The Trouble with Progressive Themes in Gaming

An analytical exploration of an observed phenomenon where creative professionals experience a significant decline in the quality of their work after gender transition, examining case studies of the Wachowski sisters (Matrix series) and Dragon Age: Veilguard. This video explores potential biological, psychological, and social factors behind this pattern, including hormonal changes, creative adaptations, and social dynamics.

[00:00:00]

Malcolm Collins: Hello, Simone. I am excited today to be talking to you about a phenomenon.

that I call the Wachowski effect, because it is something I have noticed in media. And we will be using two prominent examples of this. One is the Matrix series and the other is the Dragon Age series and, and Veilguard specifically as a particularly prominent example of this. In which a previously really talented creative or writer becomes really, really terrible after undergoing a gender transition into a woman.

And when I say they become really, really terrible, I don't mean conservatives start hating their work. I mean Like, everyone starts hating their work. And I want to explore both the timelines of this, so people can see, like, okay, so for example, with Veilguard, oh my god, I [00:01:00] was just watching some scenes from it, and it is so painful.

But we will go through them. You don't even know, like, it's not bad. It actively hurts to consume where, like, I'm not even going to play the clips because if I play full clips of these scenes in this episode, People will stop watching this show just because of the pain it's delivering to you, the viewer.

Speaker: Oh, um. Ah, s**t. They, they're still holding it. Sorry. What are you doing? Pulling a barv. Oh, okay. A barv? There's not always time for big, drawn out apologies. So, when one of us screws up and we know we've screwed up, we do a quick ten to put it right. Pulling above.

Speaker 6: It is a reminder that through struggle you find what you are. And you have never done so. Evatash has. They Are stronger than you will [00:02:00] ever be!

Simone Collins: Yeah, like even, even an ally would find this painful and not something they want to watch. Yes and to

Malcolm Collins: understand the effects of this, because we've seen a lot of woke games fail this year. This isn't quite as bad as something like, oh, what was the last one that we talked about?

Concord But like just a horrible failure that we talked about.

But it, it was bad and people knew it was going to be woke and this was a successful franchise before. So we've got different estimates of sales for this.

Microphone (2- ATR2100x-USB Microphone): Since recording this, we've gotten more accurate numbers in,

Microphone (2- ATR2100x-USB Microphone)-1: It looks like it's pulled in about 63 million in earnings or about one fifth of what it needs to break even.

Malcolm Collins: it's it's current player count for peak daily is around 36, 000 players. There, so. Only, like, three episodes. Honestly, based

Simone Collins: on the footage you shared with me, even just the character design, which honestly super yucks my yum, but just the, I, it's impressive that people [00:03:00] can work through that.

Speaker 2: So, I'm non binary.

What does that mean?

Huh, I have big fingers. That

Speaker: means I don't feel like a man or a woman. If you are neither a man nor a woman, then what are you?

Speaker 2: Non binary. I just said, and I'm going to use they instead of she from now

Microphone (2- ATR2100x-USB Microphone)-2: Just a note here. Okay, this is a mistake I had made throughout the recording. I assumed that this individual, from the way that they looked was a non passing trans woman, but they are actually a non passing , non-binary individual that looks and codes male.

Microphone (2- ATR2100x-USB Microphone)-3: But was born a woman.

Microphone (2- ATR2100x-USB Microphone)-2: , I suspect the reason for this is that the writers of this are non passing trans women and they identifying more with a biological woman who is non passing nonbinary.

So they are basically attempting to write themselves into the story as if they had been born a woman.

Simone Collins: Like they're [00:04:00] really trying this feels like I there was that year when I just had norovirus like three times in a row and I was just constantly at food poisoning, but I'm the kind of person who just eats through food poisoning. So I don't not eat and just like that feeling of, like, you're incredibly sick.

You are constantly vomiting, but you keep eating the food. That is what I imagine playing this game is like, like, you, you are like, you're still. It

Malcolm Collins: is eating vomits level appetizer. Yeah, actually it is worse than Concord or even Dustborn.

When I was watching it, because I, I watched like video playthroughs of Dustborn and I found it cringe in like a funny way occasionally and like the main character was super hateable and manipulated all her friends and everything. And that's another thing about. The characters in this is the characters that are supposed to be woke representations are genuinely awful, awful, awful.

Yeah. What is this? [00:05:00] I will play like a bit of a scene here so you can understand how disconnected these people are from reality. Where the character that's supposed to be trans representation her mother tries really hard to be accepting of her and she's just a complete b***h about it.

Speaker: Under the Qun, the term for one whose gender does not match the one given to them at birth was a Qunothloc. Perhaps you are like that. Why do you have to keep picking at it? Why can't you just be happy for me? Ebra. So I'm supposed to struggle with who I am? Even if I don't feel like I fit?

Speaker 2: Even if I feel wrong?

Speaker: No. You've misunderstood.

Speaker 2: Then say it better! Why am I never enough for you

Malcolm Collins: And then, After her mother dies, she takes her mother's horn.

So like part of her bones and wears it as like a thing, even though she knows her mother would disapprove of this. And this is one of the things that her mother really hated was her adopting these practices that were of [00:06:00] a people in a culture she did not identify with.

