The need to protect women’s and girls’ spaces has once again made headlines, following controversy over the use of bathrooms on Capitol Hill. When Representative-elect Sarah McBride (D-Del.), a biological man who now identifies as a woman, sought to use women’s restrooms in his new job on the Hill, Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) sounded the alarm on the threat posed to women’s spaces, prompting Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) to restrict single-sex bathrooms in the Capitol building to only those of the corresponding biological sex.

The bathroom battle is not, of course, restricted to the U.S. Capitol: for years, women have been trying to keep biological men who identify as transgender out of their bathrooms in schools, in department stores, in the library, in the gym, in the workplace, and seemingly just about everywhere. Girls’ sports have also been infiltrated by biological boys claiming to be girls, robbing hardworking young women of medals, trophies, and titles that otherwise would have been theirs had a biological male not put on a dress and makeup and called himself a girl.

The threats posed by the invasion of women’s and girls’ spaces are both real and grave. In 2021, a teenage girl was forcibly sodomized by a biological boy who identified as “gender fluid” in a school bathroom in Virginia. Roughly six months later, the same boy sexually assaulted another girl in another bathroom at another school. An Oklahoma mother reported earlier this year that her 15-year-old daughter was “severely beaten” by a trans-identifying classmate in the girls’ bathrooms. Jason Lee Willie, a man who identifies as a woman, threatened to rape teenage girls in girls’ bathrooms — as well as shoot school students and bomb churches — last year. A teenage girl in New Mexico was attacked and raped by a biological male in the girls’ bathroom at school last year. In Ohio last year, a 15-year-old girl was raped in a girls’ bathroom stall by a biological boy, a fellow student. Ramel Blount, a biological man who identifies as a woman named Diamond, was imprisoned in the women’s wing of Rikers Island and quickly proceeded to rape a female inmate in the shower in 2021. Blount had previously been charged with sexual assault twice. In 2017, a grown adult male who identified as transgender was convicted of brutally raping a 10-year-old girl in a public restroom.

In the face of such vile and vicious examples of the threat posed to women’s spaces, it is easy to overlook the prior disappearance of spaces for men and boys. However, the disappearance of male spaces was not only a precursor to the threat against women’s spaces, but a direct cause.

Unfortunately, violent acts like rape and sexual assault are not a novelty, nor are they necessarily perpetrated only by those who identify as transgender. But the war on women’s spaces is led almost exclusively by the transgender crowd, enabled and encouraged by its horde of activists. The entire transgender movement, however, did not originate in a vacuum, nor is its war on women’s spaces a spontaneous maneuver. Both are rooted in the disappearance, over the past several decades especially, of male spaces.

The Male Space

“Boys will be boys” has, in this modern age, become a phrase used most often to excuse the rambunctious behavior of boys and young men. When a boy wearing a bath towel for a cape clobbers his cohort on the head with a wooden sword, a mother may sigh and say, “Well, boys will be boys, I suppose,” as she produces an ice pack for the clobbered lad’s dome. When a young man is caught drinking his father’s beer with his friends or watching those old “Godfather” DVDs he’s always wanted to see, that father may try to understand his son’s rebelliousness by mumbling, “Boys will be boys.” He may even recall the days when he himself was a teenager and snuck into his own father’s liquor cabinet to sample some of that alluring single-malt scotch.

But the recognition or admission that “boys will be boys” is more than just an idiomatic refrain for frustrated parents; it is an anthropological and spiritual truth. Boys will be boys. And, just as importantly, boys will one day be men. What kind of men ought they be? Who will teach them what it means to be a man? Who will support them in their efforts to be men? Who will call them to account when they fail to live up to the standards that have been set for them? Enter the now-elusive male space.

Back in the day, the public sphere was largely dominated by men. Finding male spaces was not the near-impossible, Quixotic task that it is today. The workplace was a male space, where men worked alongside other men. Whether in a coal mine, on the floor of a factory, or in an office, the workplace was inhabited exclusively by men. Even when women did enter the public workforce, they initially sought out positions in more female-oriented fields, such as textile production or teaching. That all changed in the 1950s and 60s, when more and more women entered the workforce en masse following the Second World War, completely remaking and reshaping the dynamics of the workplace. One male space down.

This is not to say, of course, that women cannot do a fine job in a wide variety of professional fields, nor that they should necessarily be denied the opportunity to do so. But the workplace was long the domain of the man, whose responsibility it is to not only protect but to provide. It was in the workplace that men would slave away all day, winning bread to bring home to their wives and children, while their wives performed the most important function of all: raising children.

While some may have attached a sense of glamor or prestige to their careers, and while some careers indeed have been and still are useful and necessary to the maintenance of civil society and the furtherance of the common good, the career in general was only ever an auxiliary to that most important of tasks: raising children. Generally speaking, it was and is the responsibility of men to humbly subject themselves to the toil and trials of the workplace so that their wives may stay home and tend to the little hearts and souls that the couple has brought into this world.

