According to internet sites of varying reliability on the subject, many societies, for many reasons, have created narrow cultural windows in which men can dress up to look and act like women.  The Roman emperor Elagabalus wore makeup and wigs, preferred to be called a lady rather than a lord, and offered a reward to any physician who could give him a vagina.  Since ancient times, cults in India and Thailand have formed third genders of men claiming to be women.  There were societies in Africa with traditional roles for men claiming to be women.  In America, the Navajo and Zuni both have ceremonial roles for men who prefer the female gender.

What's new in modern times is men claiming to be women who are seeking to replace women with society's blessing.  Transgenderism is no longer a lifestyle that some men pursue.  It has become a calling to get rid of women.

The CDC now talks about pregnant people, not pregnant women.  Women's shelters are obliged to admit men who claim to be women, and if such men commit rape at the shelter, they go to a women's prison.  Men claiming to be women are awarded records that rightfully belong to real women, such as the first "woman" to earn a million dollars on Jeopardy actually being a man claiming to be a woman.

Nike punished its spokeswoman Allyson Felix for getting pregnant by cutting her pay by 70%.  Nike also hired Dylan Mulvaney, the man who made Bud Light the queen of beers, to model sports bras.  I would think a sports bra is the last thing a man should be modeling, since he has nothing that needs to be kept from bouncing, but Nike didn't want a woman in a sports bra.

Image by Pixlr AI.

At least the World Athletics Organization has banned men from competing against women, but their organization only covers track, field, and other running competitions.  To quote Riley Gaines, female athletes are "being sidelined to validate the feelings and identity of a man."

With such widespread efforts to remove women from society, it's no surprise that a recent conference designed for women was overrun by men claiming to be women.  The Grace Hopper Celebration was inspired by Admiral Grace Hopper and is supposed to bring "the research and career interests of women in computing to the forefront."  At least, that's what the website says.

This year, men gamed the conference for opportunities, and why not?  Haven't we been told for years that a woman is what a man says she is?  Didn't Supreme Court justice Ketanji Brown Jackson refuse to define the word "woman"?  Aren't there many female athletes like Riley Gaines who have lost trophies and opportunities to male athletes?  Haven't those same athletes faced a massive backlash of hate and cancelation for asking that only women compete against other women?

With the widespread cancellation of women, there's nothing strange about men taking over an event specifically designed for women.  I'm only surprised it hasn't happened before.

Pandra Selivanov is the author of Future Slave, a story about a 21st-century black teenager who goes back in time and becomes a slave in the Old South.