Speaker 8: You're her mother's horn.

You wear it as jewelry, like the Rivaini do.

Speaker 2: Yeah. Ravaini, where are their stories?

Speaker 8: She would

Speaker 2: like it. She'd be so pissed. She would.

Simone Collins: Well, and didn't one of the clips that you'd sent to me, perhaps my memory deceives me?

But the player selected the option of just don't say anything. And yet the character then came on to someone else in a really aggressive, creepy way.

Malcolm Collins: Oh no. Yeah. So if you're like a female character, this is actually like, to me, it shows how blind. So I think for a lot of lesbian women, the absolute horror.

Is some non passing Six five woman pressing them against the wall and putting them in a situation where they feel super threatened and this woman doesn't realize this person is not recognizing them as a woman at [00:07:00] all that they look like a giant man to them. And there is a Scene in the game where she's supposed to be hitting on someone and she puts what can be a, a petite woman in this scenario really aggressively without them actively consenting.

Speaker 12: Are you trying to have sex with me? Wow, you know, in my daydreams this is where you lean over me and slap the wall. Quick think about us having sex.

Speaker 13: So now we need to figure out if it's cash lock or tomlock Tomlock is serious. Like you want to grab that and taste its neck right by the collarbone

Simone Collins: No, but specifically in the gameplay. And if memory serves, the players like recording this demo selected the option of say nothing, like basically don't escalate this further. Yeah. And then the character nevertheless, like despite the players non consent escalates the situation further. And you're like, no,

Malcolm Collins: no, no, no, no.

Everything about this is written by [00:08:00] somebody who seems to have no idea how flirting works. So there's another scene where they're like, Oh You gave me this gift and they're like, yeah, I like, really like you for like your talents and your other talents and you smell really good. Like, I love that's

Speaker 33: We had a request for the defense to the Joe Biden hair snip. So, if you have some creepy dude, it doesn't have to be Joe Biden, alright? If you have some creepy dude who comes up behind you and it's like, you know, making you feel really awkward touching in a way you don't really think is cool and kind of sniffing your hair, it's kind of weird, right?

It's a little weird. okay? So, what we're gonna do is, well, one thing you could do is you could just, boom, headbutt him, right?

Simone Collins: The scene I'm talking about where the to say, don't say anything more.

And then it selects that option. And she says more and it's like,

Speaker 3: I got you a thing.

Speaker 5: Oh, [00:09:00] Tosh. It's gorgeous. The stitching.

Speaker 2: Yeah, because I appreciate your skills. At archery.

Speaker 5: Thank you, Tosh. That's really sweet.

Speaker 2: You're really nice. And, um, you smell good. Oh. Thank you? Really good.

Speaker 5: Hey, Tosh. Do you wanna come with me to break this in?

Speaker 2: Yeah. Like Now?

Speaker 6: Of course, now. Oh, good. Let's go.

Malcolm Collins: Oh, and then, and then keep it on. We say, she, this is a non passing trans person. So it looks like a giant, like, I

Simone Collins: don't know. If I were asked as someone, I would, I would just say that it was a very ugly woman, like an [00:10:00] extremely ugly female, but I just think that their entire kind is extremely ugly.

So, but like, I don't know. But anyway, no,

Malcolm Collins: no, no. So what I love in that scene is she's then rewarded with the other person who she's flirting with being like, yeah, let's have sex right now. Yeah. What? This is not, and, and, and here people can be like, oh, this is just a bad writer. And this is where the Wachowski effect becomes really important.

Because what other games did this person wrote? Was it, was a writer on? They were a writer on Mass Effect. They're a writer on Dragon Age Origins. They're a writer on Mass Effect 2. I think one of the best written games I've ever played. Mass Effect 2, Layer of the Shadow Broker. They're a writer.

They're the senior writer on Mass Effect 3. Okay, so we have every expectation that they should

Simone Collins: be amazing.

Malcolm Collins: Okay Mass Effect 3, From the Ashes, they were a writer. Mass Effect 3, Leviathan, they were a writer. Mass Effect 3, Citadel, they were a writer. Dragon Age Inquisition, they were a writer. Dragon Age Inquisition, Jaws of Hakkon, they were a writer.

Dragon Age Inquisition, Trespasser, they were the lead writer. And then they were the lead writer on [00:11:00] Veilguard. And somebody can be like, Do you know when they transitioned? Do know when they transitioned, because we can find pictures of them, and I'll put one on screen here but specifically this individual, hold on transitioned they transitioned in 2020, so after their last other writing and before Veilguard, if you're looking for when the witch house came out, So, for people who don't know, the people who wrote the original matrix Malcolm,

Simone Collins: Wachowski sisters, Jesus.

Malcolm Collins: Sorry, the Wachowski sisters. They were originally called the Wachowski brothers when they wrote the first matrix, and that's what I know them as, but the Wachowski sisters now wrote the Sorry, if it was Dragon Age, I'd have to do push ups.

So whenever you upset this particular Very physically imposing character. They force you to do push ups, basically and at first they the person accepts it like sort of willingly where one person is like, oh, I accidentally misgendered you so i'll do push ups and they have a total two minute cut scene on very very uncomfortable cut scene on accidentally misgendering somebody and [00:12:00] then

Simone Collins: I don't know.

