Dylan Mulvaney

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About

Dylan Mulvaney is a transgender Broadway actor turned TikTok influencer known for her TikTok series "Days of Girlhood," where she chronicles her transition. The influencer started making content about her transition in early 2022, which included learning how to do her makeup and shopping for clothes. Dylan came under fire from trans-exclusionary feminists (TERFs) and conservatives after she participated in a podcast series led by the beauty brand Ulta and was invited to the White House in October 2022.

Career

Dylan Mulvaney began her career as a Broadway actor touring with the Book of Mormon in early 2020,^[1] before returning to her family home in California. She decided to transition during quarantine and posted her first TikTok^[2] video on March 11th, 2020, gathering 500,000 plays and 20,000 likes in two years (seen below, left). Mulvaney came out as nonbinary before also coming out as a trans woman, and she started her series "It's a They, Question of the Day,"^[3] on April 14th, 2021 in a video that gathered over 400,000 plays and 9,000 likes in over a year (seen below, right).

Online History

Mulvaney grew more popular on the internet after she began her TikTok series "Days of Girlhood," in which she documented her transition. The series grew popular due to people appreciating her candid and often overly innocent ideas of what it is like to be a woman and specifically a trans woman.

She posted the first episode^[4] of her series on March 12th, 2022, and gathered over 8 million plays and 900,000 likes in seven months (seen below, left). On March 23rd, she posted a video^[5] about carrying tampons around with her so that she can offer them to other women who might need one. The video gathered over 20 million plays and 5.5 million likes (seen below, right)

On June 28th, Dylan posted a video as part of her series "Dylan Does Dating,"^[6] and talks about her experiences with the dating app "Ok Cupid." She talked excitedly about the different men on the apps, and mentions one person that expressed explicit interest in only dating trans women. Her video gathered over 6 million plays and 1 million likes in four months (seen below, left). The video was stitched by other creators warning her against "chasers," slang for men who fetishize trans women. This included comments from TikToker^[7] @notcatb0y16 in a video posted on July 12th, that gathered over 4 million plays and 1 million likes in three months (seen below, right)

Ulta Podcast Backlash

On October 13th, 2022, Dylan was featured in an episode of beauty retailer Ulta's podcast "The Beauty Of…"^[8] Ulta's official Twitter page posted a video clip from the podcast on October 13th, gathering over 6,000 likes and 5,000 quote tweets in three weeks (seen below).

Trans 👏 Girls 👏 Can 👏 Do 👏It 👏 All! Tune into the latest episode of The Beauty Of… where host @DavidLopezzz sits down with guest Dylan Mulvaney to chat all things girlhood 💝 Watch now: https://t.co/tCRfEryYkZ pic.twitter.com/uaXJqEBQI9

— Ulta Beauty (@ultabeauty) October 13, 2022

Dylan and Ulta received backlash from TERFs and conservative internet users who argued that non-cis women should not be allowed to speak on "girlhood," or what it is like to be a woman. On October 15th, Twitter^[9] user @HereCaitieCat posted a tweet criticizing Ulta for platforming Dylan, gathering over 5,000 likes in two weeks (seen below, left). Also on October 15th, Twitter^[10] user @conservmillen posted a tweet criticizing Dylan as well, gathering over 12,000 likes in two weeks (seen below, right).

On October 16th, Ulta Beauty posted a series of tweets^[11] in defense of Dylan that gathered over 5,000 and 3,000 likes in two weeks (seen below).

On October 22nd, Dylan posted a TikTok^[12] saying that she wasn't in the mood to react the backlash, because she created her platform in order to cultivate positivity. Her video gathered over 6 million plays and over 1 million likes in six days (seen below).

White House Visit

On October 21st, 2022, Dylan posted a TikTok^[13] video about being invited to speak with Joe Biden at the White House, in a video that gathered over 4.3 million plays and over 1 million likes (seen below, left). On October 27th, she posted a clip^[14] of an interview with Biden, gathering over 9 million plays and 2.5 million likes (seen below, right).