What Is a Woman?
A confrontational culture-war documentary uses interviews and provocative questions to challenge contemporary ideas about sex, gender, and womanhood.
Overview
A thought-provoking exploration of gender identity and societal norms in today's world.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Brisk
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Easy to follow
- Violence
- None
- polemical
- contentious
- provocative
- political discussion
- media literacy viewing
What critics said
Critics broadly viewed the film as partisan anti-transgender propaganda built on misleading claims, selective interviews, and bad-faith editorial framing, despite strong approval from conservative commentators.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
Matt Walsh’s interviews and editorial framing address transgender rights and womanhood from an explicitly ideological position.
The film centers Walsh’s questioning of interview subjects and has been criticized for bad-faith storytelling and gotcha moments.
Reviews and reporting identify false or debunked claims, including myths about sexuality, gender, and litter boxes in schools.
The interviews examine sex, gender identity, gender roles, gender dysphoria, and the meaning of womanhood.
Films like What Is a Woman?, and why
Dinesh D'Souza's Death of a Nation
political documentary framing, adversarial interviews, and polemical treatment of contested social issues
Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed
ideological documentary argumentation, selective evidence, and culture-war rhetoric
Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe
controversial advocacy documentary style and claims disputed by critics and fact-checkers
Disclosure
interview-driven political documentary focused on gender politics and public controversy
Movie Details
- Director
- Justin Folk
- Release Date
- 2022-06-01
- Runtime
- 95 min
- Rating
- 6.9 / 10 (278)
Cast
- Matt Walsh
- Marci Bowers
- Gert Comfrey
- Michelle Forcier
- Phil McGraw
- Scott Newgent
- Jordan B. Peterson
- Debra Soh
- Don Sucher
- Mark Takano
Common questions
- What is What Is a Woman? about?
- A confrontational culture-war documentary uses interviews and provocative questions to challenge contemporary ideas about sex, gender, and womanhood.
- What is What Is a Woman? like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of What Is a Woman? as brisk, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as easy to follow.
- Is What Is a Woman? violent?
- No — Ember's analysis finds no violence in What Is a Woman?.
- What did critics think of What Is a Woman??
- Critics broadly viewed the film as partisan anti-transgender propaganda built on misleading claims, selective interviews, and bad-faith editorial framing, despite strong approval from conservative commentators.
- Which films are like What Is a Woman??
- Films with a similar feel include Dinesh D'Souza's Death of a Nation, Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe, and Disclosure.
- How long is What Is a Woman??
- What Is a Woman? runs 95 minutes.