I kind of like this. You get buff and they get lame. Whatever.

Malcolm Collins: Well, no, because they are physically and intimidating you into a physical act of submission. That

Simone Collins: is

Malcolm Collins: the

Simone Collins: heart. You are prostrate on the

Malcolm Collins: floor. Oh, that's interesting. Yeah. This is what a trans woman who wrote this thought was an appropriate thing to force women into a submissive position to them and prostrate themselves to them as a, as a like, this is very like a sexual play thing.

It's really messed up. And then there's another instance where a girl simply accidentally ate all the food and she pressures her into doing this.

Speaker 7: Who ate the last breaded cheese wand? Oh no, I'm sorry. I guess I thought, well, I don't know what.

Speaker 2: It's fine.

Speaker 7: No, no.

They're your favorite.

Speaker 6: Say you're sorry some more. That'll fix it.

Speaker 7: No, you're right. I'm pulling a barb. [00:13:00] One

Speaker 6: two Three

Malcolm Collins: And this is again, a, a woman who is physically very petite compared to her, who she very clearly physically dominates. But anyway, so if we're talking about like.

The Matrix series getting bad, it actually correlates with the transitions as well. So if you look at Lana Wachowski, formerly Larry she began her transition in 2000, 2003 was the beginning of the Matrix sequels. So if you look at the first thing of Matrix sequels, they got worse, but they weren't like dog, Duty quality like the sisters later work.

If you then look at when the second one transitioned, it was before cloud atlas. And then the next matrix trilogy which I think everyone basically agrees that everything from that point on that they did was just an absolute failure. And nobody was like, this isn't me saying like, it's bad.

Nobody watched any of this stuff. Like it objectively [00:14:00] bombed at a critical level.

Simone Collins: Yeah, I, so this is what I find very perplexing about this because I think Wachowski syndrome or the Wachowski effect is very real. But what also confuses me is that. One, there are plenty of female writers in history who have done great work that a lot of people of all genders have appreciated.

So it's not just that being female makes you terrible, although one could argue that women are better at certain types of writing. And then two, when, when there have been studies that look at differences in female performance, Based on where they are in their cycle, women who are experiencing surges of estrogen have a boost in intelligence.

Per, per my memory, I can try to dig up the research. So you can put it in the links. But my understanding is that more estrogen. Also correlates with more intelligence [00:15:00] in, in like across women's cycles. So within subjects, so that, so I'm like, well, then why why should a man who's getting more doses of estrogen, like, is it also like the, the additional drop in testosterone service?

So, for example, and I'm saying this just as a. Like personally, but we recently had my blood worked on like a really detailed blood panel and my testosterone is super low, like even for a woman. And we asked our doctor for some analysis on this and he pointed out that if you're taking exogenous estrogen, which I am I take similar doses that a trans woman would take because I'm screwed up for other reasons.

You, you may also see. A drop in your other endogenously produced hormones, including testosterone, because your body's like, oh, we're doing this externally now. Sweet. I'm going to take a vacation. See you later. And so maybe what's happening is that, okay, while they are getting a boost in estrogen, they're also not just seeing, like, [00:16:00] An easing up of testosterone, but like that plummeting and that can just screw up their brain in totally different ways in a way that like a normal woman who's having normal endogenous estrogen isn't seeing like a woman who's getting her own natural estrogen production probably also isn't going to have unusually low testosterone.

So I wonder if there's been any research on. Trans women on hormones.

Malcolm Collins: You've invalidated this theory already.

Simone Collins: I have? Okay.

Malcolm Collins: , so what you said that you may not have noticed you said is you have an unusually low level of testosterone. And yet you are peak performance in terms of, I've interacted with a lot of women, I've interacted with few women as smart and creative as you.

Simone Collins: So Well, no, no, no, but what we're also, what we're talking about, Matt, what I'm, what I'm trying to say is what may be happening. The point I'm making is that in addition to being on Exogenous estrogen, their levels of their former levels of testosterone may have plummeted in a way that damages them.

And my point also is that typically men who transition [00:17:00] to women when they're in the creative profession. They're still creating the same kind of content. It's not like once, then once they transition to women, they're like switched to writing romance novels and like soft stuff. Like they're staying in action films and video games and things like that.

And men are just better at writing that just like men are funnier. Like men are better in comedy, I would argue. Like maybe the problem is that with a lot of these creative people, they're not realizing that what they used to be good at. is going to be different now that they're on a different hormonal profile.

Malcolm Collins: And I, I think that this is the right answer. So, and I, and I think, well, it's not, it's, it's part of the right answer. I think there is a few right answers to this. So we're going to be uniquely charitable to trans people. I think the actual answer that we're looking at here is if you look at like Mass Effect 2, remember I said Mass Effect 2, I loved Mass Effect 2, writing.

Yeah. What makes Mass Effect 2 so good is it has very good lore. It has very good background lore, who the species are, how they interact, the background of the universe, what happened when humans first met [00:18:00] them, what are their, like, biology, everything like that. This is the type of stuff that a male brain specializes at writing.

