The Prime of Gender Ideology: Lessons from Miss Jean Brodie
In Memory of Maggie Smith and Every "Mary" Lost to This Ideology
Today, the world mourns the loss of Dame Maggie Smith, an icon whose performances have spanned decades and generations. Among her many roles, one stands out with particular relevance to me: Miss Jean Brodie, a character who, though charismatic and beloved by her students, wielded her influence with devastating consequences.
In The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Dame Maggie portrayed a teacher in 1930s Edinburgh who believed she was molding her students into the “crème de la crème” of society. Brodie was certain of her righteousness, pushing “the Brodie set” to follow not only her educational path but also her romanticized ideologies, especially her fascination with fascism. Her certainty, though well-meaning in her own mind, led to disaster, particularly for one vulnerable student, Mary, whose tragic death was a result of Miss Brodie’s influence.
Miss Brodie’s conviction, wrapped in righteousness, mirrors today’s gender ideology movement. Many of us once believed we were doing the right thing—supporting young women in their quest to self-define—but as stories from desisted and detransitioned women now show, that well-meaning support sometimes leads to irreversible harm.
Just like Miss Brodie’s favored students, today’s gender-confused girls are being pushed into a singular narrative: that their discomfort with their bodies means they were "born in the wrong body." This narrative sometimes is driven by well-meaning adults who, like Miss Brodie, are tragically misguided.
The stories of desisted and detransitioned women, including those involved with WDI USA's Desisted and Detransitioned Women’s Caucus, reveal the real-life consequences of this ideology—irreversible physical harm, psychological trauma, and deep regret. Much like Mary in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, many young women today are led down a dangerous path due to the romanticization of gender medicalization.
Miss Brodie’s infatuation with authoritarian figures like Mussolini parallels today’s blind glorification of “gender-affirming care.” Both gloss over the messy, painful realities beneath the surface. Just as Miss Brodie's influence led to Mary's tragic fate, today's gender ideology pushes many young women toward medical interventions they may come to regret, with some even facing life-ending, iatrogenic harm.
In the resolution, it was Sandy, one of Miss Brodie’s students, who recognized the danger and took action to protect others. Similarly, we—those of us who once supported gender ideology—must now step up to protect younger women from the false promises of medical transition. We must amplify the voices of desisters and detransitioners, whose lived experiences shed light on the harmful consequences of this ideology.
Miss Jean Brodie’s famous declaration, "Give me a girl at an impressionable age, and she is mine for life," serves as a chilling reminder of the influence adults hold over young people. Today, young girls grappling with social pressures and body image issues are frequently love-bombed in online forums and told that gender medicalization is the answer to their problems. But as the women in the WDI USA Desisted and Detransitioned Women’s Caucus state, identifying out of one’s sex is an impossible goal.
Miss Brodie’s downfall came from her blind certainty, which ultimately harmed the very students she sought to uplift. Today’s advocates of gender ideology often exhibit the same certainty, but we have the chance to learn from these mistakes before more young women’s lives are irrevocably altered.
It’s up to us to listen to desisted and detransitioned women—those who have endured the consequences of trying to escape their sex—and, like Sandy, boldly speak out. By amplifying these voices, addressing the root causes of young women’s distress, and exposing how the gender industrial complex exploits vulnerable girls, we can help the “Brodie sets” of gender ideology embrace their womanhood on their own terms.