Dear editor:
Ladies, it’s time to check your reflection before heading out. Is your hair long enough? Your makeup just right? Your outfit feminine enough?
Because thanks to Wyoming Representative Jayme Lien and her absurd “What Is a Woman Act” (HB0032), simply existing in public as a woman might require you to pass a gender inspection.
This bill, masquerading as a way to “protect women,” does the exact opposite. Instead of making spaces safer, it invites scrutiny — encouraging strangers, businesses, and even the government to assess whether we look “woman enough” to be where we are.
Its supporters will tell you it’s about defining biological sex in law, but let’s be real — this is about control.
Under this bill, your legal sex is based strictly on your reproductive anatomy at birth, meaning anyone who doesn’t fit some narrow, outdated ideal of womanhood could find themselves harassed or questioned.
Too tall? Too broad-shouldered? Short hair, no makeup, comfortable shoes? Be prepared to be a suspect. This law isn’t just targeting trans women — it’s putting every woman under the gaze of self-appointed gender police.
And the creepiest part? This bill doesn’t just dictate where women can go — it reinforces the idea that womanhood must be constantly performed, constantly verified, constantly up for debate.
It tells us our gender is something that can be challenged at any moment by anyone who decides we don’t look quite right.
The people empowered by this bill aren’t women in need of protection—it’s the vigilantes, the busybodies, the self-righteous enforcers of “traditional femininity.”
It’s the strangers in public restrooms, the customers at the gym, the people who will now feel emboldened to stare, whisper, and report anyone they deem suspicious.
If this bill becomes law, the harassment won’t stop with trans women. It will hit every woman who dares to step outside the rigid mold of femininity. T
he cancer survivor who lost her hair. The teenage athlete with a strong build. The mom who prefers jeans over skirts. The grandmother who never wore makeup a day in her life. So congratulations, Jayme Lien—you haven’t protected women. You’ve put a target on our backs.
So, ladies, be warned: in Lien’s Wyoming, you’d better make sure you look the part before you leave the house. Throw on a dress. Fix your hair. Swipe on some lipstick. Because the gender police are watching, and they’ve been given permission to decide whether you belong.
Sincerely,
Kim Johnson, Casper