This isn't interpersonal interactions, this isn't any of that stuff, right? Like, this isn't, when I think, like, what do females specialize at writing, I'm thinking, like, Slash fan fiction type stuff and then expand it, you know, your your 50 shades of gray type stuff your interview with a vampire type stuff they are not universes that are great because of their lore They are universes that are great because of their emotional pulls and characters

Simone Collins: I mean, I think of jk rowling and harry potter, which is one of the most popular fan universes That is a good lore universe.

I'll agree. Yeah But then you know, I also think like I struggle with this because i've been thinking about this as we've talked about it You Think about people like Ayn Rand, whose work comes across as pretty masculine to me. But then I also think about Ayn Rand's lifestyle. And I feel like she was probably a very high testosterone woman.

When you, when you look at how she lived her life, like wasn't she polyamorous too? It's a point

Malcolm Collins: Simone, that these [00:19:00] individuals rose to fame and prominence and honed their skill to optimize their brain as it existed before transition. No,

Simone Collins: exactly. And then transitioning, they don't realize that like. They don't have the hormonal profile for that anymore.

It's

Malcolm Collins: not just that they don't have the hormonal profile. They spent their entire adolescence, university career, and everything like that honing one instrument. And then somebody took that instrument away and gave them another instrument. They think that basically they spent their entire life learning to become a guitar expert.

And then somebody gave them like a, a mandolin and they're trying to play it like they're playing a guitar. And they, and they need to learn a completely new instrument. And the reality is, is that an individual who undergoes a gender transition may never be as good at creative tasks as somebody born into that gender because they just didn't undergo adolescence as that gender.

They didn't. Learn how to use that instrument the way somebody of that [00:20:00] gender would have over their entire lives Learn to use that instrument and this is even taking a transgender's person's perspective on this saying Yes, when you gender transition your brain actually transitions to be more like the brain of a female That being the case.

That means you're not going to know how to use it. Like you're just not going to have the expertise and so when I look at the mistakes I see Both in the matrix later matrix series and veil guard they are mistakes in the things that women are typically really good at which is interpersonal relationship stuff they are interpersonal relationship scenes that are done by women Terrifically poorly.

Like, like almost inhumanly poorly. Like, you wouldn't expect even a child to think it was a good idea to release this.

Simone Collins: Right.

Malcolm Collins: So that could be an explanation. What do you think of that theory?

Simone Collins: I don't see how you're making the connection, because you're arguing that you, you've gone from [00:21:00] as a trans woman, to being a trans woman.

A very masculine mindset to now a feminized mindset. And yet you're still trying to write masculine scenes. And theoretically they'd be better at that. Cause now they're on all this. That's not what I'm saying. That's not what I'm

Malcolm Collins: saying. Consider the analogy I just use. It's like you have a new instrument.

Okay. They learned how to use a masculine brain to do what a masculine brain was good at doing. They now have a feminine brain. They need to. Completely learn writing from scratch. It's like they are now it's, it's not like they, they

Simone Collins: understand where the instrument like play out the instrument analogy, like they learned how to play violin now they're given a piano and they suck at playing piano.

Is that all you're saying?

Malcolm Collins: They spent 30 years of their life learning to play violin. Okay. Now they are a piano player. A piano was put in front of them. And they have to learn to play that piano as well as a world expert who has been training on the piano [00:22:00] for 30 years. You're just

Simone Collins: saying that like they lack the practice and that's why they suck.

It's not

Malcolm Collins: that they lack the practice. the practice. It's that they built expertise to become a world class player was a completely different instrument and then had the arrogance to assume that when they switched out that instrument, they would still be in a world class league and they just aren't. In fact, they're not just at not a world class league.

They're at a league that a five year old girl would be at because they've had a girl brain for five years and a five year old girl has had a girl brain for five years.

Simone Collins: So this reminds me a little bit of that similar phenomenon where you will have a Nobel Prize winner in physics or something, decide that they're going to enter nutrition influencing, and then they just like give the worst advice in the entire world and people believe them because they won a Nobel Prize and you're saying like, yeah, you know, the Wachowski sister is like amazing films and then people are like, okay.

Well, but now they're women. I [00:23:00] mean, it's not exactly the same situation, but yeah, essentially it's this, you, you assume that you're going to be able to do well in this new life because you're, you've, you've hit it out of the park so far and how you can't do wrong. And I guess you are looking at, in these cases that we're looking at with this video game and with Wachowski films.

People who may have gotten into their heads that and been surrounded by people who believe they can do no wrong because they've really done great work. And maybe that's also an issue. And maybe you don't see this at the level of. everyday people who are transitioning because they haven't been told that they walk on water and they aren't just assuming that everything they touch turns to gold.

So maybe they're not so Well, I

Malcolm Collins: don't know. So I've actually seen this with and it's, it's, it's a really distinct thing you see. Cause I, I have a lot of, you know, trans friends who have transitioned and people would be like, Oh my God, you know, you say critical things about like gender transition and trans people in sports.

You can't possibly have trans friends. And it's like, not all trans people are that brainwashed. There's like some [00:24:00] real. Trans people out there who are normal, non creepy people and I think that when I look at the posts and when I look at the content that they make, one common complaint they have is everyone around them, especially if they're coders, begins to act as if they don't know what they're talking about anymore.

