Why Are Texas Lawmakers Obsessed With What’s In Your Pants?

Republican lawmakers cry actual tears over genitals instead of protecting women.

In Texas, where the real threats to women’s safety, like domestic violence, inadequate healthcare, and wage inequality, go largely unaddressed, Republican lawmakers have chosen instead to police gender identity. HB229, dubbed the “Women’s Bill of Rights,” is nothing more than a transparent attempt to erase transgender and non-binary Texans under the guise of “protecting women.”

As a feminist, I can tell you it isn’t about protecting women. It’s about controlling and dehumanizing people who don’t fit their rigid, outdated definition of gender.

The gender police.

Ellen Troxclair (R-HD19), the bill’s author, insists that HB229 must “protect women” by clearly defining what a woman is. According to her, this is essential because without a definition, women’s rights are supposedly at risk. Never mind the fact that defining women solely by their reproductive capacity is a slap in the face to anyone who can’t or doesn’t have children, whether by choice or circumstance. Never mind that it erases intersex people and ignores the reality that gender identity is more complex than anatomy.

This bill sets a dangerous precedent and turns the government into the “gender police,” inspecting people’s private parts to see if they fit into the narrow boxes Republicans have decided are appropriate.

It’s a deeply invasive, authoritarian overreach. Imagine being questioned about your ability to reproduce just to be legally recognized as yourself. Do we want the government deciding who qualifies as a “real” woman or man based on their internal organs?

The argument that defining women as “those who can produce ova” protects women is scientifically ridiculous and insulting. When Troxclair was questioned about whether this definition would exclude post-menopausal women, women with medical conditions, or even intersex individuals, she fumbled through vague, pseudo-scientific jargon about how it’s about “organization at birth.” But plenty of cisgender women don’t fit this definition. Are they suddenly less of a woman in the eyes of the law?

It’s about controlling who gets to exist in public spaces. It’s about policing identities and weaponizing the concept of “womanhood” against anyone who doesn’t fit a rigid, binary model. It’s transphobic and misogynistic. Reducing womanhood to a set of organs is reductive and regressive, and it’s offensive to anyone who believes that gender is more than biology.

You know what’s really gross? The way Republicans in Texas obsess over what people have in between their legs. They act like defining gender is some moral crusade, but really, it’s just creepy. It’s one thing to have political disagreements, but it’s another entirely to craft legislation around someone’s genitalia. Instead of working to improve women’s safety, access to healthcare, or economic stability, they’re busy trying to legislate how people’s bodies should be categorized.

It’s invasive. It’s weird. And it’s frankly disturbing that grown adults in positions of power are so preoccupied with other people’s bodies.

The bill’s problematic definition of sex.

The bill claims that the state must have a “clear, consistent, and biologically accurate definition” of what it means to be a woman. According to the bill, a “female” is someone whose biological reproductive system is developed to produce ovaries, while a “male” is someone whose system is developed to fertilize ovaries.

Setting aside the fact that this is a profoundly simplistic and scientifically outdated way to define sex, it’s also entirely unworkable. Not all women can produce ova.

The bill reduces womanhood to a single biological function: reproduction. It’s harmful because womanhood is not defined by fertility.

The bill ignores decades of medical and social science that affirm gender as a complex interplay of biology, identity, and social factors. The American Medical Association, the World Health Organization, and numerous other credible institutions have made it clear that sex is not just about reproductive organs. There are chromosomal variations, hormone differences, and a whole spectrum of gender identities that this bill outright ignores.

By enforcing this rigid definition, Texas lawmakers disregard scientific consensus and are also putting people at risk. Imagine being a young intersex person, or a trans woman, living in a state that has decided your identity is invalid because your body doesn’t fit their narrow, outdated categories.

The existence of trans women does not threaten women.

That’s a lie Republicans tell to justify bigotry. Trans women aren’t taking away women’s rights, invading women’s spaces, or posing a danger to anyone. The idea that women are somehow under siege because of trans people existing is as absurd as it is hateful.

The real threats to women? Domestic violence, sexual assault, healthcare barriers, the gender pay gap, and the relentless stripping away of reproductive rights. Those are the issues that actually impact women’s safety and dignity. Yet, you won’t hear Troxclair or her allies pushing bills to address those.

They’re fabricating a problem that doesn’t exist.

Republicans keep claiming that trans women being in women’s spaces is dangerous. Where’s the proof? Study after study shows that trans-inclusive policies do not increase crime or violence. The real danger comes from perpetuating these harmful myths, which lead to discrimination and violence against trans people.

If you take Troxclair’s argument at face value, she’s suggesting that women are safer when trans women are excluded. That’s just not true. There’s zero evidence to support the claim that trans women in bathrooms or locker rooms pose any greater threat than cis women. In reality, it’s trans women who are more likely to face violence, harassment, and discrimination when they’re forced into spaces that don’t align with their gender identity.

Women’s safety is threatened by systemic failures that Republicans consistently enable.

The only ones benefiting from this lie are politicians who want to score cheap points with a fearful, misinformed base. And while they whip up hysteria about imaginary threats, real women, cis and trans, are left to deal with the actual challenges that these lawmakers refuse to address.

And then, in a truly bizarre and uncomfortable turn of events, Troxclair cried tears over not morally approving of other people’s genitals.

I wish I were kidding.

A grown woman, elected to public office, is tearing up because she can’t handle the reality that not everyone’s body fits into her narrow, binary understanding of gender.

But let’s be honest, those tears weren’t for women. They were for her, for her discomfort when faced with bodies and identities she doesn’t understand.

Troxclair and the others surrounding her are grossly preoccupied with other people’s bodies. They’re so consumed by the idea of “protecting” womanhood that they’re willing to cry about it on the House floor because they’re uncomfortable with trans and non-binary people existing.

It’s invasive and weird.

It’s one thing to disagree with someone politically, but it’s another to make legislation out of your personal discomfort with other people’s bodies. It’s creepy, self-absorbed, and has no place in government.

She’s emotional over the idea that people exist who don’t fit into her limited worldview. Tears do not make bigotry compassionate. They make it manipulative. It’s the same old bigotry wrapped in a Mother’s Day bow, and it’s just as harmful as it is cringeworthy.

Weaponizing womanhood to attack trans people isn’t feminism. It’s cowardice, rooted in fear.

Republicans are spending their time obsessing over what’s in people’s pants, an obsession that’s invasive, creepy, and fundamentally un-American.

Texas women don’t need protection from trans women. We need protection from Republican lawmakers who use their discomfort as an excuse to strip others of their humanity. HB229 is a hateful, backward piece of legislation that should be called out for turning bigotry into law.

It’s time to stop the gender policing, end the obsession with controlling other people’s identities, and focus on making Texas a safer, more just place for all women, cis, trans, and non-binary alike. We deserve better.

• June 2: The 89th Legislative Session ends.

• June 3: The beginning of the 2026 election season.

• Click here to find out what Legislative districts you’re in.

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