Nike Really Missed The Mark With Dylan Mulvaney

​Dylan Mulvaney just got a sponsorship from Nike and people are upset.

And frankly, they are justifiably upset.

There are a lot of reasons to dislike Dylan Mulvaney. Cis women dislike Mulvaney because Mulvaney shows “girlhood” (Mulvaney is 25 and not a child) as a sort of Broadway act.

Trans women also appear to intensely dislike Dylan Mulvaney. Most trans women see Mulvaney (understandably) as undermining the trans movement by portraying trans womanhood as essentially a musical number. It’s a show. It’s a skit. It’s a bit. It’s not REAL folks! It’s just totally fun.

It’s a stereotype that many trans women hate.

Trans women also hate how Dylan Mulvaney seems to be offending and alienating potential allies among cis women. “Thanks to Dylan we don’t f*cking need JK Rowling anymore!” one trans Reddit user fumed.

The push-back against Dylan Mulvaney among the trans community is still small and confined to Reddit spaces, but I’ve noticed that it’s growing.
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People became more offended, however, when Dylan Mulvaney started to receive brand deals from Budweiser, Tampax and Nike. A video of Dylan Mulvaney skipping through a Kate Spade store received backlash simply in how it ignored that trans people (who are disproportionately low income) and women (who were slammed by the “she-cession” caused by the pandemic and still are trapped in low income situations due to a lack of low-cost childcare) can’t afford Kate Spade-level luxury clothes.

​The latest endorsement by Nike where Dylan Mulvaney modeled a woman’s sports bra received backlash from not only the usual rightwingers but other viewpoints who asked why the hell a person with no breasts was given a brand deal for a woman’s sports bra by Nike?

Mulvaney is clearly not on HRT. Mulvaney has had facial feminization surgery and is very thin. That being said, it’s clear that Mulvaney has no real wish to have breasts or to embrace the body changes that occur with high estrogen levels. Which is fine.

However plenty of trans women DO have breasts and they could really benefit from a sports bra suited for their needs.

Trans women’s breasts are different from cis women’s breasts. Trans women’s breasts tend to be further apart due to broader shoulders. Trans women still have a triangular upper body shape which makes bras sit uncomfortably even if the bra manages to support the breasts. This is a real problem for trans women who want to exercise and be comfortable.
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Even with Dylan Mulvaney’s thin frame you can see the bra Mulvaney is wearing doesn’t fit very well. It is not meant for a triangular upper body frame. The straps are uneven, and the garment pinches uncomfortably under Mulvaney’s armpits.

​It would have been nice if Nike had engineered a sports bra specifically for a trans woman with breasts. A sports bra that would support more widely-spaced breasts while accommodating for wider shoulders and a triangular upper body shape would be useful.
Oh, and next time Nike should use an actual trans woman with breasts to model the sports bra. Yes, those models exist.