And their understanding of this is, They all think, and all the trans women I know, when I talk to them, they're like, Oh, everyone thinks I don't know how to code anymore. They think that this is a sign of discrimination against women. When it really might be that they're just becoming shittier coders.

And they are, and I think that similar with Veil Guard, something about this happening makes these individuals. Unable to see that criticism may be justified. So when you look at Veilguard and you look at these interpersonal interactions, you're like, Oh my God, these are painful.

Speaker 14: You've got no problem fighting other Qunari. I'm from Ravaine. Not like I follow the Qun. You've got the arm ropes? [00:25:00] Sure. I wear a lot of stuff. You don't get to tell me who I am

Speaker 16: Still a stupid name. Dragon King. Dragons wouldn't have kings. They'd have queens.

Malcolm Collins: Well, if these individuals think that this is normal interaction, if they think that this is normal hitting on someone, if they think that this is normal flirting if they were a coder, would they not?

In the same way, not realize in intersocial interactions that they may not be in the right. And I think that this is a separate problem that happens with the trans community is they end up in their social environments. We're being validated and not being told that they have overstepped social boundaries, which is really normal because they can.

Okay.

Simone Collins: Yeah. So basically leftist culture. Has done the same thing to even normal, mediocre people in like their everyday careers. What fame and fortune has done to the Wachowski sisters where they're like, you can do no wrong. You're amazing. So brave. And then they just [00:26:00] also still assume that they're fine.

Well, yeah, they're being.

Malcolm Collins: Leftist culture is about validating people when they use specific arguments. Not all the time. Yeah, like to the point

Simone Collins: of gaslighting. Gaslighting people about their competence and success, as long as they're leaning into the approved progressive culture.

Malcolm Collins: Yeah, and it can cause them, I think, think to not realize when their skills are slipping when contrasted with their coworkers.

And the arguments that I hear from them is I've been in this industry for X many years. Therefore I know better than these other people, but that's a very feminine argument. Like men don't argue like that. They don't say I've been in this industry for longer than you have. Therefore I know better. It's I did X thing recently, therefore I know better.

Like here, look, this is where you're practically wrong on this. And I think that there's a secondary phenomenon here, which I actually think is what causes more of the Wachowski effect. So far I've been very generous. [00:27:00]

Simone Collins: Okay.

Malcolm Collins: However, as I have said, well, I do believe that some individuals are like, if I believe that.

Human body is gender dimorphic, which it is, and the human brain is gender dimorphic, which it is. Are there rare instances where somebody is born with a brain that is gender dimorphic in a different way? I mean, yeah, it must happen in some rare set of circumstances.

Simone Collins: No, no, no, but like, I think that's also actually shown in some studies where people who identified, at least before this whole trans thing was big, as gay tended to show certain thought patterns and fMRIs or something like that.

Yeah, but

Malcolm Collins: you didn't see this as trans individuals. Yeah,

Simone Collins: but they were more similar to, but yeah, but these days now especially with natal women, they're like, Oh, you're into women. You must be trans. So like, I don't know.

Malcolm Collins: So now what we have is a phenomenon where. And I think anyone who's being honest knows this.

You can look at our heads. Trans identity been used by a cult to grow. There is a self [00:28:00] replicating mimetic virus that has used the protections that trans identity offers. And when I say the protections that it offers, it's that there is at least certain communities you can go to. And once you've been infected with the virus, it.

Directs you to coat yourself in these communities that will prevent the virus from ever being questioned or threatened That only cares about self replication It doesn't care about making individuals lives better. It doesn't care about efficacy It is like a memetic cordyceps virus that infects an individual's brain and people don't know the cordyceps virus

 Spores from a parasitic fungus called cordyceps have infiltrated their bodies and their minds.

Its infected brain directs this ant upwards. Those afflicted, that are discovered by the workers, are quickly taken away and dumped far away from the colony. It seems extreme. But this is the reason why. Like something out of science fiction, the fruiting body of the cordyceps erupts [00:29:00] from the ant's head. And when finished, the deadly spores will burst from its tip.

The fungus is so virulent, it can wipe out whole colonies of ants. And it's not just ants that fall victim to this killer. The more numerous a species becomes, the more likely it'll be attacked

Malcolm Collins: A lot of people who are trans these days, I think are really just infected with a self replicating memetic virus, which cares nothing about them.

In many of them, it leads to, I mean, as we know, the unaliving attempt rate within the trans community is around 50%. Incredibly high. Wait, is

Simone Collins: it that, is it really that high? I thought it was 35%,

Malcolm Collins: yeah.

Simone Collins: Gosh. Okay.

Malcolm Collins: Yeah, it is. It is people who are like, Oh, gender transition solves this. It's like, well, the data is actually not as strong as you would think there.

And they're like, well, it at least lowers it. And it's like, well, we know from when the Travis dot clinic was being dismantled, they had internal data that they hadn't shared publicly that showed that when somebody goes on purity blockers, their unaliving rate goes up [00:30:00] significantly. That's disturbing

Simone Collins: because so many parents, proceeded with youth gender transition being told that their children would end themselves if they didn't support it.