With the loss of the workplace as a male space naturally came the loss of a sense of unique purpose for men. If a woman could now be the breadwinner, then what purpose did a man serve? Half of his unique role — that of provider — was now, in some sense, obsolete.

Colleges and universities were once also male spaces, providing men with the opportunity to expand their knowledge and sharpen their skills so that they could better provide for their wives and children, in addition to generally bettering society. Nowadays, colleges and universities are almost all co-educational, accepting both men and women, and many even house men and women in the same dormitory buildings. Campuses are home to dozens upon dozens of different clubs and organizations, some centered on promoting specific causes, others devoted to enjoying particular hobbies, and some just for the sake of being social. But it is rare these days to see clubs or groups just for men. Women will have many: a Women in Computer Technology group, a Women in Science group, a Women in Literature group, a Female Athletes organization, maybe even a girls-only book club. There are often no such groups for men.

Just as in the workplace, the destruction of male spaces in higher education fuels a deeper issue. The university was not a right, it was a training ground. It was once the sole competence of men to lead their families intellectually and spiritually, to be trained to provide for their wives and children and to better the world in which their children would grow up. Now, the university is deprived even of small spaces exclusively for men. Men are no longer uniquely equipped and trained to fulfill their duties as men — now women are, too, and afforded every support system and social circle conceivable. Just as in the workplace, this system destruction of male space leaves men wondering what it really means to be a man and what unique purpose men might possibly serve in this world.

There are also a myriad of examples of male spaces being destroyed in the form of social or athletic clubs. In 1978, the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) opened its doors to women. Despite the existence of a Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA), men were deprived of their fraternal space. The Boys Club of America became the Boys and Girls Club in 1990. The Boy Scouts infamously became co-ed in 2018, eventually erasing the term “boy” from its title altogether.

In 1987, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that states and cities may ban “sex discrimination” by business-oriented or professional clubs and organizations. Men’s social clubs began to open their doors to women or shut down. Under ensuing legal duress, the renowned New York Athletic Club opened its doors to women in 1989. In the 21st century, the world of video games served as a sort of haven for boys and young men, yet even that digital escape was closed off, as evinced by vitriolic events like “GamerGate.” It’s a sad state of affairs when men are so deprived of their own unique spaces that they are forced to create a virtual one, and even that is denied them.

The ‘Equality’ Hoax

Of course, the force that destroyed male spaces was feminism. Demanding “equality,” feminism forced open the doors of every institution, professional field, club, and social circle that had previously been designated for men only, while simultaneously establishing its own institutions, professional field, clubs, and social circles for only women. First of all, this is not “equality.” An ordered sense of equal rights would have stipulated that female spaces be analogous to the extant male spaces, not the destruction of those male spaces.

Secondly, feminism’s foundational principle of “equality” is a hoax. There can be no equality of the sexes — not in the sense that feminism intends — because the sexes are not equal. To equate men with women (and vice versa) is a grievous error, and it has directly resulted in the now urgent threat posed to women and women’s spaces. If two things are equal, they are one and the same, they are interchangeable. In a math equation, if one is “solving for x” and resolves that x equals two, then x anywhere in the equation will be interchangeable with two. But men and women are not part of a math equation, although both were designed with a meticulousness and precision that even the most ingenious engineers and brilliant mathematicians could never even dream of.

Equality before the law is a different matter, of course, ensuring that men and women are treated with an equal degree of justice in legal matters, regardless of their sex. But even equality before the law does not (or, rather, should not) equivocate between men and women.

Although Nancy Mace was right to note the injustice of biological men invading women’s private spaces under the guise of feminine pronouns, her own mindset has contributed to the very threat that she herself is now trying to defend against. More than once, Mace has boasted of being the first woman to graduate from the Citadel Military College of South Carolina and has touted her pro-same-sex marriage voting record. It is the very destruction of male spaces that she herself took part in, the very proliferation of the notion that men and women are basically the same and are interchangeable, that has resulted in men who identify as women wanting to sit in the toilet stall next to Mace. If women can do anything that men can do, then what’s the difference between them? If men can “marry” men and women can “marry” women, then what’s the difference between them? These are questions Mace and those who share her mindset have either ignored or else never stopped to ponder over.

Those who accept feminism’s “equality” hoax must, in the end, conclude that men and women are, if equal, then also interchangeable; in essence, that there is no substantial or essential difference between the two. Why does Mace draw the line at sharing the bathroom with a biological male who identifies as a woman? After all, her voting record already shows that she believes men and women to be interchangeable in the context of relationships and sexual intercourse. Her infiltration of the Citadel shows that she believes men and women to be interchangeable in the context of capability and function. So why draw a line now?

Because Mace recognizes, as a victim of rape herself, the danger posed by sharing a bathroom — or a locker room or a shower or a sauna — with a biological man. While Mace — and many others, even some who call themselves conservative — may have been content to go along with the “equality” hoax for a while, it now poses a real and grave threat to her.

