Madison Cawthorn tries to define what a woman is

Rep. Madison Cawthorn went into the House Monday to present his definition of what a woman is. In an 80-second speech, the North Carolina Republican accused his liberal peers of waging a “war on biology.”

“You can change a bill, but you will never change the biology. Science is not Burger King. You can’t just have it like that,” he said.

His comments came as the Senate Judiciary Committee is considering nominating Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson to the Supreme Court. Jackson was asked by Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn during her recent confirmation hearing to provide a definition for the word woman. “Can I give a definition?” replied Jackson. “I can’t…. Not in this context. I’m not a biologist.”

Blackburn’s questioning hit on the current hot topic of gender politics. Conservative leaders recently railed against the NCAA for its stance on transgender athletes after swimmer Lia Thomas dominated the competition that year. And Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis just signed into law what critics call the “Don’t Say Gay” law, which would ban certain sexual orientation and gender identity instruction in kindergarten through at least third grade.

On Monday, Cawthorn offered his thoughts on the matter.

“I never imagined that one of my sacred duties in this sacred chamber would be to explain the difference between a man and a woman to the Speaker of the House,” he said. “Take notes Madame Speaker, I’m about to define what a woman is to you: XX chromosomes, no tallywhacker. It is so easy.”

The comments were quickly echoed by Katie Dean, a Democrat who ran against Cawthorn this November.

“Today Madison Cawthorn said that the definition of a woman includes ‘not a tallywhacker’ and that ‘science is not Burger King.’ If Congress doesn’t disfellowship him, I will defeat him,” Dean wrote on Twitter.

Cawthorn was recently criticized by leaders of his party after he claimed to have been invited to drink cocaine and take part in orgies by his fellow GOPs in Washington DC.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said publicly Cawthorn lost his confidence over the comments, which was a stronger condemnation than GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene after she attended a white nationalist event.

“My comments on a recent podcast appearance calling for corruption were used by the left and the media to belittle my fellow Republicans and falsely imply their involvement in illegal activities,” Cawthorn later said in a statement.

news week reached out to Pelosi’s office to comment on Cawthorn’s speech, but received no response before publication.