Malcolm Collins: Well, I mean, this is the problem with the virus, right? The virus kills individuals. And we know from the, um, no normal psychological field. Would you tell somebody, Oh, you have X problem. And if you don't do X, then you're going to, Unalive yourself because of course it's going to lead to a higher rate of unaliving oneself is an incredibly sticky thing.

It's in fact such a sticky thing that it used to be like when you would go to journalism school, you had to go to specific classes about never publishing stories when somebody did this, etc. Because it was so contagious as a concept. And yet it is built in as a concept here. People are like, Oh, well, what about kids who get this?

Look at this, the, the study the 2023 study gender discontentedness and nonconforming use. It shows that of 11 year olds who don't identify with their birth gender more than nine out of 10 to [00:31:00] them completely identify was it by the time that you reached 23. And when you're looking at these really high unaliving rates, of course, like you're like, Oh yeah, this.

this should not be promoted in these age ranges. But what I'm saying here, you know, separately than this, because here we're talking about the Wachowski effect is if it is this sort of cordyceps virus that begins to eat more and more of their throats, Thoughts and it becomes the only thing they can focus on.

It also explains why they add it in so many places throughout the game. Like, if I'm a man, I don't in my games, add a bunch of like women being degraded just automatically, or if I'm a woman, I don't add a bunch of like 50 shades of gays, gray stuff to every game.

Simone Collins: Please tell me that this is a game porn video because it needs to be.

Malcolm Collins: I am a no, no, but if I have like a fetish, right? Like I don't add that to everything if I'm a gay guy, like a lot of gay guys can write a game without adding like really uncomfortable gay [00:32:00] scenes throughout the game. They would be like, oh, yeah, if I force like the main character, so there's like a scene where you can like practically be forced to identify as trans accidentally in this game.

Speaker 9: Here we go. Take a long hard look at in it, kid. It'll always show the face of a hero who can get it done. Establishes transgender identity. I love who I am. It feels good to see the real me.

I mean, every single option makes me transgender. I, I, there's no option not to be transgender.

Microphone (Wireless Microphone Rx): Nope. There is actually a back button here for anybody who is listening to this on podcast. , he is pretending not to notice it for comedic effect or maybe he doesn't notice it. , but every option within this particular sub menu does force you to be trans.

, so a person might get forced into this.

If they were playing in a style where they didn't go back on any choices they made.

Speaker 9: It's a, this is, makes me trans, this one does, and this one does. I don't know why I have to be trans, This is what Donald Trump was talking about!

I'm [00:33:00] getting there! It feels good to see the real me!

Speaker 10: It took a while for me to figure out why the face staring back from the mirror felt wrong. But once I was able to be honest with myself, It was a relief to figure out I was trans. And it's worth it to look in the mirror today and see the man I am staring back.

Speaker 9: Can I, can I do it again? Uh,

well,

alright.

Malcolm Collins: If I force a character to be gay in this game, like the protagonist, people aren't going to like it. And this is a project that people spent 10 years of their life on. And a company spent a quarter billion dollars on, I should not be putting this into a game. And if you're gay, like normal gay people are going to be like, yeah, that makes sense.

Even [00:34:00] like non normal gay people that are like, yeah, that makes sense. also, I

Simone Collins: feel the really weird thing about all this too, is that, you know, it's a trope, but I think tropes and stereotypes come from a place of truth because patterns emerge, et cetera. Right. Not always, but frequently. Gay people are kind of famously good creatively.

Like trans people, you just think that like, because if they're all part of the LGBTQ, whatever community that like, Hmm, like things would get a little better.

Speaker 25: All civilization was just an effort to impress the opposite sex. And sometimes the same sex.

Malcolm Collins: But yeah I agree with you on that.

Well, I think that this is, this is part of it is I think a lot of the people. And I know that this is super offensive who undergo gender transition are just homophobic gay people. And they undergo gender transition because it's for them an easier way to deal. And there's some cultures where this is just [00:35:00] obviously true.

This is why in a lot of these ultra conservative cultures like Iran and stuff like that, due to transition is how you deal with same sex attraction. You know, I, I can totally understand. And I think that anyone who looks honestly, you can be like, are some people who transition here. I'm not saying everyone here.

I'm not saying most. Are some people who gender transition homophobic gay people. Yeah, like of course some home. Yeah, you're gonna

Simone Collins: get some you're gonna get some yeah

Malcolm Collins: and so would Mr. Garrison Right, like, that's the he represents that but yeah

Speaker 28: I've Forgiven you for walking out on me after I had my sex change.

And, uh, and I'm ready to take you back,

Speaker 27: there's something you should know.

Al and I are getting married.

Speaker 28: You can't get married, you're f*****s! Oh, Jesus Christ, Mr. Slave. I am legally a woman. Now, if you wanna get married, you have to marry me.

Speaker 27: Colorado is about to pass a bill, which allows same sex marriage. We'll just see about this, you fudge packin fags! I'll stop that gay marriage law! [00:36:00] Oh my god, you're just saying that because you're jealous! Jealous of what? I'm

Speaker 28: doing this out of principle! To protect the sanctity of marriage!

Malcolm Collins: So for some of these individuals they might have been drawn to the creative industry originally because they had that gay super creative ability.

But I think that the whole gaze being really good with the creative arts also shows you don't need to insert gender identity and sexuality into everything that you're doing. And for whatever reason these individuals do.

