So for those blissfully unaware, Dylan Mulvaney is a TIM who became famous for his TikTok videos counting off his days "as a girl." He genuinely comes off as parody. In his videos you see a 25 year old man screeching, I'm a girl, I'm a girl, giggling and prancing around in garish makeup and outfits. Apparently, these are the things that make one “a girl.” That fact that he pretty plainly looks, acts and sounds like a man whom no one in a million years would ever mistaken as female doesn't seem to factor in. Like Dylan, if you're experiencing girlhood, I'm going to dress like Queen Elizabeth and finally experience what it's like to be royalty.*

Even stranger, he doesn't even seem like a man doing an impression of a woman, or even what he thinks a woman is like. He seems like he's doing an impression of a camp gay man, in everything from his voice to his mannerisms. He reminds me of when you watch a film or tv show where there's a gay character, but they're way more over the top and flamboyant than any actual gay man. He's doing that sort of performance, but instead of calling himself a man he's dressed like Jackie Kennedy and calling himself a girl.

And he really does seem like he's performing as a character. He talks with this strained, forced excitement, a high pitched voice, these exaggerated little “woo-hoos” and giddy clapping. He reminds of Paul Reubens doing Peewee Herman, or a drag queen like Bendelacreme. God, I mean compare him to how real Magdalen Berns was (RIP) and despair. How anyone buys this guy boggles my mind. It's absolutely absurd.

And yet, buy him they do. You can look at the comments on his videos lauding him. They say how nice he is, how lovely he is, how inspirational, how he needs to be protected. And I'm thinking, are we looking at the same person? He's so obviously doing an act. He's an adult man who's doing something, enjoying it and getting fucking worshipped for it. He comes off as very creepy and forced, and his idea of a woman is quite misogynistic.

Besides, you don't know him, you don't know how “nice” he is.He has one video where he presents himself as more vulnerable and understanding. Watch at your own peril. I had to turn it off, I found it so creepy, and it took me a while to piece together why. I have a sister who's extremely nasty and manipulative. When she wants something from someone, she uses the same patronizing voice. And then when you make it clear you're not going to do it, the mask drops. Dylan gives me the same vibe and it boggles my mind these people don't see it. Are young people just that naive nowadays?

I guess so. His fans just see him as an UwU vulnerable girl. When a young woman from Prager U made a video criticizing him his fans were just brutal to her in the comments. Many of them were strangely infantilizing towards this adult male as well. In response he made a weepy video on Tiktok about it. Or you can watch this video where he and a friend of his, an actual woman, try on clothes. She's very infantilizing towards him as well, cheering him on like a child. Why any adult, “trans” or otherwise would want such treatment is beyond me. Tellingly, when he went to NYC pride, you can see the fans that came up to him, all female.

Part of me wonders if this really is just an act. Like I said, he absolutely comes off as someone performing. He is also an actor and while he was successful (he was about to be in a touring production of The Book of Mormon before the lockdowns) it's pretty obvious that transing himself brought him a level of fame that he never had a gay man. His videos regularly get views in the millions, and I believe he's even going to do a documentary series now. But who knows. It could also be a subconscious thing. He was in a difficult time in his life, and found that the more he played the role of a “girl,” the more attention he got, and he just got sucked in. There is a manic quality to his persona. Either way he definitely has serious identity issues.

Anyhow, those are my thoughts, and I'm curious if anyone else has any on this guy. I'd also be interested if anyone knows of any feminists who have written about him. It's been a while since since I've read those sorts of blogs and obviously when you google his name all you get are the puff pieces from the mainstream press.

*feel free to steal this idea for your own parody TikTok channel which will quickly get taken down