The Boys’ Club

In the Academy Award-winning 1966 film “A Man for All Seasons,” chronicling the true story of English statesman and lawyer Sir Thomas More during the reign of King Henry VIII, the character of More has a conversation with his future son-in-law, William Roper, about giving “the Devil the benefit of law.” When Roper insists that he would gladly “cut down every law in England” in order to “get after the Devil,” More quietly replies:

“And when the last law was down, and the Devil turned ‘round on you, where would you hide, Roper, the laws all being flat? This country is planted thick with laws, from coast to coast. … And if you cut them down — and you’re just the man to do it — do you really think you could stand upright in the winds that would blow then? Yes, I’d give the Devil benefit of law, for my own safety’s sake.”

Just so, Western civilization was once “planted thick” with boys’ spaces and men’s spaces. Now that they have been cut down, the Devil has turned ‘round. Those who once proudly branded themselves “feminists” and set about not just burning their bras but burning down every last exclusively-male space that they could get their hands on have suddenly found themselves having to defend their own bathrooms and locker rooms, hounded by the fear of being assaulted or raped.

Boys’ spaces afforded boys a place not only to be boys, as the maxim goes, but to learn how to be men. Attending Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts events taught boys more than just how to whittle, how to pitch a tent, and how to start a fire; it taught them how to be responsible and resourceful, how to protect and provide for themselves, and even taught them the very principle of protecting and providing for others, which is core to a man’s identity. Fishing trips with the boys did not only allow young men to chatter comfortably among themselves and afford them a few peaceful hours of baiting hooks and casting lines, but fostered camaraderie and friendship, taught boys the value of patience, and gave boys a chance to be themselves and learn from their fellow men what it means to be a man. Playing sports was more than just an opportunity to burn off some energy; it was a chance to learn how to win with humility and lose with grace, a time to learn how to work together as a team and communicate even without words.

Men’s spaces afforded men a place to carry on the traditions that they began in boyhood and to support and encourage each other in their duties as men. A billiards club or cigar lounge was more than just a place to while away a few hours after work, more even than a place to chat with a few friends; it was a place where men could earn one another’s respect, where men could share their troubles and worries with a sympathetic ear without fear of judgment or ridicule or “losing face.” This is important to note: men do not judge one another on the same qualities or in the same way that women judge men. Thus, a man could share with his compatriots the cares and burdens that he could not share even with his wife — not without some degree of embarrassment, at least, or without risking disappointing her. Moreover, men understand how the masculine mind works and can offer suggestions, recommendations, and encouragement that would never occur to the mind of a woman, and that might be just what the worn-out man needs.

These spaces provide men with crucial friendships and support, without which men flounder. A 2021 study from the Survey Center on American Life found that less than 30% of men said that they have at least six close friends — a 55% decrease from 1991. Furthermore, 15% of men said that they had no close friends, and only 21% said that they received emotional support from friends. A more recent survey on “the state of American men” found that roughly two-thirds of men aged 18 to 23 said that “no one really knows me well,” only 22% of men said that they feel they can rely on three or more people close to them, and 44% of men said that they had had thoughts of suicide within the past two weeks.

Just as importantly as ensuring that men have robust and healthy friendships, boys’ and men’s spaces also ensured that boys learned how to be men and men were encouraged in their masculinity. The ideology pervasive throughout the 21st century tells men that they are “oppressive” and labels their masculinity “toxic.” Spaces for boys and men assured them they are the final bulwark against oppression and taught them that their God-given masculinity is a great gift, one which carries with it the responsibility of using it well. It fostered friendship and fraternity, the sort which has been necessary over the course of human history to defend Western civilization.

J.R.R. Tolkien’s Hobbits may be fictional, but the profound friendship and brotherly love between Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee was modeled after the friendships between commissioned officers and enlisted soldiers in World War I. Although modern, sex-obsessed professors may take a different view, the only thing stronger than Achilles’s pride was his friendship with Patroclus. Had the latter never fallen on the field of battle, Rome may have never been founded and the world would look very different indeed. Whether it was David and Jonathan in the Old Testament, Paul and Barnabas in the New, Thomas Aquinas and Bonaventure in the medieval ages, George Washington and the Marquis de Lafayette in the American Revolutionary War, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark in the age of pioneering, or C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien in the 20th century, close male friendships have been a source of heroism and wisdom for the entire world.

While transgenderism has cropped up in various forms from time to time throughout human history — the Roman emperor Nero, for example, wore a dress and makeup and “married” another man in the first century — it has never before approached the epidemic-like scale that it has reached in the 21st century. Boys will be boys. Sadly, not all boys learned that lesson growing up, and some found, upon growing up, that they didn’t want to be boys, since boys are “toxic.” So they said that they became girls.

Maybe if the seeming horde of men who now identify as women had been given spaces where they could learn what a man really is, figure out why men are needed, discover what a man’s purpose is in the world, and be accepted and encouraged as men by their male peers, there wouldn’t be so urgent a need to keep them out of women’s bathrooms.