Simone Collins: Well, and I, I'm still so curious because this seems to be a consistent trend.

What that reason is part of me also then turns to the conservative Christian community, at least in the U S which is like, birth control is terrible for you. Like exogenous hormones at all are a really bad idea. And then when you take someone who is transitioning, that's that on steroids, like just that level of medical intervention is going to mess with you anyway.

Like someone who's recovering from a major surgery, someone who's coming off a lot of drugs, like they also were probably going to [00:37:00] be. not in the best creative place. Could this also just be an issue of too much medical intervention? People recovering from surgery, people going through. I mean, also, I don't think

Malcolm Collins: it is.

I think I think it's an obsession. I think that the way that the virus works is that turns it into a personal obsession for an individual. When an individual is heavily infected with this particular memetic virus, it becomes a huge chunk. Of what they think about every day. Now me, for example, I think about my gender, probably 0.

00001 percent in terms of anything I do, it just does not occupy much of my thoughts throughout the day. I get the impression from this sort of content and people can be like, Oh, maybe this content is being villainized because people hate trans content. Right. And that's just not true. Baldur's Gate three was one of the most celebrated games of the year.

And you could have your you know, a female looking character [00:38:00] have a penis or your male looking character have a vagina. You could do whatever you wanted in this game, right? Well, but

Simone Collins: also, is this a bad toupee problem? Do we just not, there are lots of really amazing trans writers that No,

Malcolm Collins: there were not any trans writers in Baldur's Gate 3 to my knowledge.

Yeah,

Simone Collins: but do you know also like, there, there are plenty of people Who are trans in passing and like you just don't know like it's just a hot woman I I mean, I don't know.

Malcolm Collins: I think it's actually very specifically not a bad toupee problem Because what we have are instances of an individual before transition being world class at something Same individual after transition being worse than a teenage girl.

So the question is is why? And also, like, why is it all so grapey? I, that's the other thing, like, is this just a systemic problem for people? And I, and I actually think it is a systemic problem. And I don't even think that this is their fault, but they don't realize and they lack self reflection around it.

Individuals who [00:39:00] learn how to hit on someone as a guy, if you try to reapply that to being a lesbian, you are going to come off as aggressive and grapey.

Speaker 12: Quick think about us having sex.

Malcolm Collins: , Whereas a guy, you learned how to do that in an, like a different sexual environment. And so when I see the types of scenes where, like the scene where the girl's being pinned against a wall and she hasn't really consented to this this scene is If it, if it was a cis guy who was doing this, I don't think that that many women would be as terrified because they'd be like, Oh, well, no, they would be as terrified.

But like, it's just guy would know better. I think the problem is, is that they learned that they need to be aggressive while they were a guy and then they transitioned and they. The, the, the restrictions on their aggression fell off because they begin to categorize every woman who [00:40:00] resisted their aggression as transphobic.

And so they, they had the aggression and dominance you would expect from somebody who grew up engaging people as a male, but you didn't have the common sense of, If the girl looks scared or intimidated, I need to back off immediately.

Simone Collins: Yeah. Yeah. I, I could see that. And

Malcolm Collins: it could be that all these defense mechanisms that they've built up around this leads to them being like, like just barreling through a lot of guards.

Yeah.

Simone Collins: How'd you like to wind this one up?

Malcolm Collins: I love you. Like, I think with all of this is it's an interesting phenomenon because I'm trying to come at this phenomenon. Without any particular like, yeah, I'm the type of person who thinks that the trans community oversteps a lot, whether it is gender transition in youth or whether it is trans people in sports, but I also don't think trans people should feel uncomfortable jobs, for example.

However, I do think that we need to be realistic [00:41:00] about how this seems to be a real thing, that people who are world class in a space seem to start sucking after they transition if it's, In a creative industry.

Simone Collins: And we don't want that to happen too. So like, even if you care about trans people thriving, you don't want their careers to bomb after they transition.

You want them to thrive after they transition. I

Malcolm Collins: didn't want the matrixes to start sucking, you know, like, I, you the matrices ma, whatever. The point being is like, we don't want this, this is not like a us you know, it's a. This is a fascinating phenomenon that I'd love to understand better, but I know that we're not allowed to concede it exists.

Yeah, I, I find this phenomenon fascinating, I want to maybe, maybe even a trans individual could understand it better when they're like, yeah, I realized after I transitioned, I started to suck at things I was previously really good at. And like, would that, is that not in a way gender affirming? I mean, women [00:42:00] aren't funny.

Like, is it not gender affirming?

Simone Collins: I don't know. I mean, I don't know when, when I'm, when I go through pregnancy and, or other interventions with hormones and stuff, it can screw me up, you know, it, it can mess with me or, and there's even been times when you've been like, Simone, you're, you're really, really mean.

And I'm like, no, I'm not. And I can't see it. No, you're hard to, you're not.

Malcolm Collins: Never. I say that you're mean, and it's a hormonal thing. You're always like, yes, I am, and I'll work on it. But understand that it, you know, I, I don't, there's only so much

Simone Collins: I can do when I have like, very

Malcolm Collins: perspective on this stuff.

