TGC Senior Editor Criticizes 'What Is A Woman' Doc for Not Being 'Empathetic' Enough

Brett McCracken, the pastor of Southlands Brea Church and Senior Editor and Director of Communications at The Gospel Coalition has released a review of Matt Walsh’s ‘What is a Woman’ Documentary, ultimately giving it a favorable rating, but also offering some pointed criticisms of the work, declaring that it’s not ’empathetic’ enough. He explains:

The film is rife with easy targets: a San Francisco nudist, a trans wolf therian, various gender-ambiguous people interviewed on the street. And while it’s good to show the absurdity of it all, one wonders if a bit more empathy could have strengthened Walsh’s case. These people are tragically confused, after all. Yet within the film’s first few minutes, Walsh calls “idiots” those who reject differences between male and female. Name-calling is not a great tactic in persuasion, nor in evangelism.
For Christians, the posture of mockery cannot be the way. We aren’t going to shame anyone into reason, let alone into the kingdom. Trans people are broken and lost, and our endgame should not be to rub their nose in their brokenness but to lift their eyes to the hope that can finally heal: Jesus Christ.

He explains that “mockery” cannot be the way, but we find it difficult to take him seriously, on account that he’s not really known for his excellence and discernment in films.

Curiously, McCracken reserves stronger criticism for this film than he did for a host of other far more offensive ones. You’ll recall his top 20 list of favorite shows featured a whole bunch that were rated ‘R”, for language, violence, and frequently for scenes of sex and nudity.

Notably, he also shared his list of favorite TV shows, including one on HBO that is Rated TV-M. The show is the functional equivalent to-rated ‘R’ and is deemed unsuitable for those under the age of 17. The 6-episode show contains tons of filthy language, sex jokes, sex scenes, copious amounts of male nudity, and some female nudity as well. In fact, (warning, graphic description ahead) at one point there is a graphic sex scene featuring two fully nude men, and one has his face in the back-end of the other, doing very homosexual things to his anus with his mouth.

McCracken didn’t ‘review’ that show perse, but did describe it as one of his favorites on account of “the transportive nature of the arts” and reveled in how “beauty makes sense when little else does.” The only caution he had for that show was an endnote that read “As always, use discernment in what you choose to watch. Some movies and shows listed above contain objectionable content.”

That’s TGC for you.