to enter a women’s bathroom.
Jennifer Michelle Greenberg has risen to become one of the foremost voices against child abuse in the church. She writes for Christianity Today, The Gospel Coalition, and the Evangelical Council for Abuse Prevention.
Jennifer also develops resources for Christian leaders and counselors to help them identify abusers, respond responsibly to crisis situations, and minister to abuse victims and survivors in a wise and loving manner.
Besides her theological and ministerial work, Jennifer enjoys writing adult fantasy and science fiction novels, singing, and composing music. She and her husband, Jason, live in Texas with their three young children.