Simone Collins: But don't you remember that one time, the last time I got Overstimulate ovarian sorry. Ovarian hyperstimulation. And my estrogen was like really off the charts. Like, you guys should be worried about this off the charts. And you were like, Simone.

Malcolm Collins: You're so mean.

Simone Collins: I do

Malcolm Collins: remember saying that you're being unusual.

I was kind of

Simone Collins: denying it at that time. You weren't denying

Malcolm Collins: it at all. You were like, look, I have X hormone levels right now. I'm trying my best to [00:43:00] handle it. Please work around. And I'm like, yeah, sure.

Simone Collins: It wasn't working. Anyway I, I still I have fascination with this from a more medical perspective.

Like, I think that there are chemical things that are going on. And I think it's important to understand, especially if you're considering a medical transition for yourself. And even if you're not, because like from a nootropic standpoint, from all these other standpoints, your hormonal composition affects you, and it's really cool, I mean, we have a big natural experiment in trans people, and I wish that more longitudinal research was being done, because here we're seeing the effect that totally voluntarily taken exogenous hormones have on people and maybe they're not all negative.

Like, I'd like to see where it's helping people. So, anyway, this is a fascinating subject and I'm glad that you discussed it. But unfortunately, the Wachowski effect is not to describe something going well. [00:44:00]

Malcolm Collins: Well, no, but it is to describe something that's gender affirming.

Simone Collins: Yes. It's not

Malcolm Collins: gender affirming that when a person transitions to a woman that they suck at writing.

Speaker 29: Say something funny, Wendy. We can't wait. I'm not funny. Hey, girls are funny, Wendy, okay? Get over it. Just do women's comedy stuff, you know, talk about how fat you are and how you want to have sex with guys and then say, My vagina a lot. I don't feel like being funny right now. And that's just the kind of sexist bullcrap that's going to keep you in the kitchen.

Sit your ass down. This isn't a joke, you guys. Girls are funny.

Simone Collins: No, there are amazing female writers and creatives that do amazing works. I just don't think it's like, well, women just suck at this stuff. Maybe it's There are certain types of writing women suck at. Yeah, like there aren't very many female sci fi writers. And, and yet there are lots of fantasy writers that are very successful.

Obviously women dominate in romance. So yeah, I mean there, there are certainly places that are dominated by certain, certain genders. All

Malcolm Collins: right. Love you to death, Simone. Love you too. [00:45:00] Have a spectacular day. Bye.

Simone Collins: I was speaking or texting with that mother that I really admire that I keep telling you and I realized when talking with her about her process, because obviously she's 7 kids soon, 8, that when you become a parent of a really large family. It's not what people think it is. I think they think just like, it's like being in the Weasley household, you know, everything's crazy, but really everything you do just is done on a commercial scale.

You become a commercial restaurant. You become a commercial clothing warehouse. You become, and you're doing all these things the way that a business would do it or that a caterer would do it. And it's not actually harder. To make a meal for 100 people, I would argue, you know, 50 people it's just a different process.

But once you get that process down, it's quite doable. And I feel really grateful that when I grew up, I worked well, sort of volunteered with my, my parents when they were doing [00:46:00] whitewater raft. Stuff because all the river guides also did all the cooking, all the cleaning up after dinner. Like they did like all the catering, everything, they packed all the lunches.

So I got really used to like industrial scale, baking, cooking and cleaning. And it just, when you think about parenting a large family from that perspective, it becomes so much more feasible and you just have, you just have to think about it differently, but it's not like children times. 567. It's more either you have two or three or four Children or you have.

Big family. There's not this like incremental increase in work. It's just

Malcolm Collins: Why once you get to like, a few kids it gets so easy and it's easier from the beginning If you plan to have a lot of kids, yeah, because you're doing it

Simone Collins: industrial style Everything is purchased in bulk meals are made in bulk washing is done in bulk, but like purchasing is done Like on industrial [00:47:00] scale, it's just, it's great.

Malcolm Collins: Well, and it forces a degree of frugality and practicality in all your decisions. You can't be like, Oh, Timmy would like this toy. It's more like, is this toy going to work for four generations of kids? Yeah. Like this

Simone Collins: mother has this really organized system for drink cups, for example, because it's not like every kid can have their little weird drink cup.

Everyone has. One cup and they all have different colors. So everyone knows where their cup is. Like the cups all go in the same, like stacked shelf. They all are the same style. So they fit together and they go in, like, that makes so much more sense. Also, it's so much less stressful than like, Oh, well for my, my youngest daughter, he, she has this cup.

And then my older daughter, she has this cup and like, you have to, you know, you're losing it all the time and it's a problem and this just, yeah. There's in so many ways, it's way lower stress. Like, honestly. I would rather cook a meal for 50 people than for like two persnickety people. From a [00:48:00] chef perspective, it's just a lot easier and the food's not worse.

Sometimes it's, it's easier to screw up a two person meal than it is to screw up a 50 person meal. So yeah, I just, it changed the way I looked at parenting and I love that she constantly blows my mind with that. All right. Let's do it.

Speaker 31: What you doing, buddy? You don't

like phonics? That's phonics, buddy. Shimmy, what else does your Chromebook do?

Do you like it? Do you like [00:49:00] school?